PREFACEIf you do not know by now that corporations have disfigured healthcare, you have been living under a rock. For example, hormone therapy is claimed to be hazardous, but a century’s science and experience prove its value. When these natural substances are low or absent, replacing them may be the safest and most effective treatment we have. In contrast, drugs are foreign substances that cause side effects and worse. Hormone supplementation potentially treats or improves:Longevity: Low levels of thyroid, growth hormone, estrogen, testosterone, and DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) are linked to premature death.  Cancer: Estrogen, DHEA, testosterone, progesterone, melatonin, and human growth hormone (HGH) all have protective effects against cancer. General health: In women under age 60, long-term estrogen replacement therapy decreases strokes, blood clots, colon cancer, diabetes, and macular degeneration. It reduces the likelihood of tooth loss, depression, osteoporosis, and death because of bone fracture. Breast cancer is unaffected, contrary to common opinion. Avoidance of estrogen was estimated to cause 50,000 excess deaths over ten years in a Yale study. Alzheimer’s disease (AD): When long-term care costs are included, this is the most expensive ailment of all. Estrogen decreases the chances of getting AD significantly when it is started within 10 years of menopause. Heart disease: Over 40 observational studies have shown that giving estrogen to women reduces coronary artery disease, heart attacks, and deaths. When men have higher levels, they have less heart disease. Giving natural estrogen to deficient men improves cholesterol but does not increase blood clotting. Depression: Estrogen, DHEA, progesterone, testosterone, and melatonin all have antidepressant effects. Thyroid has been studied and used for depression for over fifty years. Obesity: Thyroid, estrogen, testosterone, DHEA, and human growth hormone reduce unhealthy belly fat and promote weight loss.“Bio-identical” hormones are the same as those found in humans. These are safe, affordable, and have few side effects. But since these natural body substances cannot be easily patented, they are barely profitable for big Pharma. So the drugmakers concoct proprietary imitations from chemicals or animals. Their prices are extortionate. Stories have been spread that hormones such as estrogen and testosterone cause cancer, heart disease, blood clots, and other diseases. With few exceptions, these are false. And for insulin, growth hormone, and others, we have allowed the drugmakers to exorbitantly increase their fees using proprietary manufacturing. The result is that hormones are overpriced and difficult to prescribe. Doctors are pressured to use toxic, expensive patent drugs instead. These trends are squandering our resources and costing us years of healthy life. Support the Show.

I am now retired, but I spent the last thirty years in private practice performing cosmetic surgery and sometimes assisting with my patients’ medical care. Most of the women I worked with who were over 50 years old suffered from poor sleep, fatigue, hot flashes, muscle wasting, and irritability. They were all looking for a way to feel better and a lot were taking antidepressants. Many thought that I could improve their spirits with surgery, and sometimes they were right. But since they had hormone deficiency symptoms, surgery alone was not the best solution. Most plastic surgeons operate on a string of depressed people without considering why they are so miserable. My patients were trusting me, and I wanted to help, so I took training. For nearly two decades, I offered appropriate candidates hormone treatment along with their procedures. Those who listened to my advice were usually grateful. Some were not interested, and I respected that as well.I knew women had doubts about hormone replacement. I also knew that patients never take at least a third of their prescriptions, even vital ones like kidney transplant anti-rejection drugs. Since hormone benefits can take weeks to be felt, I used long-lasting, inexpensive testosterone pellets implanted under the skin. If my patients didn’t like this idea, I offered it as a cream. Testosterone transforms into estrogen, so they received this as well.  When I saw them a month later, most were thrilled. I then suggested they consider adding progesterone, estrogen, vitamin D, and sometimes thyroid, DHEA, and melatonin. If their finances were tight, I showed them how to inject themselves once a week with testosterone. (Each shot costs only $2 for women and $10 for men.) I followed blood tests, symptoms, and physical exams, and customized therapy based on patient responses.I saw a few women who felt terrible in their mid-30s. Blood tests showed they were in premature menopause and had estrogen and progesterone levels close to zero. After they began treatment, they felt great again. Many of my patients brought in their friends and husbands, and they responded as well. Hormone replacement should be a “feel-good” story. We have overwhelming proof that it is safe and effective. Most hormones are affordable, and tens of millions of people have used them. Thyroid has been available since the late 1800s, and insulin, estrogen, and testosterone for nearly that long. These treat or prevent heart disease, depression, impotence, diabetes, some cancers, and Alzheimer’s disease (AD).  But misinformation is everywhere: ✪ Doctors and patients “know” that estrogen causes breast cancer and blood clots, testosterone causes heart disease and prostate cancer, and that human growth hormone (HGH) is practically poison. These ideas are false. ✪ We have been led to believe that insulin’s high price is justifiable. Wrong. ✪ Mainstream medicine says that thyroid disease is relatively uncommon and hazardous to treat. This is also incorrect—it may afflict a third of mature women and is under-treated because of doctors’ economic turf wars rather than unusual risks. Hormone therapy is a strange opera with many twists and bizarre characters. To navigate it, patients need physician-level knowledge—a tragic situation. I studied this subject for a decade, but you can learn the basics in a few hours with no prior background. Journalists think every issue has two sides. Law and news stories, for example, are rarely black or white. But medical care is right or wrong, and I challenge you to find the truth here. I present: ✪ What the science says. ✪ Opinions of independent experts. ✪ The collective physician experienSupport the Show.

