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Summary: A Message to Naysayer Colleen "R.N."
Review: To Colleen R.N, "Ph.D"...learn how to spell menopause correctly, and we may take your ridiculous post seriously....on second thought, probably not...I'd rather read the interviews of doctors who ARE knowledgeable about bio-identical hormones.This is a great book and a great service to women.
Rating: 
Summary: Buyer Beware
Review: This is a book that never should have been published. There are too many misinterpretations about estrogen and menapause to delineate here, but stay clear of this approach if you value your health and and hope to live a long time. The subject matter is clearly over the author's head.
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Summary: Cute take on serious issue. Blessed Health is better.
Review: I like the cute phrasing Ms. Summers uses for some things she describes, but as a nurse I still llike medical advice from health care professionals. It's strange how celebrities feel they can write about scientific, medical information. I'm not a star struck person (sorry, SS). I find the book Blessed Health to give me a really good review of menopause, and what to do about it, and what not to do. there's medical and holistic recommendations, herbal remedies and the like since I didn't want to take more estrogen. The book says african/american but so what. I'm white and learned a lot from it. It doesn't deal so much with the sexy stuff but good health advice for women. Someone gave me that book when serious illness struck my family and I read all the spiritual sections. Comforting stuff in a time of crisis. Menopause and family stress all at one time! I needed spiritual relief. Northup's books(Wisdom)are good too for menopause info. They're both on Amazon. Maybe get all three, Somers, Blessed Health and Northrup and pick and choose what works best for you. Healthy reading. Stamp out hot flashes.
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Summary: not the best advice
Review: While Ms. Somers should be commended for trying to offer women advice regarding their health, the information in this book is sorely lacking some VERY important information.
First of all, any woman with breast cancer who chooses to use estrogen should not be writing a book about women's wellbeing.
Secondly, the "cutting edge" doctors of today do no use the estridiol hormone alone any longer, they use another estrogen which is breast protective.
There are many other tests, aside from hormone levels, which need to be done and supplements that "cutting edge" and mainstream doctors are suggesting to prevent estrogen from causing estrogen related cancers.
You just don't take hormones so you can feel "sexy" and young and I just think this book missed the mark.
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Summary: Fantastic Research for Health, Vitality and Radiance. Excell
Review: Suzanne Somers has brought women (and men) wonderful insight and answers to rejuvenate the greatest years of our lives with bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. This pivotal solution brings new hope for those who feel decreased sex drive, hot flashes, along with the host of other symptoms that our bodies show us as our natural hormonal balance decreases.
Suzanne has the courage and brains to bring us a natural way to rejuvenate, where the risk factor is minimal compared to other hormone replacement methods.
This book is a wonderful, intelligent, well-researched and sincere read that gives the answers to maintaining our youth, just at the stage of our lives when we appreciate all of the wisdom we have gained.
An important contribution for anyone who wants to chronologically age gracefully, with the vitality, appearance, and hormones to restore our bodies' balance with the youth in our heart.
Thank you Suzanne for having the guts, brains, and heart for writing this book! You did one outstanding job!
Barbara Rose, author of 'Individual Power' and 'If God Was Like Man'
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Summary: Moviestar hocus-pocus
Review: Bio-identical hormones! If I hear that one more time, I'm gonna scream.
Why do people believe this ex-moviestar but distrust their doctors?
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Summary: Agree with Suzanne, bot only on some things......
