This page is the outgrowth of the online research of many dedicated posters to the newsgroup alt.support.menopause, whose hours of reading and evaluating have created an important resource for the midlife woman. Not all newsfeeds carry all newsgroups in the alt.* hierarchy; but even if you cannot reach the newsgroup from the link above, you can also read alt.support.menopause from DejaNews.
- These links were recommended by midlife women, many of whom are not health care professionals. Inclusion does not necessarily imply endorsement, and anyone reading material on these sites is encouraged to do so with a critical eye. Remember that citations from studies may not necessarily reflect the full study findings, that experiment or survey designs may be flawed, and that the creators of these web pages may be well-intentioned but misinformed. In other words, as the reader you have a responsibility to investigate all claims carefully, and to discuss any contemplated treatments with your health care provider.
Please note: Many of these links lead to pages on the Medscape site. To reach them, you must register -- there is no charge for the service.
Send suggestions for additions or reports of broken links to vlhb002@aol.com
(Who are we?) Here is a link to a series of Dejanews postings done in December 1998. Karen M, one of our regular posters, collected personal histories from a number of us and summarized them in this series of postings.
General Menopause and Women's Health Resources | Medical Searching
Bleeding and Flooding | Cancer: Breast | Cancer: Gynecological | Depression | Diabetes and Menopause | Fibroids | Grab Bag | Hormone Replacement Therapy | Hot Flashes | Hysterectomy | Libido | Newsgroups and Netiquette | Oophorectomy (removal of ovaries) | Osteoporosis | Thyroid
General Menopause and Women's Health Resources
- Menopause Online -- traditional and alternative methods
http://www.menopause-online.com/index.html
- Women's Health Forum
http://www.womenshealth.org/
- American Medical Association Women's Health Information Center
http://www.ama-assn.org/special/womh/index.htm
- Mayo Clinic Women's Health Center
http://www.mayohealth.org/mayo/common/htm/womenpg.htm
- Bandolier (England) [Bandolier is produced monthly in Oxford for the NHS R&D Directorate. It contains bullet points 9hence Bandolier) of evidence-based medicine.]
http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/index.html
- European Menopause Journal (Medscape)
http://www.medscape.com/PMSI/EMJ/public/journal.EMJ.html
- Prevention Magazine Online
http://www.healthyideas.com/
- HealthGate's Healthy Woman
http://bewell.com/healthy/woman/index.shtml
- A Friend Indeed
http://www.pangea.ca/~afi/
- Alternative Therapies for Menopausal Problems (included without endorsement)
http://www.infoxchange.net.au/wise/HEALTH/HRT2.htm
- RxMed (Coalition of Family Physicians - Ontario)
http://www.rxmed.com/index.html
- Menopause and Beyond
www.oxford.net/~tishy/beyond.html
(be sure to check the recent updates page on this site)
- The Thirty-Three Symptoms of Menopause
http://www.howdyneighbor.com/menopaus/symptoms.htm
- Monthly Meno Chart -- Keep track of all thirty-three symptoms
http://members.aol.com/vlhb002/meno/chart.html
- Recommended Reading: Many current and former readers of alt.support.menopause recommend Dr. Susan Love's Hormone Book and Sandra Coney's The Menopause Industry to provide a counterbalance to pro-hormone information disseminated by the pharmaceutical companies. Other suggested readings can be found at the links listed here:
- http://www.menopause-online.com/menobooks.htm (Menopause Online's direct connection to amazon.com)
- http://www.howdyneighbor.com/one-in-ten/MENObooks.html
- http://www.menopause.org/educat.htm#Reading
- http://www.pangea.ca/~afi/reviews/booklist.htm
- Dejanews Archive of March 1999 discussion on alternative readings
- "Hotter than a Red-Assed Bee"--A rollicking look at menopause from a New Hampshire midwife
http://www.fwhc.org/meno.htm (part one)
http://www.fwhc.org/meno2.htm (part two)
- National Women's Health Center Daily News
http://www.4woman.org/nwhic/News/
- The iVillage Menopause Site
http://www.betterhealth.com/HK/SubjectMain/0,1344,181,00.html
- General Menopause Information from the North Shore Menopause centre webpage
http://tor-pw1.netcom.ca/~faraz/facts.html
- Menopause, Let's Talk About It booklet by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada
http://sogc.medical.org/sogc_docs/common/meno/english1.htm
- New Attitudes Towards Menopause by Sheryl Weinstein first published in the March 1997 FDA Consumer
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1997/297_meno.html- Female Menopause, articles with a traditional viewpoint by Anthony Karpas,M.D. and Andrew Dott, M.D.