To understand this book, you only need to remember a few bio-identical hormone names—estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, and thyroids, which include porcine, T4, and T3. If you read outside sources, you must learn others. Return to this reference chapter as needed. Hormones work by attaching to receptor molecules in the human body, and since the natural ones are identical or nearly identical to those made by our glands, they fit like the real thing. Manufactured medicines are foreign substances never found in the body’s ecosystem that are made from animals or chemicals. These do not match as closely as the bio-identicals, do not work as well, and have side effects. They are still useful in a few circumstances but should never be taken long-term. I call them “counterfeit” or “fake” to help you sort out the issues. For example, progesterone is bio-identical. In contrast, Provera is a synthetic progesterone imitation. It raises the chances of migraines, weight gain, heart disease, breast cancer, depression, and irregular bleeding. Pregnant women taking it get more miscarriages and their babies have more congenital disabilities. Drugmakers invent sexy copyrighted brand names for their profitable patented compounds. This allows patients to harass doctors by saying, “I saw an ad for…” Pharma also creates chemical names that are hard to pronounce and remember. The brand Celebrex, for example, is the chemical celecoxib—try saying that one. The advantage for the manufacturer is that when medications go off-patent and are sold as generics, the chemical is more difficult to recall than the recognizable brand. The drugmakers use the names to confuse. Progestin, progestogen, and Provera, the artificial ones, sound like natural progesterone. And Premarin, the horse-urine estrogen (this name was from PRegnant MAre’s uRINe), gets mixed up with Provera, the synthetic progesterone. These strategies work, so the doctors are just as bewildered as you are:✪ Many journal articles make no distinction between bio-identical progesterone and progestins/progestogens such as Provera. They call both of these progesterone, which implies there is little difference. ✪ Likewise, medical articles call many related substances estrogens, which is accurate but fools both doctors and patients into thinking that they are all alike. Technically, estrogens include bio-identical estradiol, the counterfeits such as Premarin, and the other relatively weak human estrogens, estrone and estriol. These last two are bio-identical but are almost inactive and cause some health issues. ✪ Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) sometimes refers to treatment with bio-identicals and sometimes to treatment with the counterfeits!Support the Show.

Menopause information is everywhere—some good, some bad, and all of it confusing. Many authorities call this unpleasant syndrome “natural” and recommend ignoring it. But hormones greatly improve women’s health and menopause symptoms. June is 49: She started estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone eight weeks ago: Hey, doing well on my hormones. About two months in now. My energy is up, as is my sex drive and my enjoyment of it. My muscle tone and skin look great, and some old friends I gathered with on the East coast last week accused me of having an aging painting of myself in a closet somewhere. I’m still having hot flashes at night and wonder if I should adjust my estrogen up some? My reply was: Increase your estradiol to two mg each morning. We may decide to increase your progesterone and will check your levels on your next office visit.How the female reproductive system works: Young women start with hundreds of ova or eggs. Each cycle, the uterus is prepared for a potential baby and one ovum is used. As women mature, usually in their mid-40s, the eggs run low and periods become irregular. After the eggs are gone, the cycles stop but some hormone production persists as long as the ovaries are not cut out.This is the “change of life.” Progesterone levels typically fall and estrogen production continues. Some women get depression, anxiety, irritability, and sleep disturbance. Other symptoms include bloating, acne, breast tenderness, and heavy, irregular menstrual periods. At about age 50, women “fall off a hormonal cliff.” As all their hormones decline, full menopause develops. Many are miserable and have intense hot flashes. After a few last irregular periods, they are in complete menopause, defined as a year without a menstrual cycle. Their symptoms are usually more dramatic and unpleasant than men’s at the same age and often more severe than any pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) they had earlier in their lives.For the first several years, most women need only progesterone. As menstrual periods slow and stop, estrogen and the other hormones should be added. Estradiol has the strongest effect on hot flashes. Testosterone improves strength, alertness, sexuality, and helps with bladder and vaginal symptoms. Since it transforms into estrogen, it protects the heart in both sexes. Patients who want simplicity or are on a tight budget sometimes use it as the sole therapy.Janice, 64, watched her husband die of lung cancer two years ago after a three-year illness and has been “out of gas” ever since. She said she was “done with men,” so she flew to Los Angeles to have her breast implants taken out. Because Janice had fatigue, depression, anxiety, and no interest in sex, I discussed menopause therapy with her. She agreed to try. So I wrote a prescription for estradiol and progesterone and placed a testosterone pellet. Janice called four months later—she had a new boyfriend and felt great. She is returning to have her implants replaced. Hormone supplementation slows and may prevent: ✪ Alzheimer’s disease (AD).✪ Heart disease✪ Fatigue, depression, sleep disturbance, anxiety, and irritability.   ✪ Bone loss, osteoporosis, and increased chance of fractures. ✪ Skin problems including thinning, wrinkling, itching, sagging, easy injury, and loss of elasticity. ✪ Thinning of joint cartilage. Tooth loss and gum disease. ✪ Vaginal area difficulties: dry, thin, and inelastic. ✪ Spontaneous urination during coughing or lifting. ✪ Sexual decline including painful sex. Linda is a 63-year-old registered nurse: Testosterone makes me feel sexy and gives me an overall feeling of well-being. My strength and muscle tone improve, eSupport the Show.

