Not quite a book on menopause, but “So Hormonal” is a collection of personal essays from a good few people all struggling with hormone-related issues including menopause, body dysmorphia, issues accessing medical care and so on.

I’ve found it granted me a wide gamut of perspectives on all the weird things hormones are, aren’t and what people think they are, maybe that perspective can be helpful for you too?

100% I’m a feminist in the original sense of the term, and not the radical (misandrist) way it’s come to be recognised as. As a man I don’t pretend to 100% relate to the BS women have to put up with on the regular, but I can listen, I can empathise, and I can recognise it stems from a society in which men are viewed as “superior” for some reason.

Similarly, I recognise a lot of issues men have also stems from our patriarchal society. For me it’s not about quantifying the harm (although if I had to, hot take but on average I’d say the people not in power have it worse), but about pointing to a problem and saying “This is stupid and causing a lot of harm to everyone, why keep it?”

I have a cat with asthma, although it’s more mild in our case, gets worse with certain seasons and usually flares up after she’s done some zoomies through the house.

How it presents for her is she’ll find somewhere comfy like carpet, loaf up, and start hacking away for 15-60 seconds, after that she’ll get up , lick her lips and swallow a few times, and start doing the usual as if nothing happened.

I’m not a vet or a doctor or anything so I couldn’t say if this is or isn’t asthma but wanted to give firsthand experience of a cat with confirmed asthma. If it’s getting worse or Noir starts acting out of character, it’s worth going sooner than later if at all possible!