Hot and Bothered by Jancee Dunn

ABOUT THE BOOK

HOT AND BOTHERED (G.P. Putnam’s Sons; On-Sale: 5/2/23) is an empowering, research-based guide to understanding menopause, its symptoms, and their treatments, so you can tame the hot flashes, manage your moods, and reclaim your sense of self. With honesty, wit, and her signature humor, health journalist Jancee Dunn translates the latest studies and medical research into straightforward, actionable plans that allow you to improve your quality of life symptom by symptom and embrace the next stage with confidence.

It isn’t called“The Change” for nothing. But nothing had prepared Jancee Dunn for the years-from-hell that tore through her life—night sweats, bleeding gums, crawlingly itchy skin, irregular heartbeat. Was she pregnant? Was she stressed? Was she dying? At age 45, her body felt like it was on fire and falling apart. Countless hours in doctors’ offices and batteries of tests revealed . . . nothing, until finally, it clicked. All of her symptoms could be captured in one totally normal, biologically predictable diagnosis: perimenopause, the period when estrogen begins to decline, usually in a person’s mid-40s, leading up to menopause.

It was a smack-your-forehead moment for Dunn, an experienced journalist who has written extensively about health, wellness, and sexuality for publications such as the New York Times. Despite her decades of reporting on women’s health, she had never had a single conversation about menopause—and clearly her doctors weren’t having those conversations, either. With millions of people experiencing perimenopause and its often- debilitating symptoms . . . why wasn’t anyone talking about it?

What started for Dunn as a way to get answers to her own questions became a full-scale investigation into what women need to know about entering menopause. Drawing on her skills as a reporter (and a heavy dose of been-there humor), Dunn takes us on a journey to understand what happens during perimenopause, and how changes in hormones affect different parts of the body, regulating temperature, sleep, mood, memory, and much more. Each chapter examines a common perimenopausal symptom, from Rio Grande–like periods to scorching hot flashes to vaginal pain and “pee-your-pants” moments of urgency.

Dunn keenly distills the latest in medical research, pointing readers to a range of treatment options shown to provide relief for each symptom—including hormone therapy, medications, supplements, and lifestyle changes. Readers can easily dip in and out as their needs and bodies change. Throughout the book, Dunn interviews ob-gyns, neuroscientists, sleep experts, dermatologists, psychologists, and urologists. She cracks through common menopause myths (No, those expensive hormone tests can’t predict or “diagnose” perimenopause) explores the critical need for menopause research and treatment to reach diverse populations, and shares stories of struggles and successes from her own life and from the lives of real women.

A chapter on menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) carefully examines the 2002 Women’s Health Initiative study, which found increased risks for women using hormone therapy in its trial—and the resulting fallout for menopausal healthcare. Dunn uses clear language to help readers understand what menopausal hormone therapy is, what it can do, and what it can’t. She guides readers through the process for gathering a complete medical history, explains what “natural, bioidentical hormones” really means, and investigates the risks different types of hormone therapy may carry.

In HOT AND BOTHERED, readers will find a trusted confidante and advocate to guide them through the often tumultuous process of perimenopause, symptom by symptom, so they can find relief, a renewed sense of confidence, and a welcome feeling of returning to themselves.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jancee Dunn is theNew York Timesbestselling author of ninebooks, including a memoir and a biography of Cyndi Lauper. Her essay collection Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo? was a finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Her last book, How Not To Hate Your Husband After Kids, was published in twelve languages. She is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, Vogue, and Health. She was a sex columnist at GQ and had a column that addressed ethical dilemmas in O, The Oprah Magazine. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, the author Tom Vanderbilt, and their daughter.