Estradiol has the most dramatic effects of any hormone. Its benefits include:✪ Helps the heart more than other hormones. ✪ Decreases the risks of cataracts, vaginal atrophy, and macular degeneration of the retina. ✪ Reduces the chances of stroke, diabetes, colon cancer, Alzheimer’s, memory problems, and osteoporosis.  ✪ Cures hot flashes and improves sexuality. From the Los Angeles Times, 1999: I could live without my husband, children, or cats. But I could never live without my beloved estrogen. Who should use estrogen and how much? Menopausal women and sometimes men transitioning to women are prescribed estrogen. Men with prostate cancer are also occasionally treated with it. Women in menopause should start at 1.5 milligrams in the morning, then increase to 2 to 2.5 milligrams. This brings blood levels up to about 70 pg/ml, which protects the heart and other organs. We believe this is safe because young, healthy women have estrogen levels in the hundreds during parts of their cycle. Premarin, the horse estrogen, was the first treatment for menopause. It has many beneficial effects, but it causes a slight increase in blood clotting. This makes it obsolete for long-term use. Estradiol, the primary bio-identical type, is safer. Every study on it—KEEPS, EPAT, WEST, CORA, DANISH, and ELITE (those academics love acronyms)—found no increase in blood clotting. Although the estradiol transdermal patch may provide the best relief of hot flashes and does not cause blood clots, it does not protect against heart disease. In contrast, both types of oral estrogen protect the heart. This was proven in many studies, including the CORA, ELITE, WEST, and DANISH. Since many medical authorities think that oral estradiol and oral Premarin are the same thing with the same risks, they often recommend using the patch if there are concerns about blood clotting. Doctors should instead prescribe brand name, generic, or compounded oral estradiol. These are safe and protect against heart disease and stroke. Doctors are usually hesitant to prescribe oral estrogens for sick patients or those with heart risk factors such as smoking, obesity, or a family history. They use the patch for them if they recommend hormones at all. However, as I describe in the Be Careful Whom You Trust chapter, these are precisely the patients who need cardiac protection the most. In nearly every situation, their risk to reward ratio favors the oral type. We should accept the minor hazard of blood clotting to protect their hearts. Dr. Rouzier describes these issues in a well-referenced article.Surgeons and anesthesiologists have many responsibilities, and they rarely read the confusing estrogen studies closely. Since blood clots after surgery are such a hazard, most of them tell their patients to stop all replacement before surgery. Some gynecologists are adamant about this. Estradiol is available as generic, compounded, or patented varieties. Hormone doctors mostly recommend a compounding pharmacy's product because generics are less predictable and the patent type is too expensive if not paid for by insurance. Brand names from foreign sources made by major manufacturers are often affordable and of excellent quality. Estradiol patches such as Vivelle Dot (twice a week) or Climara (once a week) may relieve menopause symptoms better than the oral forms. The higher dose of .1 mg a day works best. To help the transdermal patch stick, patients scrub the area with alcohol before they apply it. The device sometimes causes skin irritaSupport the Show.

Estradiol has the most dramatic effects of any hormone. Its benefits include:✪ Helps the heart more than other hormones. ✪ Decreases the risks of cataracts, vaginal atrophy, and macular degeneration of the retina. ✪ Reduces the chances of stroke, diabetes, colon cancer, Alzheimer’s, memory problems, and osteoporosis.  ✪ Cures hot flashes and improves sexuality. From the Los Angeles Times, 1999: I could live without my husband, children, or cats. But I could never live without my beloved estrogen. Who should use estrogen and how much? Menopausal women and sometimes men transitioning to women are prescribed estrogen. Men with prostate cancer are also occasionally treated with it. Women in menopause should start at 1.5 milligrams in the morning, then increase to 2 to 2.5 milligrams. This brings blood levels up to about 70 pg/ml, which protects the heart and other organs. We believe this is safe because young, healthy women have estrogen levels in the hundreds during parts of their cycle. Premarin, the horse estrogen, was the first treatment for menopause. It has many beneficial effects, but it causes a slight increase in blood clotting. This makes it obsolete for long-term use. Estradiol, the primary bio-identical type, is safer. Every study on it—KEEPS, EPAT, WEST, CORA, DANISH, and ELITE (those academics love acronyms)—found no increase in blood clotting. Although the estradiol transdermal patch may provide the best relief of hot flashes and does not cause blood clots, it does not protect against heart disease. In contrast, both types of oral estrogen protect the heart. This was proven in many studies, including the CORA, ELITE, WEST, and DANISH. Since many medical authorities think that oral estradiol and oral Premarin are the same things with the same risks, they often recommend using the patch if there are concerns about blood clotting. Doctors should instead prescribe brand name, generic, or compounded oral estradiol. These are safe and protect against heart disease and stroke. Doctors are usually hesitant to prescribe oral estrogens for sick patients or those with heart risk factors such as smoking, obesity, or a family history. They use the patch for them if they recommend hormones at all. However, as I describe in the Be Careful Whom You Trust chapter, these are precisely the patients who need cardiac protection the most. In nearly every situation, their risk to reward ratio favors the oral type. We should accept the minor hazard of blood clotting to protect their hearts. Dr. Rouzier describes these issues in a well-referenced article.Surgeons and anesthesiologists have many responsibilities, and they rarely read the confusing estrogen studies closely. Since blood clots after surgery are such a hazard, most of them tell their patients to stop all replacement before surgery. Some gynecologists are adamant about this. Estradiol is available as generic, compounded, or patented varieties. Hormone doctors mostly recommend a compounding pharmacy's product because generics are less predictable and the patent type is too expensive if not paid for by insurance. Brand names from foreign sources made by major manufacturers are often affordable and of excellent quality. Estradiol patches such as Vivelle Dot (twice a week) or Climara (once a week) may relieve menopause symptoms better than the oral forms. The higher dose of .1 mg a day works best. To help the transdermal patch stick, patients scrub the area with alcohol before they apply it. The device sometimes causes skin irritSupport the Show.

Men need testosterone. The benefits are enormous and the risks almost nonexistent. To learn how the bad press was contrived, read the Killing Testosterone With Fake News chapter later. Steven is an 82-year-old retired CEO of a major media company: I had lost all strength, and I was sitting in a wheelchair in a Palm Springs nursing home. The staff had to lift me in and out of bed. I was inches from being snuffed out. Then my doctor started coming in every week and giving me testosterone shots. In six weeks, I stood up and walked out of there, back into my life. (Note: this can also work for women.)Men’s symptoms: Starting around thirty years old, testosterone blood levels fall about a percent a year. Muscular strength, sexuality, and energy levels slowly decrease. Recovery from exercise gets slower, and some men notice reduced intellectual capabilities. Bone density falls, but fractures are less common in men than women since men start higher. Atrial fibrillation and stroke are more common with low testosterone levels. Skin problems, heart disease, hot flashes, dental issues, and irritability increase as testosterone declines. Some of these disorders must be treated early or they are irreversible. Sam is a beloved 83-year-old physician: I was about to give up. I just had a knee replacement, and I have osteoporosis. The author sent me some cream testosterone as a gift, and now I think I'm going to live fifteen more years! I can't thank him enough, and I'm indebted to him forever for his kindness. I’m doing well, much better than I ever expected.Testosterone has many benefits. Using it gradually improves health over at least a decade. Testosterone supplementation has the following effects:✪ Strength increases, cholesterol falls, and weight loss is progressive. ✪ Sexuality improves—morning erections return, for example. ✪ Heart disease risks decline. ✪ Diabetes and migraine headaches get better and are sometimes cured. ✪ Testosterone supplementation decreases anxiety and improves mood.Testosterone levels also relate to health:✪ Older men with higher testosterone levels had better results on intellectual testing.✪ Lower levels were associated with earlier death in men. They correlated also with coronary disease.Testosterone transforms into estrogen in both men and women. This “female” hormone helps sexuality in either sex and protects the heart better than any other hormone. Sometimes estrogen blood levels do not rise to those of younger men even with aggressive testosterone supplementation. So a few physicians are starting to prescribe estradiol for men. This will vastly improve cholesterol numbers.Testosterone has a few side effects. Hair loss and hair growth can happen but are of no consequence compared to the benefits. Acne is rarely a significantSupport the Show.

