Are Hormones the Fountain of Youth?

The search for eternal youth has been going on since the beginning of time. The Fountain of Youth is supposedly a spring that restores the youth of anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters. You might recall in your studies that the 16th century Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León supposedly was obsessed with finding this Fountain of Youth, and that led him to discover Florida in 1513.

Now, we all know that there’s no such antidote for aging. But are there strategies you can employ to age well, and combat the changes you see in aging? Yes, absolutely!

A major focus of our age-management/preventative-health consults is evaluating the hormones to see if they are balanced and at optimal levels. The focus of a functional medicine practitioner is to look extensively at the whole body to determine what is causing any symptoms. This can often uncover a myriad of issues that all work together to create the health condition.

It’s important to understand that the human body is a symphony of hormones. Much like an orchestra must play in tune, your hormonal symphony must also be in tune throughout your life in order for you to have optimal health. You have hormones responsible for your growth, your reproductive system, and even your metabolism and digestion. We know that aging brings a natural reduction in hormone production.

However, what we see every day in our medical practice is that hormonal imbalances are occurring much earlier than what people would think. Hormonal dysfunction can occur at any age – it is not exclusive to older people. We see men every day in their 30s and 40s with low testosterone levels.

And for women, for example, if you have PMS, postpartum depression, fibroids, or fibrocystic breast disease, there is a good chance that your progesterone-to-estrogen ratio is too low. Hormonal imbalances for women can also occur at any age – before, during, or after menopause – and for a variety of reasons. Although many hormone-related problems are associated with menopause, fluctuating hormonal levels can also cause a variety of other conditions that can be truly debilitating for women. Insomnia, lack of energy, hot flashes, weight gain, low libido, anxiety and irritability are just some of the conditions present with hormone imbalance.

So, what can be done about this?

Our longevity practice is different: We look at every aspect of your lifestyle and biochemistry to look for imbalances and treat them at a cellular level. We address the diet, sleep, stressors, the gut, the thyroid, the adrenals, the sex hormones and micronutrient deficiencies, and look to find the root cause of inflammation. We are often asked by patients to evaluate and help them with hormonal symptoms, and this is an important part of every workup. After a careful workup, some patients are considered to be proper candidates for bioidentical hormones to restore youthful vitality and actively prevent inevitable decline. Every day we hear our bioidentical hormone patients saying that their treatment regimen has been game-changing or life-altering.

We have been told by many a patient who were previously told that their hormone levels can’t be checked (this is inaccurate), and also that hormones might not be safe (depends what kinds you are prescribing and who you’re prescribing them to), and that they need to just “suck it up.” Many times, patients are put on antidepressants when the root cause of their symptoms is biochemical imbalance.

Ten years ago, Oprah Winfrey spoke about the bioidentical hormone regimen she started after feeling “out of kilter” for two years and seeing a hormone specialist. She stated, “After one day on bioidentical estrogen, I felt the veil lift. After three days, the sky was bluer, my brain was no longer fuzzy, my memory was sharper. I was literally singing and had a skip in my step.”

The point of this is that men and women need to take charge of their health, and more candid discussions need to happen about age management and bioidentical hormones.

So, what do we mean when we say bioidentical hormones vs. the synthetic ones that have traditionally been used by Western medicine? Simply put, bioidentical hormones are an exact chemical match and have the same molecular structure to those made naturally by humans. Some bioidentical hormones are made by drug companies, are approved by the FDA, and are sold in standard doses. Some bioidentical preparations made at special pharmacies have the same molecular structure as the natural hormones found in the body. There are several bioidentical hormones that are FDA-approved and on the pharma market.

Synthetic hormones fit in the keyhole and turn part of the way, but not all of the way. They give some benefits of hormone imbalance but not many others, and also give you many unwanted side effects. In fact, after the Women’s Health Initiative study showed there might be untoward side effects from synthetic hormones, women have become very interested in bioidentical hormones. These have safely been used for decades in Europe.

Hormone administration is only as good as the prescribing and monitoring physician. Unfortunately, many people who have traditionally managed hormones are not actual physicians. Take for example, Suzanne Somers, who uses something called the Wiley Protocol, which was not created by a physician. We have seen several patients come to us after some time on the Wiley Protocol, and they are unnecessarily on extremely high levels of hormones.

It is absolutely essential that you have a board-certified physician (M.D./D.O.), who has specialized training in bioidentical hormone therapy. So, does that mean that any physician out there can say they know how to do this and do it correctly? Absolutely not. There is no training whatsoever done on this in medical school or even in an ob/gyn residency, so don’t assume anything. You need to look for and ask for someone who has specialized in this and has a special interest in optimizing hormones for men and women.

I educate my patients that I practice conservatively, as that is in their best interest. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about the Hippocratic oath, “Do no harm.” It’s important for people to know that harm can also come about by inaction, not doing things that would improve their health. So, if a patient has symptoms of hormone imbalance, and a history of cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis or cognitive decline, hormones can be not only game-changing from a lifestyle standpoint, but depending on when these hormones are started, can also be protective against developing chronic disease since estradiol is protective for our bones, brain, and heart.

This past week, I saw a man in the office who could pinpoint when he suddenly started feeling tired and unmotivated. He used to play ice hockey twice a week with his buddies but didn’t have the energy to get off the couch. The final straw was when libido issues impacted his relationship with his wife, and he sought help. He went to his primary care doctor and specifically asked for testosterone testing. His level was found to be extremely low. He was then sent to the endocrinologist and even to the urologist. He was receiving testosterone but knew, based on how he was feeling and what his lab work was showing, that it wasn’t being managed correctly.

The fact of the matter is that if your physician is trained properly in who is a good candidate for these therapies, and how to administer bioidentical hormones, it can be a smooth process. This requires patience, and constant re-evaluation, starting low and going slow, stopping in the sweet spot where levels are in a therapeutic and safe range and symptoms are alleviated.