Hot and Bothered: What No One Tells You About Menopause and How To Feel Like Yourself Again

When best-seller Dunn (author of How Not To Hate Your Husband After Kids and the Thurber Prize for American Humor finalist Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo??) was in her mid-40s and first experienced hot flashes, sleep disturbances, and mood swings, she conducted research and discovered that most women and, unfortunately, most physicians, do not know much about perimenopause. The symptoms are many and varied, but hot flashes, mood swings, brain fog, and sleep disturbances are among the most common. The level of estrogen in the body drops and causes changes. Many types of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) increase the risk of breast cancer, so the author was afraid of trying HRT as a treatment. New research, however, shows that using low-dose pills and/or vaginal estrogen is helpful. Dunn cautions women not to use bioidentical drugs, which are unregulated and dangerous. The author believes that nutritional regimes such as the Mediterranean diet, along with exercise and support of family, friends, therapists, and support groups are also beneficial. The book includes humorous stories and celebrity quotes, which enliven the text. There are also notes and a list of websites and associations for further information.