Which replacements do men and women sense the most? Many women feel distinct improvements when they use thyroid, estrogen, testosterone, or progesterone. Some have dramatic responses to vitamin D. For men, testosterone is the most noticeable and some feel better with HGH. A few older men improve when they only take DHEA.See Appendix A and B for dosing and blood testing information about each hormone. Sally’s story: I started menopausal symptoms at 29. I was not a healthy individual. It took coming to you, and you asked how I felt. You actually let me adjust the dosage and fine-tune myself, and now I feel attractive and I’m sleeping again. It’s just a better overall quality of life that I didn’t have for eleven years. I would go to doctors and they would say my hormones were in the normal range, but I didn’t feel good… They didn’t give me enough… I felt amazing within two to four weeks after I started…Another story.MELATONIN is a harmless but potent antioxidant or clean-up hormone with many benefits. It is taken at bedtime and improves sleep. It also helps mood, migraines, energy, and the immune system. Dentists say that patients taking melatonin have improved gum and mouth health. It has favorable effects on both breast and prostate cancer. Some use it to reset the sleep-wake cycle. When travelers enter a new time zone, they take up to 100 mg on the first night. Melatonin has also been used to help addicts stop Valium and related sedatives. And it decreases nighttime urination for men with large prostates.An anecdote: Those taking melatonin may see their grey or white hair gradually change back to the original color. As this happens, they get dark roots and white tips, which is the reverse of what happens to dyed hair as it grows out. This may mean their health is getting better. The best melatonin preparations last six hours or longer. Compounders make these slow-release products as prescriptions. These are also available over-the-counter for purchase at either Nutrascriptives.com or LifeExtension.com. The melatonin capsules made by compounders are 1, 2, 3, and 5 milligrams and higher. Women start at 1 mg and men at 3 mg. Dosage is increased until good sleep or side effects occur. For men, the average dose needed is 9 to 30 mg and for women, 1 to 30 mg. Up to 100 mg every night is safe and some people need that much.The only problems with melatonin are sleepiness and vivid dreams. Since it is taken at bedtime, most people do not mind these, although a few become agitated and cannot tolerate it. Several weeks may go by before the full response occurs. Some people must take melatonin several hours before going to bed because it has a slow onset for them. These effects are individual.I wanted to have dark hair, but melatonin gave me restless sleep. So I am still using dye.VITAMIN D (D3) is a steroid hormone, just like estrogen or testosterone. True vitamins cannot be made by the body, but this is produced in the skin during sun exposure. Those with a deficiency who take it often get an energy boost and have less joint pain. Susan is 63 years old and has a vitamin D level of only 11 ng/ml. She is black, vegan, has high blood pressure, and gets little sun exposure. She wears sunscreen every day and takes Norvasc, a high blood pressure medicine. These all make D deficiency more likely. Susan would probably feel more energetic if she took supplements and had higher levels. A 2015 DaSupport the Show.

Cui Bono, the Latin phrase meaning “who benefits,” says the motive for an act or crime lies with the person who has something to gain.Only twenty percent of our senior women and even fewer men take hormones. Outside Europe and the US, usage is rare. How is this possible? The “bio-identical” or “human” forms of these drugs are not promoted because they can rarely be patented to make the big money. But they work better and are safer than other medications such as statins, antidepressants, many cancer treatments, and the proprietary imitation hormones made by big Pharma. These industry cash cows are supported and protected, while in contrast, natural hormones are defamed and restricted. Chasing profits has ruined science. To explain, here is how the Women's Health Initiative study (WHI) was hijacked by its own authors and sabotaged patient care. This huge National Institutes of Health trial (published in 2002) examined 160,000 women aged 59 to 79. It found an increase in breast cancer for patients taking both Premarin, the horse urine estrogen, and Provera, the patented synthetic progesterone. But those who took only Premarin had a decrease in breast cancer. This proved Provera was responsible, and other trials confirmed it. The WHI should have ended this medication’s use for long-term applications, but it did not.The WHI took 11 years, and by that time it was complete, the two drugs it examined were obsolete. But the study statisticians claimed they uncovered critical dangers, and the authors sensationalized and embellished their threadbare findings. Medical academics buffed their reputations by declaring that they, too, could see the emperor’s clothes. The media joined the parade—baloney sells advertising—and the public soon believed that all female hormones were killers. This “man bites dog” story still terrifies everyone. Once a bell is rung, it cannot be unrung. In the public and medical eye, hormones were branded with cancer, dementia, and other problems. One reviewer wrote that the study authors were “overselling hysteria.” John Goldman, MD, wrote in Medscape, “[The study] has undermined the credibility of the research and the medical community as a whole.” Abraham Morgentaler, MD, and others (Harvard) explained how the panic was generated:The (WHI)… reported increased risk of adverse events of only 19 events per 10,000 person-years of exposure for the estrogen–progesterone arm [Premarin-Provera] compared with placebo. This means that if one woman in every generation of a family used estrogen–progesterone for 10 years, it would take 50 generations, or about 1,000 years, to see one extra adverse event in that family. The result may have been statistically significant, but they were clinically meaningless.Avrum Bluming and Carol Tavris described the study’s statistical trickery and atrocious sensationalism in Estrogen Matters (2018), a superb book about the science and politics. One of the WHI’s principal investigators, Rossouw, had an agenda to “change the thinking about hormones.” Six years before the WHI was published, he wrote it was time to put “the brakes on that bandwagon,” referring to the growing support for estrogen replacement. And so the WHI authors ignored their colleagues’ advice and rushed to publication before completing the study. This spawned thousands of meritless lawsuits. Bluming and Tavris cited follow-up trials showing that estrogen decreases the chance of breast cancer, heart disease, colon Support the Show.

