Sleep Naturally and Never Experience Menopause

May 5, 2012 6 Min Read

By Donna Walters and Blane Crandall, MD –

This is a continuation in a series of articles highlighting the book “Estrogen Revisited, Lifelong and Fearless by Donna Walters and Blane Crandall, MD. Since May is “Sleep Awareness Month,” it is a perfect opportunity to present the portion of the book that is dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of the symptoms of menopause. Of course, as a woman experiences estrogen deficiency, she has sleepless nights, night sweats, and the days that follow are often plagued with memory loss, fatigue, and irritability.

Most Common Menopause Symptoms
Menopausal symptoms are not limited to those related to sleepless nights. They are varied and often mimic other diseases. Here is a list of the most common symptoms of menopause from the book:

  • Hot flashes, night sweats, extreme sweating, temperature changes. Headaches, migraines, frequent urination
  • Achy joints
  • Weak bones
  • Difficulty falling asleep
  • Insomnia, early wakening
  • Day-long fatigue, reduced stamina
  • Depression, anxiety
  • Problems with short-term memory or difficulty concentrating
  • Mood changes
  • Lessened interest in self-image
  • Decreased sense of sexuality
  • Dry skin and eyes ,loss of skin radiance
  • Changes in sexual desire, pain during sexual activity
  • Vaginal dryness
  • Loss of fullness of the breasts
  • Thinning hair
  • Weight gain and sensations of bloating

Choose Never to Experience Menopause
The good news is that women don’t have to choose natural decay and atrophy. They can choose to never have Menopause says Dr. Crandall. Menopause, he says, is not a necessary part of a woman’s life and is actually harmful for women. Given today’s medical capabilities and the fact that the average life expectancy for women is more than eighty years, menopause should be an elective process. Women should be given the opportunity to make the decision of whether menopause is something they want to experience during their lifetime or not.

Menopause is Reversible by Replacing Estrogen
Menopause is a process brought on by the depletion of a natural hormone, estrogen. It is reversible by replacing estrogen and yet many physicians are willing to treat the symptoms of the depletion with antidepressants for the depression, sleeping pills for the insomnia, eye drops for the dry eyes, lubricant for the dry vagina, plastic surgery for the sagging breasts and face, anti-inflammatories for joint pain, Viagra for sexual dysfunction… you get the idea. When what a woman really needs is to get her estrogen replaced.

What Purpose Does Menopause Serve?
You might ask yourself, what purpose does menopause serve in nature? It has been proposed that “It’s nature’s way” and Donna Walters counters that it is also nature’s way to contract polio, meningitis and the mumps! We can do better than that. You might also ask, where is the proof that if I take estrogen, I won’t get these symptoms and ultimately the diseases that are associated with the symptoms like Alzheimer’s and Osteoporosis anyway? It’s this kind of Socratic exchange between Donna Walters and Dr. Crandall that makes the book so special. Dr. Crandall explains that a double blind placebo controlled study with estrogen would be unacceptable, similar to withholding insulin from a diabetic. Insulin, after all, is a hormone. What we do have is 45 years of physicians, patients, families, and friends in excellent large observational studies that confirm the findings of clinicians when women are given estrogen to replace the estrogen lost in menopause.

Those Studies Show, in Summary:

  1. Estrogen replacement should begin when the uterus and ovaries are removed in a premenopausal woman and should continue for life.
  2. Estrogen and cycled or continuous progestin or progesterone should be started at the time of removal of both ovaries in premenopausal women. The progestin or progesterone protects the uterus from endometrial cancer. This should be continued for life.
  3. At menopause, estrogen and cycled or continuous progestin or progesterone should be started and continued for life in a woman who has not had a hysterectomy.
  4. A young woman, who has had a hysterectomy without removal of the ovaries should start estrogen at menopause (when the ovaries stop working) and continue for life.

These recommendations do not agree with the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) because, according to Dr. Crandall, the WHI is wrong. The conclusions of the WHI were made with no apparent understanding of the natural history of the diseases discussed, the healthcare of women, or the pharmacology of the hormones used. The WHI study is reviewed in great detail in the book and compared to other studies to help the reader reach his or her own conclusions.

Read the Book!
Buy the book on Nook or get the Nook App for your iPad or computer. “Estrogen Revisited, Lifelong and Fearless” by Donna Walters and Blane Crandall, MD.

239-596-2300
www.BlaneCrandall.com
1660 Medical Blvd. Suite 101, Naples, FL 34110