I was just watching the portion of the show with Dr. Braverman talking about menopause and using words like “madness and toxic hormones”. I was so proud of  Dr. Lisa taking him to task and saying how women should celebrate menopause because it’s not as if there’s any way we’re going to avoid it. (although I’m doing my best) Right now I;m in a love/hate stage with menopause. I’ll be glad not to have any more periods but I see menopause as the doorway to, “You are now OLD.” But the way Dr. Braverman spoke he made it sound like it’s a curse tpo be a woman. And that is why I was so glad to hear Dr. Lisa take such a strong stand against the words Dr. Braverman chose to use.

Again, “You go Dr. Lisa!”

Sameerah El-Amin

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I only joined this forum
in order to THANK Dr. Lisa for “celebrating” menopause. As women age,
we become increasingly invisible to our society.  But when Dr. Braveman compounded our “less than” status by
describing the natural menopausal process as mad and toxic, it was almost too much
to handle.  I will never purchase anything by this ordinary man who has so
little regard for women in all stages of life.

Thank you Dr. Lisa. You
made me proud and truly uplifted my spirits. 

Fran

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Actually, we need to have a true bioidentical hormone specialist on the show. A lot of women want to go thru menopause without help until they get the devastating symptoms.

When Dr. Lisa hits 50 and can’t sleep she may change her mind.

I was just watching this part of the show also, I couldn’t believe how demeaning that guy was with how he talked about women and menopause. I would never go to a doctor who talked about me shrivelling up, having madness and being toxic. Thank you so much Dr. Lisa for standing up to him!!! You are the best!

I disagree. He was only trying to help women, look what he did for the woman on the show, but we didn’t get to hear that because of Dr. Lisa interrupting him. If you don’t have a problem with menopause then this show was not for you. I called all my friends to watch and we learned nothing.

I am sorry but no woman wants to be called a shrivelled up prune by a man. He may have had some good information but he should have been a little more sensitive to women, this is a very hard time for women to go through and dont need to be told they are falling apart. Dr Lisa was just trying to explain that women in menopause are not falling apart, just changing.

I, too, joined this site because I felt so strongly about today’s segment. Thank you, Dr. Lisa! Thank you for sticking up for women and science surrounding menopause. I am still many years away from “the change” but I can’t believe Dr. Braverman statements! As much as I totally agree that there are things (foods, excercise, supplements, herbs) that we should include to improve health as we age, Dr. Braverman was totally offensive, even despicable in his choice of language. ‘Oh poor women with their little, dried-up peanut brains! They can’t even hold a job after 50.’ Puh-lease! Thank you, Dr. Lisa, for not backing down. Really!!!

If you hate menopause so much to listen to Dr. Braverman, go buy his book.

Menopause should be celebrated. It is a natural process! For him to say that the majority of women over 50 are unable to do their jobs because they’re “going mad” is completely ridiculous. The sad thing is that people will listen to anyone with Dr. in front of their name, no matter what is coming out of their mouths.

If he’s trying to help women so much, he needs to calm down, get his facts straight and stop offending half the planet.

Thank you Dr. Lisa for standing up for women!

While you may or may not agree with what he was saying, good manners dictate that you wait until someone stops (or at least pauses in their) speaking before you begin. That drove me NUTS. I have been peri-menopausal for years and have many of the symptoms he listed. I really wanted to hear what he was saying, but because Dr. Lisa kept interrupting, it was simply a slug-fest wtih little information being passed until Dr. Braverman got to information that she agreed with. That was endlessly frustrating for me. While she may not have agreed with him, etiquette would have me waiting until he was finished before I jumped on his theories. 

I don’t understand what you women heard, I did not hear the man being unkind to women if he were why would he spend so much time helping us out. I still want to know what he did for the woman on the show that helped so much,could you see the difference in her and how she felt now, but we will never know because of Dr. Lisa jumping down his throat about everything he said.

I think there is likely some factual basis for his findings, but his approach is completely wrong. Though, I understand the approach. Hell. We approach menstruation in the same way. The terrible bloating, the cramps, the bleeding, the odor…I don’t know a single woman in my circle who celebrates the onset of her period. She (and I) may most assuredly appreciate the process (as I do menopause), but if there’s a way to do it more comfortably, I’m all for it.