Testosterone is claimed to cause prostate cancer, heart disease, and stroke. This is all false.In 1990, Congress made testosterone and other anabolic steroids class III controlled substances. The penalties for selling and even possessing them became felonies like those for cocaine. At the Senate hearings, representatives for the FDA, DEA, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and even the American Medical Association all testified that these medications were safe and had important medical uses. But grandstanding about sports use prevailed. Anabolic steroids became the first Schedule III drugs without euphoric or consciousness-altering properties. In 2016, the Food and Drug Administration tightened the regulatory pressure by slapping a “black box warning” on testosterone. It claimed that the hormone caused strokes and heart disease. From then on, they only sanctioned its use for patients with genetic, cancerous, traumatic, or chemotherapy-related damage to the testicles or brain. The FDA also alleged that it should only be used for men with blood levels below 300 ng/dl, confirmed on at least two occasions. In their eyes, other applications were illegitimate. Two clumsily concocted articles supported this stance. But Mark Richards, MD, and Abraham Morgentaler, MD, debunked these with letters to the journals demanding their retraction. Morgentaler is the Harvard physician representing the Androgen Study Group, and Richards is a practicing hormone specialist. Both physicians also wrote letters to the FDA. Dr. Rouzier wrote a review of this issue as well. All this was ignored. Richards’ well-referenced article tells the entire story. He writes that low, not high testosterone is the major risk for heart disease. And according to a comprehensive Mayo Clinic review, testosterone decreases the chance of dying of heart disease.What about prostate cancer? Dozens of studies show no relationship to testosterone, and men with higher levels have a reduced risk. The medical literature says testosterone supplementation is healthy. The Mayo Clinic’s International Expert Consensus Resolution statement ratifies this view. A review in the Journal of the Endocrine Society (2019) describes the hormone as an anti-inflammatory.Testosterone converts to estrogen in the body. This not only suppresses prostate cancer but has been used to treat it. In addition, prostate cancer is much more commonSupport the Show.

The human growth hormone (HGH) story is a variation of the others. The punch line is that if it was economical and unrestricted, it might be the most valuable hormone of all. It is likely the safest.Steven is a gay 72-year-old cosmetic surgeon who practices in West Los Angeles. He hangs out with a string of young, good-looking partners. Steven used testosterone, DHEA, and vitamin D for six months and improved. But he was still sore and fatigued, so he started HGH. After five weeks he said: My sex, energy, and sleep are off the charts. I can work out again without getting sore. And I just got back from a boot camp!Growth hormone was used to treat a growth hormone deficient boy in the late 1950s. It made him taller, so the idea caught on. A commercial product derived from human pituitary glands became available in the late 1970s, and by 1985, 27,000 children had been treated worldwide. When a few people who received HGH were found to be infected with fatal Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (CJD), the use of pituitary-derived HGH was halted.In 1985, Genentech developed an FDA-approved “recombinant” bio-identical HGH. It has never caused CJD. Since then, the industry has introduced thirteen other nearly identical products. Their prices are all exorbitant. In 1990, Daniel Rudman published a six-month study of 21 older men taking HGH (NEJM). Compared to controls, they had an 8.8 percent increase in lean body mass and a 14.4 percent decrease in fat. This was an “anabolic” effect—a proven reversal, in a short time, of the usual aging trend toward muscle loss and fat gain.This trial was a benchmark that spawned other research. Soon, evidence developed that the medication increased bone density, strengthened immunity, decreased cardiac risk factors, improved cardiac function, decreased cholesterol, improved mental functioning, and improved quality of life. See Appendix C for references about how growth hormone prevents Alzheimer’s disease and improves cognitive function. HGH has also been used successfully to treat burns, heart failure, Crohn’s disease, obesity, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, ulcerative colitis, and other conditions. Hormone physicians say these findings support using growth hormone to combat aging and improve vitality. And since most adults over 60 have about the same HGH production as people with damaged pituitary glands, they believe prescribing it is reasonable.Unfortunately, the FDA did not agree. Human growth hormone received approved for AIDS wasting, but strangely, it is off label for most other adult applications including all the above. A 2005 JAMA commentary declared that off-label human growth hormone prescribing was illegal. And a 2019 Drug Enforcement Administration monograph claimed “anti-aging” use was illicit. The FDA tries to dictate medical practice, which is not their job. Every physician knows that prescribing conventions allow them to treat conditions with any approved medication if they document the reason. Estimates of the total drugs used off-label range up to half of all prescriptions written. We have substantial evidence that HGH improves health, and prescribing it for aging is legitimate.Athletes have employed growth hormone for forty years. Although it is not a controlled substance like testosterone, HGH has Support the Show.

