Menopause for Black Women: A Woman's Guide to Love Yourself, Lose Weight & Remedy Your Symptoms Naturally in Perimenopause, Menopause and Postmenopause

By Brandy Brooks

Are you aged 45+ and tired of feeling stressed, anxious, or low energy?

It might be the dreaded menopause. But..

A recent 2022 study from SWAN (Study of Women's Health Across the Nation) showed that Black Women reach menopause almost a year earlier than wh

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brandy Brooks
• Release date: Jul 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9781915363756

Brandy Brooks

Black author living in Tampa, Florida. A passionate writer interested in finance, careers, and investing. When not writing books, you can find Brandy sipping a cocktail under the sun at Clearwater Beach!

Book preview

Introduction

Brandy, leave that door open! I flinched and stopped in my tracks. That was my first experience with the symptoms of menopause. I was 13 at the time, and I'd just walked into my grandmother's house from my friend's place. It was raining, and there was a biting wind. I found the kitchen door open, with only the screen door keeping the rain out of the house. I turned to my grandmother, and I was surprised by how she looked. She was sweating buckets, sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of iced tea in her hands. She was directly in the path of the cold air, and the stove was off. Grandma, what's wrong? I asked, worried. Leave her, Brandy, I heard my mom shout from the other room. It’s just her menopause acting up.

I'm not in menopause, my grandmother shouted back, visibly irritated. It's this damn weather. My mom didn't respond, and I made my way into my room to find warm clothes. The open kitchen door meant that the entire house was colder than usual, and I had never been a fan of the cold. Whenever I think of my grandmother, I always remember the open doors and windows, the low-temperature settings even in winter, and the way she'd shed her sweater or long-sleeved shirts with abandon. It took years before she finally admitted she was menopausal, and that was after a hard bout of bronchitis landed her in the hospital for a few days.

Menopause. One of the hardest words I had to come to terms with, because I associated it with old women. With the water aerobics retirees at the YMCA. Not with myself, a 41-year-old business owner who’d quit smoking a decade prior. Early onset menopause, my doctor said, almost apologetically. I was crushed. I thought about my mother, whose hot flashes had just been as bad as my grandma’s. My mom’s didn’t last for too long though, but I remember hearing her turning on her fan in the night for a couple of years.

Menopause is a natural part of our lives as women, and for some, this is one of the most difficult phases to navigate. For some of my friends, menopause was the price they had to pay to save their lives. For others, they were caught off guard, with surprising results. But for most of us, we approached menopause with trepidation, afraid of what was to come. However, there was one thing we all had in common - we were embarrassingly uninformed. Before I got my first period, I was mostly aware of what to expect. There were a ton of books my mom left on the dining table because I was always reading something, no matter the topic. I’d finish a pamphlet, and another would magically appear. The books kept popping up, and I had no idea when my mom would borrow and return them to the library. The books were general at first, and then I'd find columns written by Black women for Black girls. While we never really discussed it, I was mentally prepared for the cramping, the acne, and the pad mishaps. I was still stressed and freaked out, but it would have been much worse if I'd gone in blind.

Which is what many of us face when we are confronted with our own menopause. There is documentation, but we rarely get information that reflects our unique experiences as Black Women. There are so many factors that contribute to this lack of relevant information, but as we grow and learn as a community, we no longer feel content to just stand by and watch our voices go unheard. This book is my contribution to the community, to the multitude of Black women who want answers, and not just any answers. The right answers. This has been said time and time again, and as obvious as it may seem, I’ll repeat it - how we live tremendously impacts us. The pains we go through just to survive take a toll, and our bodies never forget. And as unfair as it seems, these pains write themselves so deeply in our bodies that even our menopausal symptoms tend to reflect these experiences.

Research has proven that Black women exhibit menopausal symptoms earlier, for longer, and more intensely than their White counterparts. Despite this, there are few Black women receiving the necessary care to help them navigate through this phase with greater ease. For many of them, even the thought of receiving medical care to cope with their menopausal symptoms seems impossible because they rarely receive the right care when they are ill. Black women are more likely to suffer through treatable symptoms simply because they are unaware that there are numerous interventions that can help alleviate their symptoms or at least reduce their intensity.

