Menopause Type^® E-News. Subscribe Now!

Menopause Type^® E-News. Now available for free. Subscribe Now!

Welcome from Ann Collins, CEO & President:

This website is designed to redefine menopause as a passage unique to each woman. You will learn about The Twelve Menopause Types^® and how to develop a nutritional, herbal and/or natural hormone program that is right for you!

Those two sentences, and our Mission Statement, explain what this website is all about. More important is the answers to why this website exists, and why has it undergone major reorganization and upgrades and will continue to change as needed.

Menopause Type^® E-News. Now available for free. Subscribe Now!

Mission Statement:

"Our mission is to redefine menopause as a passage unique to each woman, to meet the unique needs of each woman by recognizing her Menopause Type^®, to be the premier resource for information on therapeutic choices, and to connect women with dedicated healthcare professionals."

Why? After the first release of “What’s Your Menopause Type?” in 2000, I saw hundreds of physicians, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals going to “Menopause Type^®” lectures and very quickly discard the old-school “one-size-fits-all” approach they had been trained. They immediately would embrace the “menopause type^®“ system revealed by my husband, Joseph J. Collins, the author of the text, and speaker they had come to see. It became very clear to me that societies’ understanding of what menopause was, and how we respond to it, was in need of some major redefining.

It appeared that no-one was happy with the predominant thoughts about menopause, and that everyone was looking for a new understanding of this transition. Joseph & I found ourselves in a unique position to make a difference. We have, and will continue to redefine Menopause.

But in my mind, healthcare professionals were not enough – it would take a lot more to achieve my personal goal to “redefine menopause”. It would take women like me – women who had suffered through menopause, until the day I finally “got it” – women who really understood what my husband meant when he talked about a woman’s menopause type^®. Fortunately, it was an understanding I achieved years before the book was published.

My Story: Within six months of our marriage in 1996, I presented my husband with the ultimate challenge of his life’s work – my own menopause. Just barely into my forties and it came rushing in like hot dry, desert wind. (I used to live in Palm Desert, California). But in additional to all the “hot & dry” symptoms of menopause, I experienced a return of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms including nausea, vomiting, bloating and alternating diarrhea/constipation. Asthma symptoms also returned.

My history of uterine cancer, with a hysterectomy (without oopherectomy) at 28 years of age, and the return of asthma & IBS (both which are inflammation conditions) suggested to my husband that I had a progesterone deficient menopause type^®.

I still recall in detail, Joseph coming home in the middle of the day with laboratory results. Instead of finding me in my sewing studio, where I custom tailored, he found me nauseated and heaving over a toilet.

I remember hearing:

“You’re Menopause Type^® Eight – this will help.”

As he rubbed progesterone cream on me, I thought to myself “What is he doing? Can’t he see how sick I am?” Within minutes I felt an incredible relief. The nausea vanished, I felt cooler, calmer and very comfortable.

“Type eight?”

“Yes, you’re severely deficient in progesterone and moderately deficient in testosterone. We can help your body make its own hormones with nutrition and herbs, but the progesterone cream was quicker, and obviously the right choice at this point in time.”

“Obviously!”

Now, years later, I continue to maintain a quality life by controlling the progesterone and testosterone deficiency which is menopause type eight. Whenever I have the chance, I tell other women that their lives would be so improved once they understand their menopause type^®

Our Story: We continued to spread the word about menopause being a unique experience, with twelve major types. In 1999, an M.D. in the audience said “You need to right a book.” Having been told that a number of times, Joseph replied with a courteous “Thank you.” To which he was told, “No, I’m not complimenting you, I’m telling you, ‘You need to right a book’.’” In early 2000, the book was released.

While the book was being printed, I realized that this was a chance to make a significant difference for women. A chance to literally redefine menopause. I told Joseph I wanted to build a website to promote public awareness of menopause types® and help women find healthcare professionals in their neighborhoods who would give them the personalized care that his book teaches. I started to study “html”, and set out to build what was the first version of this website.

Our First Stumbling Block: Shortly after the release of the book, and launching of the website, physicians from around the country started signing up on our website for free. They had to agree that they would treat each women according to her unique menopause type^® and move away from the one-size-fits-all approach. That’s all we asked.

Soon, we were receiving very angry emails – from women!

These women told us that when they went to some physicians listed on our website they were quickly prescribed the standard menopause prescription – exactly what they were seeking freedom from. Yes, there were some amazing physicians and pharmacists who signed up as well. But in our desire to “connect women with dedicated healthcare professionals.” we had inadvertently promoted physicians who were still entrenched in the “one-size-fits-all” approach to menopause.

