Book Excerpt: 'The Hurried Woman'

Dec. 10 -- In his book, The Hurried Woman, Dr. Brent W. Bost argues that 60 million American women between the ages of 25 and 55 face a modern-day epidemic that he calls "Hurried Woman Syndrome." These women are fatigued, they're gaining weight, and their sex drive has gone downhill.

Here is an excerpt from his book, The Hurried Woman: Conquer Fatigue, Achieve Successful Lifelong Weight Management, and Rekindle the Fire in Your Relationships. See the Web link in the right column of this page to learn more about the symptoms, and to take a quiz.

Introduction

Are you a Hurried Woman? (You probably aren't if you have time to stop and read this! But, you obviously thought you might be, that's why you're here. Perhaps the title sounded like something "familiar" in your sub-conscious mind). Well, you're here now, read on and see if you are or you aren't one.

As an Obstetrician/Gynecologist, my day is filled with Hurried Women. But, they usually don't complain about being "hurried", in fact the office visit usually starts out something like this: "Hello, Mrs. Culpepper. (The names have been changed to protect the innocent.) How are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm fine, Dr. Bost." (She sounds sincere, but her speech trails off a bit at the end — a hint that there's more than meets the ear here.)

"Now, Connie, don't say it unless you mean it. You know you can tell me the 'real untold story'."

"Okay, doctor. I just haven't been feeling myself lately. I'm tired all the time, I can't seem to get this weight off, and … well … I … "

"You have no sex drive?"

"Right! (She sounds relieved to finally have it out in the open.) Zip! Nada! None! I just don't feel like having sex most of the time. Once we get started it's okay, but I'm not the one who initiates things anymore. What do you think is wrong?"

"There are some tests we need to run to rule out other medical explanations for your symptoms, but I suspect from what you're telling me that you are suffering from the Hurried Woman Syndrome."

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"Hurried Woman Syndrome! What's that?" (Some doubt has begun to creep into her voice.)

"Let me explain it to you first, and then I think you'll begin to understand … "

The Hurried Woman usually has complaints in one or more of three major areas:

1) Fatigue or "down" mood — " I'm tired all the time and I don't know why,""I feel 'down' a lot of times even when things are going okay," "I just can't seem to get a good night's sleep."

2) Weight Gain — "I eat like I used to, but I keep gaining weight," "I exercise a lot, but I can't get this weight off," "I'm too tired to exercise." ( triggered by #1)

3) Low Sex Drive — "It's not that I don't love my husband, but …,""I'm too tired to have sex most nights" (#1 strikes again!), "I don't feel sexy anymore" (the old "2 -