On August 30, 1999 HotFlash!, the perimenopause/menopause web site and online support group, was featured in USA Today.  The article concerned soy supplements and their roles in helping with the symptoms of perimenopause/menopause. The USA Today health reporter, Kim Painter, contacted me about this project. We discussed all therapy options, how today's woman look at this time of change, and how best to make the second half of our lives as good, and even better than the first half.

HotFlash member, Kathy G sprinkling soy on her cereal in the USA today article In a portion of the article on USAtoday it says: "There is a very large interest in this," says Sue Spataro, a registered nurse from Charlotte, N.C., who founded HotFlash, an on-line menopause support group. "A lot of women would rather do this as naturally as possible." Kathy Garre-Ayars, 52, a support-group member from Bethany, Conn., may be a typical soy user. She says she tried prescription hormones for three years to battle her hot flashes, sleeplessness and moodiness, but "it just wasn't working." She felt "spacey," she says, and gained weight. More recently, she has tried sprinkling some soy protein on her oatmeal or drinking an occasional soy shake.

We not only got noticed by this national newspaper we also had our own HotFlash! online support  group member Kathy G. interviewed and photographed for the article.

This was an extraordinary experience.  It elevated and promoted women's health in a national newspaper.  This article helped thousands of women and encouraged others to seriously look at women's health in a meaningful and substantial way.  It gave notice to the importance of women helping women, it gave The HotFlash! Sisterhood the recognition it deserves and needs.

This should encourage all of us to lend our support and help to all the women in our corner of the world.  Look out for sister HotFlashers who could use some help.  This may mean doing something very simple like asking her how she feels, telling her about HotFlash!, and just listening.  We have an awesome responsibility here, for ourselves, for each other and most importantly for the next generation of HotFlashers!



As my hero, Mister Rogers says, It's a beautiful day in our neighborhood, in the HotFlash! neighborhood.

Do you think soy can help you?
See the

Sue's Soy Kitchen
Have you thought about soy?
Stop by our kitchen where we have prepared some tasty treats which are healthy too!
"Two soy beans up! - - Way up!"
- - Soybean Entertainment Weekly
""I can't believe I ate the whole thing!"
- - Soy & Tofu Times

Could It Be...Perimenopause?
click here to find out more
by Steven R. Goldstein, Laurie Ashner
see the interview with Dr Goldstein

In clear, supportive prose, Goldstein offers no-baloney advice. "Today's perimenopausal women has neither the time nor the patience to go through four to fifteen years of symptoms without relief," he says. He fully delineates the roles of various hormones, how to determine if you're in perimenopause or not, as well as how to treat the various symptoms to gain control over your life. He's a big advocate of low- and ultra-low-dose birth-control pills: "There is nothing inherently advantageous about bursting the capsule of your ovary and having to repair it each month. There's no reason for having fluctuating levels of hormones floating around unless you want to have a baby." He also recommends some natural and herbal treatments (he tells which ones are more appropriate for menopausal or postmenopausal women, and which are worthless or even dangerous). He's also a big promoter of sonohysterography, a type of ultrasound test that he says could prevent up to three-fourths of all emergency-room visits made by women with excessive uterine bleeding.