Okay, So I Don't Have a Headache - Hardcover

Former model Christina Ferrare has been a familiar face on TV for more than a decade, hosting and appearing on talk shows. Now she's famous for another reason: she bared all--in the emotional sense--on Oprah® and in this book about the perimenopausal lack of sexual desire that changed her from lusty wife (making love in every room, greeting her husband at the airport wearing only an overcoat and high heels) to the mistress of avoidance maneuvers: "I have a headache/backache/wet nails." She shares her search for a solution to other perimenopausal symptoms ("I had my first hot flash at Neiman-Marcus, and initially I thought it was from seeing the bill from my purchases"), exploring changes that made her feel better outside the bedroom as well. Ferrare doesn't hold back, confiding her PMS-fueled chocolate rituals (she stuffed as many as seven unwrapped peanut-butter cups in her bra and walked them by her husband). Eventually she gave up foods that weren't good for her, turned to whole foods and exercise, and balanced her diet with herbs and vitamins. She decided against synthetic hormone replacement therapy in favor of natural alternatives: soy, natural progesterone, and herbs. Testosterone cream helped put the zing back in her sex drive. She wisely warns that she is not a doctor and that the program she presents is what worked for her. Readers will need to consult a doctor who knows about alternative medicine to find what will work for them--but she stresses that there is help out there. The book includes about 50 of her favorite healthy recipes. --Joan Price

"Cristina Ferrare has opened a Pandora's box and exposed our shared secrets: we're not perfect, we get PMS, we gain weight, and yes, we even lose the desire to make love to our partners. Her personal odyssey and discovery will help women stop looking for excuses and begin to take charge." --Judith Reichman, M.D., author of I'm Not in the Mood: What Every Woman Should Know About Improving Her Libido and I'm Too Young to Be Old