Review: I believe Suzanne made a great point about about bioidentical hormones for symptom relief. Premarin may work for them, but by its very nature it just "sounds" like a bad idea....Now as for using bioidentical HRT for disease prevention, I think it is not a good idea to jump on that bandwagon until conclusive research says that it fulfills what synthetic HRT (Premarin) failed to do.... One point Suzanne makes in this book that I find a little worrisome is manipulating the hormone formulation to make sure that you're having periods, or rather periodic monthly bleeding in order to mimic the natural hormonal cycle of your premenopausal years. I guess that's accurate to want to do that rather than taking continuous HRT but I find it a little disturbing the thought of having a period into my 70s or 80s. I'm also concerned about the recent research that has cast a dark shadow over HRT. Prempro carried risks of heart attack, stroke, blood clots, breast cancer, and dementia. Premarin carried the same risks for stroke and dementia. Putting these facts aside, I believe it is not the best idea to be touting yet another type of hormone therapy for prevention when the research to support its safety and efficacy is not comparable whatsoever. Bioidentical seems better, but there have been no randomzied controlled trials to prove it works for all of these diseases... Also I think it's not good for women to believe that having premenopausal levels of hormones our entire lives will insure our longevity. I think the evidence is actually to the contrary: high estrogen levels seem good only as far as keeping our bones strong. Lifetime estrogen levels (ie age of menopause) seem unrelated to one's risk of heart disease. But women with naturally high levels of estrogen, even after menopause (yes the ovaries don't completely "quit" - they continue to produce small amounts of hormones), run higher lifetime risks of breast and uterine cancer. Also (and I read this is the Journals of Neurology and Neuroscience), some research is actually indicating that high levels of estrogen throughout life are associated with more cognitive deficits and Alzheimer's. One study showed that women with the highest natural levels of estrogen, whether postmenopausally or those who had the most menstruating years, had higher risks of dementia. Even more disturbing, hysterectomized rats given estradiol lost their abilities completely to learn new tasks. This information is line with the recent evidence showing that estrogen or estrogen/progestin ups the risk for dementia. So to say it's good for the brain is probably wrong. I realize Suzanne touts testosterone for healthy brain function, but it's far from proven; the same goes for estrogen. Again, I think we need to wait for the proof..... I also am not buying into the idea that menopause takes away our beauty, vitality, and sexuality. I personally found sex better after the change - my kids were grown, I didn't have to worry about unplanned pregnancy. Also, and I think this is important - there IS good reason to believe that menopause is necessary for the survival of the species. If you think about it, there's good reason why 70-something-year-old women can't reporduce any longer. At that age, your health is more likly to be compromised due to aging(though not necessarily!) so the thought of having another baby would be bad for the baby, especially if the mother isn't well enough to care for it!! And since our children naturally spend the first 20+ years of life in or around the nest, it makes sense to me that menstruation ceases at an early enough age so that the mother would have enough healthy years remaining to raise the very last child she was capable of having (although most of us don't want any new babies at 50!! :)). But all in all, this seems the most plausible explanation as far as the life cycle goes and the posibble benefit of having menopause prgrammed in. But back to the book, bioidentical HRT is a viable option for combating the symptoms of menopause and is more likely to agree with a woman's system as compared to the synthetics. But I don't believe there is any conclusive evidence whatsoever to show that they're better for us over the long haul. They might be, but it's imperative we wait for the proof, lest we repeat the mistakes of the last 30 years by giving women hormones preventively for life only to learn that they're dangerous.
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Summary: L I A R
Review: Let's be truthful.
Why would I waste my time on this self-obsessed, soulless, & dishonest huckster? It's because of something she tried to get away with a few years ago. Do you know the prime ingredient in a successful magician's act? It's called misdirection. Ms. Somers was caught exiting the office of a plastic surgeon. Rather than being up-front & admitting to her desire to use "any means necessary" to beat nature's & gravity's affects upon the body, she concocts a story about breast cancer.
Yep, that's right. A "story". Pure fiction. Never was.
And to compound this folly, she said that she was treating herself with "natural remedies." Of course, she couldn't risk exposure by reputable physicians. And she had fellow huckster Larry King to help shovel this mess around.
Those in the know wondered how she would get out of this one.
It must be great having a team of writers in your employ (plus the ever-present doting/drooling Larry King), but she did it. It took a year or two, but very quietly, almost off-handedly, the story was out there that the "cancer" was gone.
Folks, this is a woman who will do anything to keep her face & name right at the top of everyone's B-list. Why be a party to it? PS: Larry King need not reply.
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Summary: It's about time!
Review: I have been on bioidentical hormones (estriol, progesterone and testosterone) for nearly four years, after a complete hysterectomy due to early stage encapsulated ovarian cancer in 2001. I feel great, have lots of energy, great skin, no mood swings, no cancer recurrence, etc. I work for a compounding pharmacy and we were delighted to see Suzanne's book. We give monthly seminars to women re BHRT, and our class size jumped from about five to ten per month to 35! It's about time that the general public was given the opportunity to learn about the availability and safety of bioidenticals. We disagree with Suzanne about the estrogen she takes (we would recommend estriol instead of estradiol for her, since she has had cancer) and we do not bring menstrual periods back for our patients unless they request it (we believe menopause is natural). We also insist on saliva tests to determine hormone levels, not blood tests, but we are grateful to her for opening the door and letting women know about this important subject. These women will do more reading on the subject and eventually approach their doctors. Eventually the doctors will have to do their own reading just to keep up with their patients. Suzanne will save many lives with this information, and just for that she is one of my heroes. Thank you, thank you, Suzanne Somers! When my daughter reaches 35, she will have much better choices and Suzanne will be one of the reasons she does.
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Summary: IMPORTANT Reading For Adults- Women & Men
Review: AWESOME! The amount of time and research dedicated to hormones and the aging process. Thank you for sharing with us, Suzanne! I am only 31, but found this so inspiring. Seeing so many struggling with menopause and little answers. This book shows many options available to you, and many contacts to get more information. This is your life and health. Why not be more informed?
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