I just recently came across and read a book, "The Hormone of Desire" by Dr Susan Rako. She is a Harvard trained Boston based psychiatrist that wrote this book almost 20 years ago. Created out of her own experience, addressed to women and to their doctors, this book redefines the concept of hormone replacement therapy to include testosterone for the large population of woman who need it for the maintenance of vital and sexual energy-whether their testosterone deficiency has been caused by natural aging and menopause, surgical removal of ovaries, or the effects of chemotherapy.

She states in the beginning of the book,"My experience began like that of many women approaching menopause. I have always been comfortable with my body's female manifestations and rhythms. I had expected to go through menopause "naturally" without the the use of hormones. When I was 47 still having menstrual periods-irregular-I could not make sense of loss of general vital energy, loss and thinning of hair, and loss of sexual energy I experienced. To say that I was lacking a feeling of well-being was an understatement.
In a search to learn what I could find about loss of sexual and vital energy at menopause, I became very familiar with the stacks of Harvard's Countway Medical Library. The data was there. But it didn't say estrogen was what I needed. It said testosterone.
I soon learned that research has shown:
1. A woman's normal physiology includes the production of a critical amount of testosterone, essential to her normal sexual development, to the healthy functioning of virtually all tissues in her body, and to her experience of vital energy and sexual libido.
2. This critical amount of testosterone decreases after menopause, in many women resulting in a loss of vital energy and sexual libido."

And that is just the first couple of paragraphs at the beginning of the book. I wanted to share this book because it helped me so much. She not only goes deeply into the symptoms and what to expect in our 40's, 50's and beyond from deficient testosterone levels, but provides solutions. There is so much information out there and available for men and testosterone replacement, but you really have to dig to find information for women. This book is a great place to start.

I am not a doctor and would never give any medical advice. But I do take my health into my own hands and find solutions to any and everything that pertains to me living a vibrant, healthy, satisfying   happy life.