Going Menopostal : What You and Your Doctor Need to Know About the Real Science of Menopause and Perimenopause

“This is a rigorous and meticulous guide to everything related to menopause. … Alkon does a tremendous job of breaking down scientific facts for everyday readers. … Her smart, thoughtful accounts of her own experiences lend a feeling of camaraderie to the book.” —Kirkus Reviews

Half of the population—the female half—is getting healthcare based on medical myth rather than evidence. Going Menopostal is Amy Alkon’s mission to change that.

This book started with a flash—Alkon’s first hot flash. Drenching night sweats, insomnia, and brain fog soon followed—along with shame at feeling bewilderingly enraged at everyone and everything. Alkon, an award-winning science columnist and author, wanted to turn to her doctor. But there was a problem: More than half of the medical care we get in the US may not be “based on, or supported by, adequate evidence,” according to the US National Academy of Medicine.

Knowing this, Alkon began a deep dive into the research on menopause and perimenopause––the 3 to 10 years leading up to menopause when women’s symptoms are widely ignored, dismissed, and misdiagnosed (despite doctors having every intention of helping their patients). She was shocked by what she found:

• Most gynecology departments lack even one doctor with training and expertise in menopausal and perimenopausal medicine, and they expect their maternity and general reproductive health specialists to treat these conditions outside their scope of practice without informing patients––a violation of medical ethics.
• Perimenopause is wrongly viewed and treated as “menopause lite”––a time of lowered estrogen levels––when estrogen levels actually soar, making many women miserably symptomatic.
• Few doctors know that symptomatic perimenopausal women actually tend to lack progesterone, and that replacing it with safe, FDA-approved progesterone would alleviate their insomnia, hot flashes, and other suffering and counteract cell overgrowth that can lead to breast and endometrial cancer.
• Many doctors deny estrogen to their menopausal patients, unaware of current research showing that estrogen not only alleviates symptoms but protects against cardiovascular disease (soon to kill 1 in 3 women), bone fractures, metabolic syndrome, and more.
• Findings from studies done largely on middle-class white women are wrongly applied to black women and other women of color, ignoring crucial differences, such as generally lower triglyceride levels in black women that can make heart disease harder to detect.

This meticulously researched book is written in clear, everyday language that you don’t need the slightest science background to understand (along with Alkon’s signature dark humor). Alkon equips you with the exact words to confidently ask critical questions and motivate your doctor to partner with you and treat you appropriately––instead of giving you the “treatment” her favorite bus driver got: told by her doctor to “just wait out” her raging insomnia, night sweats, and hot flashes. Alkon’s ultimate goal: Empowering all women with the science and strategies they need to get the evidence-based care they expect and deserve.

Amy Alkon is an independent investigative science writer specializing in “applied science”—using scientific evidence to solve real-world problems. Alkon critically evaluates and synthesizes research across disciplines and then translates it into everyday language, empowering regular people to make scientifically informed decisions for the best of their health and well-being. 

For 25 years, Alkon wrote an award-winning, science-based nationally syndicated advice column, distributed by Creators. With Going Menopostal, Alkon has authored five books—most recently, her “science-help” book Unfuckology: How to Live with Guts and Confidence (St. Martin’s Press, 2018). She is the past President of the Applied Evolutionary Psychology Society, which brings evolutionary science to public policy, education, and medicine. Alkon has given invited talks to academics on applied science at scientific conferences and to large groups at universities. She has given two TED talks, and the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office hires Alkon, a State of California-certified mediator, to do behavioral science-based dispute resolution talks and training videos.  

Alkon has been profiled in The New York Times, TIME, The Washington Post, The Independent/UK, and Macleans. Alkon has appeared on numerous national TV and radio shows, including Good Morning America, Today, NPR, CNN, Nightline, Anderson Cooper, Coast to Coast, and Canada’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin, along with podcasts by Adam Carolla, Joe Rogan, Michael Shermer, Robert Wright, and Scott Barry Kaufman. 

Alkon lives in Venice, California. Follow Amy on Twitter: @amyalkon. Her website: amyalkon.net

Robert Lufkin, MD, has served as a full professor at both the UCLA and USC Schools of Medicine. In addition to being a practicing physician, he is the author of more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers and 14 books that are available in six languages. Among his many inventions, including several patents in artificial intelligence, he developed an MR-compatible biopsy needle which is used worldwide today as the “Lufkin Needle.” He is active on social media with more than 250,000 followers.