Lance Armstrong beat the French at their national sports: drugging, lying, and cycling.* US federal prosecutors tried to fine him $100 million. Their goal was to boost their careers by destroying people, and a superstar turned villain was a perfect candidate. They spent tens of millions of taxpayer dollars and settled for $5 million—an abject loss. Whatever you think of Armstrong, the French, prosecutors, or athletic doping, the following is clear. Over the past four decades, sports became drenched in drugs. They are integral; they are not going away, and they enhance performance. If you do not believe this, particularly if you think Armstrong is a cheater, spend 20 minutes watching mainstream strength sports such as CrossFit championships. These performers parrot Lance: “We never tested positive.” Yet the press labels Armstrong “disgraced.” They never acknowledge their hypocrisy: nearly everyone in America—including them—takes powerful prescription drugs every single day. *Give thought to what we do here in the US before being too critical of the French.My mission is to improve health and longevity for people who have declining hormone levels. I recommend higher doses than most physicians, but I am not knowledgeable about sports use. If I openly advocated it, my peers would cast me out as a renegade. An athlete’s aim is to maximize performance. If you decide to supplement, begin by learning the basic information here. Then get coaching, take responsibility for your actions, and become an expert. You may be taking health risks, although the concerns are exaggerated. As you explore what works and what is safe, be cautious and skeptical. Big Pharma, the journals, the medical mainstream, the supplement makers, and the bodybuilding industry all have conflicts of interest—they are selling something. Most have little concern about damaging you while they get rich. I would caution you, in particular, to avoid believing random articles from internet searches. Most are written by corporate sources. And most doctors who prescribe hormones have a lot of the story wrong as well. Remember that half of the standard medical practice is questionable, and the medical journals are unreliable (see my other book and The Journals’ Sins are the Editor’s Sins chapter here). Rick Collins (cgmbesq.com), an attorney who defends athletes, wrote to me about bodybuilding sources:[They] (including the magazines) have been historically far, FAR closer to the truth than mainstream physicians on issues of nutrition, exercise, and ergogenic drugs. Bodybuilders saw the value of fat in the diet when doctors were still advising patients to eat “low fat” diets–poisoning them with sugar and excessive carbs. Bodybuilders knew the importance of resistance training for decades while clueless doctors were advocating that all you need is aerobic exercise. Bodybuilders knew steroids build muscle when medical orthodoxy insisted that steroids didn’t work—and rigged studies to “prove” it. Bodybuilders knew the risks of testosterone and HGH were wildly exaggerated and distorted decades ago–while doctors STILL have no clue. Of course, the downfall of bodybuilders is the mindset of excess–“more is better.” There must be limits on the doses, but they are unclear. Testosterone produces acne, hair growth or loss, sterility, and testicular atrophy (small balls). Women may get deeper voices and enlarged clitorises. The FDA says that testosterone increases heart disease, but the studies purporting to show this are wrong. If you use estrogen and have a uterus, you must use progesterone or risk a higher chance of uterine cancer. High doses of vitamin D3 and thyroid can cause toxicity. Testosterone relatives, such as methylated or alkylated anabolic steroids, canSupport the Show.

Thyroid “quarterbacks” the entire metabolism. It regulates and activates many body processes and is essential for energy and weight control. Borderline low or “hypothyroid” conditions are common, under-treated, and seven times more likely in women. Treatment is safe and should be general primary care rather than being stashed in a subspecialty. Judy is 40 years old: When I was 35, I started getting depressed and was chronically exhausted. I was losing my hair and felt cold all the time. I was constipated, grumpy, and had no interest in sex. I had to direct my kids from the couch because I didn’t have the energy to chase them around. All my doctors insisted my tests were normal, and that I was a hypochondriac. They finally gave me pork thyroid. After a month, my energy went from a two to a nine out of ten, and I got my husband back.Treatment benefits: Thyroid supplementation for appropriate patients protects against heart disease, diabetes, and memory loss. It improves hair, nails, and skin. Balancing the thyroid improves menopause symptoms, and studies have shown lower death rates for treated people. When thyroid is low, people get fat, tired, inactive, disinterested in sex, and are more likely to develop heart disease. Erectile dysfunction is more frequent. Other symptoms include dry skin, hair loss, insomnia, brittle nails, constipation, bone and joint pain, poor concentration, trouble getting started in the morning, and cold extremities with cold intolerance. Untreated hypothyroid patients often have medical problems including depression and coronary artery disease. Vertebral fractures are more likely, especially over 50 years old. Hypertension, premature births, rheumatoid arthritis, and metabolic syndrome have all been linked to low thyroid conditions. Two kinds of bio-identical thyroid hormones are used for replacement, and both are vital for health. T3 has three iodine molecules and T4 has four. Desiccated pork thyroid has both types along with a few inconsequential pig thyroids. According to hormone doctors, it is the most bio-identical thyroid medication available. Physicians have used this inexpensive drug since the late 19th century. Endocrinologists and other mainstream doctors mainly prescribe pure T4 made in the lab, which was until 2004 a patented drug. T4 converts to T3 in the body, and they believe that this creates adequate T3. But it does not work well for everyone, especially women over 40. Since T3 is far more active than T4, people who cannot convert properly have poor results when they take only T4.For these patients, endocrinologists prefer to add synthetic T3 to the synthetic T4 instead of using the pork type, which contains both in one pill. When carefully dosed, these manufactured medications work fine, but they may not be as well absorbed as the other one. They are useful for people with a pig allergy and for Jewish or Muslim people who are not supposed to eat pigs.T3 is stronger and shorter-acting than T4, so patients sense its effects sooner than T4. Since getting patients to return for follow-up is sometimes difficult, using a drug containing T3 may help them understand the process is worthwhile. Since the thyroid’s effects are long-lasting, the medication should be adjusted about once a month.  Endocrinologists train for three years in internal medicine after four years of medical school, then spend a feSupport the Show.

