Testimonials: Success Stories with Customized HRT

What brought Renee to the office were symptoms of aches and pains, but it was clearly apparent that her underlying problems were rooted far deeper than a Cymbalta or Lyrica deficiency. There was much more to Renee than just a few aches and pains.

A closer look revealed that Renee had transitioned into menopause about seven years earlier. Initial media reports from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) had surfaced around that same time, frightening her against considering the use of hormone replacement therapy. Additionally, Renee saw the progressive deterioration of her marriage at the hands of her now 70-year-old alcoholic husband. Menopause, coupled by yet another failed marriage, left Renee feeling lonely, depressed, abandoned, undesired, unloved and in pain. This was not how Renee had envisioned her life 40 years earlier, nor was this going to reflect how it would end, she resolved.  

She had once been a highly energetic, successful nurse, whose life had been infused with periods of intense passion and sexual pleasure. She remembers fondly that her libido had always been high and that she first became sexually active with her high school sweetheart at about the age of 18. Even though she was young, naïve and inexperienced, she confessed to really liking sex and achieved multiple orgasms easily

Nursing school brought change and growth. Renee broke up with her boyfriend and experienced several transitional relationships. This was during an era when people didn't talk about sex. Most of what she learned about sex was from self-exploration and imaginative experimentation. The “Pill” came out about that period in her life. Renee's experience with the Pill was that it made her horny.

At age 22, she ultimately married her high school sweetheart. They settled on a ranch where they farmed and raised horses. She also worked as a nurse and raised two boys. Somehow they found the time to engage in sex at least once or twice per day, and she confesses to initiating sex at least 40 to 50 percent of the time. After the children were born, the IUD was her mode of birth control.

Around age 35, she attended a seminar by Dr. Christiane Northrup who recommended that couples use saliva testing to evaluate their sex hormone levels. Her saliva test was high for testosterone and estrogen, which explained why she had always been assertive about getting her sexual needs satisfied. From her perspective, sex was stress relief, and it served to validate her need to be wanted and desired.

Interestingly, she developed an appetite for raw primal sex. She even took belly dancing classes in order to spice up their sex life. In retrospect, she expressed regret in having done that. Apparently, it backfired on her with the husband. She thought that perhaps her sexual creativity and assertiveness frightened or intimidated him to the degree that he eventually withdrew both emotionally and physically from her. As she approached 40 years of age she began to feel neglected and recognized that her needs were not being met within the context of her marriage, and she filed for divorce.

She married a 55-year-old guy who possessed the masculine characteristics that she needed. Sex was great, filled with passion and primal energy, at least initially. They found the time to engage in sex at least four to five times per week. In time, she noticed changes in her husband that concerned her. She noticed he started drinking nightly between the hours of five and eight. He went directly to bed, bypassing any quality alone time with her. She found herself becoming desperate for affection and literally resorted to begging her husband for hugs. 

She became more insistent that they have sex. However, as his alcoholism progressed so did his erectile dysfunction and loss of libido. Again she found herself in a marriage that was no longer fulfilling her emotional and physical needs. Her husband was now exhibiting evidence of alcoholic dementia. She resorted to consoling herself with food and began to gain considerable weight.

While all this was going on she started entering menopause herself, and noticed that her libido plummeted to at least a third of its former intensity. Renee assumed this is just what happens in life as one ages and felt like she just needed to suck it up. She hated the loss of her previous sexuality. Her former 135-pound frame now supported over 200 pounds.

Renee had previously maintained a very active athletic lifestyle, and those activities included ranching, horseback riding, walking and gardening. Gardening was one of her favorite activities. Renee found gardening as a source of joy and felt a sense of connectedness to the earth. Nature had always been a source of spiritual strength and rejuvenation for her, maintaining also that she never smoked or used pot and other recreational drugs.

With a growing sense of loneliness and marital unhappiness, she turned frequently to food for comfort, but that brought only temporary solace from the unhappiness and despair that accompanied her 60-pound weight gain.

There was a complete loss of sense of self. Her femininity, creativity and instincts were numb. She was no longer the confident, assertive and creative person that she once had been. She was experiencing the gestalt of multiple factors that conspired to steal away her self-esteem and self-confidence. Among these factors were severe fatigue, pain and exhaustion, estrogen deficiency, a broken marriage, and constant rejection and putdowns from her husband. 

She felt trapped and unable to formulate a strategy to escape from this hell. Exhaustion, depression and brain fog sabotaged her motivation for change. The real Renee felt dead, or at least asleep. How could she wake up and extricate herself from this life that now was unrecognizable from the one she had envisioned for herself. This was not how Renee wanted to live out her days. 

Friends and physicians alike told her she was just depressed, and recommended she consider antidepressants. Her gut instincts told her she was not suffering from depression. There had never been a need to contend with issues of depression before. How she felt was not primarily rooted in depression, she thought to herself. Instinctively, Renee knew something else was stealing her libido and sleep, replacing it with exhaustion, brain fog and generalized aches and pains.

