Menopause and the Mind: The Complete Guide to Coping with Memory Loss, Foggy Thinking, Verbal Confusion, and Other Cognitive Effects of Perimenopause and Menopause

Has this happened to you? A name that was on the tip of your tongue suddenly disappears from memory. You mean to say one word, and another pops out. You put your car keys down and have no idea where they are a minute later. You search for something and discover it's in plain sight in front of you. Your mind feels foggy. If you're approaching menopause, your brain may be reacting normally to estrogen loss, according to neuropsychologist and researcher Claire Warga in Menopause and the Mind. She immodestly names this condition WHMS: Warga's Hormonal Misconnection Syndrome. Warga gives tools for assessing, understanding, speaking about, and getting competent help for your symptoms. She presents case studies, discusses why this condition is often overlooked, explains the research on estrogen and the brain, and presents options for improving your brain power and reversing WHMS using hormone replacement therapy or nonhormonal approaches. She includes a comprehensive screening test and recommends that you take the results to your doctor. In fact, you might want to take the whole book to your doctor, because a recurring theme in this book is that medical professionals tend to miss, disregard, or misdiagnose these symptoms. --Joan Price