OK to post criticism of an endorser?

...we try to stay open and tolerant here. Unless someone starts singing in praise of prolapse surgery...then we tend to cut them off at their knees. :)

Hello,
Please title your comments accordingly so I can find your article easily.
Don't want to miss it.
Thanks,
Daphne11

She is a gynecologist, what can we say? It is the gynecologic perspective. She has taken great heat for her very conventional (albeit interwoven with wooga-wooga, psycho-spiritual stuff) gynecologic practice. What can we say? We have to meet her where she's at. Maybe someday she will see the many things she suggests are crimes against Nature.

I must add that I am tremendously grateful to her for her original endorsements of the Whole Woman work, without which I doubt we would be yanking the rug out from under urogynecology. Thank you,Christiane!

Thank you, Surviving, for being here with us.

♥ Christine

Hello,
I've been a patient/client of Dr. Northrup (some years ago) and womentowomen (womentowomen.com) in Maine for many years. I believe Christiane may no longer be associated with womentowomen, not sure. Within the last year I
made a visit to womentowomen in Yarmouth with prolapse concerns and was not just disappointed but in disbelief with the uninformed manner with which my concerns were addressed.
I got the distinct feeling a woman gets from just about everywhere in the medical community that I had two choices. Do pelvic exercises with their physical therapists or see their surgeon at a nearby hospital for surgery. The lack of other options from this facility was not just disheartening but
somehow I felt like I didn't count, like I wasn't important enough. I think
this perception is an important one to note when it happens to us.
I was not just disappointed but astonished, in disbelief, that womentowomen whom I have counted on for two decades could have been so completely blind to other possibilities. (Thus I came home and began googling and found wholewoman). By the way, my former respect for
womentowomen was so sincere that I have typically driven hundreds of miles, rented motel room and took a friend along for a single visit.
How a medical concern that literally saved my life and my daughter's 15 years ago (chronic fatigue, Epstein Barr virus before it was really understood) could be so lost to this issue is truly puzzling and disheartening.
When I saw that Christiane Northrup had endorsed Christine's book I was puzzled and then decided that she must be either open to new knowledge or didn't want to be 'left out' in case down the road she could say 'see, I told ya', even tho' it's not her research or her work. That sounds unkind but there is a core sense of double-cross that many of us feel when the level of disregard we experience starts to register in the brain and in the body.
Maybe it's timing. It could just be that Christine and we (I'm quite new) are at the leading edge of something very exciting.
It is shocking that Dr. Northrup's book, apparently updated for 2010, is so clueless to personal prolapse care. Why bother to re-publish a book and not include this new edge information?!
Anyway... here's Dr. Northrup's website if you want to check it out. I couldn't find a way to email her, but maybe it's there.
http://www.drnorthrup.com/
As for medical miracles, she looks great with her facelift, new hair etc etc.
She rocked a lot of people's sense of comfort a while back and for that I am truly grateful to her. She needs to reaffirm her commitment to a woman's ability to listen to herself and to heal herself.
Daphne11

I am often amazed at how the "universe" works. I am an avid believer in the "Celestine Prophecy" theory. Sometimes, coincidence happen for a reason and a purpose. Around the time, that this post started on Dr Northrup, I had gone to the library and brought home a wonderful collection of books including "women's wisdom".
Some time ago, I had browsed through the book after reading WW seeing as Dr Northrup was an endorser so figure it must be OK.
I was amazed at the size of the book and think it is certainly an achievement. Like most books, there are parts you can relate to and parts that you don't. Some of the book I found a bit strange even for me - eg the use of tarot cards.
I would be pretty damn proud of myself if I could write such a comprehensive book.
So quite by coincidence, I had/have this book when this post started. I looked at it again and came up with the same feeling- awe at the size of the book and that Dr Northrup comes from a place of caring, sharing and positivity. There were parts I read that encourage me and yes there are parts that alarm me but overall, I am glad for her work.
One of the other books from the library was the one on "the new rules of posture". Christine's comment was "blah" re this book.
I am critical of various aspects of this book- appalling in parts re prolapse but you know, there were parts of it that I really liked. I liked how it was written - the "author's voice" could be felt and again I sensed that this was a woman who cared about others.
Dr Northrup's book has received a lot of posts it seems- looking back over the previous post. - like kegels. Some topics just keep coming back!
For me, I am compelled to read widely so that I know that if I want to promote WW, I can do so confident that I have not just based my opinion on one book.
Perhaps we need a forum dedicated to WW loyalists who want to share ideas or network to support a growing movement of women (and men) inspired to educate others.

