The buzz in the college dorms in the 1960s was, “Should we use these birth control pills? We don’t know the long-term effects.†No one knew, but we took The Pill. My generation was the guinea pigs, and the long-term effect has been to cause the unhealthiest generation of American women in history.
Then as we entered menopause, the buzz in the late ‘90s was that the huge generation of Boomers would usher in the largest number of women entering menopause. Some 37 million of us. We would need HRT to get us through it.
Through the ages, Women made the “transition†without drugs
Very thoughtful books were published on this transition, and I read them, too. What difference did the numbers make? Was Washington wary of 37 million “going crazy†through “the change†or were the pharmaceutical companies just chomping at the bit to sell more drugs? Menopause occurs with each one of us individually—it makes no difference if another 37 million women are going through the transition at the same time. It’s not a national security issue.
While beginning this passage myself, I was visiting historical cemeteries in Virginia for my daughters’ history lessons. Standing in front of grave markers of women who lived in the 1700s and 1800s, I started doing the math. Hey, these women were living into their 80s—and they did it without HRT!
The American public cannot depend upon America mass media for any balanced reportage of health alternatives. First, for the past 60 years the American public has become so dependent upon the opinions of the AMA, that to find an American reporter who has a clue about alternatives to our drug culture, they would have to have lived beyond US borders or been born into a family with fiercely independent-thinking parents.
Then there’s the very serious issue of advertising revenues in the US media. If the news department does have a clue and wants to print a story (or an edition!) that would instruct readers on taking responsibility for their own health, the business department will have the last say. With 40 percent of broadcast advertising revenues coming from pharmaceutical advertising, don’t look for any healthy insights on television.
Medicine is an art, occasionally a science
As to managing our health through menopause and aging, the importance of taking responsibility for our own health has never been more important. The medical establishment’s frequent dismissal of any treatment other than a drug is “little scientific evidence†or “not scientifically provenâ€. British and American reviews of the medical literature have found that less than 20 percent of medical procedures reported in the literature have been “scientifically testedâ€. Medicine is an art, just occasionally a science.
When my TSH (thyroid) tests came back “normal†according to the AMA standards, but my energy levels occasionally collapse, my conclusion wasn’t that I must be okay if the test was normal, but that the test isn’t being read or interpreted correctly. The population’s “norm†doesn’t help me. But if taking an herbal thyroid supplement makes me feel “normal†for me, i.e. tremendously improved, then the supplement is working. If we feel better whatever we’re taking or doing, then it is working for us. No opinion is need other than the body’s occupant— you!
In working to overcome fibromyalgia with every MD specialist in the book and every other type of health care practitioner (the ones who successfully treated me), I learned a most important lesson regarding taking care of my health: I’m an Experiment of One with anything I take, and I’m the Only One who Matters.
This is true for every one of us. The drug testing trials done for the FDA before a pharmaceutical is put on the market don’t expect that 100,000 will die annually due to prescription drugs, and another 700,000 will land in hospital ER due to drug interactions and side-effects. Each one of us, indeed, is an experiment whatever we take for our health.
Salud!
Beverly A Jensen, Ph.D.
President, www.WomensMedicineBowl.com