Some of you are crying that its absurd that women over 50 are suffering and being fired from work because they can no longer do their jobs. You know what? It DOES happen. It does happen quite often. I don’t think describing it as an “epidemic of madness” is really all that appropriate (just like describing PMDD as an “epidemic of madness” is rediculous), but it is a real experience for most women. If you don’t have the night sweats, the memory loss, the weight gain, the insomnia, etc…lucky you.

And, you know…there might be something to menopause affecting the brain negatively. From my readings on cholesterol and fetal brain development, the way fat is processed in the body can play a huge role in the development (or maintenance) of the brain. If menopause can make you gain weight, it obviously affects the way fat is metabolized in the body. Which would, speaking deductively, potentially affect the maintenance or function of the brain. No?

So, while I definitely agree that this doctor is in his own little world with his approach, I think there might be function behind his ideas and practice. And I really think Dr Masterson and Dr. Braverman were just on different pages of the same book. Which often happens with homeopaths and physicians.

I love the show and think the world of all the doctors on it, but Dr. Lisa was indeed rude today. Dr. Braverman had good info to share and it obviously applied well to the one person on the show who had undergone his treatment regimen. I thought he was very tactful in how he handled the interruptions and tried to impart the knowledge without becoming rude himself. Any women who thinks menopause is cause for celebration either is not there yet or has had an uncompicated transition. For those of us who have suffered through all that was mentioned today (I’m 64 and have been battling it for about 20 years), there was some new info there that might have applied to me but that I didn’t completely get. I’d give anything to be a test subject and go through the entire list of all his recommendations, just to see if there’s a way to feel better. Forget the looking better (although that would be a plus), I just want to FEEL better and have more energy and enthusiasm for life.

I wish women would talk to each other about their bodies and what is happening and maybe we could help each other out instead we are going to tv shows to help us, it’s also a shame because the doctors on tv say talk to your doctor about your problems but I have tried that and they just don’t listen I was on the Climara patch that helped me for 7 years and ask my doctor if I should come off and he said do whatever you feel is best for you. I came off and now I have problems with alot things that the patch would have helped me with.

THANK YOU Dr. Lisa, for standing up to Dr. Braverman! It is a shame that with all the technology and education he has that his medical vocabulary is so archaic and demeaning. Menopause is a scary enough as it is. We don’t need to hear someone describing the process as “toxic” and essentially “madness”.

Wow. I, too, signed up just to reply to this. Unbelievable. I am not going to repeat what all of you have said, just to say that I agree with most of you. I am 45 and in law enforcement. He makes it sound like I better hang it up when I turn 50. Really? And while I wanted to hear what he was going to say about ‘natural’ remedies, he lost me when he said women started going mad when they hit menopause…! Are you serious?

My mom passed away at 57, I have a step-mom that is 75, a former teacher that is 70, a friend’s mother that is 78 and NUMEROUS other women I can tell you about that are in FABULOUS shape mentally and physically! I wanted to reach through the TV screen and choke that man. Thank God for Travis. He saved the segment.

I know things change when you get older. Things start to fail, heredity kicks in, hair loss happens, weight loss is harder, joints start to hurt more, blahblahblah… and I agree with the ‘muscle’ exhibit. Good manners or not, he’s a pompus butt. I cannot believe he was the ‘expert’ for this topic.

I agree, thank you so much Dr. Masterson for trying to bring a scientifically based approach to balance out Braverman’s misguided approach to menopause. It is a shame that more people don’t have a background in the basic biology, anatomy and physiology sciences because it is too easy to be drawn in by pseudo science. What really needed to be mentioned was that the lifestyle changes he discussed as a “cure” for menopause were really the changes EVERYONE, both men AND women, should make to live better lives. Good nutrition, exercise, and salt in moderation are things we should ALL strive for at any age.

Perhaps you could do another segment addressing the basic biology behind menopause and other life processes? I think many women would benefit from more knowedge about how our bodies work, what hormones are at play, why we’re more at risk for certain diseases, and what we can do to live better lives. There are too many dangerous psuedo-science claims out there, it would be good to have a sound beginning from people can make their own medical decisions to suit their own needs.

