Dare I Say It
Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause
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4.0 • 20 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “refreshingly real” (People) guide to menopause and aging by beloved actress Naomi Watts, one of the leading voices in menopause awareness—with a foreword by Mary Claire Haver, MD, author of The New Menopause
“This book will resonate with women everywhere seeking guidance, solidarity, and the reassurance that they are not alone in their journey.”—Dr. Lisa Mosconi, author of The Menopause Brain
At thirty-six, Naomi Watts had just completed filming King Kong and was trying to start a family when she was told that she was on the brink of menopause. It is estimated that seventy-five million women in the United States are currently dealing with menopause symptoms (dry itchy skin, raging hormones, night sweats), and yet the very word “menopause” continues to be associated with stigma and confusion. With so little information, many women feel unprepared, ashamed, and deeply alone when the time comes.
This is the book Naomi Watts wishes she had when she first started experiencing symptoms. Like sitting down over coffee and having an intimate chat with your girlfriend, Dare I Say It blends funny and poignant stories from Naomi and her friends with advice from doctors, hormone experts, and nutritionists to take the secrecy and shame out of menopause and aging. Answering questions such as: What’s hormone therapy and should I be on it? Will I ever sleep again? Will I get myself back? What happened to my libido? Do I need eighteen serums for my aging skin? Whose body is this anyway? Who am I now? Naomi Watts shares the most up-to-date research on how to manage menopause symptoms and tackle the physical and emotional challenges we encounter as we age.
Irreverent, bold, and reassuring, Dare I Say It is the companion every woman needs to embrace the best version of herself as she moves into what can be the most powerful and satisfying period of her life.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Women have been trying for years to normalize open conversations about menopause—and actress Naomi Watts is one of them. In this book that is both memoir and informational guide, the Mulholland Drive star gets absolutely real about her own experiences with menopause, which began at the unusually early age of 36. She’s irreverent and honest about every stop on that journey, from the guilt she felt about how the process affected her fertility to the maddening attitudes of male doctors who dismissed her symptoms and concerns. And we also loved how Watts bolsters each anecdote with backing from over 50 doctors and certified experts, whose citations set the record straight on topics like good ways to handle menopausal weight gain (intermittent fasting is worth considering—keto not so much) and the consensus on hormone replacement therapy (hint: It’s far safer than scientists once believed). Through it all, Watts’ writing allays our anxieties, making the topic feel straightforward, unintimidating, and—dare we say it?—normalized.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this lukewarm debut guide, actor Watts offers familiar advice on navigating menopause. Her lack of medical expertise hampers discussions of the biology of menopause and how to treat symptoms. For instance, her explanation of how "hormone fluctuation" induces hot flashes is rudimentary, and the suggestion to place an ice pack on one's neck for relief is unsurprising. A chapter on nutrition recommends intermittent fasting and probiotics but warns against the keto diet, whose restrictions on carbs rule out even such beneficiary fiber sources as legumes, but there's little discussion of how these dietary choices affect menopausal women, specifically. Watts is at her best when drawing on her own experiences to capture the complicated emotions that accompany menopause, as when she shares how ashamed she felt about having perimenopausal symptoms in her mid-30s. Elsewhere, she reveals how her struggles to conceive because of her early symptoms induced guilt over her imagined mistreatment of her own body, and she offers an enraging account of how male doctors repeatedly dismissed her concerns because of her relatively young age. Though the more personal passages will be a balm to menopausal women looking for affirmation that they're not alone, the guidance leaves much to be desired. Readers would be better off with Mary Claire Haver's The New Menopause.
Customer Reviews
Easy read
I’m only a couple of chapters in, but the book reads easy and I’ve already learnt something new about being perimenopause. Loving it!
Actually helpful
This book was informative, and written with a lot of care and compassion. The writing is very accessible and she makes an effort to provide solutions that are within reach regardless of income, and with an understanding that the insurance and medical systems are broken and awful to navigate.
She’s done her research and presents it comprehensively.
This is an important subject in a format that can reach a wide audience in a world without enough resources for what is an inevitability for all women. Hence five stars.