Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom (129 page)

Remain a lifelong learner.
I can’t stress enough how important this is. In fact, I feel that it’s the most important factor of all for optimal brain function. To maintain and enhance your brain function and wisdom, you must remain interested in the ongoing process of life. You must be actively engaged in some form of pleasurable activity involving growth, development, and learning. Take classes, get together with friends, learn a new sport or activity, start a new career or business, or engage in volunteer work. Tone your brain cells and neural pathways with new ideas, new connections, and new thoughts every day. Make sure you’re on the path toward becoming a fun-loving wise woman of power—not a “little old lady.” I was reminded of this recently when my colleague Gladys McGarey, M.D., and I were having a conversation about a white paper she had just written on health care reform. She said, “I love being eighty-nine. I can say whatever I want. It’s delightful!”

DECIDING ON MENOPAUSAL TREATMENT

The Woman’s Health Initiative data on Prempro changed the entire field of menopausal treatment overnight. Suddenly all the presumed benefits of HT were replaced with doubt and fear. We moved from black and white to shades of gray. And at the end of the day this is a good thing, though perhaps not as reassuring as the old “magic bullet” approach of the past.

Know this: When it comes to treatment for your menopausal symp toms, even though you may want to consult with your doctor for recommendations and of course prescriptions, the person who is most familiar with your body and in touch with its responses is you, and you need to heed your inner wisdom in deciding upon appropriate treatment.

My own recommendation is that if a woman has tried dietary changes, supplementation, and exercise and is still experiencing many menopausal symptoms, then she should try bioidentical hormones. After a three-month period on a starting dose your progress should be reevaluated. Remember, a woman’s decision to begin hormones is not irreversible. Our bodies are constantly changing and evolving; therefore, prescriptions should be reviewed and updated regularly as hormone levels and life circumstances change. I recommend that women revisit the decision about hormone therapy on an annual basis depending upon how they feel. You have nothing to lose with this approach and a great deal to gain.

Getting Off HT or Changing Types

Many women find that when one type of HT doesn’t work for them, another type will. In general, it is fine to switch from one type to another without any time lag in between. For example, you can take your Premarin one day and switch to bioidentical estradiol the next.

If you want to
stop
hormones, however, do it very gradually. Usually this means taking one less tablet per week until you are off your estrogen completely. When you taper off slowly in this way, there is much less chance of having rebound hot flashes. Some women begin to use 2 percent progesterone cream and after one month or so gradually taper their estrogen so that they are just on the progesterone cream or herbal com bination. This gives your body time to feel the benefits of the new regimen while slowly weaning it away from the old.

SELF-CARE DURING MENOPAUSE

When making your self-care choices during the menopausal transition, please keep the following principles in mind:

Your body was designed to be healthy for at least a hundred years and probably longer. Menopause is nothing more than a halfway point.

Dementia, osteoporosis, heart disease, and cancer are not inevitable— no matter what your mother or grandmother experienced.

The menopausal transition is a powerful, biologically driven opportunity to reevaluate all aspects of your life and your health.

There is a wide variety of treatments available to support you hormonally and otherwise as you go through the menopausal transition. You have the inner guidance you need to choose the ones that are best for you. This includes bioidentical hormones.

Women are designed to enjoy sexual pleasure for a lifetime. Sexual pleasure can be greatly enhanced after menopause.

Menopause is the springtime of the second half of your life.

The time and energy you are willing to invest in yourself now will pay off in spades for years to come.

MENOPAUSE AS A NEW BEGINNING

Many menopausal women have dreams of giving birth. These birth dreams are important—they signify that there is much within us that needs to come forth. In this culture, women who are about to go through menopause or who are already in it need more than ever to reach deep within themselves and give birth to what is waiting there to be expressed. We can no longer afford to let our culture silence the wis dom of the wise woman—the woman who contains her sacred blood.

Susun Weed writes, “The process of menopause—not the last menses, the last drop of blood, but the entire thirteen-year menopausal process—sets the stage for initiatory ritual the world ’round, just as menstruating women’s natural needs/abilities became the basis for all other initiations.

“During the process of menopause each woman finds herself im mersed in and creating the three classic stages of initiation: isolation, death, and rebirth . . . our female bodies insist on completeness, whole ness, truth, change.

Much as any woman would like to deny her shadow-self, her body will not let her. Menopause brings the individual woman and thus the entire community face-to-face with the dark, the unknown.”
¹²⁴
With or without the help of hormones, every woman will benefit if she enters menopause consciously, ready to gather the gifts available at this stage of life. What we have to lose is not nearly so valuable as what we have to gain: finding our own voices and the courage to speak our own truths. When women do this, they are truly irresistible in their power and beauty. I have noticed everywhere I go that more and more women over the age of fifty look better than ever before. As a culture, we are redefining what it means to truly ripen with wisdom.

Just a few short years ago, my mother began expressing her creativity and connection with animals through learning the art of carving them in stone. Up until then, she never considered herself creative or artistic at all . . . and she was too busy raising five children to discover her gifts in this area. Her work is beautiful and inspiring—and she, like so many others past menopause, has discovered aspects of herself that she didn’t know existed. She also speaks up a great deal at town meet ings and other forums that concern her. She is no longer afraid to tell the truth in a group or in her own family. She says, “I have nothing to lose, and I’ve come to see that people can often benefit by what I have to say.”