The Changing Years

By Madeline Gray

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451042514
• ISBN13: 9780451042514
• Release Date: May 1970
• Publisher: Signet Book

Customer Reviews

Sensible, sound advice for the menopausal years.

Madeline Gray was a neighbor of mine when I was growing up in Amherst, MA. Though I initially met her as a child, she was wonderful company and a local 'character'. It wasn't until my mid 30's when I began going through premature menopause, did I remember this book. She had given it to my mother some 20 years earlier, and as an adult, sought it out myself. Though some of the information is outdated by today's medical standards, during the time that it was published, it was a breakthrough book for women everywhere. Detailing the physical and emotional aspects of menopause, Gray is a voice of reassurance in a time of inner turmoil for many women. She assures us that we can keep our minds, we can keep our bodies and we can keep our sex lives; addressing common fears among menopausal women. Though there is far more up to date literature on the subject now, and a bevy of sympathetic doctors full of sound medical advice, this book is one for the ages. Her reassuring dialog and personal interjections make this book a wonderful read. And for me, brings back fond memories of an old friend.

A Prescient Work and Fun to Read

I own and treasure the 1951 edition of this book. I don't know whether the 1981 reissue is exactly the same but I hope so because the first edition is looking better and better. Grey's point of view is that estrogens are great for women enduring a tough menopause (she called it the "blessed meno medicine") but should be used cautiously and no longer than really necessary. Now that some real double blind randomised placebo trials are finally being done it looks like she may have been right on target. "Menopause is not a disease" she states, "and brings with it no disease. As a result many of us take this step so easily, so comfortably, we need no help from first to last.. Our own "wisdom of the body" sees us through. "For herself, Gray explains, she desperately needed the "blessed medicine" because she'd had a surgical menopause which as she states correctly is likely to make the transition much harsher. Believe it or not she also recommends androgens for some women and discusses all the different ways to get estrogen (no patches yet but pellets, suppositories, injections, pills etc. ) You'll be astonished at how many different regimens and products were available by 1950.