Uzzi Reiss - Natural Hormone Balance for Women: Look Younger, Feel Stronger, and Live Life with Exuberance

The ideas, procedures, and suggestions in this book are not intended as a substitute for the medical advice of your trained health professional. All matters regarding your health require medical supervision. Consult your physician before adoping the suggestions in this book, as well as about any condition that may require diagnosis or medical attention. The author and publisher disclaim any liability arising directly or indirectly from the use of this book.

Copyright 2001 by Uzzi Reiss, M.D. and Martin Zucker

Originally published in hardcover in 2001 by Pocket Books

Charts by Letha Davis

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Reiss, Uzzi.

Natural hormone balance for women : look younger, feel stronger, and live life with exuberance / Uzzi Reiss and Martin Zucker.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 0-7434-0666-4 eISBN-978-0-7434-1947-5

1. Rejuvenation. 2. AgingPrevention. 3. HormonesTherapeutic use. 4. Longevity. 5. Health. I. Zucker, Martin. II. Title.

RA776.75.R45 2001

615.36082dc21 00-049139

First Pocket Books trade paperback printing January 2002

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Book design by Alma Orenstein
Cover design by Carolyn Lechter; photography by Chris Bayley/STONE

Printed in the U.S.A.

To all my patients who have taught me so much; to Yael, my beloved companion and advisor for thirty years; and to my children, Yfat, Jacob, and Itay.

UZZI REISS

MARTIN ZUCKER

Foreword

by Jesse Lynn Hanley, M.D., co-author of What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause: Balance Your Hormones and Your Life from Thirty to Fifty (Warner Books)

H ormones. Its a subject that has women confused and fearful. As a physician who practices wellness-oriented health care and has been using natural hormones, I predict that the book you are about to read will banish that confusion and fear and exert a major influence for many years to come. It provides a fresh opportunity to raise the level of womens health to the maximum.

This book is about knowledgedetailed, practical, how-to knowledge that is urgently needed. With this knowledge, youand women everywherehave the potential to demystify the often-puzzling hormonal cycles and restore balance to your body.

Today, women are very interested in natural hormones and are looking for answers from their physicians. This book provides those answers.

Women want to know if natural hormones are safe. They are as safe as our own hormones and certainly safer than synthetic hormones. This book gives you guidelines for using them wisely and effectively. I know from my own medical practice, where I have prescribed natural hormones for more than a dozen years, that they are the safest and most effective option available to women.

The question that really must be asked is whether the pharmaceutical hormones routinely prescribed to women are safe. These are hormone formulations often extracted from horses or concocted in test tubes. Can they possibly be safer than natural hormones that are exact replicas of what a womans own body makes? I dont think so. Research, in fact, shows that pharmaceutical hormones can have very disturbing side effects. Just read the Physicians Desk Reference (PDR)!

Doctors who have not used natural hormones often question how well they are absorbed in the body. This issue really goes beyond hormones to the fact that each of us is an individual, reacting differently to all that we take into our bodieshormones, medicines, remedies, and even food. If you and I each were to take a hormone pill with the same dosage, you might absorb five times the amount that I would. The quantity you absorb might be fine for you, and the amount I absorb fine for me. Thats individuality.

Uzzi Reiss goes to great length in this book to explain the importance of individuality. He explains in detail how to recognize your individual reactions to natural hormones, whether you take them in a pill, sublingual drops, or a gel applied to your skin. His careful, step-by-step instructions raise the practical value of this book above that of all others. He tells you what you need to know first and foremost: how to interpret your individual reactions and how to adjust your own hormone intake accordingly for maximum benefit.

Dr. Reisss book is a landmark reference, packed with the revelations of twenty years of clinical experience, patient feedback, and mounting scientific research. It brings the knowledge of natural hormone usage a quantum leap forwardfor both the female patient and her doctor.

This book also covers such important issues as nutrition and stress, which are frequently neglected when women are counseled about their health. Dr. Reiss discusses certain supplements that he has found extremely beneficial for patients and supportive of hormonal therapy. He also expresses concern over the current calcium mania, which can contribute to a deficiency in another mineral important for female health, magnesium. The book also addresses the overlooked but critical topic of environmental chemicals and how they can poison our food, health, and hormonal balance.

Dr. Reiss writes in depth about breast cancer, a condition very close to my heartboth my mother and sister died of this disease. Significantly, he makes a strong argument for the use of natural progesterone in preventing breast cancer. I use natural progesterone myself for this purpose. It may be the single most powerful agent at a womans disposal that is also simple, appropriate, and doesnt require lifestyle changes. This is vital information for women, because our own production of the hormone often declines well before menopause, leaving us without a critical element of natural protection. We used to think that the decline of estrogen before menopause caused all our problems and changes, and that the solution was to take only estrogen. Now we are realizing that for many women the drop in progesterone may be an even greater source of risks and problems. By replacing progesterone, we are restoring balance and regaining lost protection.

Many of the hormones described in the book require a prescription. Show this book to your gynecologist or family physician, and encourage her or him to read it. Nowadays, a good deal of postgraduate education is coming to doctors via their patients. And, increasingly, physicians are responding to their patients interest in natural healing. If your physician shows no interest in natural hormones, you may want to seek out another health professional who is familiar with them to serve as your health care partner. We are all unique, and we all need a little help with this new approach. In my experience, the benefits of natural hormones are so great that it is well worth the effort to find an open-minded, experienced, and interested professional. This book tells you how to find such professionals in your area and how to monitor your progress with them.