Navigating the net can be confusing and disheartening. When you google the word menopause, you are bombarded with almost 10 million results. (9,680,000 to be exact.) Sheesh! Where does one start? How do we find good information?
Googling menopause blogs is not much more helpful. The top results are blogs that have few or new entries for several months. Sadly, Sue Richards of the top result, My Menopause Blog, has Parkinson’s disease and is unable to blog at this time. Google is woefully behind.
Add to that the overwhelming number of blogs and sites that are moderated by drug companies or selling something and it is no wonder that menopausal women are hard pressed to find good information on the net. The whole process just wears us down and we have to head to the kitchen for something chocolate.
So to save my goddess sisters from frustration and meltdown, I’ve compiled a list of what I believe are the best websites and blogs for women of a certain age. (Besides our own Menopause Goddess Blog, of course.) Here are the first few you will want to check out. Feel free to celebrate with the aforementioned chocolate.
Women in Balance
Women in Balance ( http://www.womeninbalance.org/) is a national, nonprofit organization whose mission is to empower women to take charge of their hormone health.
Education is a mainstay of this site. Not affiliated with any other group, they offer unbiased information from a multitude of sources. Their site also offers a healthcare practitioner finder. Subscribe to their monthly newsletter and watch for their one day Hormone Education days in a city near you. Last year’s hugely successful venues were Portland OR and Tampa FL.
They also publish selected entries from our Menopause Goddess Blog in the monthly newsletter. However, I loved and followed their site long before they asked.
I especially resonate with this philosophy from their Vision statement:
Knowledge is power. Balance is everything.
Hear, hear.
Vibrant Nation
Vibrant Nation (VibrantNation.com) is an online community dedicated to women 50 and older. Here’s an excerpt from their “About Us” description:
“At Vibrant Nation, these women (whom we’ve named “Vibrant Women”) can look for tips, share information, and join in smart conversations about work, style, relationships, wellness, books, and more.”
It’s a very user friendly site, where you can start a discussion or conversation easily. Or you can just “lurk” and read what other women are saying. Topics are broken up into the following:
# work & money
# fashion & beauty
# family & relationships
# love & sex
# health & fitness
# books
# technology & internet
# spirituality
# home & garden
# giving back
# going green
# food & drink
# arts & entertainment
# travel
# news & politics
They partner with all manner of vibrant women bloggers in the Blog Circle and are growing a real voice in the marketplace, making women over 50 a force to be reckoned with.
Lastly, I love the name. Vibrant. Yes, we are.
Minnie Pauz
Humor is what saves us during the menopause journey, so the third site we’ll highlight in this blog entry is menopause cartoons. minniepauz. com Hilarious and all too true, cartoon heroine Minnie Pauz says “If you don’t get it, You ain’t there yet.”
You can subscribe to the newsletter to get the latest cartoon. The moderator also has a good blog and a bulletin board where women can post issues and dialogue with one another. I personally found the bulletin board format a little confusing and “busy”, so it wasn’t my favorite part of the site.
I’ll be sharing more cyberspace gold in upcoming blog entries. For now, check these out and let me know what you think or share your favorite sites with us here at Menopause Goddess Blog
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Hi Lynette. My name is Michele AKA the Bodaciousboomer. I wanted to let you know how much I enjoy visiting your site. I’ve been coming him for awhile now, way before I became a member of the blog circle at Vibrant Nation. I just wanted to let you know that I’m adding you to my blogroll.
Hi Lynette,
I’m a first time blogger and recently met the Women In Balance team at the Natural Products Expo. Currently in my 14th year of menopause symptoms I created a small home based gift business about 5 years ago. Got Menopause? Got Humor? is my favorite saying. My refrigerator magnets, greeting cards, door mats and a sign have been enjoyed by many and now I would like to share with you as well. The Pro-Gest ‘magic sauce’ (as my husband puts it) started working for me almost instantly and has kept my hot flashes mostly at bay…and the night sweats (arent’ they just the loveliest…) to just a couple at night. It’s the first treatment I have ever tried, as anti-depressants and cancer causing treatments were what was recommended by my doctor. I am grateful to have found these wonderful women at ‘Women in Balance’ and shared my small gift line with them. They recommended I contact you. Here I am! I look forward to receiving emails and conversing with all women in this stage of life. Thank God for wine. 🙂
Irene
Welcome sister goddess! Delighted to have you with us. We can always laugh more! (FYI Irene’s web address is http://4honeybunch2.com/ ) I’m going to check it out!
“Or you can just “lurk” and read what other women are saying.”
Can about it more?
I always like to read about other women’s journeys through menopause. Helps to not feel so alone in this!