women,  
  in their own voices


February 20, 2009

I am a third year Women's Studies/English student at the University of ____. I am currently taking a Women's Studies course called "Women in Science." We were allowed to come up with any paper topic within this realm and I chose menstrual suppression. I started using oral contraceptives about six years ago and quickly realized that I could 'control' or suppress my period. After doing so for a couple years, I felt changes in my body which I did not like. This is why I chose my paper topic. I just finished your book in one night, and want to thank you for your brilliant insight and the feminist edge you provide. Not only will your book be a key source in my paper, I learned a tremendous amount about my own body. Your book provides insight to the way in which the female body is pathologized and I am extremely grateful that through my research I found your text.

  • T. L.

January 22, 2009
Dear Susan,

I recently finished reading your book No More Periods? The Blessings of the Curse and can't say enough in praise of the much-needed critique of society's harmful attitude toward reproductive options for women. The solid medical research in your book only serves to confirm what I have instinctively believed since I was a teenager-- that my fertility and the accompanying cycle was an empowering gift that I didn't want to tamper with. I used birth control for four or five months when I was newly married but came off due to the "side effects" of significant depression, weight gain, loss of sexual libido, and others. I will never go back!

Thank you for using the resources available to you as a medical professional to put together this enlightening, eye-opening book. It should be required reading at every gynecologist's office before a woman walks out with a prescription for a pill. Again, I cannot thank you enough for what you have written.

  • Karen McSpadden

Well, well worth reading & considering. A real find!
After a severe, near-fatal reaction to 'natural' progesterone (which seems, unfortunately, to be all the rage these days), I ran across Dr. Rako's wonderful book in my stack of hormone research. It was a delightful read and full of fascinating, pertinent information. Written in a open, likeable, conversational style, this book was also packed with eye-opening medical facts. Yes, Dr. Rako urges readers to become informed about what the Pill and other contraceptives like Depo-Provera can do to a delicate hormonal system - and for good reason! Unfortunately, I speak from bitter experience. How I wish I had encountered Dr. Rako's book long before I ever took the Pill for the first time, and even more, before I tried the Depo-Provera-esque natural progesterone! Talk about ruining your health and your life... Please, even if you don't agree with everything you read, at least take the time to inform yourself of the dangers of meddling with hormones before you trot down that road like a lamb to the slaughter."

  • Cathy in Nebraska, an avid researcher of health issues

"Common Sense!
Dr. Rako's words are a cry for common sense in a world gone mad. Period suppressions? Does this sounds right to anyone? With hormones being pushed on us for everything, and the rates of infertilty & cancer continually rising, I cannot help but to suspect a connection. Thank you for your words of reason!"

  • A., in the health industry
     

"The thoughts and ideas shared in this book present a tremendous case against period suppression - it is terrifying that pharmaceutical companies would actually presume to think that periods are something to just "do away with". Hasn't nature created this process for a reason? What effects will not having a normal menstruation have on the female body? Wonderfully presented in this clear & easy to understand book.  Dr. Rako, yours truly is a voice of reason... "

  • A reader from New York, NY


"This book was a WEALTH of information! More and more doctors are touting the use of birth control pills and the cessation of our periods as an answer to many of our gynecological ills. After reading Susan's book--as well as doing my own independent research-- I would have to agree with many of her facts. These are not just one woman's opinions, they are indeed FACTS, that are SUPPORTED--if you care to learn the truth for yourself. I think that this book is a treasure for any woman who wants to take control of her health--and doesn't mistakenly believe that her doctor 'knows all'. A definite read. Enlightening!"

  • Simone


"What every woman should know and pass onto her daughters

This book is a gift to all women, but especially to our daughters and granddaughters who may increasingly be facing pressure to use drugs to do away with their periods. As a medical professional with Masters Degrees in Public Health and Education from Harvard University, I am impressed with the thoroughness of Dr. Rako's responsible research. Finally a physician, unbiased by pharmaceutical conflicts of interest and unafraid to speak out, has done the work of laying out, in language we can all understand, that wholesale manipulation of women's normal menstrual cycle has costs to our bodies the drug companies do not want us to know about -- and that too few of our own doctors know. How many of us know that 'the shot' can cause osteoporosis even in young women -- and that the birth control pill is now known to contribute actively to cancer of the cervix? 6,000 American women -- many of them young women with young children -- will die this year of this cancer. In addition to the important well-documented health hazards of the pill, Rako draws attention to the fact that manipulating the menstrual cycle dislocates women from our fundamental nature. Finally I want to stress that this book is a balanced analysis of the pros and cons of doing away with women's periods. Dr. Rako has laid out the factors that will help each woman to make her own risk/benefit analysis, and will help those women for whom non-stop use of the birth control pill makes sense to choose this option. Thank you, Dr. Rako, for being a voice of sanity in a world focused on 'convenience' at a cost we may know only when it is too late."
 

