Women’s stories

“It’s a subconscious thing — I know you’re there.”

Flora, a 56-year-old minister, found the Personal Program one morning after waking up with one of those “unbearable” hot flashes, crying and feeling “drainy.” Having tried everything else under the sun for her menopausal symptoms, she read a few of the Women’s Stories and said to herself, “Well, let me just go ahead and do this.” Now in her fourth month on the Program, she’s feeling great, full of energy, and spreading the good news.

“I can’t tell you the money I have spent since 1999 and up until today. Honest to God, you name it, I have tried it. I’ve been on the patches, the HRT’s, the over-the-counter products like black cohosh. I’d say, ‘You name it, Flora has tried it.’ It was getting to the point where I was crying, just buying stuff and wasting my money. I said to myself, ‘There’s got to be something that can help me.’ I really had my moments. I would say to myself, ‘Something’s just not working.’ So I’d tell my daughter, ‘Your mother’s just going through a change today.’ I didn’t want to snap at anybody. But I’m telling you, my body was just whacked. It needed something.

“I can’t explain it, but I would wake up feeling like I was all tired inside, kind of dragging. Once on the Program, I noticed a difference in about three days — that little ‘drainy’ feeling I had every morning just gone — and that became my motivator to take my Essential Nutrients religiously. Now this is my fourth month on the Personal Program.

“Before I went on the Program, my hot flashes would wake me up at night, and the pain in my hip would wake me up too. They told me I had osteoarthritis in the hip bone. Now I’m going to tell you the truth. Maybe it’s all in my mind, but I think this is what happened to me. Ever since I’ve been on the nutrients I feel better, so I cook more. I used to be so tired, I’d eat out all the time. But now I have more energy, so I’ve started walking, and then I get on the treadmill, and the next thing you know, I’ve lost about 15 pounds, and that has really helped my hip. I honestly feel better, I’m doing more, eating better, and I think that was part of the hip problem. I have gone down a whole size, and now I’m getting ready to take a water aerobics class with one of the ladies in my church.

“As for the hot flashes — well, I’m a minister, and I tell you, my congregation was freezing! So I would say to them, ‘People, I am just so sorry, but between these lights and the menopause and all this teaching and preaching, I can’t do it, guys! Just bring a sweater or a jacket to wear — I’ve just got to have air!’

“Thank God for my wonderful congregation. And my congregation will thank you, too. I’ve got some of them on the program now. I talk about you everywhere I go. I have four people on it that I know personally. I’m spreading the good word. I go to women’s conferences, and I say, ‘Let me tell you something; I want to give you a website....’ You see, they just don’t realize that they’re in menopause, and all their mood swings and ups-and-downs and all that, well, it has to do with menopause. They don’t know that they’re going through menopause. They don’t know that there is something that can help them.

“I’ve got a pastor friend of mine on it, too, and her husband just thanked me. I’m not exaggerating. It really has been a godsend. One of these ladies has osteoporosis. She’s now on the product. She wasn’t having any problem with her hot flashes or anything, but I told her to take it for that. She says she feels 100% better. I told another about it before she had her hysterectomy. And she did not go with the HRT or anything of that other stuff; she’s on the program. We’re just believing that other people will get on it. It’s needed and it works.

“For me, changing my diet has been all about the protein. I spoke with my Nurse–Educator, and she said, ‘Put more protein in your diet.’ So that’s what I did. I have my little piece of turkey sausage and my free-range eggs, and I have that for breakfast. I find that I am eating more, but I make sure I get protein in every meal, and I eat a lot of vegetables. I cut out the sugar and I cut out the pasta. I was a size 16 but now I’m a 14. That’s huge for me. I haven’t been able to lose that weight since 1999, when I had my hysterectomy.

“And now I’ve been off HRT for two years. I stopped that cold-turkey, which is probably why I was suffering so bad. But my daughter is a nursing student, and whenever she learns something new in nursing school that could impact my health she calls me. So that’s why I was reading about the HRT–cancer link, and between that and all the weight I gained when I was on it, I said, ‘I’m just not going to do this anymore.’ Can you believe it — my doctor said it was normal for me to be holding on to an extra 25 pounds, being on the HRT. So I said, ‘I can’t afford to have 25 pounds I can’t lose. This is not good.’ So I quit, just like that. But now I’m glad that I did it that way. I went through the suffering, crying, depression, hot flashes and night sweats — and the weight gain. I went through all of that.

“So what I love most about the program is the Essential Nutrients. I’ll be taking them ‘til kingdom come. Now, honestly, those vitamins work. It’s the truth, too — that’s what makes it so wonderful. I used to have the most intense sugar cravings. I was addicted to sugar. Although I admit, about two weeks ago I did have a Snickers fit — I’m being honest with you. Otherwise, I got rid of the sugary yogurt and all that stuff. The program has helped me with the sugar cravings.

“I’m just following instructions — that’s another thing. No one else had been able to help me. You women were there, and that’s what makes a difference. In my mind I know that you’re there, and know you won’t think I’m some kind of nut. Nobody there is rude, no one is ever too busy, and you’re always accommodating. I like that you call me. I even want you to call me. It’s a subconscious thing — I know you’re there. Maybe it’s easier to talk to someone you don’t know and say, ‘This is what happened to my body, this is what is going on with my body.’ I mean, I’m a minister — what am I going to do — going and getting depressed?! It was good to have somebody to talk to that could understood. I don’t believe we all have to suffer like that.”

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Last Modified Date: 05/26/2011