I find myself lucky that my doctor understood what I was going through. Many women I’ve spoken to had no idea what was happening, and with doctors insisting that nothing was wrong, they felt let down by the system that was supposed to help them. This book is my way of helping other Black women understand what is happening and, consequently, use this knowledge to maneuver menopause with a little more ease. The symptoms of menopause are wide and varied, and opening the lid on this topic is one way of promoting our well-being. Menopause takes a toll on us - mentally, physically, and emotionally - in ways that we never could have imagined. By tiptoeing around the topic, we fail not only ourselves but our daughters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters. We are all in this together, and open, honest discourse is one of the best ways to support each other, uplift each other, and show ourselves that menopause is not the big bad wolf. Menopause is part of who we are, and we need to navigate this phase with holistic optimism, not unfounded fear.

This book - my second book - aims to give you everything you need to know about menopause as a Black woman as we explore the symptoms of menopause and what to expect as you navigate perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopause. I will give you a rundown of the treatments available to you, especially when it comes to the symptoms that wreak havoc on our bodies, including menopausal depression, hot flashes, night sweats, and other symptoms. For many of us, medical interventions are not always welcome. We are reluctant to rely on medication or unwilling to put up with the risky side effects. We’ll explore some of the natural remedies available to us, particularly herbs that work wonders on alleviating or reducing some of the symptoms we exhibit, with minimal side effects to deal with, or none at all.

Menopause affects more than our own bodies. It also impacts the way we go about our daily lives. At work, at home, and in our interactions, what goes on in our bodies colors our world. It is difficult to be kind to someone when you are sweating buckets and feeling self-conscious or to feel sensual when you are experiencing vaginal dryness. Navigating through the symptoms of menopause means finding ways of giving your body a chance to experience the motions of symptoms with minimal friction, adapting your routine to fit into your new way of being, and helping others understand your 'second spring,' even without having to tell them your personal business. Menopause can change how we approach even the most mundane of activities, including showers, food, and exercise. This book will also uncover 20 tasty recipes menopausal women have sworn by. These meals are curated to consider your nutritional needs, diet changes, and physical health. With hormonal changes, we become more prone to obesity, cardiovascular disease, and other health issues, which we'll discuss.

For many women, menopause seems to spell the end of their dating life or an end to their sex life. They fear losing the pleasure of sex or feel like they can no longer navigate intimate relationships like before. Menopause may add extra steps to your love life, but it by no means negates it. You can still experience the joys of sensuality, with or without sex. It is not the end of pleasure or pleasurable relationships. We will also explore how menopause impacts relationships with others around us - close friends, family, and the community in general.

This book is my way of showing you that menopause is a phase that doesn’t mean the end of a fulfilling, joyous life. When we know what to expect, we are able to adjust our lives and attitudes to that of acceptance instead of fighting against our bodies. This way, we refuse to add stress to the list of things we will be dealing with, minimizing stress-related symptoms, and becoming better managers of our experience.

Join me, and the women who’ve contributed their experiences, as we explore this new phase of your life, one gem at a time. The goal - to embrace our journey with optimism, an open mind, and a willing spirit.

Let’s begin!

Chapter 1

The Black Woman & Menopause

First things first, we need to accurately define what menopause really is. The misconceptions about menopause are not only about the symptoms. They also encapsulate the very meaning of menopause. For the longest time, I believed that menopause was the culmination of the time when we experienced mild, moderate, and intense menopausal symptoms. However, menopause is just a specific point in time.

What is Menopause?

Menopause is defined as when a woman has gone for 12 months without menstruating. With a mean age of 51, 95% of Women will become menopausal between the ages of 45 and 55. Essentially, what we refer to as menopause rarely refers to a specific phase since the symptoms usually