Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones (57 page)

N
ow you know what I know. After reading about the advances being made relative to our health, I hope you will take advantage of the opportunities presented here. The changes you need to make are not drastic, not really. They simply involve choices.

Now that you know how great you can feel with balanced hormones and the major health benefits of replacement, I’m sure you have already chosen to make an appointment with the doctor nearest you. Using natural hormones is as easy as rubbing cream into your arms or thighs each day.

For those of you who want to go further, you can add supplements, vitamin B injections, and/or HGH injections. I’m sure after reading Dr. Ron Rothenberg’s interview and the section on HGH, you are at least interested. If lack of energy is plaguing you, you were probably turned on by the possibilities that Dr. Michael Galitzer and Dr. Larry Webster are offering to restore energy. Now that you have read how the environment is harming us, you will want to meet with an antiaging doctor to see about ridding your body of these dangerous pollutants.

Soon you will be like me, passing the word to anyone who will listen about the glorious effects of real hormone replacement and the abilities of new doctors to restore energy and reverse aging. This is the way medicine will change—through a grassroots effort. We of this generation are once again leading the way. We don’t want to accept inferior health care. We don’t want to accept anything less than superb quality of life. We don’t want to accept sickness with aging.

As for nutrition, it’s clear that eating real food and choosing organic food, if you can afford it, is the way to go. Real food tastes better and offers greater nutrition. You can still enjoy all your favorite dishes; it’s not as though you are being asked to eat plates full of hay.

Yes, it is harder and harder to eat in restaurants these days because the quality of food is compromised for financial reasons. As consumers, it is important to question your butcher and to ask your favorite restaurant to start serving organic meat, chicken, and fish. Be vocal; it brings results. If you are willing to pay a little more for the sake of your health, the owners will comply. After all, they are in business and do not want to compromise their profits.

Once you get your health in balance, you can finish off any emotional work you still need to do to let go of old angers and resentments, because they cause stress. Find yourself a good therapist to help you accomplish this one. All therapists are not created equal. Sometimes you have to try a couple until you find one with whom you feel comfortable.

By now you realize the dangers of stress. Had I not been able to do the work and find true forgiveness for my alcoholic father, I believe my stress would have made me a very sick woman. I believe my breast cancer had a lot to do not only with the chemicals I was given for birth control, but also the pain and anger of my childhood had to be a factor. I believe I “entombed” that anger in my body until I reached a place in my life where I could handle it. My “tumor” changed my life. It was the wake-up call for just about everything. It put my life into perspective, not only regarding a new approach to my health, but also in terms of giving me a better emotional perspective. I realized that by not forgiving my father’s alcoholism, I was letting the disease win. A brutal childhood takes so much from your life; by not getting to the bottom of that sadness, hurt, and anger with the help of a good therapist, you allow it to continue to take from your life; it negates happiness, and the stress can make you sick. My brutal, violent childhood has turned out to be my gift. I have done the emotional “work” to undo the pain, anger, and resentment I harbored for so long. Doing this work has enhanced my life more than I can describe, and it led me to understanding and true forgiveness. I have
come to be grateful for this childhood because it forced me to confront myself and transform my life into a life I love living. If what I project professionally and personally as a public person is something that appeals to you, then everything in this book is what I have done to get to this place.

By looking deeply into who you really are, you will realize that the key to all of this is doing the work to love yourself. Taking care of
yourself
requires self-love. Without that, you are never going to care if your liver is cleansed or not. People do destructive things to themselves and their bodies when they have no self-love. I know this sounds very 1960s, but think about it. If you really cared for yourself and valued the life you are living, you would not treat your body with such disregard. This could be the key to why you are gaining weight or why you are in such poor health. You can change your attitude, and you can reverse your poor health. But it is going to take some soul-searching to find out why you have never bothered up to this point. The fact that you have read this book means that you are ready. Take it from someone who has done the work. Yes, it is agitating at times to stir up the past, but we have to know where we came from to understand where we are today. That understanding unlocks the answers that you have been hiding from. When you feel clear about the past, the future holds nothing but excitement and joy. As I said in the beginning, good health brings joy, balanced hormones bring joy, and a well-running body brings joy. Emotional health brings joy.

So do the work. Listen to what these doctors are telling you. They have explained the medical answers to fight the damage that has been done to our planet that is affecting each one of us personally. They have given you the key to unlock the answers to the ravages of aging that we are seeing all around us.

This information and these tools are your hope and your chance. We all want to live a long, healthy life and die healthy. Now you know how.

Thank you for taking the time to read what I have to say.

G
LOSSARY

16 alpha-hydroxyestrone:
A metabolic estrogen that has the capacity to damage cellular tissue and is safely metabolized and excreted from the body using vitamin B
₁₂
and folic acid.

Acromegaly:
A disorder that is caused by chronic overproduction of growth hormone by the pituitary gland and is characterized by a gradual and permanent enlargement of the flat bones (as the lower jaw) and the bones of the hands and feet, abdominal organs, nose, lips, and tongue, and that develops after puberty is complete.

Adenomyosis:
Endometriosis, especially when the endometrial tissue invades the myometrium (the muscular layer of the wall of the uterus).

Adipose tissue:
Connective tissue in which fat is stored and that has the cells distended by droplets of fat from excess stimulation of insulin. Adipose tissue is metabolically active and can contribute to inflammation and cause further deposition of fat.

Adrenals:
A pair of small glands, one located on top of each kidney. The adrenal glands produce hormones that help control heart rate, blood pressure, the way the body metabolizes food, and other metabolic functions.

