Women’s stories

“The second time was the charm.”

“When I was in my early forties, I started to experience some classic perimenopausal symptoms, such as fuzzy thinking, high emotions, and irritability. However, I did not know they were perimenopausal symptoms and apparently neither did my physician. I was told I was too young and that it was probably stress-related.

“I suffered for three years with irritability, frequent tearfulness at work and just feeling that my brain was not dealing quickly and sharply with the high acuity of my job. I found another doctor who told me, ’of course you’re in perimenopause even if your lab results do not indicate that you are’.

He then promptly put me on Premarin and medroxyprogesterone, a synthetic estrogen and progesterone. My symptoms improved somewhat and were manageable, but I still did not feel very well. I had no energy, my hair was falling out, and I felt agitated a good deal of the time. I guess I wasn’t much fun to live with!

“A few years ago when the bad press about hormone replacement therapy started, I decided it was time to stop taking HRT. I gave myself three weeks to withdraw from my HRT. The first two weeks that I was completely off, I felt pretty good. Then they hit! That is, the hot flashes and night sweats. They were miserable and quite severe. It was my understanding that I would have to just tolerate these for a little while. They continued strongly and soon other symptoms entered the picture to add to my misery. Of course my sleep was disrupted. I was exhausted and cranky. Life just felt insurmountable and depressing. No matter how I felt, life, work and family difficulties just kept marching on. I really wanted to withdraw from family and friends. I wanted to be away from everyone, by myself...

“I left my long-time job of twenty-three years to find something less stressful and mellow. Something I could deal with better. All this time I’m thinking, ’What is the matter with me?’ After about six or seven months off my HRT, I went back to my doctor and told him what I had done, and how incredibly miserable I was — still! He put me back on HRT but at a lower dose. Again, there was some relief but I still had hot flashes and night sweats, drenching the sheets.

“During this time I heard about Women to Women’s Personal Program from a friend. I called and my life is changed now. I started the Personal Program in April, 2003. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I started with the Essential Nutrients two times a day. They seemed like they could be a challenge to get down at first but no problem. The fish oil capsule does repeat sometimes but to me that was a small price to pay if they helped me to feel better. When I spoke to the Nurse–Educator, we talked about a lot of things I never even thought about before, but they make so much sense now. I’ve changed the way I eat and even changed the way I think about food. I’m eating in a healthy way now, yes, I fall back into my old ways sometimes, but I actually know now that if I eat well, I feel well!

“After starting the Essential Nutrients and gaining some knowledge about my diet, I started weaning slowly off my HRT again with their guidance. The Personal Program recommends giving yourself about three months to wean! No big changes yet, but they asked me to be realistic about reversing something that had been in motion for years. I wanted so much for the hot flashes to be GONE! It has been a day-to-day thing-remembering that the things I do and the things I eat will directly affect my outcome.

“It has been a gradual process but now, three months later, I am free of hot flashes and night sweats. I am off HRT and am continuing to take my Essential Nutrients. I feel great!

“It is hard to imagine that I have lived all these years and did not truly understand the impact my eating and lifestyle habits had on my mental, emotional and physical well-being. We can have control over our health in such a safe and natural way, all we need is knowledge, guidance — and of course motivation!”

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Last Modified: 02/16/2010