Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones (29 page)

SS:
Because you’re not worn out and exhausted.

BS:
That’s right. Another thing Dr. Allen gives me is a bone longevity pack, which is specific to someone who is athletic. Interestingly, it is also specific to the elderly for walking. Before taking testosterone and HGH, if I had a particularly hard workout, I’d feel it. I’d have very sore calves. If I did something other than cycling, like running, it would be very painful to walk down the stairs the next day. Now I can throw a run in, and the soreness is actually diminished. The only thing different in my regimen now is testosterone and HGH.

SS:
I find that, too. Maybe it’s because I’ve done yoga regularly for some time, but I never feel any soreness, and we do rather strenuous workouts. I feel HGH helps my performance.

BS:
The Tour de France is a great example of what we’re talking about. It’s like running a marathon on a bike every day for three weeks. I think one day when it’s better understood, everyone will
have a regulated amount of testosterone and HGH because that’s the new medicine.

SS:
I also think for superathletes like those who compete in the Tour de France, the stress of such a grueling schedule is blowing out their natural hormonal levels. If anybody would need supplementation, it would be these athletes, because of the kind of stress they’re under.

BS:
Lance Armstrong’s strategy is basically about building your body up to the point of what is called the “edge of the razor.” You get to the point where you’ve lost all your body fat. You’ve lost everything that is not enhancing your performance as a cyclist, but in doing so, your immune system gets fragile. In cycling, everyone pays attention to one another. When an opponent sniffles or sneezes, it gives you a psychological edge. You think, Oh, they’re getting a cold. They’re never gonna make it for three weeks.

SS:
It must be very frustrating for someone like a Lance Armstrong to understand the benefits of hormone replacement and not be able to take advantage of it because of ignorance. What do your friends think about you and your hormones?

BS:
One friend in particular who is captain of the cycling team started going to Dr. Allen when he was ill. I suggested to him that he just get an IV vitamin push, which to me is more powerful than any penicillin I could take. When my friend was talking with Dr. Allen, he said, “I don’t know what you’re doing with Bruce, but you know, I cycle more than he does and he always stays up with me.” He jokes about it, but I can tell he wants to have this kind of energy. In sports, but also in life, feeling youthful is addictive.

SS:
Yes, and the addictive part of feeling youthful is the internal youth. To know that my body is working great. It’s not about having a brand-new outfit or having my hair done. If I don’t feel good inside, all the cosmetic work in the world won’t help. Bad health shows.

BS:
Yes. All these vitamins and minerals are also helping so you can make the correct decisions in life. However, let’s say you take two people who have identical lives and are about the same age and put them in a decision-making mode, be it business or social. One is on vitamins and minerals with balanced hormonal levels; the other is
not doing any of this. I’m gonna put my money on the person who’s been taking vitamins and minerals and hormone replacements to make the better decision more consistently. I don’t want to put down Western medicine, however. If someday I have a heart attack or, as happened to me as a kid, get run over by a car, I’m thankful for Western medicine. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.

SS:
Absolutely. Western medicine excels at surgery, pain, and infections.

BS:
One of the issues I see with Western medicine, however, is regarding antibiotics. I think they are losing their effect. When I was a kid, we were given penicillin. Then penicillin stopped working for us, so we were prescribed amoxicillin. Today, it’s Zithromax, but even it is running its course. And now it’s Levaquin; that’s got to tell you something.

Recently, I was sick, and so was my producer. We had identical symptoms—coughing, bad throats, dizzy, and a little bit of a fever. I don’t like any sympathy when I’m shooting because I have to be the general on the set. I went to Dr. Allen to have an IV vitamin push to try to see if I couldn’t nip the illness in the bud. I suggested to my friend that we go together to my doctor and get an IV drip. I went; he didn’t. The next day I woke up and realized I felt good. I got to the set. He was coughing blood.

SS:
And what was in your IV drip?

BS:
I had 25 mg of vitamin C, directly into my blood.

SS:
What a progressive way to heal yourself rather than with an antibiotic! You’re feeling so strong and healthy, your brain is working great, and you’re at the top of your game. What would you say to young men who are reading this book, looking at what you do as expensive urine, and thinking this is a kind of craziness?

BS:
We live in a world where people want quantifiable data, and what doesn’t lie is your blood work. Everyone respects a medical lab because it’s a Western concept, so we get our blood drawn and have our levels checked. Now you have concrete numbers. Take it to as many doctors as you want. Take it to the full traditional doctor, take it to one who’s halfway there, and take it to a purely holistic doctor. Or find an endocrinologist. Take it so that you can feel comfortable
about the information you’re getting. All you need to hear from them is what are the average baselines for each of these numbers? What do these numbers mean? Assess it. At least give it a try. We know that this stuff isn’t toxic. If hormones are scary, start with vitamins, or start with something like DHEA, which is very controllable. I know a lot of people are nervous about testosterone, estrogen, and HGH. Don’t jump right into that. Life is about moderation.

SS:
You’re a walking example of health. You glow, and you shine. I’m saying this not just because I’m your mother. Really, when you walk into a room, you look great, and what you radiate is health. You’re in peak physical condition; you’ve got no excess body fat. You’re a walking example of the fact that what you’re doing really works.

BS:
Thank you. Obviously, we are born with certain genes, and we can enhance our health if we choose to do so. I believe that following this regimen of vitamins, minerals, Chinese herbs, and hormones, and seeing the positive results, has been self-fulfilling.

BRUCE’S LIST OF CHINESE HERBS

Xanthium fruit
—an herb with anti-inflammatory and antiallergic actions.

Magnolia flower
—popular as a remedy for maintaining respiratory health.