Randy’s words from a website about Armour porcine thyroid: I, too, was doing great on Armour. No more. They put me on levothyroxine [synthetic T4] and Cytomel [synthetic T3]. I felt awful, so depressed...Drugmakers fake and suppress their studies. Knoll Pharmaceuticals, the Synthroid maker, hid one showing that their drug was no better than the other thyroids. Knoll paid more than $100 million to consumers after the ensuing class-action lawsuit settled in 2000. Later, the pharmaceutical companies sponsored over ten bogus studies that purported to show porcine thyroid was no improvement over T4. Each trial used only 1/2 grain of the pork thyroid (30 mg), even though the proper dose is one to two grains (60-120 mg) or more (about the same as .075 to .15 mg of T4). Each study concluded that the tiny dose of pig thyroid did not work. With these doses, of course, it could never work. This type of false comparison is a routine strategy used by drugmakers to get FDA approval or to run down a competitor. For more, see Ben Goldacre’s Bad Pharma (2012) and my FDA chapter here.There have been claims that the porcine thyroid manufacturing is faulty, and that this makes it inferior to Synthroid, the branded T4. However, Synthroid was recalled ten times between 1991 and 1997. This involved over 100 million tablets. The FDA requires T4 to fall within 5% of its stated potency, but most samples analyzed had far less active ingredient and some had none. Because many patients need thyroid to survive, there were hospitalizations. In 2001, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning that they might pull Synthroid from the market. There were also two recalls in 2012-13 involving issues with potency, stability, and manufacturing. See Mary Shomon’s website for references, including the FDA letter documenting the story. This link is offline and may have been suppressed by special interests. I had to search for it on the Wayback Machine internet archive (archive.org). Physicians have used porcine thyroid for over a century. It was first approved by the FDA in 1939. In Thailand, it is an over-the-counter supplement. I could find only three recalls for this desiccated pig thyroid, including one started by the manufacturer in 2020 for a 13 percent drop in potency. This might have gone unnoticed, but since thyroid strength is critical, they were doing the right thing.T4 has been available since 1927 without a formal FDA evaluation. It was given “grandfather” status in 1938 because it was assumed to be equivalent to porcine thyroid, which was considered the “gold standard.” The Synthroid brand finally passed a perfunctory FDA review in Support the Show.

Robert L. Morgan, NP, who practiced in the Houston area, contributed this chapter (edited by the first author). He attracted patients who failed elsewhere. Texas is the tenth most obese state, and we are pitifully overweight. I have been fighting this for over 30 years, and I have been losing. Against my efforts stand big Food, doctors, big Pharma, and meddling government. This cabal wittingly or unwittingly caused the international obesity crisis. They subsidize sugary corn products, oppose fat consumption, and have cold-shouldered effective treatments including diet pills and thyroid hormone. I have had minor victories patient-by-patient, and these have cost me years of struggle.No one is sure about the cause of the obesity pandemic. But the national directive to decrease dietary fat came out at about the time we got really overweight. This is not a coincidence—it is a cause. Other theories went as far afield as blaming bacteria in the intestine, but for me, walking into any grocery store or convenience mart makes it obvious that the core problem is corporate food production. Who can resist the tastes, the color, the packaging, and the marketing? Everything is sweet, fat, and salty.  To put the obesity disaster into context, compare us with people in Korea and Japan. Americans who travel there are shocked—everyone looks fit! You can see their back and leg muscles through the clothes. Food habits must be more powerful than corporate influences. Even within the US, obesity rates vary from 23 percent in Colorado to 37 percent in Arkansas. These cultural differences must be a clue to causes. The corporations are making us fat as well. Many antidepressants, diabetic medications, and synthetic hormones cause weight gain. Paid-up doctors and direct advertising force-feed us these drugs and others. The Food and Drug Administration’s function is to oversee both industries, but big Food and big Pharma control it with funding. Since the FDA is incompetent as well as compromised, it does many wrong things, and all this makes us fatter. (See Born With a Junk Food Deficiency, 2012, for more.) The result is many of us have an addiction to food as powerful as others have to opioids. The morbidly obese die just like drug overdoses. I have no prayer of getting rid of marketing or food packaging. Individual patients’ cooperation limits my ability to get take them off harmful medications. So I do what I can with diet pills, which suppress appetite and aid weight loss. There is a catch. Patients gain the weight back unless their metabolism is normal or made normal using hormone supplementation. Thyroid deficiency is epidemic, and testosterone levels have been falling in our entire population. The decline of these two contributes to obesity. Replacing them for deficient people is the most effective way to keep weight off long-term, but most doctors ignore this.Hormone replacement can kick off a gradual weight loss that continues for a decade. It works without other prescriptions, but some patients benefit from using diet pills. These are not ideal solutions, but our lives are being threatened. My program works—many of my patients have sustained a healthy weight for years. The drug industry dictates the beliefs of traditionally trained doctors, and I have had an uphill battle against them. They vilify thyroid for weight loss and claim it is not the “standard of care.” They push expensive medications and oppose simple solutions. I have suffered complaints to the medical board and have been threatened with lawSupport the Show.

First chapter of Butchered by "Healthcare." Physicians, to practice effectively and ethically, must understand what they face. Familiarity with these controversies is indispensable, even if you reject some conclusions. Your work will improve after you realize that doing less may produce better results.Likewise, patients must learn about these issues to have the best chance of benefiting from healthcare. I share practical, little-known ways to deal with doctors and hospitals. You will also learn about health, sickness, and the limits of medicine. The more you know, the more confident you will be accepting—or in some cases, refusing care.LINKS TO LEARN MORE:Listen to another podcast about my whole book Butchered by Healthcare at: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1300429/6572743I have an author website RobertYohoAuthor.com. Go to the book’s web page if you want to order it or read the over 50 five-star reviews: https://www.amazon.com/Butchered-Healthcare-Doctors-Corrupt-Government-ebook/dp/B08FVMK5GY/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=robert+yoho&qid Please review it here: Amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B08FVMK5GY. I appreciate you for taking the time, and I will read your review. This is a big favor for me—thanks… NEWLY AVAILABLE FOR BETA READING: The Secret Story of Hormones: Miraculous Treatments for Fatigue, Cancer, Heart Disease, Depression, Alzheimer’s, Impotence, and Diabetes—and How They Were Stolen From UsDownload your copy at https://dl.bookfunnel.com/pffhxv9lt6  Please give feedback at yoho.robert@gmail.com. Here is a patient video from the cover: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mWTi-CtTV1ISupport the Show.