The What is Menopause?section is
http://www.midlife-passages.com/menopaus.htm
The What is Menopause? section is
http://www.midlife-passages.com/page33.html
- Quiz: How Can I Tell If I'm Peri-menopausal?
http://www.womens-health.com/health_center/midlife/meno_decide_assess.html
Medical Searching
- U. N. National Library of Medicine (National Institutes of Health, U.S.)--includes Medline and Medline plus
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/
- Journal Club on the Web
http://www.webcom.com/mjljweb/jrnlclb/index.html
- Medscape (you must register to use it -- registration is free)
http://www.medscape.com/Home/Topics/multispecialty/multispecialty.html
- Internet Drug Index
http://rxlist.com/
- Medsite Navigator
http://mednav.com/
- beWell.com (link to MedLine+)
http://beWELL.com/ScienceKomm's Medical Journals Search Page
http://www.sciencekomm.at/journals/medicine/med-bio.html
Bleeding and Flooding
- General
- Menorrhagia: A Clinical Update
Medical Journal of Australia
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/nov4/wood/wood.html
- Frequently Asked Questions About Abnormal Uterine Bleeding
http://www.femrx.com/aub_faq.html
- Contemporary Concepts in Managing Menorrhagia (Medscape)
http://www.medscape.com/Medscape/WomensHealth/journal/1996/v01.n12/w127.grainger/w127.grainger.html
- Hemophilia society warns MDs: bleeding disorders not a male domain (Canadian Medical Association)
http://www.cma.ca/cmaj/vol-158/issue-9/1176.htm
- Kathryn Drozdik has located an interesting checklist that you can use to quantify your bleeding when discussing it with your healthcare provider.
http://www.ices.on.ca/docs/fb1431b.htm
- The Levonorgestrel-Releasing Intrauterine System: A Contraceptive and Reproductive Health Product (also used to treat menorrhagia)
http://www.popcouncil.org/pb/pb2(4).html#Ix
- The Museum of Menstruation (yecccch!)
http://www.mum.org
- A personal history, philosophy, tips and hints
http://members.aol.com/vlhb002/meno/bleeding.html
- Fibroids
They cause heavy bleeding, they often shrivel and go quiescent at or after menopause, they used to be an automatic hysterectomy but now there are other choices.
- http://fibroids.com/introfibroids.htm
- http://www.gynsecondopinion.com/Fibroids.html
- http://gynalternatives.com/fibroids.htm
- http://www.mayohealth.org/mayo/9701/htm/fibroids.htm
- http://fibroids.org/
- http://fibroids.com/intro.htm
- http://www.obgyn.net/english/pubs/features/fibroids.htm
- http://www.hgoldfarb.com/OB-GYN.htm
- http://homefirst.com/wwwboard/messages/744.html
- http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/sim/9801/0001.html
Cancer and the Midlife Woman: Breast Cancer
- Breast Cancer Information Service
http://trfn.clpgh.org/bcis/index.html
- Breast self-exam from BCIS
http://trfn.clpgh.org/bcis/GeneralInfo/bse.html
- Other Online Resources, also from BCIS
http://trfn.clpgh.org/bcis/OtherSources/websour.html
- Mammogram evaluation, from University of California School of Medicine
http://mammography.ucsf.edu/inform/index.cfm
- Smith et al., Breast Cancer and mortality trends in Austalia: 1921-1994 (from Medical Journal of Australia)
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/jan5/smith/smith.html
- HRT and breast cancer (from Bandolier, the evidence-based treatment group at Oxford)
http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk:80/Bandolier/band24/b24-2.html
- Bone mass and the risk of breast cancer (from New England Journal of Medicine via Journal Club on the Web)
http://www.webcom.com/mjljweb/jrnlclb/vol2/a45.html
- Bone mineral density and risk of breast cancer in older women: the study of osteoporotic fractures. (From JAMA via PubMed)
http://www4.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/htbin-post/Entrez/query?form=6&db=m&uid=97047874&Dopt=r
Gynecological Cancers (Cervix, Uterine, Ovarian) and Related Issues
- Introduction to Gynecologic Oncology (William Rich, M.D., University of California/San Francisco)
