Have you had experience with the Wiley Protocol?

"My word of advice is to do your research (which you are doing now) and give it a try. What is the worst that will happen? If you feel terrible, then adjust. If you continue to feel bad then try the static dosing. But, you're not going to hurt or damage anything by trying it for a couple of months. Trust me...I was very hesitant and fearful but am so glad I got over those fears and gave it a try. Hope this helps and good luck!....Shelley"

What is the worst that will happen? This protocol hasn't been tested. Nobody knows just how bad it might be, but there are testimonials. Women who've tried it have reported fear that they've permanently damaged their bodies. No testing has been done that could reassure them. Hormones are extremely powerful substances and the Wiley Protocol's dosages are the most extreme. Many say it's taken years to get back to where they were before. Many feel that they still haven't recovered. In the words of Dr. Formby the Wiley Protocol is a "nuclear blast to the endocrine system". A number of women have reported feeling despondent and suicidal after starting the Wiley Protocol.

I do hope everything is working out well for you, Anonymous, and I also trust you realize that your experience doesn't represent all the women who've tried this product.

Everyone must remember one very important fact....there is no one size fits all for anybody! I am 39. I had a complete hysterectomy when I was 37. I had very irregular periods and terrible anxiety and panic attacks prior to my surgery. Within a couple of weeks after my surgery I felt like a completely new person and my anxiety had dissappeared. I initially was on a patch but wanted something more "natural" so decided to try compounded HRT. I was on a static dose (by Dr. Cheryl Hart) and that worked great. I felt calm, I could concentrate and was able to live a normal life; I was always even-keeled. I moved and had to find a new Dr. so I did research and found a Naturopathic Dr. that introduced the Wiley Protocol to me. He said it was a much safer route and recommended I try it. He has done extensive research and came highly recommended so I agreed to try it.
I have done my research and talked with some other naturopathics and holistic people and they all agreed that the protocol makes sense. I've had to adjust the doses to my needs as the low and high estrogen causes me anxiety, as well as the no dose progesterone in the first two weeks. The pharamacist told me I could do one line a day of progesterone for the first two weeks (instead of no progesterone). On the flip side, the high doses of progesterone cause me to be lethargic. I sleep a lot and do not have energy to do my workouts/lift weights. So, I've cut two lines of progesterone a day off each dose.
The point is that yes, I also research and was/am very skeptical of what I read on the internet and other places, but I do realize 100% that there is no one "recipe" for every single person...no way. So, while some women feel awful on the Wiley and some people feel awful on static dosing, you just need to journal very well and keep track of exactly which days you feel better than others and you'll be able to figure it out. It's a bit high maintenance at first to have to "tweak" and adjust, but the good thing is that you CAN do that. I also make sure to communicate to my husband and son when I'm having a bad day, and ask my friends/family if they notice any changes in me...that really helps. But overall, the protocol is working fine and because it's a safer route than static dosing (to be on for more than 5 years - I'll probably need to be on for 20 years or so), it's the way it's got be. My word of advice is to do your research (which you are doing now) and give it a try. What is the worst that will happen? If you feel terrible, then adjust. If you continue to feel bad then try the static dosing. But, you're not going to hurt or damage anything by trying it for a couple of months. Trust me...I was very hesitant and fearful but am so glad I got over those fears and gave it a try. Hope this helps and good luck!....Shelley

You can find out more about the history of women's experiences with the Wiley Protocol and Dr. Bent Formby's views on T.S. Wiley at http://rhythmicliving.org. In particular I think attention should be drawn to these pages:

http://rhythmicliving.org/?page_id=3
http://rhythmicliving.org/?page_id=20
http://rhythmicliving.org/?page_id=23

Deborah Vanderstadt
Wiley Watch

Indeed one should be very mindful of anonymous testimonials and especially those that stand to benefit somebody. That includes T.S. Wiley's profits and ambitions. One should closely examine testimonials that paint a picture of unblemished success with a vendor's product.

In this case, one should closely examine cavalier dismissal of all the women who've testified to having unfavorable and even terrible experiences on the Wiley Protocol, their dismissal as nothing but paid lackeys of pharmaceutical companies. It's very common, and you have to wonder why.

If T.S. Wiley, like a responsible researcher/businessperson, had actually tested her protocol and her idea of extreme hormone dosages, before selling it to menopausal women, and if the results had proven to be an unqualified success, then perhaps there would be at least some basis for doubting the words of all the women who've actually tried her product. But she didn't. It's been years now and it remains untested. The only evidence is from "the field". That consists of the testimonials of women who've actually tried the product and of those who are selling it.

If one time, just one time, one of these people who are claiming that all these women reporting horrible results are being paid off by pharmaceutical companies -- because they and supposedly so terrified of T.S. Wiley -- if they offered just a single shred of evidence in their favor of this claim, it would blow me away. That's all it would take. Just one ounce of substantiation.

I've talked to a great many of these women directly, and I'm confident it doesn't exist.

(And I have their contact info. Anyone who's serious about investigating this issue should contact me.)

Deborah Vanderstadt
Wiley Watch

I have been on the Wiley protocol for 4 months. I have had a very positive experience. I work for a practice who's doctor prescribes the Wiley protocol. We have had no instances of women wanting to go off, no instances of women going to the emergency room and no instances of horrendous side effects being reported. Minor transient side effects are normal in the first few months and are generally handled by adjusting the dose or spreading the dose out to 4x a day instead of 2x. I could sleep better after only 3 days on the protocol. I have had no weight gain since starting. Static dosing of hormones is not natural for the body! A woman's body doesn't make progesterone until the second half of her cycle. Why would you give progesterone in the same dose all month long? It doesn't make sense. Same as estradiol. Your natural cycle starts out low, peaks on day 12 and falls back down the last 14 days of the cycle (for a normal 28 day cycle). Why would you give the same static dose of estradiol all month long. I say do your research and be mindful of anonymous posters of information. There are people who spread bad information being paid by pharmaceutical companies, on websites such as your own. They have their agenda and that is to make sure a great bhrt program does not cut into their profits. Wiley makes sense. Most days on the wiley protocol are less than standard of care static dosing. Only the peak days and immediately surrounding days are higher than standard of care static dosing.

Helene G

My doctor confessed that most women stopped the Wiley Protocol after a month or two but they were pressured to stay on it for three months by Wiley. So when I quit Wiley he had another regimen ready, a "static" regimen where you don't cycle hormones, you take the same amount every day of estradiol and progesterone. The dose of hormones is much, much lower and the side effects are gone.

I think my doc thought Suzanne Somers was still doing the Wiley Protocol. (He is a big fan of her latest book) But Somers had stopped Wiley three years ago according to what she has said publicaly. I don't think my doc will be putting any more people on Wiley. He doesn't want to get calls from the emergency room docs about his Wiley patients showing up in the middle of the night with major bleeding or other weird events like kidney stones in the progesterone phase.