Dr. Vliet frequently hears from patients, readers and web-surfers ideas and approaches that have "worked" for them.  Many of our readers also ask whether other patients have any "tips for success" on the hormone journey and whether there is a place on our website for women to share their hormone "experience" and their successful solutions.

 

So from all these suggestions and requests, we have created a new webpage dedicated to you.  Each of you going through the journey may share your ideas and questions in posts that others may read. 

 

To insure that we do not have medically misleading or incorrect information, Dr. Vliet will screen the posts before they are put up on our site for others to read.  The following comments are from others like you, fighting some of the same battles, and trying to solve some of the same problems.  These are examples of what "Works for Me":

To enter your own comments and/or suggestions, click on the button below.

 

 

 

Your Posts

 

From Denise J. via the Web:

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

I have stumbled across your website and books today, and you have sold me on one simple truth... Don't just tell me to "eat right and lose weight." Tell me what's going on behind the scenes with PCOS. Despite my current overweight status, I do the right things! I have absolutely dreaded going to the doctor for years because I'm overweight, have abnormal hair growth for women, am tired all the time, and downright cranky a lot of the times. What I've found on your site lets me know that I'm not alone, and that it's not "all my fault."

Thank you!

 

From Jody via the Web:

Age 55

I had a total hysterectomy in my late 30's due to endometriosis and was on premarin for 13 years. When my doctor wanted me to get off of it, I tried to taper it down but felt horrible. I also have fibromyalgia and it got worse. Thanks to Dr. Vliet's books, Screaming to be Heard and It's My Ovaries, Stupid, I had the confidence to ask questions of my doctor and pharmacist and found workable solutions for me. I now use weekly estradiol patches. Had I not asked the pharmacist, I would not have known there is a generic bio identical 17 beta estradiol made by Mylan. It's only $4 a month with my insurance. I sleep well when my estradiol is up and my FM pain is down. I also do the guaifenesin protocol for FM, so the two things together work great. I also use a little compounded testosterone, which keeps me energetic and boosts my sex drive too. Thank you many times over Dr. Vliet! My husband just listened to your radio program on testosterone too and has direction for himself now as well.

Big hug, Jody

 

From Laura via the Web:

Age 63

In addition to replacing estradiol and testosterone lost at menopause (and using the Mirena IUD instead of taking progesterone replacement by some other route), it can be important to test for homocysteine. Homocysteine (a marker for increased heart disease risk) can suddenly be elevated in middle age, and even in people who do eat plenty of B-vitamins if they have one or more polymorphisms (=mutations) which can lead to such elevation. The corrective doses of B-12 and folate (which normalize homocysteine) for people with polymorphisms can be a higher dose of B-12 or folate than one might expect and replacement is often easier with a prescription vitamin product. Uncorrected hypo-homocysteinemia can cause loss of bone density in addition to being associated with heart disease and mental problems. Even after correction the levels should be re-tested to make certain replacement has been adequate. Gluten intolerance appears to me to be THE cause of irritable bowel disease--in that I wonder whether IBD is ever present without some degree of gluten intolerance. Discussions of the antibody and biopsy testing are long and complicated. A cheaper and more useful way to find out whether wheat, barley and/or rye are contributing to IBS symptoms is to abstain from these foods. It may be necessary to abstain for a month or so in order to try to sort out non-gut issues such as rheumatological complaints, but the gut symptoms will show a change in the first week of abstention. It is so much better to figure these problems out than it is to end up on narcotics and other drugs which do not work as well as abstaining from these foods. Since wheat is now being shown to resemble opiates in terms of addictive behaviors, it is not surprising that obesity issues fade once a person stops eating wheat entirely.

Thanks again.

 

From Leasa via the Web:

Age 48

I use the Vivelle Dot and I am very sensitive to surges and dips. So I decided a few months back, to cut the patch in half and use it for half the amount of time. I thought it would give me a more even, steady delivery of the estradiol. It does seem to work better. I believe Dr. Vliet is right about the patches not always lasting as long as they say. One whole patch lasts me more like 3 days vs 3-1/2 days. Thanks Dr. Vliet, you seem to have the most balanced (no pun intended) info out there. I have read your books over and over and have dog-eared so many pages! Praise to the Lord, I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks again.