Passion and Grief: Despaired (but not defeated), I shut down my website, and put up an “Under Construction” notice. I had hoped that the healthcare professionals on the website would all be like the ones I met at Management of Menopause Type^® Seminars taught by my husband Dr. Collins. These people were all as passionate and committed as we were to “redefining menopause”. As I started to rebuild the website, I made a commitment to only list healthcare professionals that had been to a Management of Menopause Type^® Seminar taught by Dr. Collins. These were full day workshops that brought professionals through every step of managing a woman based on her unique menopause type^®.

Though we always had a great turn out at these seminars, I was hoping we could find a way to get more trained professionals – enough to cover the entire country. If a doctor said “I read the book!” was that enough? Did I really have to insist that some training take place before posting a professional on the website?

I clearly remember, during a break at a 2001 conference held in Atlanta, I saw one of the attendees standing off by himself; very sad and overwhelmed, in apparent grief. I remember thinking “Did he just get a phone call with bad news about some-one close to him?” I approached him to see if he was okay. He looked at me with tears in his eyes and said “How come no-one ever taught us this stuff before? I’m sitting in the back of the room listening to your husband and studying his work, then I realize – I’ve been poisoning women for years.” He actually sobbed and said “I think I’ve actually killed some women with those hormones I used to prescribe!! God forgive me!” I stood in stunned silence.

How do you respond to something like that? I just stayed there, waiting for God to answer his prayer. The gentleman shook himself, took a deep breath, looked at me and said; “It’s okay. I know what to do from now on – that’s what matters.” He stood himself up straight while his face turned from grief towards determination. He looked me in the eyes and said; “I’m not the only one that was doing it wrong! You guys have a lot of work to do! - Tell your husband to keep on teaching. His message was hard to accept – but it came through! I’ll never practice medicine like I did before I came to this meeting.”

Setting a New Standard: As he walked away I felt both sadness and joy. Sad that his epiphany had been so painful, yet joyful that it had been so transforming.

Later that day, I told my husband about the interaction I had with one of his attendees. I also shared that countless others had approached me throughout the day to report similar changes in their understanding of women’s health. He had experienced the same response from the group. And that was just the first day of a two and a half day conference dedicated fully toward Management of Menopause Type^®.

It was at that conference that I realized that I did have a commitment to connect women with only dedicated healthcare professionals. It was not enough for some-one to say “I read the book!” Women had the right to expect a little more from their healthcare providers. It was okay to require some training before posting a professional on my website – in fact, as I recall a number of angry emails had actually asked for such a requirement. The two and a half day Conference was converted to a multi-module on-line Program.

The standard of care in managing women going through menopause had been raised to a new level. We are now able to improve the quality of life and decrease the risk of disease. This website is an expanding catalyst for change. Every healthcare professional listed on this website has made a committed effort to redefine menopause as an experience unique to each woman, and to treat each woman as a unique individual.

What Women Want: In 2002 the book was re-released as a paperback titled “Discover Your Menopause Type”. Page 54 was completely rewritten to include information on how to use blood tests to determine your menopause type^®. This was a rare event. Typically, when a book is converted to paperback there are no changes made in the book. However, we had found out that even though the readers appreciated Dr Collins’ insights into salivary hormone testing they really wanted to know about blood tests as well. Women wanted more information; they wanted all their choices to be available.

What Women Want & WWW Changes: Dr. Collins continued to travel throughout North America. He has spoken to thousands of professionals though his seminars and countless women through public workshops. We realized that even though his traveling took its toll on him, it gave him a much broader view of what women want. Dr. Collins answered hundreds (if not thousands) of emails coming into our website from both professionals and the public. Though he couldn’t answer everyone (at times he had to wean it down to every other one or every third one) we saved every email, and occasionally have time to do back-logged emails. These emails again give Dr. Collins an opportunity to learn, on an international level, what women want. As his experiences grew, his insights increased, and his teaching and practice became more dynamic, yet more fluid, and easier to teach.

During these times of change, Joseph and I relocated to North of Atlanta and established an integrative healthcare clinic. Working with him at the clinic has given me personal insights into what women want through a woman’s perspective, and allowed me to participate to some degree. My experiences began to challenge my previous thought on how this website should be presented, and what we should offer on the website. Just as the book had to be “upgraded”, I began to realize the website was in need of some serious reorganization upgrading. I needed to change my ideas about what the website was to be like, and redesign it to provide what women want.

Dr. Collins is now on sabbatical from full time clinical practice. His attention is given to reading research papers, acting as advisor and teacher to many, and providing educational support to YourMenopauseType.com and other educational ventures.