Chapter 2, Butchered by "Healthcare."For at least half of healthcare, the potential benefit does not outweigh the harm. For a lot of the rest, supporting evidence that it works is lacking. A review of over 5000 articles recommends against many of today’s standard practices. The list below introduces some of the topics in this book, the worst failures of healthcare, in rough order of wasted resources. The opioid disaster, now killing 50,000 people a year in the US, is not even in the top seven. I “knew” a lot because of my degrees and training, but I was wrong about many things. LINKS TO LEARN MORE:Listen to another podcast about my whole book Butchered by Healthcare at: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1300429/6572743I have an author website RobertYohoAuthor.com. Go to the book’s web page if you want to order it or read the over 50 five-star reviews: https://www.amazon.com/Butchered-Healthcare-Doctors-Corrupt-Government-ebook/dp/B08FVMK5GY/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=robert+yoho&qid Please review it here: Amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B08FVMK5GY. I appreciate you for taking the time, and I will read your review. This is a big favor for me—thanks… NEWLY AVAILABLE FOR BETA READING: The Secret Story of Hormones: Miraculous Treatments for Fatigue, Cancer, Heart Disease, Depression, Alzheimer’s, Impotence, and Diabetes—and How They Were Stolen From UsDownload your copy at https://dl.bookfunnel.com/pffhxv9lt6  Please give feedback at yoho.robert@gmail.com. Here is a patient video from the cover: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mWTi-CtTV1ISupport the Show.

Chapter 3 of Butchered by "Healthcare"Healthcare costs started growing nearly exponentially when social support programs and private insurance fueled it in the 1960s. US costs are now $4 trillion (2020), almost a fifth of our gross domestic product (GDP), and twice what other developed countries are paying per capita. Our medical sector spends more than the total revenues of banking ($477 billion), oil and gas ($181 billion), and military ($600-800 billion). We spend more on healthcare than the next ten countries combined—more than France, Spain, China, Japan, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Wealthy Singapore pays only a mid-single-figure percent of its GDP, and many others spend about ten percent. Could the rest of the world be missing out? Are there advantages of more pills, surgeries, and doctor care? How is it even possible to spend this much money? Our academics know the answer: excess healthcare makes providers money but is a net harm for patients.LINKS TO LEARN MORE:Listen to another podcast about my whole book Butchered by Healthcare at: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1300429/6572743I have an author website RobertYohoAuthor.com. Go to the book’s web page if you want to order it or read the over 50 five-star reviews: https://www.amazon.com/Butchered-Healthcare-Doctors-Corrupt-Government-ebook/dp/B08FVMK5GY/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=robert+yoho&qid Please review it here: Amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B08FVMK5GY. I appreciate you for taking the time, and I will read your review. This is a big favor for me—thanks… NEWLY AVAILABLE FOR BETA READING: The Secret Story of Hormones: Miraculous Treatments for Fatigue, Cancer, Heart Disease, Depression, Alzheimer’s, Impotence, and Diabetes—and How They Were Stolen From UsDownload your copy at https://dl.bookfunnel.com/pffhxv9lt6  Please give feedback at yoho.robert@gmail.com. Here is a patient video from the cover: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mWTi-CtTV1ISupport the Show.

Chapter 4 of Butchered by "Healthcare."How could physicians have allowed this to happen? No doctor I know started with the idea of money above patients. We all wrote that essay in school about how we wanted to save the world. But we are now pawns of moneyed interests, and we often betray our patients’ trust. The best marketers on the planet are spending billions of dollars trying to get us to channel whatever resources we control towards their companies. We know this, yet we still connect with our patients, inspire their trust, and try to do our best. They are dependent on us, especially the sick ones, and this makes us responsible for all consequences. LINKS TO LEARN MORE:Listen to another podcast about my whole book Butchered by Healthcare at: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1300429/6572743I have an author website RobertYohoAuthor.com. Go to the book’s web page if you want to order it or read the over 50 five-star reviews: https://www.amazon.com/Butchered-Healthcare-Doctors-Corrupt-Government-ebook/dp/B08FVMK5GY/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=robert+yoho&qid Please review it here: Amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B08FVMK5GY. I appreciate you for taking the time, and I will read your review. This is a big favor for me—thanks… NEWLY AVAILABLE FOR BETA READING: The Secret Story of Hormones: Miraculous Treatments for Fatigue, Cancer, Heart Disease, Depression, Alzheimer’s, Impotence, and Diabetes—and How They Were Stolen From UsDownload your copy at https://dl.bookfunnel.com/pffhxv9lt6  Please give feedback at yoho.robert@gmail.com. Here is a patient video from the cover: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mWTi-CtTV1ISupport the Show.

Chapter 5 of Butchered by "Healthcare."The US is a nation of pill poppers. According to Bloomberg, nearly half of us take prescription drugs. The Mayo Clinic (2013) puts this figure even higher, a whopping 70%, with 20% of Americans taking five or more (verified by the Centers for Disease Control in 2019). This is absurd and obviously damaging, but doctors do not get it. How could this have happened, and who is responsible?LINKS TO LEARN MORE:Listen to another podcast about my whole book Butchered by Healthcare at: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1300429/6572743I have an author website RobertYohoAuthor.com. Go to the book’s web page if you want to order it or read the over 50 five-star reviews: https://www.amazon.com/Butchered-Healthcare-Doctors-Corrupt-Government-ebook/dp/B08FVMK5GY/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=robert+yoho&qid Please review it here: Amazon.com/review/create-review?&asin=B08FVMK5GY. I appreciate you for taking the time, and I will read your review. This is a big favor for me—thanks… NEWLY AVAILABLE FOR BETA READING: The Secret Story of Hormones: Miraculous Treatments for Fatigue, Cancer, Heart Disease, Depression, Alzheimer’s, Impotence, and Diabetes—and How They Were Stolen From UsDownload your copy at https://dl.bookfunnel.com/pffhxv9lt6  Please give feedback at yoho.robert@gmail.com. Here is a patient video from the cover: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mWTi-CtTV1ISupport the Show.