Interesting. When I first realized that I was dealing with pelvic organ prolapse(s) which I now know is not so rare my reaction over time was one of quiet astonishment and disbelief. It was as if someone told me that 'the world really is flat' or as if one of my sisters
would be saying to me 'you know, Mom really is a UFO alien' and it would be proven to be the truth. I'm stunned that so much of my female training could have left out this important information.
I agree completely with your statement 'Perhaps we need a forum dedicated to WW loyalists who want to share ideas or network to support a growing movement of women (and men) inspired to educate others."
Daphne11

Dr Northrup's note on the back of Christine's book is what prompted me to buy it; but the more I thought about my recent experience at her (former?) health clinic the more I angry I felt. When I searched Dr. Northrup's website I was equally annoyed at not finding more support for pop.
I have decided that she isn't perfect and there is now a new frontier where she may not be able to go with us.
I am grateful for Dr Northrup's endorsement of Christine's book, but also wonder if her endorsement wasn't just a quick 'oh,okay, the book looks harmless.' I get the feeling that she is very busy being rich and famous now.
Daphne11

You know what this means, right? The blurb about prolapse being amenable to surgery, etc, means Dr Northrop has not had pop!

Yet.

I have this book, and refer to if often. I think you put it in a nutshell Daphne, when you said, "she isn't perfect". That is absolutely correct. She is like all of us. The mistake we make in finding a good health/sickness practitioner is to heave a giant sigh of relief, and think to ourselves, "At last, I have found the perfect doctor." Uh-uh! Wrong!

Each of us needs to continually re-assess the information we are given by any practitioner. We each need to be the boss of our own health care. None of them is above criticism. They are taking our money and doing things to our bodies. We have every right, and a very strong responsibility to ourselves to ensure that they do no harm, and that we give them full cooperation to ensure that they have all the information they need to keep us safe and help us to heal.

They are not fairy godmothers with magic wands. They are humans who have been trained by humans and use tools and substances invented by humans, to help us. Why are we so surprised when they are less than perfect?

Thanks for the criticism of Dr Northrup. It is worth discussing these issues, if just to keep us on our toes. Saying no to a doctor's advice would have been unheard of a few of decades ago, but time has shown us that they are not as infallible as we grew up believing them to be. That's life.

Louise

Christine says: 'What can we say? We have to meet her where she's at. Maybe someday she will see the many things she suggests are crimes against Nature.'

now you grown women are going to just laugh at me and that's ok. But I've had a birthday recently (32 now) and have been thinking about how I've changed over the years. I was 20 when I got married and for a long time it was a take it or leave it relationship- which was no concern of mine at the time. Now it appears we have grown up together and we've grown into each other as well. If you had told 20 something me that this change would happen I would have denied it. It's a beautiful, deep, meaningful relationship and I'm so happy 20 year old me is not the current boss :)
Interestingly enough some of my values are shifting as well and some of my views are just developing. You know, ideas of how to raise an 8 year old girl or a 7 year old boy...just things I had never thought about before that are opening and expanding my world view simply because I am going through something new.
This awareness of the changes made over the years in my thinking and my core values has allowed me to afford others a bit more grace than I previously had and inspired me to realize how much grace was afforded to me when I was less open and more headstrong.
There seems to be an openness in my soul and my heart to the inspiration provided by mundane life where there simply was not before.
All that to say, yes! Meet them where they are. That is where my current heart space lives.
We are so much more than our experiences- but at the same time we are limited in our growth by our own choice. A suggestion given in the spirit of kindness may not be well received at the time- but later, when the opening starts happening, that suggestion may inspire greatness in another human. Allowing others to come into their own in their own time is a gift. Anger towards another for their own lack of enlightenment only hurts me and shows me just how unenlightened I am still and how much more work I need to do in my own right.
Is this what people talk about when they talk about the 30s being wonderful? This deepening of understanding, empathy and love?

alemama, you pretty much summed up the last decade of my life. was just at 'open school night' for my ds's preK class. now, in my community, girls tend to marry young (18) and have babies quickly. so there I am, at age 39 with a bunch of 24 yo mommies, and their questions/criticisms of the teacher and program brought that point right home to me. at this point in my life, I dont get caught up in alot of that drama and I can see that they will grow and mature like I did (and no doubt will continue to do).
today, I accompanied my third grade son's class to a local nursing home to visit the residents before the upcoming holiday. before going inside, the teacher reminded the kids that all the people you will meet were once third graders too. I saw my son's eyes widen and we spoke about it later, that comment went in deep and allowed him to really relate to these people in their 90's who are at a much different place than he is.
meeting people where they are at, and remembering that we were either once there or will be there one day, is something I really try to keep in mind.
and I must say, my 30's were wonderful...even with the discovery of my POP!!

by Ruth Trickey.

This is the book I wanted to write, but it would've taken another lifetime. Although I see a few inconsistencies with the way I understand certain hormonal actions, etc., overall it is a huge achievement and a grand addition to any woman's health library. Ruth understands that plant medicines underlie human health, for after all, we have evolved alongside each other for millions of years. This is what is missing from so many other women's gynecologic health books. That said, she also covers conventional treatments.

It is a big, expensive book - and well worth the investment.

Christine