I agree Dr. Lisa probably should have waited and given her opinions when Dr. Braverman was finished letting women know that we all were headed for disaster after menopause!!! If we didn’t follow his advise, we would all be fat, forgetful, out of work, useless members of society. I actually started thinking maybe there is something wrong with me that I’m not aware of because I’m not overweight, forgetful and just received a raise at my job, and I’m 58. I am alittle flabby, but then I don’t excercise. Maybe all the toxins in my brain are keeping from doing that!! Thank you Dr. Lisa for not lumbing all of us in one group!!!!

I rarely shout at the tv, but I was actually yelling “shut up”. Talk about menopausal madness! I understand completely that Dr. Lisa took issue with the phrasiology used by Dr. Braverman. I wasn’t thrilled about it myself, but I didn’t take it personally. Geez Dr Lisa…let the man talk. Didn’t you people invite him on the show? Being 50 years old and having the EXACT SAME PROBLEMS, I was glued to the screen to hear what he had to say. Dr. Lisa used up most of his airtime and things were really rushed at the end. I hardly learned anything. The Doctors should do an entire show about this subject. There are a lot of us out there who know what this woman was complaining about. I know there are many women who had problems with the words he used, but I gotta tell you…shrivelled up, madness and toxic hormones….he was right on the money…that is exactly how I feel. I really wanted to hear what he had to say and I just think Dr. Lisa could have addressed the issues at the end of the show or at some time that wasn’t in the middle of Dr. Braverman’s time.

I saw that part of the show, as well. I would have to say, given Dr.Braverman’s age I wouldn’t say he was trying to intentially demean women. I think often we get so quickly offended by folks that just don’t speak “politically correct” all of the time. I am 55 years old, believe in the “natural approach” but am finding it progressively harder and harder to deal with the lack of sleep, excessive hot flashing, memory lapsing, etc etc. I do feel that Dr. Braverman was most sensitive to the extreme menopausal woman such as myself. Yes, Dr. Lisa is correct, we should embrace each season of our lives, but we should also know when to intervene. Adult onset Diabetes Mellitus is an adult onset diabetes. Because it seems to appear more often in adulthood, one would certainly not want to say, “let’s embrace our age of diabetes”. I know this is probably not a good comparison as menopause is a definate season of our biological lives as women, but we don’t need to throw out good advice for the sake of “being offended”. Let’s give Dr.Braverman a break. He is trying to help. Perhaps those that are offended….could this also be menopause? I find myself a bit sensitive more often than not.
Thanks for letting me speak.

I have to say I was ANNOYED by Dr. Lisa….I mean why even have a guest on when all you are going to do is argue with him and say everything supporting his work has been disproven….

I certainly did not “Celebrate” OR “Embrace” Menopause. I suffered through the last 10 years of floodings, being fatigued, becoming fat, massive forgetting, fretting, sleepless and anxious nites……..and not because I did not do all the right things, BECAUSE I DID!!!…..changed my diet, exercised regularly, bio-hormone therapy, naturalpathic doctor. IT WAS NOT A PARTY!!! I DID NOT ENJOY IT!!! And what’s more, my son was going through puberty….we did have some good laughs……the teenager and the menopausal mom!!
What I am now finally enjoying is….. it all being over….Thank you God!!! I was not offended at what Dr. Braverman had to say as I certainly identified with everything he was saying and have lived through it(not that every woman does, but I for sure did).
I was however offended that Dr. Lisa was rude in the way she handled her rebuttal, and
not being able to hear from the lovely lady that had been helped. That I would have like to have heard. So my brain is up and running again, and I look back over the last 10 years and just shake my head, thankful not to be so hot that on a 10 degree day, I still have to have all the doors and windows open to cool off; and thankful not to wake up soaking wet in the morning; and thankful not to have those damnable mood swings! I am grateful to my doctors that did see me through the last 10 years, and worked hard at making them bearable. So on with the rest of my Wonderful life, that I am now truly looking forward too.
One thing I found with my hormone cream, is that is made the little lines disappear around my eyes and lips, I love it!!

