The Hidden Power of Testosterone

DANIEL THOMAS, DO

The Hidden Power of Testosterone
Ask most doctors about testosterone, and they might tell you that this hormone helps transform a boy into a man. Or they might tell you that it helps regulate the sex drive. While that’s all true, doctors are only now beginning to understand the many other vital functions of testosterone in men and women (yes, women).

What exactly are hormones and why are they so important?


Hormones are needed for growth and development, sexual function, metabolism, repair and rejuvenation, and overall well-being. Unfortunately, levels of these critical hormones can greatly diminish due to advancing age, stress, nutritional deficiencies, lack of exercise, lack of sleep, environmental pollution, and long-term use of prescription or over-the-counter medications. As hormone production decreases, the body often begins to slow down its rejuvenation and repair of tissues and organs. This can cause health to decline and aging to accelerate.

A disturbing study in 2007 from the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found that for the last 20 years, testosterone levels have been falling more rapidly than would be expected with aging alone. And a study in 2006 from the Archives of Internal Medicine discovered a possible link between low testosterone and an increased risk of death. Too little testosterone can have a profound impact on one’s health and longevity.


What do men need to know about testosterone?


While most men don’t realize it, starting as early as age 35, they begin to lose the ability to produce optimum levels of testosterone. Good health is slowly and steadily replaced with a host of “age-related” symptoms including lack of energy, decreased sex drive, weak erections, difficulty concentrating, memory loss, difficulty sleeping, weight gain or excess fat, decreased muscle strength, decreased exercise response, grumpiness or grouchiness, anxiety or depression, joint pain or muscle aches, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol. Men have been led to believe that many these physical and mental changes are an inevitable part of the aging process, and they must simply learn to live with them.


What do women need to know about testosterone?


Contrary to what most women believe, testosterone is not exclusively a “male” hormone. They produce small amounts of it in their bodies as well, but the role of testosterone in women has been greatly underestimated and ignored by the medical profession which usually fails to check their levels. Women actually need more testosterone than they realize (and it won’t turn you into a man). Symptoms of deficiency can start as early as age 35 and can include lack of energy, low sex drive, difficulty concentrating, memory loss, difficulty sleeping, weight gain or excess fat, mood swings or irritability, anxiety or depression, breast tenderness, joint pain or muscle aches, and migraine headaches.


How can one determine their testosterone level?


A simple blood test can reveal one’s hormone levels. For men, it is straightforward. But for women, a study published in 2002 in the Journal of Fertility and Sterility was one of the first to show that the range of “normal” given by most laboratories is inaccurate. If the doctor is unaware of these studies and looks only to the ranges the lab gives and ignores the symptoms, they can miss a woman’s testosterone deficiency altogether.

If one is deficient in testosterone, how does one replace it?

Nowadays, there are more choices than ever. Doctors can prescribe or administer hormone pills, creams, patches, injections, or pellets. The pellets have distinct advantages.


What are hormone pellets and how do they work?


About the size of a piece of cooked rice, hormone pellets contain compressed estrogen or testosterone. Using a local anesthetic, they are placed painlessly beneath the skin in the hip or buttock area. The pellets provide an on-demand delivery system to replenish the missing amounts estrogen or testosterone. They are designed to supplement or add to one’s own hormones — not to replace them. The pellets contain pure human-identical hormone derived from naturally occurring compounds found in soy and wild yam, and have been modified in order to have the same biochemical structure of human estrogen and testosterone, so they are recognized by the body as its own. They are hand-formulated under sterile conditions in licensed compounding pharmacies in the United States.

Hormone pellets represent the state-of-the-art by allowing the body to receive the hormones it needs directly into the bloodstream 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.


How do pellets compare to pills, creams, patches, or shots?


Prescription hormone pills, creams, patches, and shots cannot produce a normal physiologic state because they cannot deliver the varying amounts of hormones required by the body at different times, causing a peak-and-valley or roller-coaster effect, and subjecting one to potentially excessive dosages. And because hormone pills are absorbed through the digestive tract and must pass through the liver before the body can absorb them, some of the hormone can be lost in the process.

There are no peaks and valleys of hormone levels with pellets. Just like the natural, built-in hormone-delivery mechanism of the human body (endocrine system), pellets work on an ongoing basis, automatically delivering the correct amounts of hormones directly into the bloodstream exactly when needed. This consistent level of hormones can give one the same sense of well-being and vitality they felt in their early 30’s.


What are the possible health benefits of hormone restoration using pellets?


• Increased energy levels
• Increased sense of well-being (“zest for life”)
• Increased sex drive & satisfaction
• Improved mental sharpness, concentration, and memory
• Improved sleep
• Decreased body fat
• Increased muscle mass and strength
• Increased response to diet & exercise


What are the possible side effects?


There are few side effects mainly because the pellets are simply restoring the hormones to physiologic levels. When first starting therapy, there will be a short adjustment period. The most common side effects are mild and can include temporary breast or nipple tenderness, and temporary water weight gain.


Daniel Thomas, DO, practices at the Longwood Healing Center & Spa. Dr. Thomas is a recipient of the American Medical Association’s Physician Recognition Award. He can be reached at drthomas123@yahoo.com