Menopause For Dummies, 2nd Edition

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About the Authors

Nancy W. Hall, M.S., M.Phil., lived the menopause experience in real life as she wrote this book. In addition to delving into the most up-to-date research on perimenopause, menopause, women’s health, and treatments for menopausal symptoms, she relentlessly grilled her friends and a shocking number of complete strangers about their experiences.

Nancy received her Master’s degrees in psychology at Yale University. Her interest in various aspects of parenting led her to research and write about all sorts of issues pertaining to children’s and women’s health and work-life concerns. Nancy has been a contributing editor for both Child magazine and Parents magazine, and a frequent contributor to other parenting, women’s, and health magazines and Web sites. Her books on child development, family policy, and health include Balancing Pregnancy and Work: How to Make the Most of the Next 9 Months on the Job (Rodale, 2004).

Nancy is the mom of a son and a daughter (both keepers). When she’s not writing books and magazine articles about these and other topics, she knits, bakes artisan breads, raises bees, and studies goju ryu karate.

Marcia L. Jones, PhD, has life experience in fertility treatment, perimenopause, and menopause. In 1991, while attempting to start a family at the age of 38, she scoured bookstores searching for down-to-earth information on the likely problems and how to proceed. Her doctor directed her to the only information available at the time, photocopies of technical articles from medical journals and pamphlets written by pharmaceutical companies trying to sell product. Today, many women are delaying childbirth, so the issue of fertility fits nicely into a discussion of perimenopause and menopause. These experiences served as her primary motivation for writing this book. She became certain that women in their mid-thirties to late forties need current, unbiased, reliable information on perimenopause and menopause written for a layperson.

Thanks to the efforts of her doctor Jane Chihal, MD, a contributor to this book and a recognized expert on menopause and fertility, Dr. Jones was the proud mother of two girls ages 6 and 4.

Dr. Jones received her PhD from Southern Methodist University in anthro-pology. She led many research expeditions in the Middle East and served as an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Tulsa.

Growing weary of academia, Marcia shifted her career focus and entered the fast-paced world of software, achieving the rank of chief operating officer and co-owner of Criterion, a company that developed human-resource software for Fortune 1000 organizations. She grew Criterion from a $1.5 million company to a $10 million company and recently sold it to Peopleclick. During the past 18 years, she has written many articles on people in the workforce and taught courses in the use of human-resource technology as an adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Management at the University of Dallas.

Theresa Eichenwald has extensive experience caring for menopausal women as an internist at hospitals in New York, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and, most recently, Texas. She has taught at Albert Einstein School of Medicine and Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.

In addition to teaching and caring for patients, Dr. Eichenwald has authored a number of articles for professional journals, covering topics such as breast cancer and ovarian tumors, as well as patient education pamphlets. She is a member of the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, and in medical school participated in the American Medical Student Association Task Force on Aging.

Dedication

To David, through all the ages, and to Wilson and Meg, through all the stages.

Author’s Acknowledgments

My work could not have been accomplished without the solid foundation, wit, and wisdom of the first edition’s authors, the late Marcia L. Jones, PhD and Theresa Eichenwald, MD.

Special thanks to Leslie Connor and Sandi Kahn Shelton for always, always being there for me, and to Leslie, Sandi, and to Judy Theiss and the many other women with whom I spoke for graciously sharing their time and their own experiences. Thanks, too, to the hundreds of thousands of women who unselfishly participate every day in health studies and clinical trials that benefit millions of us. It’s not hot in here after all, but it’s nice to know it’s not just me.

A huge thank you to Marilyn Allen, who put me in the right place at precisely the right time.

The terrific Wiley Publishing staff was delightful to work with. Special thanks to Michael Lewis, who brought me on board and supported my approach to the book’s second edition. The wonderful support and spot-on advice of my project editor, Jennifer Connolly, didn’t just make it look easy — with Jenn to light the way, it really was easy.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

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