Hormone Modulation

No doubt there are many factors involved with aging, but among the most important is the actual decline in our body’s hormone levels. Think of it this way: We age because our hormone levels decline. Our hormone levels do not decline because we age. If you accept this premise, then you actually can feel empowered to do something to slow your rate of aging and feel more youthful. At Optimal Health Institute, we can help you assess your hormone status and discuss the risks and benefits of replacing sub-optimal levels to the physiological levels you used to have at age 30. Our hormone modulation program for both men and women is designed to carefully assess where you are now and prescribe what it will take to bring you back to optimal physiological levels. Our goal is to get you back to the high normal range of blood levels of these hormones (age 30) while monitoring you for any side effects. What you will notice is an improvement in overall well-being and relief from many symptoms that you had grown to accept as “normal aging."

To some physicians and patients, this is controversial. However, there is a growing body of scientific literature to support this approach as both safe and just good common sense. It is also important to emphasize that we are talking about bio-identical replacement - that is, prescribing hormones that are structurally the same as those you were born with. We are also convinced that many of the problems associated with “hormone replacement therapy” (HRT) are due to prescribing hormones that your body was never intended to see.

Many people were alarmed when the recent Women’s Health Initiative study on HRT was reported in the press this past summer. This randomized controlled trial showed there were significant health risks with HRT, and resulted in many women either stopping HRT on their own or on the advice of their physician. But the hormones in this study were a combination of horse estrogen and synthetic progesterone, neither of which women were meant to have. Yes, horse estrogen is natural, but for horses, not women! There was also a recent study on growth hormone replacement causing adverse side effects. However, the doses studied in these patients were higher than the usual doses recommended by physicians familiar with using growth hormone for physiologic replacement.