Bombshell: Explosive Medical Secrets That Will Redefine Aging (22 page)

So anyway, this guy I’m talking about said he stopped taking testosterone because he was getting vertigo. I said to him, “I’m no doctor but you might want to have your adrenals checked as well as your cortisol levels.” So many people write me about dizziness and they usually end up at the neurologist. Can you address this?

PH:
What you just said about adrenals is probably one of the major causes of dizziness. With stress, sleeplessness, travel, and the like, the adrenal glands run out of hormones, just like a car running out of gas. Those hormones are cortisol, pregnenolone, DHEA, and testosterone, and part of their job is to keep our hearts beating and our blood pressure normal. Patients with low adrenals have low blood pressure and get dizzy; they can’t remember things, their libidos are low, their thinking is unclear, and they can get angry, depressed, drowsy, and light-headed.

SS:
So the remedy for him would be cortisol replacement?

PH:
Yes, and pregnenolone, DHEA, along with his testosterone and whatever else his lab work shows as depleted. If he was only replacing testosterone and had not checked the levels of all the other hormones, then that also might have been what threw his entire balance off.

SS:
It’s alchemy—a little of this, a little of that until you get it
just right for each individual. I wonder how many people end up at the neurologist’s office with expensive testing, MRIs, and so on, when the answer is really so simple.

PH:
I always want to get to the root cause of symptoms, and I agree that a lot of testing being done isn’t giving us those answers. Of course, other causes, like viruses, can affect the inner ear, or heart disease, but always the first thing I think of when somebody has been experiencing extreme fatigue with these symptoms is adrenal deficiency. It’s the same when women go to the cardiologist because they have heart flutters, but it’s really related to menopause, estrogen imbalance, or an imbalanced thyroid. So a good place to start with this patient is to get a good test done for hormones in the most precise way possible. In the case of measuring thyroid hormones, I always use the cutting-edge Thyroflex exam, which is more accurate than blood work.

SS:
To redefine aging I believe hormones are crucial and the first step in a new way to age. Do you agree?

PH:
Yes, definitely. But there are many other things to do to age well … something as simple as taking vitamin D, which is actually a prohormone. But usually I find a number of hormones are low, such as estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and more major ones as well, such as cortisol, thyroid, and insulin. Of course, lifestyle and diet play a crucial role. Almost 50 percent of all people in this country are gluten intolerant along with other food intolerances and allergies. These intolerances are a big impediment to health unless discovered. Dairy is not good for most people.

SS:
Do you test for allergies by stool testing and when doing so are you looking for the HLA gene?

PH:
Stool testing and gene testing are the most effective ways to uncover gluten intolerances, and people who carry the HLA gene are very affected. The digestive tracts of people who carry that gene become inflamed much more than those of the other patients who don’t carry it. I carry this gene.

SS:
Yes, I carry the gene also; so does my husband. I wrote about this sensitivity in my book
Sexy Forever
. I took the stool test and realized I was very, very “off the charts” allergic to eggs. Giving up eggs was a big one. But I lost ten pounds in two weeks and my gut calmed down and the bloating went away. I miss eggs, but they simply are not worth it. When I tell this to people, they immediately say, “I’m going
to give up eggs.” And I always reply, “No, this is what I am allergic to; that doesn’t mean you are.” That’s why the stool test is so important. EnteroLab has a very comprehensive test for this.

PH:
Yes. Also, food intolerances and allergies profoundly affect dementia, and cause inflammatory states, so how you absorb your food is critical in terms of how you age. People with this gene also don’t absorb protein very well. And no small thing, stress and repetitively eating so much sugar and wheat are not sitting well with humans. When you look at people living in Paleolithic times, they didn’t have any gluten in their diets. What we’ve done over the centuries is bring large quantities of processed and “unnatural” foods into a stressed intestinal environment that is not able to really process it well and it causes problems.

SS:
Let’s talk about men. What is the connection between low testosterone and disease?

PH:
Testosterone is so important for men’s health, and having the right levels decreases just about every cause of death in men. I’m sure there are some obscure diseases that are not decreased, but the data documenting the dangers of low testosterone is definitely clear.

SS:
What diseases are you specifically talking about?

PH:
First, prostate cancer, which is a common problem of men as they age, is a disease related to low testosterone. As men age and lose their testosterone, they are at higher risk for elevated cholesterol, heart attacks, strokes, dementia, and diabetes. Also with low testosterone they put weight on around the middle, their brains don’t function as well, and they get grumpy, tired, lose their energy, and have problems with erectile dysfunction. Some men are able to revitalize erections with testosterone alone; others need Viagra in conjunction with testosterone, depending on the depletion levels.

SS:
Are you talking only about older men?

PH:
No, younger men also. I measured the testosterone levels of Berkeley students who were nineteen and twenty who had just finished their exams. I found that the average testosterone level was about 350 nanograms per deciliter out of these ten men. Now, nineteen-year-olds should have testosterone levels in the 800 to 1,200 ng/dL range.

SS:
The levels were lowered due to stress?

PH:
Yes. Stress plays a large role in decreasing testosterone production. The army looked into the testosterone levels of young men who had been in combat in Desert Storm. After two weeks of being in combat, their testosterone levels were lowered to prepubertal levels.
This kind of stress just wrecked their T levels. Now this is a problem because these men have to be fit and proactive and strong. They get this way from their high testosterone levels. Without it, muscles and bones also get affected negatively. Their overall strength gets affected. Also it sets them up for osteoporosis.

SS:
What did they do about these soldiers?

