Re: Playing with hormones not a good idea

[Guest guest]

Dear beth, Thank you for your reply. Looks like you are tapering very gradually. I was on W + 1, so we'll see. I saw a physician yesterday who does bioidenticals and as I said, she was unsure how to proceed and felt I should just continue with what I'm doing (I'm also a MD but not an endocrinologist). In any event, most physicians hate WIley. Unfortunately, there are very few board certified endocrinologists in the country that work with bioidentical hormones and even the few that do are criticized by most in the field of endocrinology for being outside "the standard of care". You are right, we are just one big experiment. You can bet if men went through menopause, this issue would have world wide studies looking at the best and safest treatments. In any event, there is an endocrinologist in NYC that is probably a Dr. Schwarzbein equivalent, however, she is too far from me to visit, so I will do the best I can with those near me. But I do know, as long as I feel good, I want off of this as soon as I can safely taper. Thanks for your feedback. It helps to know how you are tapering. Read your post this morning and don't exactly know what you're changing but what I do know after spending more than 3.5 hour with Dr. Schwarzbein is that hormones are messy to 'play with' if you don't have a doctor guiding you. She told me things about the high levels of Wiley Protocol hormones that were a wee bit scary...most of it has to do with how the E & P affect the rest of our hormones, specifically adrenaline and and cortisol levels in the body. The other thing is that evidently we don't really know how much estrogen is in our tissues because much of it is carried in our lymph system. In so many ways, we (menopausal women) are but guinea pigs but the thing that I sense is that only trained endocrinologist that have really studied estrogen and progesterone and menopause have a clue. There are too many other types of doctors out there who think they understand but really don't...mostly because it is so complicated and it's just not their area of study. Even though you say you don't feel toxic, you probably are but just don't know what you're feeling and I say that from experience. When we start to feel a little worse than we used to feel but it's not bad enough to really notice, this becomes our new normal. It's only through getting the system in balance that we begin to realize, "Oh, I really DIDN'T feel well." I do suggest that you not just stop the protocol. I had a doctor a couple of years ago (thinking he knew what he was doing) tell me I HAD TO get off the WP and put me on a patch. Well, I was sick for 3 months...terrible diarrhea, started having the most massive calf cramps (painful beyond belief and I still have them once in a while), exhausted...anyway, several doctors tried to figure out what was happening but I finally realized that the only difference was the patch. I watched my cycle and on day 1 put myself back on the WP and the diarrhea immediately went away. THAT was not fun. For what it's worth, Dr. S is having me decrease by one line of E morning and night this current cycle and in a couple of days we're going to lower it by one more one morning and night. That puts me at E+2 instead of +4 which I have been on for a long time. We already lowered the P to P-2 morning and night. Not sure what we'll do starting with my next cycle in a couple days. Will keep you posted. -- beth DonatiThe Financial Literacy Lady