Platycodon root
—a principal herb in Chinese medicine used to treat respiratory disorders, intestinal disorders, diabetes, and injuries.

Schisandra
—a tonic considered to be a youth-preserving herb, with benefits to the skin, brain, and sexual performance.

Angelica root
—used to promote blood circulation and maintain healthy bowels.

Wild chrysanthemum flower
—used to correct imbalances in liver and kidney function.

Siler root
—used to treat cold-related headaches and body aches, diarrhea, and chills.

Schizonepeta herb
—may promote the removal of toxins and help confer an overall feeling of well-being.

Astragalus root
—a tonic for boosting the immune system.

Licorice root
—included in many Chinese herb combinations to balance the other herbs and promote vitality.

CHAPTER 14
D
R
. E
UGENE
S
HIPPEN:
M
EN AND
H
ORMONES

Dr. Eugene Shippen is a board-certified family practice doctor who for ten years delivered babies and today has a big following of women and men he delivered in his early practice. As their needs changed, so did he. He realized that so many of the babies he delivered are now of menopausal age and that their requirements to feel good in this day and age needed to be understood. As a result, he has written the book
The Testosterone Syndrome
to help men and women through the difficult passage of declining hormones. He is a big proponent of bioidentical hormone replacement and continues to grow, learn, and keep up with cutting-edge ways of keeping the aging process at bay. You will learn about forward-thinking approaches to health and wellness in his interview. Dr. Shippen practices in Reading, Pennsylvania
.

SS:
Nice to talk to you again, Dr. Shippen. People are so interested in what you have to say. What are you thinking about these days?

ES:
Well, selenium is on my mind … Selenium supplementation is definitely part of the framework of anticancer and so simple to supplement safely. Selenium supplementation should not be missing from anybody’s program. Additionally, vitamin D (especially vitamin D
₃
is absolutely critical as a strong anticancer, antiaging supplement. It’s a health hormone for every part of the body, not just for your bones and calcium. Then there’s iodine replacement. These are nutrients
that I feel are absolutely essential for everyone’s health routine, not just women but men as well.

SS:
Speaking of nutrient supplementation, every time I hear RDA [Recommended Dietary Allowance], they never seem to be sufficient. Who is setting these guidelines? And why are they so underestimated?

ES:
Well, the nutritional community is very conservative and has been for many years. Initially, the minimum daily requirement was established to prevent deficiency in the overt form. How do we prevent rickets? How do we prevent scurvy? How do we prevent thiamine deficiency? So the government developed the minimum amount that would relieve the overt vitamin deficiency diseases.

Later, the minimal daily requirement became transformed into the recommended dietary allowances. The government figured if you get more than that, you’re okay. They never really paid much attention to the huge individual variation that’s genetically determined in people’s requirements for vitamins. The scientific way would be to actually measure vitamin levels in people with or without supplementation and adjust their vitamins individually; but, of course, that’s expensive and time-consuming. Nobody wants to go through that tedious process. So we supplement with levels above the RDAs, and sometimes these megadoses are too much for many people.

It’s a very crude science when you start to talk about supplementing vitamins, where one individual might need ten times the amount of vitamin than the next person to achieve optimal levels. And, of course, just taking a blanket megadose of vitamins is not healthy.

SS:
Why?

ES:
Overloading vitamins downregulates certain enzymes. For example, an overload of vitamin B
₆
, which is very important in many functions, can actually cause neuropathy, and a deficiency can also cause neuropathy. There’s a range for many of the vitamins, where optimal levels are healthy but excessive levels may actually do some damage.

SS:
What’s neuropathy?

ES:
Neuropathy is a nerve impairment that causes symptoms such as numbness, tingling, or lack of sensation or weakness. Carpal tunnel
symptoms in which the hands get numb are frequently a sign of a vitamin B
₆
deficiency. Excessive vitamin D can cause carpal tunnel–like symptoms, too.

Most people might need 10 mg or 25 or 50 mg of vitamin B
₆
in some cases; and some individuals might require 100 or more because of genetic defects. But if everybody took 500 mg, then many people, over time, would start to get numbness and tingling. So just taking a load of vitamins, although the body excretes it, may have some negative effects.

I’m cautious when it comes to supplementation. I think we should all take a basic multivitamin. Your doctor then should be looking at specific things that might require larger doses of certain vitamins like niacin, if you have problems with high cholesterol levels. We have found that megadoses of niacin actually have reversed arterial plaque. None of the statins that lower cholesterol will reverse plaque, but niacin will in large doses.

SS:
That’s interesting. Do you think calcium supplementation is important?

ES:
If you get adequate vitamin D, you absorb calcium at a much higher rate. Vitamin D regulates the absorption of calcium. So if you’re low in vitamin D, you may actually be downregulating the calcium you’re taking.

SS:
A lot of calcium supplements have vitamin D in them. The problem with calcium supplements for most women, as doctors have been telling me, is the side effects—namely, bloating and gas. And then that report came out a few months ago in the media about the uselessness of calcium, so you don’t know what to believe.

ES:
The amount of vitamin D that’s in calcium supplements is not sufficient; 400 IU (international units, the typical amount in supplements) of vitamin D is minuscule. Neither calcium nor vitamin D is absorbed well in supplement form.

SS:
What’s a good calcium supplement?

ES:
There are different forms. Liquid forms or calcium tablets dissolve and liquefy well. The best thing a patient can do is stick a couple of calcium tablets in a glass of water and see what happens. If the tablets are still sitting there the next morning undissolved, they’re
probably going out through evacuation the next day. We even see calcium supplements on X-rays.