Book Review: The No Nonsense Guide to Menopause by Barbara Seaman and Laura Eldridge

By Cynthia Pearson

I have to confess that I wouldn’t let anyone else write this review. I was a friend of Barbara Seaman’s, and a professional colleague, and I knew how important it was to her to finish this, her last book. It was hard for me to open the book, though, because I knew I’d hear Barbara’s voice again and have to face how much I miss her. Now that I’ve read it, I’m delighted and not at all sad -- this book is a treasure. Even if your bookshelf is already crowded with great women’s health books, make room for this one!

Barbara and co-author Laura Eldridge really live up to the book’s title – they’ve written a guide for women who want to know what menopause is, what might happen, and what to do about it. The authors lay out the facts, debunk the myths, and explain the evidence. Like a good tour guide helping someone find their way around a new city, the authors don’t shy away from telling readers what’s what. It’s also very clear that Barbara and Laura truly respect women’s ability to make informed choices.

I was especially impressed with the decision to include chapters on health issues that are marketed as being part of menopause, but aren’t really. Sleep problems, mood changes, weight gain, incontinence – all are real problems for some women in their 40s and 50s, but none are actually caused by menopause. The book tackles these issues head on, disentangles marketing myths from women’s real experiences, and examines the treatment available to women who need help with one of these issues. Similarly, they dive into some issues that women might not be worried about, but which could have an effect on their health at this time of life – thyroid disease, for example.

Even a guide who’s merely trying to help someone find their way through unknown territory can’t help talking about politics when the territory is menopause. Barbara and Laura devote two chapters to Meno-Politics and explore women’s experiences in cultures without menopause marketing. The authors also chart the rise and fall of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in a chapter entitled: “The World is Flat”. They explain how Premarin (and later Prempro) became the most prescribed drug not just once, but twice, due to marketing campaigns that intertwined real and imagined benefits of hormones and created the belief that women’s bodies are deficient after menopause.

A good guide shares knowledge with you – a great one shows you how you can learn more on your own. Barbara and Laura are great guides; the book’s concluding chapter explains how to tell the difference between a well-done study and a weaker study design; how to tell if an ad for a menopause product is exaggerated; even how to tell if the information in your physician’s waiting room was put there by drug reps. Barbara Seaman died less than three weeks after she and Laura finished working on this book – it’s a fitting end to her long career as a muckraking journalist and activist. We no longer have Barbara Seaman to turn to for exposes and incisive question, but her legacy has left us better equipped to ask those questions on our own.

The No Nonsense Guide to Menopause, $17.99, 420 pages, Simon & Schuster, 2008.

Cynthia Pearson is the NHWN’s Executive Director.