Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones (3 page)

Michael Galitzer, MD

I
NTRODUCTION

S
O HERE’S A
new concept: Forget your age … and ask the question, How young is your energy?

It is now possible to recapture your youthful energy by taking advantage of today’s “new medicine” that understands the limitations of drugs. As a society, we are not well. The way we are taking care of ourselves at present is not working. This book introduces you to the most forward approaches of maintaining quality of life without drugs. Don’t you want to live a long, healthy life without illness and disability? Don’t you want energy, youthful vitality, balanced hormones, and a fantastic sex life? Read on and you can have it.

You see, I don’t want to “turn,” “push,” or “hit” anything. I’ve decided to get over thinking about any number relative to my age. I have embraced being “ageless.”

I have always considered myself a healthy person—someone who ate right, exercised regularly in moderation, and had regular doctor’s visits with good checkups. Sure, I would encounter the typical colds, flu, or sore throats of the season, particularly when I was very rundown after touring my act on the road, flying in and out of airports, and spending countless nights in hotel rooms. A trip to the doctor and a prescription for an antibiotic would knock out whatever was ailing me. At times I was worried that I was too sick to sing and perform so I would ask my doctor for the occasional cortisone shot. Not something you want to do frequently, but the show must go on. It got to be a vicious cycle—more infections, more antibiotics, more drugs.

Like most people, I defended my doctors. I believed in and trusted them. They knew what was best, and they were managing my care. I knew people who were seeing different types of doctors—doctors who used other methods. That wasn’t for me.
My
doctors knew best. They treated lots of high-powered people in my industry and came highly recommended. I just needed to slow down and take better care of myself. Still, I had friends and family members who were concerned.

My son, Bruce, and his wife, Caroline, had been seeing an antiaging doctor, Dr. David R. Allen in Beverly Hills, California, for several years. Bruce and Caroline each took a handful of vitamins morning and evening. I felt it was overkill, bogus, too “granola” for me; they probably just peed it all out anyway. It didn’t seem like “real medicine.” Nonetheless, they kept trying to convince me to give this type of medicine a try, because supposedly it could build my immune system and make me stronger. My son’s allergies had gone away, and his wife had stopped being so susceptible to colds and flu. Even so, I was resistant. I had my routine. I had a relationship with my doctor. He knew my history. He knew what was best for me. Looking back, I now ask myself: What is it about our human nature that we feel the need to defend the choices we’ve made when it comes to our medical treatment? Without a basis for comparison, how do we know we have the
best
doctors? How do we know we are getting the
best
treatment? How do we know we are giving ourselves the
best
shot at a healthy future?

Then something serendipitous happened. During one of my cycles of being on antibiotics, my trusted ear, nose, and throat doctor was unavailable, so I was referred to another physician, Dr. Sugarman, who wisely offered to send me to a specialist rather than give me another antibiotic. Dr. Sugarman wanted me to talk to a doctor who would treat me by building up my immune system rather than tearing it down with a drug. So he sent me to Dr. Soram Khalsa in Beverly Hills, a Western-trained internist who specializes in preventing illness by treating the cause rather than the symptoms of illness. In fact, he practices medicine in a similar fashion to that of my grown children’s antiaging doctor, Dr. Allen. This was my introduction to a whole new world of medicine that would change the course of my life and my
health forever. I had come full circle. To this day, I thank Dr. Sugarman for sending me in another direction, and I thank Dr. Khalsa for guiding me through this new medicine. Both doctors realized I was on an unhealthy cycle that needed to be stopped.

For the last decade, I have become immersed in antiaging medicine. Dr. Michael Galitzer, who wrote the foreword for this book, has introduced me to new ways of restoring my youthful energy, strengthening my weakest organs and glands, and bringing hormonal function to perfect balance, among other measures. Antiaging medicine is exciting. I had no idea there were Western-trained doctors—not quacks—who play such an important role in today’s health care and who are there to help us live up to our body’s ageless potential. These are real doctors who share a different philosophy on how to treat patients to
stay
healthy by dealing with the
cause
of the problem rather than treating the symptoms of illness.

