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replies were practical, useful, and factual, providing medical references, titles of medical journal articles, and book bibliographies, as well as personal experiences and encouragement. For example, one person pointed me to an article entitled "Risks of Estrogens and Progestogens" in the December 1990 issue of Maturitas, an English-language European medical journal. The author, Dr. Marc L'Hermite, found that five to seven percent of women on conjugated equine estrogens could get severe high blood pressure and that they would return to normal when the hormone-replacement therapy was withdrawn. A bibliographic reference to this article also appeared in Dr. Lonnie Barbach's book The Pause. Not one physician at my HMO had mentioned these concerns.

To obtain more information about what alternative health solutions were available and how particular products would change my body or health, I searched the Web under the keywords "menopause," "alternative healthcare," "herbs," "homeopathy," and "naturopathy." I also looked under "natural progesterone."

Through this search I found the MenoTimes, a quarterly journal published in San Rafael, Calif. I subscribed because it had the information I sought on Dr. John Lee's book Natural Progesterone: The Multiple Roles of a Remarkable Hormone.

Also through my search I found a laboratory that would test my saliva and tell me whether my hormones were balanced. Most of all, I wanted to know how taking natural progesterone would affect my fast thyroid and adrenaline-drenched body, with its low blood sugar and excess insulin production. My HMO physicians did not answer these questions, but told me that going off conjugated equine estrogen and synthetic progestin was like a diabetic going off insulin. On the Net I found physicians who answered my letters, labs that sold natural progesterone cream that I could use to prevent bone loss after menopause, and other labs that could monitor my condition until I found a doctor in my community who would listen to alternative solutions to menopausal questions.

I even found the Menopause Matters page created by Susan Czernicka, who said she "learned about herbal treatment of menopause when there were too few resources available to help her with her many symptoms and too few medical providers with open minds." She will answer questions sent to her at susan270@world.std.com.

For those who don't have Web access, there is the Menopause mailing list. To subscribe, send e-mail to listserv@ psuhmc.hmc.psu.edu

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