 

From Janet via the Web:

Age 48

I had a hysterectomy because of excessive bleeding and pre-cancerous cells in my uterus. I was already experiencing some night sweats, but when they took one of my ovaries in the surgery my hot flashes got worse and worse. I am now on the lowest done of Premaryn and it is working well for my hot flashes. I wish that I could find something to help with the memory loss and FOG that I am constantly in. I am in an administrative position at a school and I am embarrassed by my lack of memory each and every day!

 

Re: Second Opinion Consult

Hi Rose,

What a nice person Dr. Vliet is. She is the first person to give me some hope. We so appreciated the time with her and her wealth of information she gave us.

Thanks for everything.

Caroline

 

I have a very active lifestyle as a personal trainer and fitness coach. Dr. Vliet has successfully restored my hormonal health to a point where my energy levels are once again consistent allowing me to keep up with my hectic schedule. However after a couple of years of worsening back pain, I was recently diagnosed with a herniated disc. Since surgery is out of the question, I have found that the supplement SAM-E has helped tremendously with the pain and stiffness and has allowed me to resume my workouts, which also help with the pain. It has worked much better than Glucosamine/Chrondroitin. I take 800 mgs. daily and have found the NatureMade brand to be most effective.

S. R.

 

My solution for peeling Vivelle Dot patches and the gray outlines

I have been a patient of Dr. Vliet’s for a couple of years now and thanks to her expertise I have seen nearly all of the symptoms I was suffering from disappear. The transformation is amazing.  I currently use Vivelle Dot and am having great success with it as an estradiol delivery method. 

There were some problems until recently and I’d like to share my solution with other women who might also be experiencing them.  I had peeling patches resulting in very erratic blood levels and the gray adhesive outline was difficult and time consuming to remove.

3M makes an excellent product under the Nexcare label.  It is called waterproof skin cover and it comes in a roll of 2" x 24".  I order it though my pharmacy and it costs about 3.50 for each roll.  Some Target and Wal-Mart stores carry it on their shelves.  upc51135813560  It is clear and thin and sticks like a second skin, but peels off very easily when you want it to.  It won't try to remove your skin like some surgical tape.  It is also easy to see the patch underneath if you are like me and want to make certain it is fully adhered.

You can cut off slivers of tape to cover all edges of any size patch and amazingly, the patch will stick solidly to your skin and quit sliding.  That sliding is why the adhesive transfers to your skin and leaves the gray edge.  When you peel the whole thing off later, there is no adhesive line, nothing to clean. 

I also had real problems with the patch lifting all around the edges which reduces the dose significantly.  And I suspect that the patch was lifting covertly in creases when I would twist and bend and resealing itself before I noticed.  It was giving me real fits because of the rapid changes in my blood level.  Those changes can cause hot flashes and anxiety big time along with a lot of other symptoms that can sometimes recur for days.  I have found that, since taping the edges, I have become very stable.  When I first started taping, my blood levels shot up in the range of too much estrogen and I found I had to gradually reduce the dosage over a couple of months.  I am now much closer to 100 percent transfer of the estrogen where before the tape, it was less than 50 and the numbers varied greatly every time I had a blood draw. 

Also, I can bathe and do strenuous housework and exercise and wear tight waistbands and not have to be constantly aware of my patches and vigilantly checking them.

Wish you all the best of luck and success.

T. B.

 

When I first met with Dr. Vliet 9 years ago and started on HRT, I was a mess -- my brain was exhausted by depression, fogginess, and anxiety from what I now realize was almost a lifetime of out-of-whack hormone levels. I started to feel relief immediately, and in the years since then when my levels have gotten too low, I always feel better fast after doing an adjustment of hormones. I remember Dr. Vliet telling me at the start, though, that it would take years for my brain to fully heal. She was so right. For instance, I was in New York last week on business. I hadn't been there for 20 years, and I steeled myself for the sensory overload I always used to feel there -- the noise of the subway trains, the honking and sirens, the smells, the crowds. I was amazed to discover that none of it bothered me this time. Every year that passes, I notice that my "cushion" for stress and sensory stimulation gets a little bigger -- I recover faster from stressful periods, and I am a little less ruffled by things. It's a more subtle and gradual level of healing, but there's no question that it's there for me.

H. H.