Cracking the Menopause: While Keeping Yourself Together

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Plus, neither one is a doctor, so this is no dry medical tome that takes the life out of menopause. Nor is it a moanfest or an aspirational read (although Mariella gets inspirational about changing how menopause is viewed). It’s honest, educational and fun. A fun menopause book? I loved that it doesn’t preach or assume I know nothing about menopause. Instead, it delivers the facts and information in a very accessible and inclusive way, talking to its readers as the grown-ups we are. My quest for inclusive information about the menopause continues. This book started well, as you might expect from a journalist Mariella Frostrup opens with a thorough and detailed description of what menopause actually is, including the difference between peri-menopause and post menopause, as well as detailing the hormones whet they do for us and how their changes affect us. It then began to lose its way a little and became much more of her own particular experience of the menopause and whilst that was helpful in understanding more about her particular issues insomnia, hot flushes and brain fog, there was less space for understanding the other numerous symptoms although some are mentioned, I would have welcomed an equally deep exploration of the full range of symptoms.

What I particularly like is that lifestyle is given just as much spotlight as hormone replacement therapy. Mariella talks about how she’s upped her exercise to support the impact HRT has on helping prevent osteoporosis, for example, and like many of us, grimaces when she remembers the amount of partying she’s done in the past when she thinks about the risk now of breast cancer.It’s high time we renovated and elevated this life change. Despite the centuries of speculation and propaganda, we are not overheating or inherently cold, we are not hysterics or boiling vats of toxic poisons, we are not dried up or washed up, we are simply menopausal.

And it does it in a light-hearted way without dumbing down and without emphasising one factor or treatment over others. It is a thorough, complete guide that is a delight to read. Anyone who reads it will come away with new information and a fresh insight into the state of menopause today.

Advance Praise

This book is nothing short of revolutionary! Finally, some validation for women who've been swirling around aimlessly seeking answers in tomes of patriarchal gibberish. This book arrives at exactly the right time; a guidebook for that stage in life, previously only surviving in shadows and whispers. MENOPAUSE, at long last: a badge of honor. -- Naomi Watts It delivers this over 12 chapters, beginning by destroying the myths surrounding menopause over the centuries and looking at the science and ideas behind menopause through symptoms, HRT, diet, exercises and relationships to facing the future post-menopausal (and it’s not bleak). Frostrup and her fellow crusaders, who are “real women, campaigners, politicians, menopause experts, celebrities and journalists”, are aiming to increase pressure on the UK government to improve access to hormone replacement therapy and promote greater understanding of the impact of menopause.