Somehow, Renee started listening to Suzanne Somers and read her books that talked about the seven dwarfs of menopause, and the many health reinvigorating benefits of rhythmic, bio-identical hormone restoration. She read the part when Suzanne Somers asked Diane Schwartzbein the question, “Isn't it an environment of balanced hormones that prevents disease?” and Dr. Diane Schwartzbein responded with, “Absolutely! That's why young people do not get the diseases of aging, because aging is loss of hormones; it's like watering a plant. With water the plant flourishes if it is in the right environment for itself. If you stop watering the plant, it will continue to grow, but over time it will stop looking so good, and eventually the plant will keel over and die. The same thing happens to humans. As we lose our hormones in the aging process, we continue to look and feel good, much like the plant, but eventually, without our hormones which provide nourishment to our organs, we start to have problems. A disease here, a medical problem there, and eventually we die because we are no longer being nurtured, nourished and fertilized by our hormones. It is then that our bodies give out on us. When you get your hormones balanced by taking bio-identical hormones and eating right and exercising, you will achieve your ideal body composition. We don't have to be pear-shaped or apple-shaped in middle age. Add to that other health benefits, such as more youthful skin, more energy, sharper thinking, no more memory loss, fewer mood swings, less depression, less anxiety, greater muscle definition, enhanced sexuality, sleeping through the night, elimination of hot flashes and the advantages of staving off the diseases thought to automatically accompany growing older, and it is clear that this formula, tailored just for you, is the answer.”

This all made logical sense to Renee. She launched a search to find a like-minded physician who understood her, and could accurately restore her hormones to their correct balance.

This is when Renee entered my office for a medical consultation. Her presenting complaints were physical and related to quality of life issues. Yes, her pain issues would have responded to painkillers, but then she would have needed to contend with unwanted side effects and potentially life-threatening complications, the least of which included addiction and death, she thought to herself.

Antidepressants could also have been offered her since they contain therapeutic indications for depression and chronic pain syndromes. No doubt she would have experienced quick palliative benefits, but at what cost? More weight gain, loss of libido and further loss of connectedness to self? She had already resolved to avoid the conventional approach to therapy. What she was looking for involved permanent, long-term and real solutions to each of her problems. She had never been into the “quick fix” of Western medicine. She was looking for solutions that made sense, and resonated with her soul and the natural healer within.

Renee found our clinic’s approach exactly what she was looking for, and complied willingly with the therapeutic lifestyle changes and hormone protocols that we recommended to optimize her health.

In a few weeks Renee noticed life-transforming changes. She had never imagined that at 60 years of age her libido could skyrocket back to its normal level. Renee felt good again, almost better than she could ever remember feeling. Sleep came back and her weight dropped off like it did when she was younger. Her body started changing shape, almost as though it were being sculpted back to a more youthful version of herself. She felt sexy again, and wondered, “What am I supposed to do now that I feel young, refreshed and sexy again?” She discussed this dilemma with her husband, only to be put down yet one more time. His advice: “Get off the hormones.”

That was not an option for Renee. Why would she choose to stop a therapy that had succeeded in completely eliminating her chronic aches and pains, depression, insomnia, fatigue, food cravings and hot flashes? She had worked very hard at getting her health back. She had completely changed her lifestyle, and was eating better and exercising again. She was now on a low carbohydrate, gluten-free diet, organic and whole food regimen, and was trying to get more protein to support the growth, healing and repair functions of her healing process.

Renee even sought out counseling to more effectively deal with the emotional pain inflicted by constant rejection from her husband. Her counselor’s advice was to get out of this destructive marriage as fast as possible. This she has done. Her inner strength is back, and her independence and courage has returned. The real Renee has reawakened. She adds, “I’m feeling sexy again. My creative juices have started to flow.”

Renee just bought herself a brand new drum set on which she practices her drumming several hours every day. With her renewed energy she has the strength and motivation to go out fishing and kayaking, cycling and jogging. She has hired a personal trainer to optimize her training response.

People are noticing her transformation and comment on how good she looks. Her skin, hair and waistline are looking younger, and friends are inquiring as to what it is she is doing to look so good.

“Hormones have changed my life,” she states, adding that, “I have a renewed love for life, and I want to live out my remaining years with energy, creativity, spontaneity, loads of passion and sex. I long to pursue my favorite activities free of pain, illness and depression.” Renee is on a journey of self-improvement. She is determined to enjoy life to its fullest. I see nothing that would stand in Renee's way. 

Menopause is shaping up to be the best time of Renee’s life. The combination of a therapeutic lifestyle and hormone optimization program, tailor made just for you, affords a win-win situation for women like Renee interested in returning to a state of well-balanced health thanks to HRT.