Award-winning film about menopause opens in Naperville

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

Menopause is no laughing matter. Or is it? A new documentary titled “Hot Flash Havoc,” premiering in Naperville this week, tackles what every woman, and her man, needs to know about menopause, while also entertaining its audience.

“You’ll see a movie that will make you laugh, it’ll make you cry and it’s going to make you think,” said executive producer Heidi Houston of her award-winning film.

The documentary was made as a result of Houston’s three-year search for an answer to her medical problems, which included arthritis, depression and hot flashes. After seeing six different doctors, going through a variety of tests, receiving all kinds of diagnoses and medications, and spending a lot of money, Houston was “at the end of her rope.” At that time, a friend of Houston’s suggested she attend a lecture on menopause. Immediately she recognized all the symptoms in herself.

Within 10 days of receiving care for menopause, Houston’s joint pain was gone and she says she “got her life back.” Despite having no background in filmmaking, she pledged right then to make a documentary on the subject.

“If I was persistent and didn’t give up until I found answers, what’s the normal woman do when a doctor says ‘live with it’ or ‘treat it as arthritis or depression?’” Houston said.

In “Hot Flash Havoc,” hours of interviews with doctors and women are cut together to tell their stories in their own words. The documentary covers why women do not have much information about menopause, the controversy about hormone replacement therapy, the quality of life for women from peri-menopause through post-menopause, sex drive in menopausal women, and other menopausal symptoms such as depression and bowel and bladder dysfunction.

“There’s a lot of different information in the movie that’s going to open your eyes,” Houston said.

But, the premiere does not only include the movie. Following will be a question-and-answer session with Houston and local authorities in the field of women’s health.

“We want people to know there are local people who do have the answers,” Houston said.

Some Naperville panelists will include Dr. Christopher Olsen, managing partner at the Women’s Center for Health; Kari Ziemba, director of physical therapy for ATI Women Serving Women; and Thomas Marks, pharmacist and founder of Martin Avenue Pharmacy.

“I would like women to know that it is important to have open discussions with their physicians (and) health care providers regarding issues (related to menopause),” Ziemba said. “Although these issues may be common, they are not normal.”

The event is coming to Naperville in part because more than 150 people in the Chicago area signed up online saying they wanted the movie to premiere here. Half those people were from Naperville, according to Houston. Some of those women belong to Bloom Women’s Network, which is hosting the evening. The network, according to its website, is a Naperville-based “support and social group for upbeat independent women age 40 to 60 who want more in their personal life, professional life and in their community.”

There also will be giveaways and door prizes. The evening will end with a Red Boa Reception featuring “Hot Flash Hors D’oeuvres” and “Mood Swing Martinis.”

“Everyone wants the event and the reception after,” Houston said. “It’s just fun.”