{"id":31926,"date":"2025-03-17T16:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T21:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/?p=31926"},"modified":"2025-03-17T16:44:16","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T21:44:16","slug":"naomi-watts-menopause-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2025\/03\/17\/naomi-watts-menopause-book","title":{"rendered":"ACTOR NAOMI WATTS, SURPRISED BY MENOPAUSE, WRITES A GOOD BOOK ABOUT IT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cDare I Say It\u201d, is subtitled, \u201cEverything I Wish I\u2019d Known About Menopause\u201d. Being female has never been a walk in the park for Ms. Watts. She was last in her class to have her first period at eighteen, needed the guidance of Cosmopolitan Magazine and Sidney Sheldon novels (anyone remember those?) to learn the fundamentals of masturbation. After some initial struggles as a young actor, her career has been astonishingly successful. Later, during a long relationship with fellow actor Liev Schrieber, she decided to get pregnant in her thirties and discovered it wasn\u2019t as easy as she thought it would be. However, in the double swirl of international movie productions and visits to fertility clinics, finally, finally, finally she\u2019s pregnant at 38, and again at 41.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is all described in a great chapter, \u201cMy Infertility Story\u201d, as when she first feels her baby moving during a harrowing motorcycle ride during the shoot of the movie \u201cEastern Promises&#8221;.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But a series of physical and emotional symptoms that also start in her thirties really left her puzzled: changes in her period, frequent bladder infections, mild depression, less energy, hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness. These sounded \u2018menopausal\u2019, but she was so young!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She called her mother and asked about menopause. Mom was at 45 at menopause. That was years ahead.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She went to her internist (\u201ceverything\u2019s fine\u201d), ob-gyn (\u201chormone\u2019s are good but this all sounds like premenopause\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This was a real shock. She was having all these symptoms, was dating (and would marry) another hunk, Billy Crudup. Her doctors suggested hormone replacement.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so, probably with the same diligence that drove Ms. Watts to the upper echelons to the acting profession, she went about learning just about everything there is to know about perimenopause and menopause. She devotes whole chapters of \u201cDare I Say It\u201d to declining libido (and improving it), sexual health, brain fog, skin and hair changes, sleep, nutrition and exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From my own perspective, as a physician writing hormone replacement therapy prescriptions now for four decades, her two chapters on hormones are about as clear and reassuring as anything you\u2019ll find. I fully agree with all the current data about women who remain on hormone replacement therapy their entire lives: longevity, less risks of heart disease, dementia, osteoporosis, strokes. If your doctor \u201cdoesn\u2019t believe in hormones for women\u201d, or says, \u201ctime to stop those hormones\u201d (for no good reason), then find another doctor. Ms. Watts swears by them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her recommendations on weight gain are interesting: of course diet management and exercise but if all fails, if you can afford it, go for the GLP-1 peptides like Wegovy or better yet Zepbound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My only minor quibble with \u201cDare I Say It\u201d, is that Ms. Watts has no suggestions about some of the very effective natural treatments for menopause symptoms. Herbs like black cohosh, red clover and ginseng are often combined in \u201cMenopause Relief Formulas\u201d and are quite effective. You can read about them <a href=\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/?s=menopause\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>. However (and this is a big \u201chowever\u201d) herbal formulas give you none of the protective benefits of hormone replacement therapies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re interested in any of this, order a copy of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/dare-i-say-it-naomi-watts\/1145494730?ean=978059372903 8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Dare I Say It<\/a>\u201d and schedule a visit with any <a href=\"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/our-practitioners\">WholeHealth Chicago practitioner<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Be well,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>David Edelberg, M<\/em>D<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cDare I Say It\u201d, is subtitled, \u201cEverything I Wish I\u2019d Known About Menopause\u201d. Being female has never been a walk in the park for Ms. Watts. She was last in her class to have her first period at eighteen, needed the guidance of Cosmopolitan Magazine and Sidney Sheldon novels (anyone remember those?) to learn the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4902,"featured_media":31927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[352,2685,2854,33],"tags":[2905,2727,2728,2904,2906],"class_list":["post-31926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aging","category-menopause","category-menstrual-wellness","category-womens-health","tag-dare-i-say-it-book","tag-hormone-replacement-therapy","tag-menopause-symptoms","tag-naomi-watts-menopause","tag-perimenopause-health"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Naomi Watts on Menopause: Lessons from &quot;Dare I Say It&quot;<\/title>\r\n<meta 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