Monthly Archives: April 2013

Getting the Most of Your Hormone Therapy
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So you’ve listened to the evidence and you’ve taken the plunge; you are now applying natural hormones to your body and trying to improve your health. How do you get the best of your therapy or bring your therapy back on track if it seems to be falling off the tracks? Here are a few simple tips:

-Don’t put creams, lotions or oils on the skin before your hormone creams. This could block the absorption of the active ingredient. Do not put oils in the bath.

-Avoid eating large amounts of fiber. Fiber that you cannot digest results in increased elimination of estradiol through the stools.

-Apply the preparation to a large area of skin and rub in well. The larger the area of application, the better chance of a resevoir of the hormone building up in the fat tissue.

-If progesterone therapy seems like it is failing, try dealing with yeast overgrowth in the intestines. This will inactivate progesterone therapy more than estrogen. This applies to topical application as well. One suggestion is to avoid sugar, sweets, pop, as well as dairy and wheat. Try eating only steamed or boiled meat, rice and vegetables for a few days. Then gradually introduce fruit.

-If you are on an oral dose of estrogen, there is more conversion to estrone. This leads to not enough estradiol. Estrone is the estrogen implicated in cancer. Progesterone helps in the conversion to estradiol as does the topical application of estradiol rather than oral estrogens. This is one of the reasons that all women taking estrogen should take progesterone, even if there is a hysterectomy.

-Applying your testosterone cream at the same time as estrogen topically does not seem to be an issue.

-Optimal diet for testosterone treatment is to follow a paleolithics diet and organic foods. This means avoid alcohol, vinegar, caffeinated drinks, sugar, dairy and wheat.

-One of the most common sources of hormone therapy going south is cortisol involvement. The most common source is stressful lifestyle, the second is glucose disregulation. Avoid simple sugars and increase protein. Adequate sleep is crucial.

-Thyroid issues can throw off your sex hormone therapy. Avoid caffeinated drinks. Thyroid hormones increase the breakdown of estrogens into metabolites that are inactive. An increase in estrogen/progesterone may be needed or a dercrease in thyroid hormone. Keep in mind that T4 and TSH can be normal but the conversion to the active form (T3) may be the issue. Switching to a T4/T3 product that has 1-1.5% T3 with the T4 may help. This is especially evident when your weight stagnates even when you are on a low carb/high protein diet.

As you can see there are lots of variables that can determine the success of your hormone therapy. Ask us for help if you have any issues.

Take Care

References

The Hormone Handbook 2nd ed., Thierry Hertoghe, MD.

 

 

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Does the term “Anti-aging” really make sense?
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It’s certainly a great marketing term, one that grabs the attention of a public looking to live longer. But does the term Anti-aging work against itself? Do I subscribe to the practices of anti-aging? Yes. Do I believe that these practices work? Yes. Does the term anti-aging turn off the interest of those only interested in medicine that they get through a prescription for each ailment? Of course it does! For those that could be a strong ally in improving someone’s health when partnered with alternative medicine (like your GP), the term “anti-aging” simply conjures up images of snake oil and a sneaky salesman.

Calling it what it is, Healthy Aging, is more appropriate when you realize we are not going in the opposite direction of aging (like “anti” suggests), but merely following the unreversible aging process in a path that avoids as many illnesses as possible. Some refer to this as “alternative” or “preventative” medicine. Terms that much more accurately describe what they are doing, giving an alternative to regular medicine and preventing disease. While I prefer these terms better than anti-aging, Healthy Aging is a term I find much more receptive to the physician down the street. It is a term that they are far more interested in participating in and would welcome a better collaboration with Preventative Medicine.

Our most successful routes to Healthy Aging are through hormonal therapy, food and environmental sensitivity testing and subsequent avoidance, heavy metal testing and detoxification, good diet(a huge topic) and exercise, avoidance/prevention/treatment of Metabolic Syndrome, proper supplementation (omega-3, vitamin d, anti-oxidants), and of course no smoking, avoidance of radiation or any of that bad stuff. These all lead to a lower stress and inflammation load for your body and less stress or inflammation from any source or pathway is not Pro-aging. As much as regular medicine has saved us for many reasons and gives us a pill for every ill, Healthy Aging involves not getting the health condition in the first place.

Come in and talk to us!

 

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