Northrup - The Wisdom of Menopause: Creating Physical and Emotional Health During the Change

ALSO BY CHRISTIANE NORTHRUP, M.D.

Womens Bodies, Womens Wisdom
Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing

Mother-Daughter Wisdom
Understanding the Crucial Link Between
Mothers, Daughters, and Health

The Secret Pleasures of Menopause

The Secret Pleasures of Menopause Playbook
A Guide to Creating Vibrant Health Through Pleasure

The Wisdom of Menopause Journal

Many of the stories that appear in this book are composites; individual names and identifying characteristics have been changed. Nevertheless, they reflect authentic situations in the lives of the thousands of perimenopausal women Ive seen in my practice over the years. If you think you recognize yourself in these pages, the similarities are strictly coincidental unless I have received your specific written permission to use your story.

Copyright 2012, 2006, and 2001 by Christiane Northrup, M.D.

Illustrations by Scott Leighton

Copyright 2012 by Christiane Northrup, Inc.

All rights reserved.

EBook Edition published by Christiane Northrup, Inc. 2008
Fully revised EBook Edition published 2012

Print edition is available through Bantam Books
www.bantamdell.com

BANTAM BOOKS and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Some of the material in The Wisdom of Menopause was originally published in
Health Wisdom for Women, Phillips Publishing International.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Northrup, Christiane

The wisdom of menopause: creating physical and emotional health during the
change/Christiane Northrup.Rev. and updated.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Tradepaper ISBN 978-0-553-38672-1
Digital ISBN 978-1-4019-3997-7

1. Menopause 2. MenopausePsychological aspects.
3. MenopauseReligious aspects. I. Title

Printed in the United States of America.

2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1

EBook Published by Christiane Northrup, Inc.
is a registered trademark of Christiane Northrup, Inc
For more information about Dr. Northrup and her work,
please visit: www.DrNorthrup.com.

This book is dedicated to the pioneering spirit
embodied in the women of the baby boom generation

Contents

Figure 1: The First Two Wake-Up Calls: PMS and SAD

Figure 2: Currents of Wisdom

Figure 3: The Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Ovary Connection

Figure 4: Reward Across the Life Cycle

Figure 5: Why Traumatic Memories May Be Relived at Midlife

Figure 6: Emotional Anatomy

Figure 7: Hormone-Producing Body Sites

Figure 8: Menopausal Symptoms Timeline

Figure 9: Kinds of Estrogen

Figure 10: Kinds of Progesterone

Figure 11: Body Mass Index Chart

Figure 12: Types of Fibroids

Figure 13: Pelvic Organs with Supporting Muscles

Figure 14: The Clitoral System

Figure 15: The Anatomy of the Skin

Figure 16: Female Vertebrae

Figure 17: Bone Remodeling

Figure 18: The Lymph System

Figure 19: The Heart-Emotion Connection

I would first like to acknowledge all those whose skills and insights helped me birth the first edition of this book during my own perimenopause back in the early 2000s, especially Mona Lisa Schulz, M.D., Ph.D., Joel Hargrove, M.D., and the masterly and legendary editor Toni Burbank.

For this updated version, I gratefully thank:

Marnie Cochran of Random House for her enthusiasm and editorial skill.

Theresa Zoro for her veteran publicity skills.

Ned Leavitt for being a soul-mate agent.

Scott Leighton for both his medical illustrations and his wonderful energy.

Hope Matthews, my Pilates teacher, for assisting me in keeping my body flexible and strong.

Julie Hofheimer, my massage therapist, who is a midwife of both body and soul.

Fern Tsao and her daughter Maureen Manetti for their skill with Traditional Chinese Medicine and for keeping my chi flowing freely.

My team at Hay House, Louise Hay, Reid Tracy, Margarete Nielsen, Dani Riehl, Donna Abate, and Nancy Levin, and the entire staff of both Hay House and Hay House Radio for helping me pleasurably produce my website, PBS shows, and radio showand also orchestrating uplifting speaking engagements.

Judie Harvey for her Web and editing skills, and great sense of humor.

Doris Cohen, for her impeccable skill as a psychologist and friend who also has access to rock star angels and spirit guides.

Katy Koontz for living out her scribe archetype with such skill, speed, and panache. She has been a godsend during this and so many other writing projects.

Sue Abel for helping keep my home clean, restful, and beautiful and for taking such good care of my cats when Im not here.

Mike Brewer for keeping my home and grounds maintained and lovely.

Abby Shattuck for her gardening skills and feeling for plants and the earth.

Chip Gray and the Gray family of the Harraseeket Inn in Freeport for providing delicious, gourmet, low-glycemic, organic food in a beautiful setting. They have created an invaluable oasis of comfort, warmth, and nourishment that I treasure.

Paulina Carr for her cheerful willingness to do whatever needs to be done. And also her ability to stick with it until she gets an answer.

Janet Lambert for her superior bookkeeping skills and general all-around great attitude.

Diane Grover for being the rock at the center of my whole lifekeeping everything organized, clear, fun, meaningful, and on track. She is the woman behind the womanand also the woman beside the woman. She is a first-chakra genius for whom I am enormously grateful every day.

Charlie Grover, Dianes husband, whose good humor and willingness to provide backup and down-to-earth commentary are precious.

To my daughter Kate for being the perfect CEO (creative expansion optimist) for Team Northrup.

To my daughter Annie, who truly is the diva of the word and of my heart.

My mother, Edna, for continuing to be an inspiration about whats possible in ones eighties. To my late father, George Wilbur, whose work was the inspiration for my approach to womens health. To my sister Penny Kirk and her husband, Phil, who have been such good friends and business co-creators. And to my brothers, John and Bill, and their wives, Annie and Lori. I cherish them all more than I can say.

Christiane Northrup, M.D.

I n the year or two before I actually started to skip periods, I began to experience an increasingly common feeling of irritability whenever my work was interrupted or I had to contend with a coworker or employee who was not as committed to accomplishing the job as I was. Looking back, I recall that when I was in my thirties and my children were younger, their interruptions when I was in the middle of writing an article or talking on the phone were only mildly irritating to me. My love and concern for their welfare usually overrode any anger or frustration I might have felt.

But as I approached menopause, I found myself unable to tolerate distractions such as my eighteen-year-old asking me, When is dinner? when she could clearly see I was busy. Why, I wondered, was it always my responsibility to turn on the stove and begin to think about my familys food needs, even when I wasnt hungry and was deeply engrossed in a project? Why couldnt my husband get the dinner preparations started? Why did my family seem to be almost totally paralyzed when it came to preparing a meal? Why did they all wait in the kitchen, as though unable to set the table or pour a glass of water, until I came into the room and my mere presence announced, Moms here. Now we get to eat?