Wiley Protocol - The Battle Continues

Go Suzanne!!!. Suzanne Somers continues to create a hornet's net of controversy.  In her latest book "Ageless" she talks about her experience on the Wiley Protocol.  This endorsement, and other claims about bio-identicals, prompted many of the media docs to write letters which of course were picked up by the media.  They felt they had to come out and dispute claims that bio-identicals are the safer alternative. Of course, they are covering their own asses, under the guise of protecting ours.  Anyway, lots of buzz, and lots of articles is keeping the book on the best seller list.  Suzanne is one smart lady.  Only time will tell whether or not her loyal fans will consider her their hormone guru.

In her first book "The Sexy Years", she did women and hormone doctors everywhere a great service.  She basically introduced bio-identical hormones to an audience that desperately needed relief from menopausal symptoms.  Her timing was impeccable.  After the WHI 2002 study women were suffering. They were frightened and stopped taking synthetic hormones and the medical community had no alternate relief to offer them - except the old standby - anti depression drugs.  This was a horrible situation for women and Suzanne came in on her white horse and saved the day. I think we should thank her for that.

I have been getting many comments and emails about the pros and cons of the Wiley Protocol.  Some women love it others have had very bad experiences using it.  There are sites like the Wiley Watch and Rythmic Living that are out to get Wiley's hide.  I asked my own hormone doc about the protocol and this is what he said.

He had patients wanting to try it, and they did under his close supervision.  Most of  the women only stayed on the protocol 4 to 6 months, not because they had adverse reactions, but because it was too hard to use.  Every day there is a different dosage of the hormones, which are intended to mimic your cycle the way it was in your 20's.  Wiley uses very larges doses of progesterone that aren't normally used in standard bio-identical hormone replacement therarpies.  Do we know for sure if that's bad?  Not really, because there is no definitive data from clinical trials and probably won't be for 5 or 6 years.  T'hat's the most frustrating part of all these therapies, we don't yet have the data to back them up. There are small studies being done however, that do show they are effective in protecting your brain, your heart and your bones.   

This is my bottom line recommendation on all BHRT.  Speak to your doctor.  Don't listen to me.  Don't listen to other people online.  Listen to yourself.  Do your research and find a doctor that you trust.  That's the most important thing.

As for me, I'm staying on my therapy because it's working.  I feel really good.  How I feel is always my barometer. I will keep going to my doctor 2 or 3 times a year to get my hormone levels checked.  I will continue my mammograms, pap smears, bone density testing, colonoscopy and whatever else I need to do at this age to prevent disease. 

Everything you do in life involves taking a risk.  I do however, believe in doing a risk/reward profile so you go in with the odds in your favor. Taking an aspirin can be risky.  Your body is unique and can't be compared to anyone elses.  Talk with your doctor and decide what's best for you.

Comments

[Donna Campbell]

I have had nothing but hormone hell with sythetics including synthetic thyroxine and norethindrone acetated. Symptoms so severe as to land me in the hospital with severe muscle cramps all over my body. When I was finally switched to a natural thyroid compound within 36 hours of taking the first 30 milligram desicated thyroid meds the muscle cramps stopped, three weeks after taking the natural thyroid meds I could sleep through the night instead of only getting 3 or 4 hours a sleep a night for years on end, my hair stopped falling out after three weeks as well, my brain fog and depression left, and I felt better than I had in years. Three different times while on Norethindrone Acetate , twice in birth control pills and once for menopause symptoms I developed blood clots in my calves. Since being switched over to bioidenticals I have a profound improvement in my health with no symptoms of blood clots in my legs. Thank you and every Doctor like you that caters to the health of us patients instead of the greedy and deceitful pharmacuetical companies who care more for money than they do for our health. Thank you , and I do spread the good new of restored health using natural thyroid hormones as well as natural estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.

[Susan]

I've been on Wiley now for 6 months and can't say enough good things about it. I've even started the new face cream today and the new thyroid cream as well.

My energy level is fantastic. After a problem with BP since menopause, it's back to normal now. No more sleepless nights. No more hot flashes. No more pain all over my body all the time. Facial hair I'd started to see? Gone. Skin tone improving. Muscle tone improving.

Clearly some people are not happy and I have no way of knowing what their issues really are - were they mixing other things with the WP? Did they dose correctly? Did they test and adjust dosing? Did they have pre-existing conditions that didn't work well with Wiley? Who knows. But to continuously bash something that's made such a positive difference in the lives of many is just plain wrong, IMHO.

BTW, the WileyWatch site, as I understand it, is put up by an ex-associate of TS Wiley who is unhappy based on a business falling-out. Hardly the right thing to do, huh? Just because you have a personal problem with a business associate, it's not right to attempt to deny women everywhere a chance at a positive change in their lives.

Much of this strikes me as a bit of a rebellion by main-stream medical establishment to get women back under their 'thumbs' and the thumbs of Big Pharm. Natural Bioidentical Hormones mess with all the drug companies' profit projections based on the boomers at menopause.

