I try not to miss reading any of the new books we receive about menopause, especially the ones with excellent titles like Menopocalypse (it included a full workout routine and schedule for the workout plus nutrition tips and had a very practical tone) and Menupause (which had five very specific diet plans to address individual symptoms of menopause). Another standout was The Slow Moon Climbs: The Science, History and Meaning of Menopause which delivered on exactly what the title suggests – history and meaning – written by a professor at the University of Georgia but it was a worthwhile read.  She provided context for why a life stage that has such a huge impact on half of the population has become a disease to be treated (and can still be an easy punchline). Canadian health educator and OB/GYN Jen Gunter’s The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health With Facts and Feminism is a can’t miss pick also. She is a force and has a new book coming out this January. 

I’ve just finished reading Hot and Bothered: What No One Tells You About Menopause by Jancee Dunn, someone who is known more for writing funny books and interviewing Cyndi Lauper but also wrote a book that was easy to read and enjoyable about an important subject. I’m not going to say this is the best one that I’ve read of all of them but it was one that I wish I could have shared with my own mother who went through ‘the change’ when I was a teen and had to go to our old-school (male) family doctor for help with her symptoms. He gave her fairly sound advice for the ‘80s, suggesting that she go for a walk every night after dinner and to tell us when things were bothering her. So, she did. She told my father and I that we were “getting on her last nerve” and asked us to do more of the household chores.  

Better communication is something that comes up in Jancee’s book. She provides scripts for talking to family members about the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause and for working with doctors and specialists when they aren’t taking a person’s symptoms seriously. According to her book there are thirty-four ‘common’ symptoms and she spends some time in the early chapters of her book interviewing experts to learn why there isn’t as much focus on medical education about this stage of life as there is on the earlier stages of fertility and health. Almost all of the experts that she interviews recommend that knowledge gained from researching these stages of life (whether you are currently experiencing them or know that they are in your future) makes the transition much easier.   

Of course, she devotes a whole chapter to hot flashes and some of the known treatments like hormone therapies (she includes a breathing exercise that she finds effective) as well as some medications that are currently being tested.  She shares information about herbal, natural and off-label solutions as well as cannabis and lifestyle changes that people can consider. Throughout the book she is all about suggestions, never assuming that the person reading will want to try anything she is sharing.  The tone is gently humorous, not so much that you feel like it’s a stand-up routine.   

Further chapters focus on getting sufficient rest, considering the impact on a person’s physical appearance (weight gain, changes to skin, etc.) and one amazing section entirely about brain fog and mood changes which is called “Why did I walk into this room again?” There is a quote included from an 1857 book about menopause where the doctor suggests that women experience ‘unusual peevishness’ and, there are days when that still might ring true for many.  Peevishness.  In many of the chapters she has included personal stories and quotes from celebrities to flesh out her topics.  I hadn’t realized so many people had shared their feelings publicly about menopause – Michelle Obama, Stevie Nicks, Gillian Anderson, Naomi Watts, Oprah Winfrey and Gwyneth Paltrow, Wanda Sykes. The anecdotes shared by friends are a lot easier to relate to.  One about strong emotions, shared by her friend who was in line at a grocery store (it’s on page 138) is perfection.   

More people are sharing their experiences and so much more is being written about this topic in a wide variety of publications – there was a scene in the most recent season of ‘Sex Education’ (Netflix) where two characters spoke about the stigma surrounding menopause and the anguish on their faces said so much about how it feels to not be understood.  We have access to many publications that Jancee Dunn recommends in her book through Press Reader and the downloadLibrary, if you wanted to read them yourself.  We also have access to an excellent database of medical research, called the Health and Wellness Resource Centre, which you can use to view articles, videos and audiofiles through the research page of the Digital library. The experts that Jancee spoke with suggested that having a greater depth of knowledge would make the menopause transition easier – what could be easier than accessing this information for free through your local public library?