My personal commitment is to optimize this website so that it is entirely to fulfill our mission statement and redefine menopause as a passage unique to each woman, meet the unique needs of each woman by recognizing her Menopause Type^®, to be the premier resource for information on therapeutic choices, and to connect women with dedicated healthcare professionals. You can see some of the most recent changes listed below.

I want to thank everyone who comes to this site for the longstanding encouragement and support and I look forward to your continued feedback and encouragement. Stay well.

God Bless,

Ann Collins, CEO & President, YourMenopauseType.com, Inc.

YourMenopauseType.com:

Changes to this website are in response to feedback and requests from women and healthcare professionals. Every change and upgrade has been given considerable thought before implementation. A number of additional significant changes are in development at this time, and will be announced when released.

Ann Collins, CEO & President. YourMenopauseType.com has Ann Collins taking on the roles of CEO & President. As the CEO, Ann establishes the strategy and vision for the company & determines where everyone will focus their efforts. As President, she oversees operations and activities to achieve the goals that YourMenopauseType.com has envisioned. She has delegated and continues to develop an advisory team support her in her roles at YourMenopauseType.com. As a company that supports the quality of life for peri-menopause and post-menopause women, the appointment of woman in this age group as CEO & President is congruent with the company’s goals and vision.

Your Menopause Type^® Professional Protocol Templates May Be viewed by The Public. For years, professional protocols were only available to healthcare professionals. Now, the public has the ability to view them. They have been integrated into the On-Line Menopause Type® Questionnaire, and are also available directly for women who already know their menopause type through the Wellness Protocols. These protocols include suggested therapeutics for each Menopause Type^®. Your healthcare professional may customize the therapy to meet you unique needs. Remember, a template is like a checklist, it includes important points that should be considered but does not represent your actual therapy – that is best done with a healthcare professional trained in the management of Menopause Types^®. These protocol templates show which of the Menopause Type^® Formulations may be best for each Menopause Type^®.

Additional protocols available to healthcare professionals only may contain differential diagnostic, clinical algorithms & ICD codes; covering material beyond the scope of public protocols. Many of these advanced protocols, such as Prescribing Bioidentical Hormones for Each Menopause Type^®, are only available to healthcare professionals who have completed the course of study; The Management of Menopause Types^®.

Professional & Public features are separated. Features that are presented primarily for healthcare professionals take up less space in the public features. Public Education areas will have minimal mention of clinical program and features, and any such mention is off to the side or at the bottom of public education pages. Professional Clinical areas will have minimal posting of public education materials, except to demonstrate how they support a clinical practice. The home page demonstrates this separation of features by having healthcare professionals’ features on one side, and women features on the other.

Connecting women with dedicated healthcare professionals. Connecting women with professionals who have completed the Management of Menopause Type^® Program has always been our intent and mission. New policies now encourage this even further as referral links are expanded throughout the Public Education areas, and added to public features. To meet the continued request for healthcare professional trained in the Management of Menopause Type^® Program, outreaches into underserved parts of the country have been increased. Find a Healthcare Professional Now.

Physicians: YourMenopauseType.com has invited physicians and other healthcare professionals to join us in our efforts to establish a nationwide network of healthcare professions committed to meeting the unique needs of each woman by completing the Management of Menopause Type^®Program. To find a local professional trained in the Management of Menopause Type^® please Find a Physician Now.

Pharmacists: YourMenopauseType.com has partnered with pharmacists around the country who have completed the Management of Menopause Type^®Program. These pharmacists are committed to treating your unique Menopause Type^®. To find a pharmacist trained in the Management of Menopause Type^® please Choose a Pharmacist Now.

Women: Be sure to take the Managing Your Menopause Type^® Educational Class

Dr. Joseph Collins, ND discovered the 12 major menopause types^®. He is the author of What’s Your Menopause Type?, the first book to help women determine their unique menopause type^® and learn how to improve their quality of life and decrease their risk of disease based on their unique needs. He updated the book as Discover Your Menopause Type in 2002. He is also Co-Founder of YourMenopauseType.com, Inc. Dr. Collins and his wife, Ann Collins, CEO & Co-Founder of YourMenopauseType.com, Inc. live North of Atlanta, Georgia.

Learn more about
Dr. Collins.

Take a scientific tour of Your Hormones and learn how your body makes estradiol, testosterone, progesterone and many other hormones. Discover the actions that your hormones have on your brain, heart, bones, mood, blood sugar, skin and more.

Actions of Estradiol

Actions of Progesterone

Actions of Testosterone

We hope you take your time, look around and please tell other women & other healthcare professionals about our site. Take a moment to see our entire Table of Contents.

This internet site is best viewed in Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Menopause Type® E-News. Now available for free. Subscribe Now!

Menopause Type^® E-News. Now available for free. Subscribe Now!