Summary of Jennifer Gunter's The Menopause Manifesto

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 Menopause is a transition from one biological phase of ovarian function to another, but it is shrouded in secrecy. It is no more a disease than being a man is a disease.
#2 The menopause is the period of time leading up to the final menstrual period, which marks menopause. It is when there are no more follicles in the ovaries capable of ovulating, meaning there are no more eggs.
#3 The treatment of menopause is also lacking in knowledge among women. They are often dismissed as being fabricated, unimportant, or just part of being a woman.
#4 Menopause is the period in which a woman’s body goes through a series of hormonal fluctuations that can cause a variety of symptoms. It’s important for women to know all their options so they can choose if they want treatment or not.

Sujets

• Santé et bien-être
• Santé du quotidien
• Santé au quotidien
• Santé au quotidien
• Women's health

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 21 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669356622
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Jennifer Gunter's The Menopause Manifesto
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Menopause is a transition from one biological phase of ovarian function to another, but it is shrouded in secrecy. It is no more a disease than being a man is a disease.

#2

The menopause is the period of time leading up to the final menstrual period, which marks menopause. It is when there are no more follicles in the ovaries capable of ovulating, meaning there are no more eggs.

#3

The treatment of menopause is also lacking in knowledge among women. They are often dismissed as being fabricated, unimportant, or just part of being a woman.

#4

Menopause is the period in which a woman’s body goes through a series of hormonal fluctuations that can cause a variety of symptoms. It’s important for women to know all their options so they can choose if they want treatment or not.

#5

The menopause transition can cause sleep issues, and these issues can be age-related or due to a medical condition. It is important to consider all the contributing factors and how they may be interrelated before assuming a symptom that develops during the menopause transition is hormonally related.

#6

Menopause is a transition from one phase of ovarian function to another. It is essentially puberty in reverse, with hormonal changes that may lead to distressing symptoms and health concerns for many women.

#7

The first mention of symptoms associated with menopause in Western medical literature was in 1582, written by Dr. Jean Liébault, a French physician. He described petites rougers or small reds, which today we would call hot flushes.

#8

The first formal dissertation on menopause was written in 1710. It was called the Final Menstruation, Beginnings of Disease. The Ladies Physical Directory, first published in 1716, had multiple printings by 1727.

#9

The term hot flushes was acceptable until I started experiencing them. To me, a flush is in your cheeks, and while my face feels hot, it’s not just my cheeks. Menopause was viewed as just another female fault by Western medicine, and something to fear.

#10

Dr. Fothergill’s paper was translated into several languages and began to attract attention. It was also a shift in general attitudes toward aging, as people began to realize that women in menopause were not necessarily doomed, just different.

#11

The word ménopause, which was coined by Dr. De Gardanne in 1812, was meant to be a portmanteau of two Greek words, μήνας or mois in French, and παῦσις or cessation in French. It was meant to be taken from παύω, which he translated as je finis or je cesse in English.

#12

The term menopause was not introduced until 1871, and it was not well received by doctors and patients. It was used interchangeably with climacteric to describe the time around the final menstrual period and the years afterward.

#13

The term menopause supplanted climacteric as the go-to term in the United States by the 1960s. Hormones had been prescribed for more than thirty years, but they were messy, expensive affairs that typically required injections.

#14

The word menopause is not suitable for use in most languages, as it is derived from the Latin word for shame, pudor. Many cultures manage just fine without the word menopause.

#15

The term menopause was invented by a man who felt women should cover their arms and not wear blush. It was then weaponized by the pharmaceutical industry and transformed from a troublesome phase of life into a lifelong disease that affected every woman.

#16

The brain-ovary connection explains how menopause is caused. The ovaries and testicles develop in response to signals from the Y chromosome if there is one, and they develop into ovaries if there isn’t. After twenty weeks of fetal life, millions of primordial follicles start to disappear.

#17

The menstrual cycle is the result of a group of follicles developing and signaling the brain to start ovulation. The ovum is released, and the Corpus Luteum produces progesterone to stabilize the uterine lining and make it suitable for implantation. If implantation occurs, the placenta takes over and produces the hormones needed for a healthy pregnancy.