PH:
I hope they gave them testosterone replacement, but I don’t know for sure. Without testosterone, it’s like tying one of their arms behind their backs. And this is how loss of testosterone affects older men, also. That is why you see them literally fade in front of you, and they are no longer the men they used to be. They no longer have drive, ambition, and the abilities they once had, but really all they need is someone to understand that they need their testosterone replaced.

The thing is, men are much easier to balance. I give them testosterone, DHEA, HGH, vitamin D, thyroid, and they start to feel amazing. Women are trickier because of their reproductive systems and their need for multiple hormones to achieve the perfect balance. Takes time and patience.

SS:
Are young women coming to you also?

PH:
Certainly by their late thirties women are experiencing perimenopause. The youngest patients I’m dealing with are teenagers who have been put on the birth control pill and now they are feeling depressed or sad. Or the very stressed young women who don’t get regular periods.

SS:
I have always felt teenage girls need short-term replacement. They have raging hormones. It would make the age so much easier and I believe healthier.

PH:
Oh, Suzanne, that has been my message for so long. Young boys and girls are very affected by hormonal imbalances, and I am seeing lots of thyroid disease and it causes terrible depression.

Also, teenagers can experience low cortisol. It can also affect babies, and an infant with low cortisol can end up with more ear infections, rashes, and asthma.

SS:
But no doctor would think to measure the cortisol levels of an infant!

PH:
And that’s too bad … it happens, and when corrected it saves a lot of pain and suffering.

SS:
So what you are saying is every person is a unique little scientific individual. And your job is to work like a chemist with each patient.

PH:
Yes. I look for how hormones are broken down, a person’s genetics, allergies, intolerances, mercury, lead, cadmium, and the molds and bacteria that slip into our bodies. Testing something as basic as a homocysteine level and finding it elevated could mean a patient is not detoxifying properly, allowing toxins to pass through his or her liver into the body. It’s important to really look at our patients, not just to look at a piece of paper with lab results on it. If a patient has puffy eyes, I know to check her thyroid. If she has tight and constricted shoulders, she probably has low human growth hormone. If she has more wrinkled skin and lax muscles, I think of estrogen, DHEA, and HGH deficiency. If she has memory loss, she’s probably pregnenolone deficient and estrogen deficient. Once hormones are balanced we go from there. I start slowly so as not to overwhelm.

Then we start supplementation. I make sure patients are sleeping and add 5HTP, melatonin, and GABA if they aren’t. Also amino acids and fish oils, and mineral deficiencies are important to correct, too.

I generally find that after patients have been on their hormones for about four weeks, we can begin rapid fat loss with a detox/cleanse, and start looking at their diet and exercise regimens. After they are really starting to feel good and lose weight, we attack the sugar issue. It all has to be done slowly and methodically, so they are not turned off or overwhelmed. But the patients who stay with it achieve a quality of life they never imagined. It’s much the way you have chosen, Suzanne, to approach your health. You literally glow with health and vitality, and I know it’s because you have dedicated yourself to wellness.

SS:
I have and wouldn’t have it any other way. Are you enthusiastic about the progress men and women are making relative to living longer?

PH:
I believe we have the potential now to live to 120 or more. Look at those of us who have embraced this approach to health. Both you and I are halfway through our lives, and I certainly can see both of us here for another sixty years. We have the potential to stay extremely healthy, active, and vital for many, many years. We know things; for instance, we know that human growth hormone helps to prevent dementia, and so does thyroid and oxytocin. If we can maintain our brains, then living longer is very attractive.

We know so much more about living longer as vital, sexy beings. As a gynecologist, I am always talking about sex and the importance
of hormones. It’s our connection to joy. Another powerful way to connect to love, sex, and intimacy is through proper breathing. Check out Mark Whitwell’s work at
www.thepromise.com
, to learn his secrets. When people age, they become isolated and are no longer in contact with their body. This is not the purpose of aging. The purpose of aging is to love and be loved.

SS:
And that brings happiness.

PH:
Cultivating intimacy is the greatest gift we can have and give. So I see it as a progression. We balance hormones so we can give our greatest gift back to the world. Why are we here? What is our soul’s purpose? When you are sick, you can’t begin to entertain those concepts.

SS:
Also, without hormones you can’t access the wisdom that is the gift of aging. Do you worry about the lack of wisdom because so many are not practicing this kind of medicine and instead are on drugs that rob the brain?

PH:
Certainly, that is true. My hope and prayer is that this type of medicine will permeate down rapidly to everybody, so everyone can practice this style of medicine. We are an aging population, and how we age is going to affect a large community of people. I want everyone to be involved in healthy, joyful, intimate aging.

SS:
You have a lucky constituency at the Hall Center. They come to you so you can guide them through this maze of confusion until they see the light.

How do you see yourself at 120 years of age?

PH:
I see myself just as engaged in the mystery of life as I am now, with lots of walking—not Rollerblading because recently I had a bad fall—but walking, making love, teaching, traveling, hiking, certainly in the Himalayas, the Alps, and in the Sierras. Being in nature, doing yoga every day, and being part of a community that celebrates life. Because at a certain age what we have to offer is our wisdom, compassion, love, and understanding. So whatever expands me, I will be. It’s within all of us, but it needs to be discovered and connected with; that to me is the goal of aging.

SS:
Well, Prudence … I’d like to go on that great hike with you when we are both 120. I truly believe we’ll both be doing it.

PH:
Oh, Suzanne, I have no doubt! Let’s go up to about twelve thousand feet!