I am a 46 year old RN that was started on the Wiley Protocal 3 months ago.
It all started when I was 45. I am happily married with 4 boys. I have always kept my weight down and always exercised. But around age 45 I noticed I was beginning to put on weight around my waist which I never had before. I also noticed a gradual decline in libido and a moodiness a week before my period that my husband also had never noticed before. Around 2pm everyday I was so exhausted. I had a few hot flashes also. At my next OB/GYN visit I reviewed my symptoms with my doctor (whom I work with in the hospital and know her well). She said I needed to start on Premarin and an anti-depressant. I told her I wasn't depressed! I said thanks but no thanks. I read Suzanne Somers book "The Sexy Years" and it was like she was talking exactly about me! I sought after a doctor in my area that prescribed bio-identical hormones. I found one and she started me on oral progesterone and oral testosterone. Also she started me on Armour Thyroid. It worked great for about 6 months and then all the symptoms started slowly coming back and my periods were very irregular. I had to see my family doctor for a cold and when he found out I was taking bio-identical hormones, he told me to quit taking them immediately! He said they would cause me to have a stroke, breast cancer,etc. Now I was really confused. Who do I believe? I'm a nurse and I still don't know which doctor to believe. He scared me into stopping all my hormones and then here comes the worst hot flashes and sleepless nights of my life. All my symptoms came back worse than ever. That was just about the time Suzanne Somers came out with her new book "Ageless". I read it and all those light bulbs were going off again. This book is about me! I was really impressed with the cyclic hormone idea and found the closest doctor to me that prescribed the Wiley Protocal. I drove 4 hours for my appointment and the doctor visit was well worth that. I saw Dr Courtney Ridley in Dallas. She sat down with me for about 2 hours, answered all my questions and was very patient with me. I never felt she was hurried to see the next patient. She explained the Wiley Protocal to me and it makes so much sense to mimic our own cycles. She sent me home with my 2 bags of syringe filled creams and I started that day. It took about 10 days for them to kick in and that was 3 months ago. All my symptoms are gone and I feel great! Thanks to Susie Wiley for all her research and pioneer work she has done.
I think people put too much faith in their doctors and believe that their doctors will do what is right for them. You have to do what is right for YOU! Most doctors only have 3-5 minutes with each patient nowadays. That is not near enough time to really listen to their patients and most doctors also don't have time to read up on the latest journals to see what other options are out there. They just follow all the other doctors with the standards of care and listen to the drug reps that bring in free food for their staff. You have to be responsible for your own health. There is so much information out there if you will just take the time to do a little reading on your own. Your life depends on it. I am now reading "Sex, Lies and Menopause" by T.S. Wiley and what an eye-opening book it is. I can't put it down. Thanks again to the Wiley Protocol! I am telling all the women I know!
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