How to Menopause

Fadal opens with a tone that is straightforward, honest, and lightly humorous. She doesn’t euphemize, describing sweating in vivid detail and speaking candidly about her confusion and distress. She writes, “Little did I know, there was nothing wrong with me. I was not imagining things. I was not sick. I did not have an anxiety disorder. What had happened was that I had run smack-dab into the best kept secret out there” (2). Beginning with messages of strength and empowerment, Fadal immediately shares personal stories to let the reader know that this journey is both common and survivable, highlighting Embracing Midlife As a Time of Empowerment and Growth. Fadal’s rhetorical approach is personal and persuasive. She uses anecdotes, statistics, and direct speech to build trust and communicate a sense of urgency. In the foreword and introduction, Fadal also relies on ethos, an appeal to the audience’s sense of trust, and pathos, an appeal to the audience’s sense of emotion. Her credibility as a public figure who went through menopause live on air aims to inspire empathy and understanding, reminding a reader of their own experiences. Fadal’s open vulnerability helps her connect with the reader on a deep emotional level. Her willingness to recount embarrassing or painful moments, such as lying on a bathroom floor after a hot flash, signals to readers that shame has no place in this conversation. In fact, rejecting shame is central to Fadal’s broader feminist ethos.

Managing the Effects of Menopause starts with optimism, according to Fadal: “You’re going to come out on the other side even better than before” (6). She validates the struggles women face but reframes them as part of a process that can lead to an even stronger, more refined self. Fadal wants women to know that they aren’t imagining their problems, they are not alone, and they can get through this better than before. She does not shy away from the reality of symptoms; she mentions brain fog, hot flashes, and even urinating in her pants. By fusing candid storytelling with practical reassurance, Fadal positions herself not as an expert issuing commands but as a companion offering solidarity. This tone is especially important given the isolation and invisibility so many women feel at this stage of life.

Fadal hopes that by discussing her experiences and educating women on menopause, she will be Removing the Mystery and Stigma Surrounding Menopause. She recalls a moment when she was told by her doctor, “In menopause… any questions?” (3). Unfortunately, she soon found this type of response common in healthcare. This came after a severe hot flash, during which she had to leave her post in the middle of delivering the news. Fadal laid down on the bathroom floor, wondering what was happening to her. She doesn’t want other women to go through this scary experience due to a lack of knowledge about menopause. This anecdote underscores the medical system’s frequent dismissal of menopausal symptoms as either minor or inevitable—an institutional failure that Fadal implicitly critiques throughout the book. Her account reframes menopause not just as a personal journey but as a cultural blind spot with serious consequences for women’s health, employment, and well-being. Fadal also confronts the staggering isolation women feel. She writes that she was tired of feeling alone and confused despite the fact that “75 million women in the US are in perimenopause, menopause, or postmenopause” (4). This contradiction between how common menopause is and how silenced it remains becomes a central paradox of the book. Fadal’s mission is to reconcile that gap by creating open discourse and transparency.

Fadal reflects,

I didn’t recognize the changes as being hormonally related because no one was talking about what women’s hormones go through in midlife, least of all my doctor. Even though millions upon millions of women were experiencing the exact same thing. We were all feeling lost, alone, confused, less confident, and self-conscious about the fact that we no longer recognized our bodies or ourselves. And we had no idea how to menopause (4).

Later, Fadal mentions the overwhelming response she received when she began discussing menopause symptoms on TikTok and other social media platforms. Women filled the comments and Fadal’s messages with support and their own stories. At the same time, though, many women expressed feeling stigmatized, confused, or worried: “So many of these comments and questions are filled with shame, confusion, frustration, and fear” (6). Fadal is part of a movement to rewrite the way society views and treats not only menopause, but middle-aged women. Social media becomes an unlikely but powerful stage for this collective unmasking, allowing women to reclaim visibility and reframe menopause as an experience to be shared. In this way, Fadal uses digital platforms to bypass traditional gatekeepers of women’s health narratives, helping usher in a new era of open, intersectional, and intergenerational dialogue.