http://www.gyncancer.com/
- Ovarian Cancer: Screening, treatment, and followup NIH consensus statement, 1994
http://text.nlm.nih.gov/nih/cdc/www/96txt.html
- National Ovarian Cancer Coalition -- Links
http://www.ovarian.org/m2b/m2bmain.shtml
- Ovarian Cancer (William Rich, M.D., University of California/San Francisco
http://www.gyncancer.com/ovarian-cancer.html
- Ovarian Cysts (William Rich, M.D., University of California/San Francisco)
http://www.gyncancer.com/ovarian-cysts.html
- Uterine Cancer (William Rich, M.D., University of California/San Francisco
http://www.gyncancer.com/uterus.html
- Cervical Cancer, NIH Consensus Statement
http://text.nlm.nih.gov/nih/upload-v3/CDC_Statements/Cervical/cervical.html
- Cervical Cancer (William Rich, M.D., University of California/San Francisco
http://www.gyncancer.com/cervix.html
- The Pap Test
http://www.erinet.com/fnadoc/pap.htm
- Another Pap Test link
http://www.theberries.ns.ca/BOTW_archives/paptest.html
- HPV and Cervical Dysplasia: Patient Information
http://lib-sh.lsumc.edu/fammed/pted/hpvmid.html
- What is Cervical Dysplasia?
http://www.primenet.com/~bandd/cryo/what.html
Depression
- Causality, menopause, and depression: a critical review of the literature. Louise Nicol-Smith, reporting in the British Medical Journal (1996;313:1229-32) abstract and extensive references
http://www.bmj.com/bmj/archive/7067a1.htm
- Myra Hunter's editorial content on the literature review above, posted on Dejanews -- mrogers@wwdc.com, "Women and Depresion" (subject--note typo in "depresion"), December 14, 1996.
- Gender differences in depression (Medscape)
http://www.medscape.com/Medscape/WomensHealth/journal/1997/v02.n02/w121.blehar/w121.blehar.html
- Section in gender differences article on depression and reproductive stages
http://www.medscape.com/Medscape/WomensHealth/journal/1997/v02.n02/w121.blehar/w121.blehar.html#Vul
Diabetes and Menopause (compiled by AneeBear)
- Menopause and Diabetes (General Information)
- http://www.diabetes.org/ada/menopause.asp
- http://diabeteswww.iplink.net/atoz/meno.htm
- http://www.tinman.com/diabetes/diabsex/menopaus.htm
- Diabetes, Menopause and ERT
- http://www.diabetes.org/diabetesforecast/97jun/pg47.htm
- http://www.diabetes.org/am98/annualmeeting/pressroom/ert.asp
- Premature Menopause Complication of Diabetes
Grab Bag
- The (mostly) non-American view of The Nurses' Health Mortality Study: Postmenopausal hormone therapy and mortality (Medscape)
http://www.medscape.com/PMSI/EMJ/1997/v04.n03/emj0403.02.arav/emj0403.02.arav.html
- Holy Clitoris, Batman! A new look at female physiology
http://www.newscientist.com/ns/980801/women.html
- Male menopause? Here's a book promo site (caveat emptor)
http://www.malemenopause.com/index1.html
- Hair Loss (a compilation of links)
http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/sympatico_pages/hair/hairloss.htm
- Journal of the American Medical Association theme issue on alternative medicine
http://www.ama-assn.org/sci-pubs/journals/archive/jama/vol_280/no_18/toc.htm#top
- The Woman's Guide to How to Pee Standing Up (you need to know this!)
http://www.restrooms.org/standing.html
- Strong Women Stay Young (commercial site with good exercise suggestions, recommended by Robert Ames)
http://www.strongwomen.com
Hormone Replacement Therapy / Estrogen Replacement Therapy / Ovarian Replacement Therapy
- Alternatives to Conventional Hormone Replacement Therapy
Maida Taylor, MD, MPH, FACOG
http://www.hcrc.org/cgi-bin/mfs.cgi/20/web/u7/www11417/www/contrib/taylor/menop.html
- Speech given at an ob-gyn seminar by Dr. Suzanne Montemuro on menopause alternative therapies
https://members.tripod.com/~jaffer1/article2.htm
- Estrogens by name--introductory text and table showing brand names
http://www.menopause-online.com/estrogens.htm
- Progestins by name--introductory text and table showing brand names
http://www.menopause-online.com/progestins.htm
- English brand names, etc.
