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538 reviews for:
The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts
Mary Claire Haver
4.2 AVERAGE
538 reviews for:
The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change with Purpose, Power, and Facts
Mary Claire Haver
4.2 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
fast-paced
I've been following Dr. Haver on Instagram for a while, and I had learned a lot from her just from that. I can call myself a fan, and when I saw her book, I knew I wanted to read it, especially since I was in menopause and finally able to say it without feeling weird about it (like, when did I get old enough to say that about myself???).
The book was due back at the library within a matter of hours tonight, so I read it faster than I normally would, faster than I would've liked. I need to reread it at a more normal pace. It was information overload.
I found the book informative, of course, but also more technical than expected. I generally assume books by medical professionals will be written in more lay terms than this one was. On the one hand, I was glad that Dr. Haver treated her readers as intelligent enough to figure it out. On the other hand, part of the reason I felt overwhelmed was that I didn't have the time to look up everything.
One thing that really struck me was the definition of menopause and post-menopause. I probably started menopause a year or two ago (or so I thought). I had an hysterectomy in my 30s, so I actually have no idea when I hit menopause, but I started expressing some classic symptoms about a year or so ago. All this time, I've been saying that I'm in menopause, and I thought that it was something that lasted about a decade, after which post-menopause began. I was wrong. According to Dr. Haver (and Google), menopause is a single point in time - that point when a woman hasn't had a period in twelve consecutive months. After that point in time, we are immediately in post-menopause. I now had to wrap my head around this new identity. It took me all this time to accept menopause as my life, but now I have to reframe that as post-menopause and that post-menopause isn't what I thought it was, that it wasn't something to experience in my 60s, but now. I felt slapped upside-down. My identity has to make a pivot, and I have to give myself a new, more accurate label. Sure, I'm the same person I was yesterday, but that label is so UGH.
On top of that, I'm now sitting here trying to talk myself down. Who cares about a label. Labels are social constructs (just like gender and racism). Labels don't make me who I am. Labels are just easy ways to classify people for the sake of social existence. I guess it's like my friends who got pregnant in their 30s and told they were geriatric pregnancies. People, can we please use nicer labels for women if we have to use labels at all? Why do we have to label them as geriatric when they are in their 30s, and why does geriatric have to come with imagery of people barely able to make it across the street on their canes, and why does post-menopause have to conjure up visions of withered women? Because of patriarchy. It's the patriarchy that came up with all these labels. In fact, did you know that practically every single part of a woman's reproductive system is named after a man? Yup, fallopian tubes, Bartholin's glands (aka, the clitoris), Skene's glands, Graafian follicles, etc. My body is the map of men who've basically planted a flag here and there for the honor of the this and that being named after them.
Ok, I'm jumping off this soap box. But this is where reading this book has led my head. I'm half laughing, half crying, and all around shaking my head.
The book was due back at the library within a matter of hours tonight, so I read it faster than I normally would, faster than I would've liked. I need to reread it at a more normal pace. It was information overload.
I found the book informative, of course, but also more technical than expected. I generally assume books by medical professionals will be written in more lay terms than this one was. On the one hand, I was glad that Dr. Haver treated her readers as intelligent enough to figure it out. On the other hand, part of the reason I felt overwhelmed was that I didn't have the time to look up everything.
One thing that really struck me was the definition of menopause and post-menopause. I probably started menopause a year or two ago (or so I thought). I had an hysterectomy in my 30s, so I actually have no idea when I hit menopause, but I started expressing some classic symptoms about a year or so ago. All this time, I've been saying that I'm in menopause, and I thought that it was something that lasted about a decade, after which post-menopause began. I was wrong. According to Dr. Haver (and Google), menopause is a single point in time - that point when a woman hasn't had a period in twelve consecutive months. After that point in time, we are immediately in post-menopause. I now had to wrap my head around this new identity. It took me all this time to accept menopause as my life, but now I have to reframe that as post-menopause and that post-menopause isn't what I thought it was, that it wasn't something to experience in my 60s, but now. I felt slapped upside-down. My identity has to make a pivot, and I have to give myself a new, more accurate label. Sure, I'm the same person I was yesterday, but that label is so UGH.
On top of that, I'm now sitting here trying to talk myself down. Who cares about a label. Labels are social constructs (just like gender and racism). Labels don't make me who I am. Labels are just easy ways to classify people for the sake of social existence. I guess it's like my friends who got pregnant in their 30s and told they were geriatric pregnancies. People, can we please use nicer labels for women if we have to use labels at all? Why do we have to label them as geriatric when they are in their 30s, and why does geriatric have to come with imagery of people barely able to make it across the street on their canes, and why does post-menopause have to conjure up visions of withered women? Because of patriarchy. It's the patriarchy that came up with all these labels. In fact, did you know that practically every single part of a woman's reproductive system is named after a man? Yup, fallopian tubes, Bartholin's glands (aka, the clitoris), Skene's glands, Graafian follicles, etc. My body is the map of men who've basically planted a flag here and there for the honor of the this and that being named after them.
Ok, I'm jumping off this soap box. But this is where reading this book has led my head. I'm half laughing, half crying, and all around shaking my head.
informative
medium-paced
Informative. Some useful resources. Repetitive at times.
informative
medium-paced
Very good!!! Thoughtful, non-biased, not super technical. Well researched and well written.
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
Good info, good references to share with your doctor when considering MHT
informative
medium-paced
I didn't finish this because I got distracted by other books at the time. I had/have every intention on finishing it. However, I was listening to it on audible and I have since deleted the app due to it's amazon ownership. I was finding it immensely informative and will hopefully pick it up again some day soon.