The problem with Dr. Braverman was not that his studies and methods were flawed; what Dr. Lisa and those who were offended with the things he said are disputing is returning to the antiquated beliefs that woomen are going “mad”, their brains are “shriveled” and that they are incopetent to do their jobs. Women have fought very hard in the past 10 to 15 years to remove those negative words from the discussion on menopause in an attempt to help women accept, not only that what they are going through is unavoidable, but that it is a natural part of the female life cycle and that there are things we can do to make this life transition as smooth as possible. But I couldn’t hear what he was saying because the words he used made him sound like he thought  very little of women, saw them as “dried up” and  “shriveled up”, old and senile. He didn’t get the chance to state his methods because Dr. Lisa, as well she should have done, tried to get him to remove those insulting words from his vocabulary and in his belief that he was the EXPERT with the only answer he couldn’t hear the point she was trying to make. He even reiterated his insulting words with emphasis as if to say, "I’m telling you, menopause is driving ALL you women mad and you better listen to me or you’re out of hope.

That is what the women on this thread who are congratulating Dr. Lisa are referring to. We JUST got people to stop thinking of meniopausal women as crazy and here comes “the expert” to insist that the word, not only should remain in the discussion, but is accurate. I wonder how men would feel if we said that everytime one of them has his “mid-life crisis” we should consider him mentally derranged. Because that’s certainly how they appear.

I hope they get a specialist on the show soon who doesn’t view women as so contemptible. Because no matter how he feels about women that’s the view he projected. Contempt.

I just replied in the ‘Appalled’ topic section, but I felt that I need to respond and give Kudos to Dr Lisa. I am so tired of having our natural process labled as something we need fear. We adjust ourselves as we age, we work around issues, we deal with ourselves in a loving and respectful way. If we find we can’t do that right now, there are ways to do techniques to assist in Self Acceptance. maybe so many of us were so frightened because we were told we were going to have difficulties? maybe if we loved ourselves a bit more, and learned some quiet meditative techniques [ see research on psysiological effects of meditation] or prayer..or whatever comforts. But telling us we’re going mad and all those other horrible events creates a fertile environment where we might look for [ and find] what he describes. What a Medieval description..I was having a urge to get ‘bled’ to erase my ‘evil humors’.and perhaps tie a cat around my neck to ward off other symptoms. oh BTW..Love the show !!! keep up the good work !!

Thank you Dr. Lisa for standing up to Braverman and his “Madness”. He was lumping all women into one box and making it sound like Menopause is a disease. This man is a practicing doctor???? Natural body producing hormones ARE NOT toxic! To me, man made hormones ARE toxic. What does he think about MALE menopause? I’ve always believed the male “foolish forties” was just that: Male menopause which does not show exterior symptoms such as a stopping of the menses or hot flashes. I was so mad at what he was saying and so proud for your interuptions and talking over him because that helped cover up his antiquated views of women as if it was the 1920’s. You go Girl! Give those idiots hell!!!

I joined only to congratulate Dr Lisa for giving Braverman hell about his statements. Then I went back to read the comments and was indeed sorry for the women who have undergone a bad transition with menopause.

I am so blessed that although my mom underwent “surgical menopause” in her 40’s, I don’t know what a hot flash is, sweats, or any other symptom of menopause. I had a hysterectomy 27 years ago but made my GYN leave my ovaries. At 69, I could not tell you if I went through peri; menopause; post, or what. I do believe “mental attitude” has a lot to do with symptoms and intensity and yes I have blood relatives who have had symptoms. My sister-in-law’s doctor recommended an OTC product called “TRANSITIONS” by Pure Essence Labs which did wonders for her. I have shared that info with others who started taking it and their symptoms went away within a couple of weeks. Some took 2 per day (AM & PM); one cousin did 1 per day. With that knowledge, my sister-in-law who was on 2 P/D dropped to 1 and now is on 1 every other day with the same exciting results: no symptoms of sweats; hot flashes; or feeling dry skin. I don’t take them so I can only tell you of other’s experiences. Maybe it can help those of you with bad symptoms. Tatabear

Thank you Thank you Dr. Lisa