I want to dedicate this page to Susie Hadas – inventor of ‘Coldfront’. I found out about Susie and Coldfront by happenstance while researching menopause for this site. I’m so excited about Coldfront and want to thank Susie for inventing a product to help women (from all walks of life) endure menopause/hot flashes in a safe and hormone-free way.
Susie is a pioneer in the truest sense of the word. Pioneer is defined as ‘One who opens up new areas of thought, research, or development’. She is a pioneer in one of the most significant areas of women’s health – menopause and the much dreaded hot flashes that accompany it. I thank Susie Hadas from the bottom of my heart.
I never gave menopause a thought until I underwent a total hysterectomy in 2007. I woke up from surgery to a find myself suddenly in the midst of ‘menopause’. To make matters worse, I didn’t need surgery nor did I consent to it. Thus my long journey to understand hysterectomy, menopause, hormones, etc. began.
I’ve spent the better part of the last five years desperately searching for answers – answers for me and for all women really. I built my web site as a way to document my journey as I continue to meet womenen enduring perimenopause, menopause, the aftermath of hysterectomy, castration, hormone replacement therapy, etc.
The more I learn, the more I'm convinced that women must take charge of their own health. We simply can’t rely on doctors to do that for us. The truth is that most doctors are under extreme financial pressure and it’s often just too easy for them to recommend expensive procedures/surgeries/hormones, etc. for conditions which can be treated ‘alternatively’.
Research in women’s health issues remains inconsistent at best. Many times, women wind up being experimental ‘guinea pigs’ via surgery and hormones without ever being told of all the potentially life-shattering risks to which they are being exposed.
Hysterectomy and castration (and subsequent HRT) are certainly examples of this. Below are some disturbing facts about hysterectomy. (Keep in mind that hysterectomy brings on instant menopause symptoms/hot flashes).
Hysterectomy is the second most performed surgery in the U.S.; making the U.S. the world leader. http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/WomensRH/Hysterectomy.htm Yet,
Hysterectomy is considered to be unnecessary approximately 90% of the time. http://www.amazon.com/The-Hysterectomy-Hoax-Hysterectomies-Unnecessary/dp/0970090811
Ovary removal is performed approximately 75% of the time when a woman undergoes a hysterectomy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hysterectemy
Ovary removal is known as female ‘castration’. Doctors purposely do not use this term but it is the correct medical term. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oophorectomy
Living in a castrated state is no fun by any means. In 1985, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it constitutes ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ to surgically castrate convicted sex offenders. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/1997/07/the_unkindest_cut.htmlYet,
Yet, gynecologists surgically castrate approximately half a million innocent and unsuspecting women each year – women who trusted their doctor to ‘first do no harm’.
Currently, over half a million hysterectomies are performed each year in the U.S. Consequently, thousands of women are literally pushed into menopause within hours rather than years. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001896/
For this reason, women in their twenties, thirties and forties find themselves contending with all the dreaded symptoms of menopause; including hot flashes. Hot flashes are difficult when going through natural menopause. Hot flashes are beyond difficult when going through surgical menopause years earlier than nature intended.
So, for these women, hot flashes can serve as a constant reminder of what’s been taken or lost too soon. Therefore, hot flashes can become both physically and mentally incapacitating. Other than hormones and anti-depressants, women have had few options in regard to coping… Now, there’s Coldfront! This product has the potential to change the world - one woman at a time.