http://www.exnet.com/staff/sys4/hrt.html
- Progesteins and Progesterone from A Friend Indeed
http://www.pangea.ca/~afi/volxino1/progesterone.html
- Estrogen Replacement Therapy and Heart Disease: A Discussion of the PEPI Trial (JAMA)
http://www.ama-assn.org/special/womh/library/scan/vol_1/no_1/jcr.htm
- Comparison of the Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study (HERS) Cohort with Women with Coronary Disease from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III (NHANES III)(Medscape) http://www.medscape.com/mosby/AmHeartJ/1998/v136.n01/ahj1361.14.herr/ahj1361.14.herr-01.html
- Prometrium (from rxmed.com)
http://www.rxmed.com/monographs/promet.html
- Focus on OTC "Naturals" (Menopause Management)
http://www.menopause.org/naturals.htm
- "Natural Progesterones" -- for a discussion that exposes some of the weaknesses in Dr. John Lee's arguments, see alt.support.menopause on Dejanews:
Dr. John Lee Talks
Saliva Testing
- Patient-specific decisions about hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women (JAMA)
http://www.webcom.com/mjljweb/jrnlclb/vol2/a46.html
- Hormone Replacement Therapy: Weighing the Hazards and Rewards (Medscape -- Clinician Reviews)
http://www.medscape.com/CPG/ClinReviews/1997/v07.n09/c0709.01/c0709.01.html
- Hormone Replacement Therapy: A Useful Tool in The Prevention of Coronary Artery Disease in Postmenopausal Women? (Medscape) -- includes links to other online resources
http://www.medscape.com/PMSI/EMJ/1996/v03.n02/em0302.04.moerman/em0302.04.moerman.html
- Benefits of estrogen replacement may be overblown (One abstract among many relating to heart health; scroll down to find and another with an opposing point of view)
http://www.mediconsult.com/heart/journal/content.html
- Prior to use of estrogen replacement therapy, are users healthier than non-users? (Roundtable discussion)
http://www.mediconsult.com/heart/journal/automation/962302007001.html
- Postmenopausal Hormone-Replacement Therapy -- Time for a Reappraisal? (NEJM)
http://www.nejm.org/content/1997/0336/0025/1821.asp
- Estrogen and Alzheimer's Disease: What Is the Connection? (Medscape)
http://www.medscape.com/Medscape/MentalHealth/1997/v02.n07/mh3273.jones/mh3273.jones.html
- Book Reviews from European Menopause Journal (Medscape) One on postmenopausal treatment, one on practical HRT
http://www.medscape.com/PMSI/EMJ/1995/v02.n03/em2310.leusden/em2310.leusden.html
- Pharmacokinetics of Estrogens and Hormone Replacement Therapy (Medscape)
http://www.medscape.com/PMSI/EMJ/1997/v04.n01/em0401.03.kaufman/em0401.03.kaufman.html
- Progestogens: Pharmacological Characteristics and Clinically Relevant Differences (Medscape)
http://www.medscape.com/PMSI/EMJ/1996/v03.n04/em0304.barentsen/em0304.barentsen.html
- Conjugated estrogen (Premarin) info from rxlist.com
http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/conest.htm
- Medroxyprogesterone Acetate (Provera) info from rxlist.com
http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/medrox.htm
- Cancer Facts: Menopausal Hormone Replacement Therapy (from the University of Pennsylvania's Oncolink)
http://www.oncolink.upenn.edu/pdq/600310.html
- Online quizzes for assessing risks/benefits of HRT, compiled by Kathryn Drozdik:
Hormone Replacement Therapy Annex:
Other HRT Health Concern and/or Aging Health Issue Resources
- National Institutes of Health (U.S.)
http://www.nih.gov/
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (U.S.)
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/nhlbi/nhlbi.htm
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (U.S.) Internet Links page
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/nhlbi/links.htm
- National Institute on the Aging (U.S.)
http://www.nih.gov/nia/
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (U.S.)