For the record, I've had none of the side effects that the naysayers have mentioned: bloating (I actually have less than before); tummy weight gain (I've lost a few inches); hair loss (only where I didn't want it! Facial hair had shown up after menopause started - now it's gone.) No headaches. No kidney pain. Nothing whatsoever.

So, I'm a believer and you can't take my WP away from me!

[debi]

I met TS Wiley in May of 04 on one of the worst days of my life. My classroom - I teach 3rd grade in a designated low income school district - had been vandalized and it was MY job to clean it up, I was exhausted.

I had been an endurance athlete, very fit, held and still hold an RN license, too, so I don't see myself as stupid, ignorant and so on. If you have read Dr. Uzzi Reiss's book on natural hormone replacement therapy for women and read the estrogen deficiency pages, I had em all - every symptom and profoundly. I was not doing well at work and was fearful of losing my job. I was also, and had been for about 2 years at the time, sleeping only 2 hours to 90 minutes a night. My symptoms actually were cropping up when I was 50, 3 years post hyst (I had what is called a total hyst with the ovaries left behind). Had felt NO changed immediately post op and didn't feel anything negative. thought the exercising was helping. It was. I just wasn't informed about menopause. I wasn't prepared. Throwing a prescription over the desk at me post op is NOT informing.

Also, what I found at the time I had the surgery and was becoming aquainted with other runners my age was what a menopause bigot I was. I didn't KNOW that that is what I was at the time as the complaints my friends had I didn't. they had hot flashes, I did not. They were fatigued, I was not. they had pains everywhere, I did not. And so on. I had already "gone through" menopause I thought, and it "wasn't bad." Or was it?

I had been a gal with such regular periods up until 47 when I had surgery (for a very high grade dysplasia of the cervix and a family hst of cervical cancer), that I didn't FEEL even what is consdiered perimenopausal. I couldn't relate to their complaints. I was behaving like any other person watching midlife women start "bitchin." They had a right to. They were symtomatic, and some severely so taking the Fosamax, the Premarins, etc, taking themselves off because these meds were problematic themselves or not giving the relief they needed. I, too, thought it was an "in your head" propsition. Until it hit me and hit me hard.

Because I was mistrustful of the pharmaceutical companies and their junk meds, I refused the Premarin and all other menopausal meds. It took feeling and doing so badly at a 50K event that I could ordinarily knock down easily and talking with the race director, who is a few years older than me and fit as can be, that I got the scoop on BHRT. I went home from that event, began researching what BHRT meant aside from what she, an RN, too, had explained (her doc is wellknown and so is his pharmacist brother, so there is a credibility there), found tons of good information and tons of crap information. Trying to figure out what was good and what was not was the task. I needed relief or lose my job.

I was also having, had had for a year, kideny stones, chronic bleeding from the bladder and poor medical management here where I live. I found a doc in Santa Barbara who did a cystoscopy that same day of the inital appointment(SB is over 100 miles from where I live, it was that bad here that I had to go out of town for treatment), gave me a clean bill of UT health at the time, told me about TS's books, and that he could, if I chose to, put me in touch with her. The intersting part, I thought, was that he said he could, if I wanted, treat me for the menopause, but that his practice was urology. His orientation was primarily surgical, as I was aware, and he felt there were other docs in the area who knew more. He wasn't interested in making money off of me. He was in a primarily male practice that had a primarily surgical orientation, and was referring me out rather than strapping me over a barrel as other medical practitioners had done. What a breath of fresh air.

I bought Light's Out and SLM, read them, called his office back, and met up with TS. I found a doctor, got going on the compounded hormones and felt almost instant relief - about one week. It DID fluctuate, but, then, I was learning that receptors, when they have been allowed to shut down, take time to recharge - took about 18 months to get regulated - worth it! My life changed with the first doses of estradiol and progesterone prepared by a compounding pharmacist.

What the American public needs to change is their thinking about their health in terms of the effort it takes to be healthy and stay healthy. The descent into menopause isn't pleasant for anyone, but worse for some than for others. We need to stop bullying each other. We will, with the support of what we are doing, find our own ways. I did and I owe the beginnings to TS or Susie Wiley.

Another thing, for readers who are not in the medical field by education or profession, or those who are " shade tree" experts due to family illnesses or personal pursuit through reading, treat menopause as the endocrine disorder it is. Not all diabetics are brittle. Some are. some are not. Anything endocrine needs serious looking at and treatment and follwup that is appropriate.

Continue on Susie.
Debi

[Deborah Vanderstadt]

Two other good resources for anyone wanting to know the low-down on the Wiley Protocol, the people behind it, and the experiences of women who have tried it:

http://www.rhythmicliving.org/
http://www.wileywatch.org/

[T S Wiley]

Anyone interested in the Wiley Protocol may want to visit and read our FAQs at thewileyprotocol.com for the lowdown on this high profile concept and our 3 years worth of experience with over a 1000 women and the doctorsa who have followed them.