The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day in Luxembourg on 8 March is ‚Health and Women‘. In keeping with this theme, I would like to review a recent book that I read called The New Menopause by Mary Claire Haver, MD.  I’ve had this book on my radar for a while as my friends in the US are all talking about menopause these days – it seems to be the trendy topic amongst my age 50ish cohorts.  Dr. Haver has come out as a leading guru on this topic and has done an excellent job of promoting knowledge around menopause and opening up space for this topic to be discussed without stigma.  Although I haven’t indulged in her Instagram page, apparently she is huge on social media and has acquired quite a following all in regards to the topic of menopause.

The subtitle of her book is ‘Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts’.  I find this subtitle to be very appropriate as the book is one that can serve as a handbook, i.e. looking up specific topics through the index section to consult regarding certain health issues related to menopause.  She highlights the fact that so many health concerns that arrive from perimenopause and onward are related to a decrease in oestrogen.  The book is very thorough in pointing out what these health concerns are and the variety of ways that they can be addressed.  She talks about hormone replacement therapy, the myths and facts around the history of hormone replacement therapy; she highlights homeopathic remedies; she gives tips on nutritional suggestions and exercising.

Another handy aspect of the book is the checklists of potentially menopause related symptoms that the reader can use to track symptoms and then take to one’s own doctor to discuss and advocate for oneself on this subject. She makes clear in the book that many of the current doctors out there who are working with women in this demographic do not have the medical background to go into specifics on this topic.  To that end, we need to advocate for ourselves and help with the education around this topic, not only for ourselves but for the generations to come. The New Menopause is definitely a tool in the toolkit of menopause knowledge that I highly recommend in hopes of further educating ourselves.