Before the Change: Taking Charge of Your Perimenopause

For a period of about 10 years leading to menopause, women experience a gradual decline of certain hormones, especially progesterone, which can cause everything from a few missed periods to deep feelings of depression. These symptoms of perimenopause are often mistaken, even by doctors, for signs of stress, anxiety, or heart disease, & powerful medications such as Prozac are needlessly prescribed. Gittleman explains why using these treatments, or even conventional hormone therapy, could be compared to killing a fly with a sledgehammer. She offers simple suggestions for diet & exercise that can stop symptoms cold.