The Estrogen Alternative - Reviews

Preventing and Reversing Arthritis Naturally - Reviews

Today's Health Alternative - Reviews

Raquel Martin and her co-author, Dr. Judi Gerstung, have performed a tremendous service to the women of America by writing The Estrogen Alternative.I believe all women will greatly benefit from reading this well-written and resource-laden book. I am sure many will identify with Raquel's experiences and frustration as she wanders through the maze of traditional medical therapy seeking relief for her menopausal symptoms.

It has been my observation that when women are presented with the information in this book, it makes sense to them and provides encouragement for change. As the authors point out, not only are the hot flashes, irregular menses, and emotional upsets relieved by natural hormone therapy, but also such conditions as insomnia, weight gain, dry skin, fatigue, osteoporosis, thinning hair, and depression. Unfortunately, the symptoms on this list, often wrongly attributed to estrogen deficiency rather than estrogen dominance, are treated by allopathic medicine with even more estrogen. This can lead to worsening of symptoms, increased bleeding, or the often unnecessary hysterectomy.

Not recognizing that many of these problems could be eliminated or controlled by Nature's counterbalance to estrogen, natural progesterone, the physician may deal with the other notable symptoms created by estrogen dominance as separate maladies, resulting in individual testing and treatment for each complaint. Depression is treated as a Prozac deficiency, water retention with a diuretic, weight gain with appetite suppressants, whereas the solution can be as simple as counteracting estrogen overload with what she is no longer able to produce on her own--namely, progesterone.

Women today need a book like this to understand what is happening to their bodies during pre-, peri-, and post-menopause and to recognize the symptoms of estrogen dominance and anovulation that are so prevalent. It is a tremendous resource to any practitioner such as myself to recommend to his patients. It is a valuable teaching tool as I try to educate my patients about the many hormonal changes that are taking place. With this knowledge, women can make informed choices, not only about natural hormone therapy, but also about exercise, diet, and vitamin and mineral supplementation. The Estrogen Alternative fulfills this need. Otherwise, my patients are at the mercy of the pharmaceutical industry and their dollars that are pumped into women's magazines and other advertising media.

Joseph S. Randall, M.D.

The Estrogen Alternative has been instrumental in changing the health care I provide to women. Where once I focused on synthetic HRT with estrogen, thinking the benefits outweighed the risks, I now strongly support the use of natural HRT. For example, the book documents the fact the estrogen replacement merely delays but does not prevent osteoporosis. Natural progesterone, with its virtual absence of side effects, makes sense. Using it in my practice (OB/GYN and fertility) has greatly improved my patients' quality of life.

Sylvia Crawley, MD

Chair, Medical Education Committee, American Nutraceutical Association
Former Professor of Medicine (Cardiology), Emory University School of Medicine
Currently in private Cardiology Practice, Atlanta, GA.

As women become more and more involved in decisions about hormone therapy, The Estrogen Alternative serves a vital need. It is very timely and addresses this increasingly complex problem. The dilemma is due, in great part, to to the many inconclusive and contradictory studies published by traditional medicinal institutions. It examines the benefits of natural progesterone supplementation for women of all ages, with the author's shared experiences making The Estrogen Alternative even more appealing. She offers educational support for women who wish to participate actively in decisions about their own care. She also presents a challenge to the physicians who, it is hoped, will become more receptive to patients wishing to consider a more natural approach.

Elizabeth Schultz, DO, FACOG

The authors of The Estrogen Alternative represent the grassroots women of the 60's. As maidens, they rekindled the cause of feminine independence; as mothers, they reclaimed the birthing of babies, and now, as matrons, they're redefining the menopausal passage. We should look forward to the continual accomplishments of these women, as they make up the largest group of "wise elders" the world has ever known. I, for one, am glad to be counted among them.

Marcia Smith, ND, PhD

As a health practitioner, I am always looking for tools that will help me empower my clients to be active participants in healing their own bodies. I was thrilled to read The Estrogen Alternative, because I instantly recognized it as a valuable resource that I could share with my clients as well as other health practitioners and friends. The writing style incorporates the research into a narrative that is easy for the lay person to read. The book is thorough and well-referenced and prepares the reader to make educated choices about her health.

Julia Busch

???? The Estrogen Alternative: Natural Hormone Therapy with Botanical Progesterone by Raquel Martin with...Judy Gerstung, D.C. If you are a menstruating woman with cramps, mood swings, or other symptoms of PMS-if you have undergone chemotherapy, are suffering joint pain, have osteoporosis, or have seriously tried to diet and still can't lose weight-if you are peri-menopausal, or post menopausal- if you are a woman and do not read this book, you are very possibly denying yourself the most important information of your physical life. Not only are the many discomforts women feel associated with excess estrogen production-a hormone which, contrary to popular advertisements, continues to be produced after menopause-but the synthetic varieties, hawked by pharmaceutical companies, can be deadly. A powerfully persuasive, well written, and extensively documented case for natural, non prescription, yam-derived progesterone that balances estrogen and actually produces it if needed. A must read if you value your health.