Adrenarche:
An increase in the production of adrenal hormones by the adrenal cortex that usually occurs just prior to and during puberty.

Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH):
Stimulates the adrenal cortex; more specifically, stimulates the secretion of glucocorticoids such as cortisol.

Anabolism:
The building and support of cellular tissue in the body.

Androgenic:
A male sex hormone (such as testosterone) effect.

Andropause:
A gradual and highly variable decline in the production of androgenic hormones, especially testosterone, in the human male, together with its associated effects. Symptoms include erectile dysfunction, fatigue, muscle wasting along with increased body fat, diminished mental function, and others that define a condition described as male menopause.

Angiogenesis:
The stimulation of blood vessel formation.

Anthroposophic:
Medicine that is not FDA-approved but must be prescribed by a doctor, such as Iscador, an immune system builder made from mistletoe extract.

Antioxidant:
A natural or synthetic agent that helps protect cells from the damaging effects of free radicals by providing neutralizing electrons.

Apoptosis:
A process that programs the death of cells and is effective in limiting the growth of tumors.

Armour thyroid:
Thyroid tissue derived from pork thyroid glandular tissue that provides the body with both T3 and T4 thyroid hormones.

Aromatase:
An enzyme or complex of enzymes that promotes the conversion of an androgen (such as testosterone) into estrogens (such as estradiol).

Atherosclerosis:
Degenerative vascular inflammation characterized by fatty deposits and fibrosis of the inner layer of the arteries.

Autoimmune:
Of, relating to, or caused by antibodies or T cells that attack molecules, cells, or tissues of the organism producing them. The production of antibodies against tissues of the same body producing
the antibodies, which results in tissue destruction and loss of self-immune recognition.

Bilateral oophorectomy:
Surgical removal of both ovaries, with marked reduction in the body’s production of natural hormones.

Candida:
A normally occurring fungus in the body that becomes pathologic with overstimulation through excess intake of sugar or depression of the body’s immune system by metabolic and psychological stressors.

Catechol estrogens:
Estrogens metabolized in the liver and kidney, some forms of which can contribute to increased cancer risk.

Chelation:
The removal of heavy metals by amino acids that attach to metals and remove them through the kidneys. Effective in the treatment of heart disease, hypertension, and other conditions.

Choline:
A substance found in animal and plant tissues that is essential to normal fat and carbohydrate metabolism and necessary for brain and nervous function.

Chronic:
Marked by long duration, by frequent recurrence over a long time, and often by slowly progressing seriousness. A condition denoting a long-term disease presence in the body that often will increase in severity over time.

Chrysin:
A substance that is used to help reduce the conversion of testosterone to estrogen and reduce estrogen levels.

Circadian:
Being, having, characterized by, or occurring in approximately twenty-four-hour periods or cycles (as of biological activity or function). The rhythmic release of hormones over the course of a twenty-four-hour period.

Cortisol:
The primary stress hormone. Cortisol is the major natural glucocorticoid in humans. A hormone (adrenal) released in response to metabolic or emotional stress that stabilizes blood sugar, blood pressure, and so on but in excess causes a deterioration of metabolic bodily processes.

Craniosacral therapy:
A therapy used to balance the electromagnetic status of the body and support bodily healing.

C-reactive protein:
A protein produced by the liver that is normally present in trace amounts in the blood serum but is elevated during episodes of acute inflammation (such as those associated with neo-plastic disease, chronic infection, or coronary artery disease).

Curcumin:
An Ayurvedic herb used to reduce inflammation, improve circulation, and boost the immune system.

Cytokines:
More than one hundred proteins produced by white blood cells that regulate immune aspect or cell growth and function associated with cellular inflammation.

Dioxin:
Any of several persistent toxic heterocyclic hydrocarbons that occur, especially as by-products of various industrial processes (such as pesticide manufacture and paper milling) and waste incinerations.

Dopamine:
A protein-derived neuroreceptor substance that regulates nerve transmission in the brain and muscles.

Ductal carcinoma:
A cancer of the breast involving the ductal breast tissue. A benign form of breast cancer unless invasive in a minority of cases.

Endocrinology:
A science dealing with the endocrine glands (a gland, such as the thyroid or the pituitary, that produces an endocrine secretion).

Endometrial ablation:
Removal of the endometrial lining of the uterus to remove tissue proliferation, reduce excess bleeding, and reduce uterine cancer risk.

Endometriosis:
The presence and growth of functioning endometrial tissue in places other than the uterus that often results in severe pain and infertility.

Endometrium:
Cellular lining of the uterus.

Endorphins:
Proteins produced in the brain that act as a narcotic by binding to narcotic opiate receptors that reduce pain perception.

Epidemiology:
The study of disease patterns in populations to help regulate disease patterns.

Erythropoietin:
A hormonal substance that is formed especially in the kidney and stimulates red blood cell formation.

Estradiol:
The most hormonally active estrogen, which is converted to both estriol and estrone.

Fibromyalgia:
A chronic disorder characterized by widespread pain, tenderness, and stiffness of muscles and associated connective tissue structures that is typically accompanied by fatigue, headache, and sleep disturbances.

Fluoride:
A compound of fluorine, in part derived as a by-product of aluminum production, used to help prevent dental cavities. Toxicity is a possibility, and dosage is important.

Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH):
A hormone from the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland that stimulates the growth of the ovum-containing follicles in the ovary and activates sperm-forming cells.