  • A reviewer, former health writer
     

"Dr. Rako, after seeing you on Dateline and reading your book, I just put my head down on the table and cried. All the things I recognized in the book, I have experienced for the past 25 years, since my hysterectomy. I really do wonder why my very attractive husband has even stayed with me."

  • Diane

"I'm sitting in my bedroom in tears, reading your book, "The Hormone of Desire." I personally would like to thank you, Dr. Rako, for giving me some hope, because everything you are explaining in this book - I have gone through. "

  • Carolyn B.


"I have felt very defeated regarding my doctor who thinks I'm crazy, thinks it's in my mind, but I have no sexual desire. I'm in tears, but they are happy tears, because I think there's hope now."

  • Suzanne G.


"Dr. Rako, I believe you sat in my house somewhere in the corner hidden and wrote your book designed around me, as well as yourself."

  • Bertha


"Since I began the testosterone six weeks ago, I want to tell you I am great! I am really great! I have never been better."

  • Janice R.


"Dear Dr. Rako,

   I hope that this doesn't sound hysterical to you, but I've gone on for 5 years thinking that I am just abnormal, and reading your book, I know I'm not."

  • Beverly S.


"Dr. Rako, I cannot thank you enough for all the work you have done in researching this great book. Since I am in the medical field, I know there are no guarantees, but your book has given me something I had not had in almost three years: validation and hope."

  • MaryAnn


"I just read your book, "The Hormone of Desire." I wish you had written this book about ten years earlier! It should be mandatory reading for all doctors."

  • Evelyn Y.


"Until your book, I was unable to undertand why I lacked my normally very healthy sex drive. I want to start a support group in my area. I am putting an ad in our local paper for women who have read your book and are on a similar odyssey. I can't thank you enough for all of your time and incredible effort."

  • Laura M.


"I am a 61 year old woman who read your "letter to the editor" (New York Times May 3, 1994), regarding how testosterone affects menopausal women. I showed my male gynecologist your letter. He said, "Oh, yes," and changed my hormone therapy. I felt amazingly better - more energy, etc. - in only two months. Amazing! I wish you practiced on Long Island. Happy New Year!"

  • Andrea


"I just am writing to tell you that I had seen you on "The Today Show," read your book and am now using topical testosterone, and I can't thank you enough. You have just changed my life..."

  • Barbara


"I want to tell you how grateful I am for meeting you. You're doing incredible work, and I want to thank you from the deepest part of me."

  • Gloria


"I just finished reading your book, which is like a miracle from the gods."

  • Anne L.


"Thank you for writing your wonderful book. It gives me hope. I have every symptom you describe. Outwardly, I am fine. Inwardly, I am a total wreck. Thank you, Dr. Rako, for your time, your medical background and good common sense."

  • Jane


"The reality of many women's plight exists -- far more frequently than anyone realizes or admits. WHO WOULD BELIEVE THAT, IN 1997, THIS IGNORANCE EXISTS? Doctors like yourself are paving the way by opening closed doors. Thank you. "

  • Carla B.



r e p e a t   s l i d e s h o w

m o r e   a b o u t   t h e   b o o k

 

What Women Are Saying  women speak

Consultations  consultations

Workshops  publications

The Book 
Dr. Rako's books

Story behind "The Hormone of Desire"      "Hormone of Desire" Reviews
 "The Blessings of the Curse: No More Periods?"    "The Blessings of the Curse: No More Periods?" Reviews     Press Release
How These Books Came to Be  About the Author    Consultations    Upcoming  Events
Publications, Presentations & Honors    About Testosterone Deficiency in Women    Site Map

e-mail Dr. Rako

© 2012 by Susan Rako, M.D.