202 pages. 6x9. Soft-cover. ISBNO-89281-645-7. Bookstores or mail order from Healing Arts Press/Inner Traditions, $12.95 + $3.00 S/H first book + $1.00 each additional. (800) 246-8648...? Julia Busch. Reprinted from the So Young Newsletter. For more information call 1-800-SOYOUNG.

Karen J. Romano RN, BS, DC

At last - a book that answers every woman's questions about the menstrual cycle and hormone therapy and the severe problems associated with the use of synthetic estrogen supplements. The Estrogen Alternative describes an alternative - a natural hormone replacement therapy that resolves the symptoms of menstrual or menopausal disorders while greatly reducing, perhaps eliminating, the long-term risk of disease and the side effects frequently caused by use of synthetic hormones

Traditional medical care has become too much enamored with treatment based on synthetic estrogen and too often avoids dealing with the problems it causes. It is our responsibility to take care of our own health and to research our own choices. The information provided by The Estrogen Alternative finally provides us the direction and guidance we need. The book is a must for every woman to read. Talk to your doctor about it and change your life.


Top of Page
Preventing and Reversing Arthritis Naturally

 

David Getoff

Naturopath and Cllncal Nutritionist, San Diego
Reviewing both
The Estrogen Alternative
and
Preventing & Reversing Arthritis Naturally

As an educator in the holistic health field who teaches 200-300 new students each year, I try to keep abreast of the vast number of new books that are constantly barraging the health arena. Every year my students ask me to recommend titles in various areas of holistic health and I need to know which select few in each field are the good ones. As both a Naturopath and Board Certified Clinical Nutritionist in private practice, I like to suggest books to my patients which are both informative, accurate, easy to read, and comprehensively cover their topic. Ever since I first discovered Raquel's book The Estrogen Alternative , it has been my first choice for books to educate both students and patients on the topic of alternatives to prescription hormone replacement therapy. Well she's done it again. Her new book on natural therapies for arthritis is fantastic. Somehow, Raquel and her co-author, Dr. Karen Romano, have managed to supply the reader with a very useable amount of information in just about every single subject area related to arthritis. This book is an astounding encyclopedia of useable information and it succeeds in making every other book I have read on arthritis unnecessary. This one book has it all.

John Hart, MD

Preventing & Reversing Arthritis Naturally: The Untold Story contains some practical information that can bring dramatic improvement to those suffering from arthritis. It is a "user friendly" book that encourages and empowers the reader to find the cause of their joint disorders. The authors emphasize that in some cases there may be a need for a multi-disciplinary approach using natural therapies and not masking symptoms with pain killers and tranquilizers.

Ralph C. Lee, M.D.

(Dr. Lee has promoted nutrition and preventive medicine
in his family practice in Marietta, Georgia for twenty years.)

Raquel Martin and Dr. Karen Romano explain for us the basic ingredients necessary not only for good health in general, but specifically, for achieving freedom from arthritis. In the fast-paced, and frequently artificial, lifestyles we live these days, most of us have lost or forgotten the peace, stamina and exuberance of truly healthy bodies and minds. Those "vehicles of the spirit" have become congested, sluggish, and often painful. Her fascinating descriptions of nutrients, herbs (phytonutrients), exercise, body therapies, stress management and sunlight are thorough and well documented and referenced.

But perhaps her most valuable contribution is the call for courage, personal responsibility and discipline; qualities innate in all of us, that must be nurtured and developed. Her personal experience and example attests to that, and these qualities combined with knowledge can lead any of us back naturally to our birthright of vibrant health.

The concept of natural hormone replacement explained in this book is an idea whose time has come. It is a vital path to improving health and well-being. Mrs. Martin and Dr. Romano also outlines strategies for making the most of our present medical-pharmaceutical-insurance-system and suggests ideas for compassionately making it better. I enthusiastically recommend this book, not only for people with arthritis, but for anyone who wishes to explore new ways to achieve optimum health. I also recommend it to my colleagues who would like to learn more about nutrition, phytonutrients and alternative/complementary medicine.

Joel R. Robbins, D.C., N.D., M.D.

(Foreword From The Book)

Our bodies are remarkable creations. Treat them right, and they treat us right. Mistreat them, and disease is the consequence. The problem is that most are ignorant of how to properly treat the body allowing it to operate in health as it was designed. And worse, we have come to accept that the aging and falling apart process is normal, when in fact it is common. Common because most mistreat their body in a similar manner, so most fall apart in a similar manner. But, it is not normal.

Further, traditional medicine is not helping, in that they are only diagnosing problems, explaining the cellular mechanism of the disease process, applying a treatment that only covers the problem, but ignoring the cause. Diseases and illnesses are not the result of drug deficiencies. I am all for medications in life-threatening situations, but to put a patient on medication and think that all that can be done has been done is a crime.

