I remember, in the mid 1990's reading the newspaper about a woman in London, England who was standing at the end of her driveway, screaming hysterically, at her mother. (The reasons were apparent to no one.) The article proceeded to describe this woman's problems with premenstrual syndrome, more commonly known as PMS. Could I relate? Yes, yes, and yes, again.

For two weeks, every month, I became depressed, angry, and at times wished I could just go to sleep and never wake up. I tried the antidepressant route but developed reflux and projectile vomiting from the medication. So, I suffered as did, at times, my family.

The article described a mask with lights which the woman used on a daily basis. The mask had originally been designed to help individuals with migraines, but, during the clinical trials the women in the study purported improvement in their PMS symptoms.

I immediately made an appointment with my physician to request further information about the mask. She made some inquiries, even contacted our local PMS clinic, but was not able to offer any further insight. The article had named the physician at the Hammersmith's Hospital in London and I called him.

Finally, after repeated attempts to contact the named physician, I spoke to him and he gave me the name and number of a man in California to contact. Through this next gentleman, I obtained a set of the lights and my symptoms diminished, somewhat. Then, a few years ago, I, once again visited my family physician, questioning if I had diabetes due to frequent urination.

Upon examination, she ordered an ultrasound of my uterus. I had a large fibroid, which required removal. As I sat talking with my gynecologist she offered, that perhaps, (depending upon the position of the fibroid), she could save my ovaries, or, she could remove everything. We had a discussion and I questioned her as to what she would do if she were in my position.

She gave me the information that was common knowledge, at that time and, with the gynecologists stamp of approval, I decided to get it all out. Swish, out with it, all. Why go through menopause if I didn't have to. Also, my hormones, since the birth of my children had not served me well, so be-gone with it all. I would simply take hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for the rest of my life. Millions of other women are too. So it would not be a problem, right? Wrong!!

After two and one half years of taking HRT, I topped the scales at my highest weight ever. (I had not been advised that HRT can lead to weight gain as well as difficulty with weight loss.) The problems this created were multi-faceted.

One of the biggest difficulties is the fact that I am a hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner. I was becoming embarrassed to work with clients, fearing that they would be looking at me and questioning what I could do for them when I couldn't do a thing for myself. The time had arrived. I had to lose weight. I needed to use, my tools, my knowledge, and my abilities, to help, me.

The first step was to remove, my formerly, beloved chocolate bars, from my diet. I used a like-to-dislike submodalities technique and placed the chocolate bars in a huge bucket of black olives. I have not touched chocolate since, but even more importantly …. I don't want chocolate. Unfortunately though, I slipped into an ice cream phase and remained there until July of this year, when I scared myself silly. I had an exceptionally bad sugar reaction. My reaction was so severe that I once again, thought that I was developing diabetes.

Luckily, this was not the case, however, that was the beginning of my new life. I was going to eliminate sugar from my diet, with the exception of sauces, when it is placed 8, 9, or 10 on the list of ingredients. That evening, I hypnotized myself to remove all desire for sugars. One can use self hypnosis to effectively make changes to one's life. The hypnosis worked, exceptionally well, my desires for sugar were gone. My weight, however, was not dropping and I was very frustrated.

Roughly, simultaneously to this episode, we, the public became aware of the HRT scare. I had, as with millions of other women been told, you will be on it for the rest of your life. Now, I must admit, I was taking estrogen only, and the jury remains uncommitted on this form of HRT. Upon reading about the dangers of HRT, I pulled out a CPS (pharmaceutical compendium) to learn about the medication that I was taking.

One of the four main items that raised red flags, for me, was glucose intolerance. Ever since my hysterectomy in February 2000, I had expressed puzzlement over the fact that I could no longer drink, even, one glass of wine, and in particular when accompanied with desert, without waking the following morning feeling as though my body were riddled with arthritis. Hello …. Glucose intolerance.

Once again I visited my physician. She suggested that I simply come off the medication. The thought of this threw me into a terrible conundrum. Not only was I taking the medication, but I was taking two times the prescribed dose. Every time I had tried to come down on my medication I went spinning into my old PMS type feelings. I hated the feelings and hated myself when I was feeling in that way. What was I to do?

I was determined that, this time, not only would I reduce my medication to the prescribed dose but I would come off the medication totally. I returned to my hypnotherapy chair and created a scene where I was squeezing estrogen out of my cells and the estrogen swirled, danced, and flowed throughout my body. As this happened, my mood was calm, relaxed, and in control. My body temperature drops to its normal level, and I feel great. I used the hypnosis to visualize healthy, sensible, and nutritious eating. I focus on being full rather than being deprived.

A problem that I have had all my life, is that I cannot run. I recall my grade 9 physical education teacher telling me that I ran like a duck with my legs kicking outward at 10 to 2. I think that 20 past 8 would be more accurate but whatever … I needed to increase my cardio activity.

I play tennis three times a week but that is stop and start. I needed at least 20 minutes continuous cardio, daily. My treadmill, along with the exercise bike, the Pilates reformer and every other piece of exercise equipment that has visited my home, has served me very well as a clothes rack. Hang up your clothes, in the closet, put on the work out garb, and climb on the treadmill. This is what I told myself in my next hypnosis session.

I started slowly, just as I do with my clients. I committed to jog 30 seconds, mainly because that was all I was able to do. Every morning, and yes, I committed to do it every morning. (You see, if you commit to work out every day and miss a day, then you still are working out 6 days a week but if you commit to 3 days a week and miss a day, you're in trouble.)

So, every morning I get up, put on my work out clothes and hit the treadmill. I jogged for 30 laborious seconds and then walked for 30 seconds. I did 10 minutes. Then I slowly started to increase this to 15 minutes then 30+ minutes. Today, only four weeks later, I, for the first time in my life, jogged, non stop, 2 miles. I could have done more but decided not to push it. I will, slowly build this up, to avoid injury. My weekly routine is a run every morning, tennis three times a week and Pilates two times a week.

I have already lost 28 pounds and I feel great. I would like to shed a little more, and I know that I can do it. I, am, doing it. The hot flushes happen, but they are easily controllable, with the hypnosis, the exercise is thrilling, my body has almost returned to my desired weight and I am already wearing most of my favorite clothes. Every day, it, as well as me, gets better and better.

Is it just me, or is sugar a bigger culprit than we ever realized? Perhaps this can lead to more intensive research. Perhaps more women can shed those excess pounds which, probably, more than anything else, leads to heart attacks. Could this be an alternative treatment for PMS, for menopausal problems? I wonder … There are many roads that guide us to our desired goals, I chose hypnosis as my modality and it worked. I feel healthy, fit, and full of vitality all the while knowing that "every day, in every way, I am getting better, and better."