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/
- Diethylstilbesterol
http://www.desaction.org/
- Journal of the American Medical Association article about the recent study showing that estrogen does not help, and may hurt, women with pre-existing coronary heart disease
http://www.ama-assn.org/sci-pubs/sci-news/1998/snr0819.htm#joc80678
- DHEA: Search alt.support.menopause on Dejanews for hochs@auhs.edu, "Re: DHEA and HRT" (subject), October 25, 1997. Her original post apparently was not archived, but this posting, which echoes the original in full, has been
Hot Flashes
- A Treatment Option For Menopausal Hot Flushes: Cognitive Relaxation Therapy (Medscape)
http://www.medscape.com/PMSI/EMJ/1995/v02.n03/em2304.hunter/em2304.hunter.html- From Dejanews, an alt.support.menopause thread: Hot Flash Tips and Hints
Hysterectomy
- Hysterectomy: It can be a blessing but alternatives offer choice (Mayo Clinic)
http://www.mayohealth.org/mayo/9406/htm/hysterec.htm
- Hysterectomy: Is it really necessary?
http://womenshealth.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa112397.htm
- Hysterectomy (Women's Health Organization)
http://www.womenshealth.org/ask/hyst.htm
- Hormone Replacement and Menopausal Symptoms Following Hysterectomy (American Journal of Epidemiology)
http://www.sph.jhu.edu/pubs/jepi/nov297co/langenbe.htm
- http://www.students.haverford.edu/wmbweb/topics/hysterectomy.html
- http://www.denver-rmn.com/health/ar-hyste.htm
- Discussion of alternatives to hysterectomy
- http://www.netreach.net/~hysterectomyedu/
- http://www.healthy.net/library/articles/rbullman/hysterec.htm
- Fiona's surgical menopause site
https://members.tripod.com/fiona_51
Libido
- MikeR's Libido in Perimenopause Page
http://www.empireone.net/~mrraffer/partner/libido_in_perimenopause.html
Newsgroup and Netiquette
- http://www.primenet.com/~vez/neti.html
- http://www.netannounce.org/news.announce.newusers/
- http://www.dejanews.com/help/faq.shtml
Oophorectomy
- Oophorectomy At Hysterectomy After Age 40? A Practice That Does Not Withstand Scrutiny Winnifred Cutler, Ph,D.
http://www.Athena-Inst.com/oophorectomy.html
- Prophylactic Oophorectomy for the Prevention of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Revisited (European Menopause Journal -- Medscape)
http://www.medscape.com/PMSI/EMJ/1997/v04.n03/emj0403.05.schw/emj0403.05.schw.html
- Effectiveness Bulletin Review Osteoporosis (Bandolier)
http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/band3/b3-4.html
Osteoporosis
- Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases (from the Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases National Resource Center, National Institutes of Health, U.S.)
http://www.osteo.org/
- Diagnostics of Osteoporosis (from Priocal, a Swedish mfr. of equipment)
http://www.priocal.se/nomenclature.html
- Osteoporosis Links (also from Priocal)
http://www.priocal.se/links.html
- Preventing Hip Fractures (POEMS--Patient-oriented evidence that matters)--Physicians from Michigan State Univerity, University of Virginia, and Harrisburg (PA) Hospital Family Practice Residency)
http://jfp.msu.edu/jclub/jc0895b.htm
- Raloxifene hydrochloride -- the Evista home page
http://www.evista.com/index.html
- Two more on the Evista/ovarian cancer controversy:
http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/evista.html
http://www.pharminfo.com/pubs/msb/ralox244.html
- Fosamax Q&A
http://www.womenshealth.org/ask/fosamax.htm
- Fosamax from the Therapeutic Health Initiative, University of British Columbia (Canada)
http://www.ti.ubc.ca/pages/letter20.htm
- Search alt.support.menopause on Dejanews for subject "Interleukin 6 and osteoporosis" -- January 1998
Thyroid (compiled by "Kit")
- American Thyroid Association
http://www.thyroid.org/
- Thyroid Foundation of America
http://www.tfaweb.org/pub/tfa/index.htm
- http://endocrineweb.com/
- http://www.healthy.net/library/books/hoffman/immune/hyperthyroid.htm
- http://womenshealth.miningco.com/
- http://www.endocrineconsultants.com/page9.html
- http://thyroid.miningco.com/msub4.htm
- http://www.endocrineconsultants.com/
- http://www.excite.com/health
- http://www.pnf.org/problems.html
- http://www.midlife-passages.com/page40.html
The dedication of many regular posters to alt.support.menopause, and in particular to Pat/Crone, Kathryn Drozdik and Lianne McNeil, in compiling this list of links is gratefully acknowledged. Send new link suggestions or report broken links to vlhb002@aol.com