The worst thing about drug therapy is that the patient gets relief. Why is this the worst? Because the patient is sent home to continue engaging in the same lifestyle that caused the problem for which the drug was prescribed, only to develop another health problem down the road, for which another medication is prescribed. We missed the big picture of how the body was designed to operate. Diseases and symptoms are the body effort to cope with our mistreatment of the body. Literally, the disease process is the body survival mechanism in the face of our wrongdoing....

I tell my patients, "We are sick for two reasons: ignorance and indifference. I can help you with the 'ignorant' part, but you have to tackle the indifference part by undertaking the lifestyle changes that are needed to quit mistreating your body, and give it what is needed for healing." If we are to get healthy and stay that way, we must take on the initiative to educate ourselves. This is done through the tutelage of health care practitioners, attending seminars, lectures, and studying informative books on health, such as the one you are now holding in your hands.

It is with great pleasure that I introduce this work on arthritis to you for it truly accomplishes the essence of the road to health: it educates. Raquel Martin has done a masterful job of giving the reader all the facts, from a wide variety of sources, synthesizing these together in a form that is easy to comprehend and apply. This book does not pretend to have the answer to arthritis, for there is not one answer. Rather it provides a vast array of information, giving the reader information from which to pick and choose, make their own decisions and then run with what fits their situation best. I know you will benefit greatly from the information herein. Thank you Raquel for all your hard work and your obvious desire to help others better themselves.


Top of Page

A Review by the late Chap Reaver, D.C.

Today's Health Alternative is the best book written about chiropractic for the lay person that I have ever read. Raquel Martin writes about chiropractic with the energy and enthusiasm that only a satisfied patient can bring to the work. She movingly recounts her personal recovery of health through chiropractic. Ms. Martin concludes by expressing her regret that she sacrificed years of well-being because of her prejudice against a health care system she knew nothing about. She writes, "If this book saves one person from that feeling of regret, it will have served its purpose."

If the chiropractic profession had commissioned an accomplished author to write a book about chiropractic, they would not have come closer to having as perfectly suitable a book as Today's Health Alternative.

Christopher Bird
Author of The Persecution and Trial of Gaston Naessens:
The True Story of the Effort to Suppress an Alternative Treatment for Cancer, AIDS,
and Other Immunologically Based Diseases

Chiropractic - literally to "effect by hand" - is one of a family of gentler medical arts vilified by monopolistic medicine and the pharmaceutical industry. Since its invention over a century ago by the therapeutic genius D.D. Palmer, it has proven its worth. About the history of this skill, its triumphant struggle to defend its place in the sun, its increasing recognition - even by its adversaries - as an efficient, and affordable, treatment modality, and particularly about its stunning record in bringing back thousands upon thousands of sufferers back to health, none has, or could have, written a more gripping book than one of its prime beneficiaries, Raquel Martin.

Comments of Eric D. Widen, D.P.M., D.C.

It is a privilege to be a part of Raquel Martin's ambitious undertaking. I am not aware of any other book that presents so well the subject of chiropractic from the point of view of the patient and yet gives such a comprehensive overview. The author has done an outstanding job of amassing and presenting the results of her investigation.

It is most appropriate that this book be written by someone other than a doctor of chiropractic. This field, as it grows ever more sophisticated, is so much more than any one doctor or one point of view. It is an aggregate of many different techniques, all of which are grounded in both research and clinical experience. To understand how Today's Health Alternative reflects this diversity, it is only necessary to read the author's acknowledgments and the long list of doctors who have helped to make this book a reality.

Comments of Bruce Fox, D.C., D.A.C.B.R.

The timing of this work is perfect because of the heightened public awareness of chiropractic. There is a definite need for a book of this kind, written from a lay person's perspective. The author has made an excellent attempt to examine the chiropractic field from a scientific foundation, verifying facts and then requesting critical analysis, and correction, from specialists within the field. [She] has tried to meet the layman's needs - not at a superficial, anecdotal level, but at a factual level.

Review by Ray Silverman, PhD

Raquel Martin's book, Today's Health Alternative, is an extremely well-written and informative introduction to the world of natural healing--but it is much more. [It is a] courageous work, a magnificent testimony to what it means to seek the higher way. Here is a noble soul, torn by twelve years of relentless pain and sorrow, refusing to "live with it." It is a testimony to what it means to rise above our prejudices and narrow opinions, and to strive to find a better way.

This wondrous book is certainly unusual in the field of medicine, for it is so much more than a mere repository of medical information. [It] traces the growth of an individual from darkness to light. ... Raquel Martin makes a decision ... against acquiescence, against the darkness, against a life of pain. She refuses to sit back and solemnly accept the pain that was destroying her life. Instead, she has valiantly launched a one-woman campaign against ignorance against despair, and out of these efforts she has given birth to a most useful and readable book.

... Mrs. Martin's book is an aesthetic triumph. From beginning to end one feels her love for the reader, her desire to communicate from the heart her experience and knowledge. I would urge you to give this book your most careful consideration, for here is a living testimony to the meaning of those immortal words, "The truth shall set you free."

Top of Page