T. S. Wiley

T.S. Wiley is the author of Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival, and Sex, Lies and Menopause. She writes about women's health, particularly sleep and hormonal issues and hormone replacement therapy.

Her main thesis in Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival is that light is a physiological trigger that controls dopamine and hormones like cortisol. She posits that with the extension of the natural day through artificial lighting, rest at the hormonal levels is rarely adequate for optimum biological needs of the body. In her view, this results in both fatigue and unnatural appetite, which leads to weight gain, exhaustion and disease.

She argues that the body's responses are cyclical, reflecting the seasons of the year, and that the body's needs vary seasonally. According to Wiley, during the winter months the body needs more sleep, and carbohydrates should be restricted as they would have been naturally during hunter-gatherer times.

In her follow-up book, Sex, Lies and Menopause, Wiley argues that imbalances in hormones like estrogen, progesterone, insulin, cortisol, and prolactin, among others, are the root cause of age-related diseases, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and Alzheimer's. These imbalances, Wiley claims, can be attributed to deviations from humankind's natural state—artificial light, sleeping too much in the summer and not enough during winter, and eating fruit during winter months—and indirectly to women's liberation, insofar as it has lead to the increased use of contraceptives, deferring of childbirth into the 20s and 30s, less frequent childbirth, and reduced breastfeeding. The solution Wiley offers for women is to recreate the youthful levels and monthly cycles of estrogen and progesterone in the body, in effect fooling nature into thinking that the organism is still young and reproductive and should not be culled from the ecosystem. In this way age-related diseases may be prevented or cured and perhaps even death may be averted indefinitely. Wiley argues that conventional hormone replacement therapy is ineffective and dangerous, advocating instead cyclical dosing of bioidential hormones. Appendix I of the book describes a specific dosing schedule for estrogen and progesterone.

Subsequent to the book's publication, Wiley named her hormone regimen "The Wiley Protocol" and began selling branded Wiley Protocol hormones through pharmacies. These pharmacists must pay fees for registration and materials and agree to a contract stipulating compounding methods, materials, packaging, recommended pricing, and royalties to be paid to Wiley. In addition they must post a sign in their window declaring their participation in the Wiley program. In return Wiley offers to drive business to the pharmacist via links from her website, recommendations, and a mention in her upcoming book.

Wiley also offers free hormones to women who refer a pharmacy for registration as well as a training and certification program for physicians.

Suzanne Somers advocated the Wiley Protocol and described her experience with it in her book Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones.

Controversy

On October 11, 2006, Erika Schwartz, Diana Schwarzbein, and five other MDs issued a public letter to Suzanne Somers and her publisher, Crown, criticizing Somers' endorsement of Wiley's protocol. In the letter they alleged that the protocol is "scientifically unproven and dangerous" and that Wiley has no medical or clinical qualifications. Wiley responded by claiming that credentials are not significant, that "I don't need a license to think", and that the doctors who signed the letter have themselves weak credentials in hormone replacement therapy.

Wiley has claimed on her website and in speaking engagements that she earned a B.A. in anthropology from Webster University in 1975. On November 27, 2006, Newsweek reported that Webster has no record of this degree. Wiley's bio page was then changed to "Pending B.A. in Anthropology, Webster University, 1975" and then again to "Attended the B.A. Program in Anthropology, Webster University, 1970-1975". ABC News reported on February 16, 2007, that, according to Webster, she received only a blank diploma.

A number women have reported adverse effects from the Wiley Protocol, including hair loss, brain fog, fatigue, weight gain, and depression. Wiley insists that the protocol is effective and alleges that these women were noncompliant, that they had problems before starting the protocol, and that the product was faulty due to pharmacy incompetence.