cover image Hormones, Hot Flashes, and Mood Swings: Living Through the Ups and Downs of Menopause

Hormones, Hot Flashes, and Mood Swings: Living Through the Ups and Downs of Menopause

Clark Gillespie. Harper Perennial, $16.95 (205pp) ISBN 978-0-06-055162-9

This intelligent ``companion'' for women ``struggling through the menopause years'' succinctly charts the physiological and psychological changes undergone when menstruation ends in middle age, humanely making sense of a subject too often fraught with emotion. Like many gynecologists, Gillespie--who practices obstetrics and gynecology in Little Rock, Ark., and teaches at the University of Arkansas School of Medicine--views the cessation of ovarian function as an endocrine deficiency syndrome, and strongly advocates the use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as a remedy. He also offers up-to-date counsel on such mid-life worries as breast cancer and weight and cholesterol control, and sensitively discusses sexuality in the later years. Especially refreshing, in addition to the author's evident medical expertise, is his respect for the reader, reflected in a willingness to assess, and readily criticize, current medical research and practice. (July)