Having listened to both women and men for several years now I hear a recurrent theme time after time … Why do I feel like crap? Whether it’s fatigue, weight gain, erectile dysfunction, hot flashes, night sweats, or low sex drive the answer is partially or completely wrapped up in your lack of hormones. Now as a physician I know there isn’t a magic bullet to correct all of your problems but I want you to consider how important your estrogen and testosterone are to your body’s balance.
For the guys the fuel for manhood is wrapped up in testosterone. It is part of the foundation for muscle growth and why we see it abused in bodybuilding. Testosterone helps, in conjunction with a balanced diet and exercise, to get rid of that belly fat and tone those muscles. Absolute low testosterone in a man is 300 or less. Most of my patients will show up in the 300-500 range (men in their 40’s – 50’s). The goal of pellet therapy is to get you back to your early 20’s levels of 1000-1200 and this is easily accomplished with pellet therapy. When your hormones are corrected you will notice a positive effect on:
Stubborn belly fat
Erectile dysfunction
Low sex drive
Fatigue
Mental Fogginess
For the ladies estrogen rules the roost. Estrogen is that hormone that mellows out anxiety, cools down those hot flashes, and rejuvenates the vagina. There isn’t any other herb or prescribed medication that can relieve these symptoms better than estrogen. In addition to estrogen women benefit from elevated testosterone levels. Sex drive is the most noticeable difference that my patients see. Because sex drive is multi-faceted there are always many causes to a low libido. But in general if you are dealing with low or no desire testosterone is the missing key. Unlike your male counterparts we aren’t shooting for the low 1000s but we are shooting for the low 100s.
Lastly, the biggest question is why use pellets (bio-identical hormones) and the answer is two fold:
Longevity
Plant source
Longevity is wrapped up in the fact the pellets last for 3-4 months (for the ladies) and 5-6 months (for the guys). Because the pellets last so long they act more like the gonads (ovaries and testicles). The longevity allows your body to be fueled for prolonged amounts of time rather than spurts.
Bioidentical hormones are molecules that resemble the hormone more closely than the synthetic molecules (such as Premarin or Injectable Testosterone). The bioidentical hormones come from a plant source (normally yams). It makes sense that we would put a plant in our body. Premarin comes from pregnant horse urine and the estrogen is pulled out of the horse hormones and it doesn’t make as much sense to put this in our bodies. I am careful to counsel patients that if you aren’t a good candidate for hormones in general the bioidentical form is just as risky for you. If you are a woman with a history of breast cancer, estrogen is estrogen and the bioidentical source doesn’t make a difference. But if you are a good candidate your best option is a bioidentical pellet. It just works better.