No More Periods?: The Risks of Menstrual Suppression and Other Cutting-Edge Issues About Hormones and Women's Health

by Susan Rako

No More Periods?

Observing the radical shift in the medical community toward menstrual suppression as a viable option in women’s health, Dr. Rako sees not only a vast information gap for women, but a serious health crisis on the horizon. Drug companies and many health professionals are promoting the idea that it is okay, even preferable, for women to forgo their periods if they are not trying to get pregnant, and many women, when faced with the choice, are seriously considering that option. But what isn’t being discussed enough are the hazards of such suppression, risks that include osteoporosis, heart attacks, strokes, and cancer.

In No More Periods? Dr. Rako delves into the whys, hows, and musts of women’s gynecological health and takes a reasoned stand for believing that nature and our bodies have an intelligence about this critical issue. This book is a call to sanity from a woman who has become known as a devout defender of women’s health rights.


"Tampering with the hormonal climate of healthy menstruating women, including teenage girls whose lives stretch ahead for decades, for the purpose of doing away with their periods is, in a word, reckless. Manipulating women’s hormonal chemistry for the purpose of menstrual suppression threatens to be the largest uncontrolled experiment in the history of medical science. Hands down.

What the media has not conveyed, what the public has not heard, what too few health professionals know, and what every woman and her doctor must know about the hazards of menstrual suppression deserves a voice. I am determined that it will have one."—Susan Rako, M.D.

Genres: Nonfiction, Health

192 pages, Hardcover

First published April 22, 2003

Reviews

[Sara DeSantis (Hot Reads Librarian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't get into this book at all. I had high expectations for this book. The author is a doctor so I expected to read a lot of interesting and new info. I'm not sure if she did that. She made the book so hard to read. It was too much science info that an average person could not understand what was being said. I had to stop this book with two chapters left because it was too painful.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting book, parts of it were too technical for me and other parts were very... propaganda-ish. Should've reviewed this book right after I read it, but I'll try my best. Anyway, with all the drugs out there these days, women don't really have to have a menstrual period anymore. But in getting rid of the period, there are many negative effects on a woman's body. The main negative effects I got from reading the book are osteoperosis (don't ask me how the menstrual period helps with bone density), high blood pressure, and having too high levels of iron (and possibly more undiscovered, these are just the few mentioned in the beginning of the book). An interesting point in the book was that one contraceptive, Deprovera, was first tested to help women who suffered from miscarriages... that's when they discovered women wouldn't have periods for months. Some other references to cardiovascular problems, depression, and lack of sexual desire using specific contraceptives. Yeah, read the book for more detailed info. Overall, I definitely think it's better to not mess with something that's functioning properly in your body...

[Allison · Rating 1 out of 5]

i was less than impressed with this book. there was a lot of useful information about depo-provera, and i'm pretty thoroughly convinced now that i'd never ever use the shot. but the rest of the book was all sort of fluffy without much hard evidence as to why taking the pill is bad aside from, "we don't know enough about human hormones to start tampering with it." the book was more hippy-dippy "my period makes me feel empowered and men need to be more accepting of the monthly bleed" than i had hoped it would be; i was hoping for more of a scientific analysis than a girl-power rant. aside from the info on depo-provera, i didn't really learn anything from this book that i didn't already know.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this ended up being not really useful for me (don't worry, y'all, no TMI here), but it's an interesting little book for anyone who is curious about the effects of various forms of menstrual suppressing forms of birth control.

[Gina]

Not applicable to my situation. Talks about suppressing mensturation for lifestyle reasons.