#18

The menopause transition is the period of time when a woman begins to experience symptoms of the menopause. It is unpredictable, and can vary from woman to woman. The closer to the final menstrual period, the less responsive the primordial follicles will be, and skipped periods due to lack of ovulation become more common.

#19

The final menstrual period marks menopause, when there are no more primordial follicles and the ovaries are no longer capable of ovulating. The ovaries are still involved in hormone production after menopause, albeit to a much lesser degree.

#20

Hormones are chemical messengers that travel the body looking for the right receptor on cells. Some hormones are produced in large amounts and travel the body to impact other tissues, while others are produced in lower amounts and travel only in the body.

#21

The anti-Mullerian hormone, made in the follicles, is involved in signaling for ovulation. It is made in a multistep process from cholesterol and is the precursor hormone made in the follicles that is converted into either estrone or testosterone.

#22

Testosterone and estrogen can be free in the blood or they can be bound to a carrier protein called sex hormone binding globulin or SHBG. Only the hormone that is free can interact with tissues.

#23

The menopause transition is characterized by a drop in estradiol levels, followed by a rise in FSH to trigger follicle development. However, estradiol levels can vary cycle to cycle, and some women are more sensitive to changes in hormone levels than others.

#24

The diagnosis of menopause is based on age, a history of menstrual irregularity, and no menstrual periods for a year. It is not necessary to test hormone levels to know if a woman is in her menopause transition.

#25

The menopause transition is a stage of variable length before the final menstrual period, and it is characterized by erratic levels of hormones. Menstrual irregularities are the hallmark of the menopause transition.

#26

The tenacity of the myth that menopause is an accident is testament to the impact of patriarchal dogma. I’m more likely to consider a hypothesis worthy of further evaluation if it refers to women as a group, but if we would never speak about men that way, then there will be a lot of side eye on my part.

#27

Life expectancy has increased significantly over the years for both women and men. This is primarily due to more children surviving the first year of life as the result of sanitation, basic medical care, and vaccines.

#28

Women who lived to the age of forty-five in the past had a life expectancy of sixty-five to seventy years, similar to men. This was largely due to the fact that they did not access modern sanitation and medicine.

#29

The grandmother hypothesis states that women can protect their genetic legacy by contributing to the survival of their grandchildren after menopause. The longer a woman lives, the more grandchildren she has.

#30

The grandmother effect does not only apply to humans, but to all mammals. It is believed that throughout much of our history it was men who acquired food from big game hunting, but this is an extremely labor-intensive task and an unreliable source of food.

#31

Scientists have studied killer whales in the Pacific Northwest for decades. Like humans, they live in small groups, are social, and are intelligent. Their offspring stay in the same pod, so following grandmother–mother–grandcalf dynamics is possible.

#32

The question of how menopause evolved is actually related to grandmothers. Humans and chimpanzees share the same ovaries and menstrual cycles, and humans also have grandmothers who are invested in their grandchildren.

#33

The grandmother hypothesis explains how we developed menopause, but it doesn’t mean that women only have value as grandmothers. It makes the patriarchal idea that woman’s worth diminishes when ovulation stops even more offensive, because women in menopause literally helped drive evolution.

#34

The unfortunate reality of having a uterus and ovaries is that they cause distressing symptoms and health problems, some serious. However, menopause isn’t a sign of weakness, but rather strength.

#35

The average age of menopause in the United States is fifty-one years. Women who experience menopause early can reduce some of their increased risk of cardiovascular disease with MHT.

#36

The age of the final menstrual period is independent from the age of the first one. The only exception is when the first period starts at age sixteen or later, then the average age of menopause is slightly later, fifty-two years.

#37

The role of genetics is the biggest contributor to the age of menopause. The stability of the age of menopause for thousands of years supports a strong genetic component.

#38

Smoking, along with genetics, is the biggest factor that determines when a woman will experience menopause. Quitting smoking is the best way to prevent menopause. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the environment can interfere with hormones.

#39

While it is difficult to avoid endocrine-disrupting chemicals, some recommendations are to avoid microwavin