* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
INTERESTING STATISTICS ABOUT WOMEN
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

• 43% of women report a sexual dysfunction. (JAMA 1999)
  
• 1/3 of women report low libido. (JAMA 1999)
  
• 50% of marriages end in divorce. (Census Bureau, www.divorcereform.org/rates.html)
  
• 3000 couples get divorced each day. (CDC)
  
• Infidelity estimates in US range from 20-50% (Lampe, P.E. (Ed). Adultery
  in the United States: Close encounters of the Sixth (or Seventh) kind.
  Buffalo: Prometheus Books 1987.
  
• One estimate rates the % of Americans who would have an affair in their
  lifetime to be as high as 70% (Marriage and Divorce Today, June 1, 1987,
  cited in Fisher, Helen E. Anatomy of Love: The Natural history of monogamy,
  adultery, and divorce.
  New York:
  WW Norton and Company, Inc., 1992, p. 86.
  
• Depression affects twice as many women as men
  
• 1/7 of women will suffer depression in their lifetime (www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/numbers.cfm)
  
• 73% of all psychiatric medications, including antidepressants, are
  prescribed to females (American Psychological Association)
  
• 43 million women take antidepressant medications (Zestra Web site)
  
• 62% of American women are overweight (CDC, www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/women.htm)
  
• 4 million American women can be classified as problem drinkers (National
  Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism www.nyu.edu/odae/womenfact.html)
  
• 1/3 Americans are sleep deprived (sleep 6 or less hours per day) (archives
  of internal medicine, www.researchmatters.harvard.edu/story.php?article_id=609)

Dearest

I wonder if the 50% that get divorce how many were women going thru menopause?

I am going through menopause and divorce. A horrible divorce. I can't put up with his crap anymore. Maybe menopause gave me the strength to leave my deceitful-adulterous husband. Anyone else having marital problems and MENopause problems at the same time?

Yvonne: You poor soul, I can't imagine going through a divorce and peri at the same time. I have a good marriage (fairly new; we married in 2004), but I can tell you this: these symptoms are stressing my marriage to the max. DH is supportive and understanding, but everyone has their limits....how many times can he hold me and say "oh, it's okay" and not have it affect him? He calls me every day at noon and asks me how I'm feeling...and 99% of the time, I'm feeling like crap. A couple of times I was having such bad panic that he actually came home from work. I've ended up in the ER twice and hospitalized once for what they thought was a heart attack, but turns out wasn't. He's come close to losing his job over me. Finally, he broke down and told his two bosses what was happening to me. They were understanding enough, but whenever I see them they act like I'm mentally fragile..you know, whispering when they talk---"Robin, dear, how ARE you? Are you feeling okay today?" Like I'll sprout horns and start convulsing on the floor right in front of them.

The 'change' of life is the single biggest stressor I've encountered in my life...and I"ve been through a lot; I'm a survivor of child abuse, I've lost several friends at a young age, had many surgeries and two big cancer scares, and I raised my daughter alone. None of it even compares to this. This makes me question my own sanity, my own ability to live day to day. It's horrible. And nobody 'out there' (I'm talking mainstrain medicine and the media) is talking about it. This must be the way gay people felt in the fifities. Sorry, I"m ranting now, I'll be done in just a minute.

If we could calcuate the financial toll this has taken on our marriages, bodies, families, jobs, etc, I'm sure the cost would be enormous. And maybe someone would do something about it. In the meantime, we suffer alone, or at least, alongside our PS sisters. I know I kind of got off track here, but your post made me really think about how much women out there are suffering...and the only medically sanctioned treatment is one that increases our risk of disease.

Meanwhile men get hair transplants and take Viagra.

Bah humbug.

Thanks for the understanding. When you ended your post by saying men can have their hair transplants and take Viagra while we women suffer; it touched one of my nerves.

My soon to be "ex" husband has taken many bottles of Viagra or Viagra-type medicine, but not with me. Who was he taking it with?! And I was willing too! Is seems like that Viagra has created some very promiscuous and arrogant men. (It's great if men can use it properly with their wives.) And he has also been spending huge amounts of money on all sorts of hair-growing products. He's been running around on me and I feel menopause, even though the symptoms are difficult, has given me the guts to say "that is it." "I'm not taking it any more."

dearest, i would like to ask you a question? if a woman took birth control pills for 25 years (like me) would that make her symptoms in peri-menopause (after getting off the pill) worse. because HRT (bioidentical) hormones did not help me at that time and that was 7 yrs. ago. i had debilitating symptoms, psychological, and i always wondered about the effect of taking the pill all those yrs. but could never get a straight answer from about the 12 physicians i have been to. pls. reply, Breann

i did. my peri-menopausal symptoms were too much for him to handle. he knows how to make money but had no idea how to deal with the chaos of menopause. i felt horribly betrayed and i believe it made everything worse. i thought he was a strong man, but he was weak so we divorced. good riddens. it was the betrayal and emotional abandonment that hurt me not love because over the last 2 yrs. of our marriage i felt no love, only anger and indifference. his lost. and you should feel the same. his lost, not yours. HUGS! Breann

yvonne:

sounds like your almost to be ex.....is going thru male menopause

boo

i'm comin' back as a man in my next life! hugs girls

<center>* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
INTERESTING STATISTICS ABOUT WOMEN
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *</center>

• 43% of women report a sexual dysfunction. (JAMA 1999) Check
  
• 1/3 of women report low libido. (JAMA 1999) Check
  
• 50% of marriages end in divorce. (Census Bureau, www.divorcereform.org/rates.html) This % would be about 90% if we included people staying in bad marriages
  
• 3000 couples get divorced each day. (CDC) Never got married, how smart am I?!
  
• Infidelity estimates in US range from 20-50% (Lampe, P.E. (Ed). Adultery
  in the United States: Close encounters of the Sixth (or Seventh) kind.
  Buffalo: Prometheus Books 1987. DOUBLE CHECK and SERVE
  
• One estimate rates the % of Americans who would have an affair in their
  lifetime to be as high as 70% (Marriage and Divorce Today, June 1, 1987,
  cited in Fisher, Helen E. Anatomy of Love: The Natural history of monogamy,
  adultery, and divorce.
  New York: WW Norton and Company, Inc., 1992, p. 86. No comment
  
• Depression affects twice as many women as men BINGO
  
• 1/7 of women will suffer depression in their lifetime (www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/numbers.cfm) Again, bingo
  
• 73% of all psychiatric medications, including antidepressants, are
  prescribed to females (American Psychological Association) Personally, I don't know any women on psych meds. It's all the men I know who are on them. Not believing this one in the yr 2009. I believe this was true 20 yrs ago
  
• 43 million women take antidepressant medications (Zestra Web site) Never took them even though I suffered severe depression and none of my female friends take them
  
• 62% of American women are overweight (CDC, www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/women.htm) Use to be, but lost it all 11 yrs ago and it never came back. Canadian's are catching up to the US in Obesity #'s
  
• 4 million American women can be classified as problem drinkers (National
  Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism www.nyu.edu/odae/womenfact.html) Again, I only know men who drink too much. I rarely drink. I SHOP instead :-)
  
• 1/3 Americans are sleep deprived (sleep 6 or less hours per day) (archives
  of internal medicine, www.researchmatters.harvard.edu/story.php?article_id=609); Work and school and life, yes I need more sleep. I think again, 20-30 yrs ago, when there were less worry about two incomes, there was less insomnia.

Great list though and interesting stats