The better I felt, the more passionate I became about researching this branch of medicine. I found there were hundreds of doctors and books sharing the same philosophy. It’s about building the immune system, maintaining balance, and increasing your chances for a long and healthy life. It didn’t take me long to get on the road to health. Antibiotics are a thing of the past for me. It’s the rare case that I have needed one in the last ten years. Today, my treatment is a regimen of vitamins, herbs, and supplements that have completely turned my health around. I know what you’re thinking—sounds too “granola,” right? It’s not as though I walk into a vitamin store and randomly grab things off the shelf. I am taking supplements based upon my blood work. After my blood is drawn and analyzed, my doctor shows me where the optimal range should be for a variety of vitamins and minerals. If my panel shows I am low in iron, my doctor will prescribe iron to get me within optimal range. If my calcium is low, he’ll put me on calcium supplements to make sure my bones are strong and healthy. This is not guesswork. It’s all in the blood work, which doesn’t lie.

My colds and flu have become a thing of the past. Even with my high-stress lifestyle, I find I am warding off illness and have more energy than ever before. I’m constantly amazed … how can I be
getting older when I am feeling better than I did in my thirties? How could my hormone and nutrient levels be higher now than they were when I was younger? By following this new regimen, I am combating stress (which breaks down the immune system, the body’s built-in defense for staying healthy and strong), avoiding environmental toxins and prescription drugs as much as I can, and following a healthy lifestyle of eating amazing meals made with organic foods, which taste so much better. I have also discovered yoga, which has reshaped my body and calmed me down, and finally, I truly understand the importance of sleep.

By adding back to my system what stress and toxins have depleted, I am reversing the aging process by making myself younger on the inside. I am staving off disease so that even while growing older chronologically, I am restoring and preserving internal youth and energy. The number of my age has become irrelevant. It’s about having young energy. I have it … you can, too!

Ageless, that’s the promise. We have a number of years for our age, but our internal organs, physiology, and hormones also have an age—and that age does not have to equal the number of years we’ve been alive. What could be better than having your doctor tell you your bones are those of a twenty-year-old? What could be better than having a doctor tell you your heart is that of a thirty-year-old? What could be better than having a doctor tell you your brain is as youthful as that of a twenty-five-year-old? What could be better than having youthful energy all day long?

This new approach to medicine as outlined in this book can do this for you. You go to the doctor when you are
well!
In doing so, you rebuild your system to reverse the normal process of aging. You can stay strong, healthy, and vital, with youthful energy and excitement to greet each day.

If this new medicine is so wonderful, why aren’t more people practicing it? Why aren’t more of us going to these Western-trained doctors? Why aren’t more of us reading the books put out by these specialists? Why aren’t we taking control of our health? One reason is that we live in a world that supports conventional medicine. Our medical schools predominantly teach conventional medicine. We see
hundreds and hundreds of advertisements for prescription drugs to treat every ailment, from depression to sexual dysfunction to heart disease. I am not anti–conventional medicine. It has its place and its purpose. I want conventional medicine for the times when drugs are called for, as in situations where there is pain or infection or mental illness. For me, it’s a backup. My first course of action is to keep myself healthy.

The purpose of this book is for myself, and the doctors whom I’ve interviewed, to act as a conduit for you to this new approach to medicine. I am here to do for you what Dr. Sugarman and other doctors did for me. I am here to invite you to investigate a branch of Western medicine that wants to treat you to be healthy—not to wait until you are too sick to provide treatment. I am writing this book to use my voice to open a door for you. You will find that these new doctors are not practicing voodoo, it’s not hippie treatment, it’s not “granola”—it’s cutting-edge. It’s modern medicine and ancient forms of treatment all in one. It’s the key to the fountain of youth for internal health and external beauty.

This book also examines menopause in depth. Menopause is a crisis passage for most women and we are at our wits’ end trying to find doctors who “get it.” When menopause arrived in my life it hit me like a Mack truck! Why didn’t someone warn me? As I went from doctor to doctor, I realized I was on my own. No doctor seemed to understand this passage. I knew I did not want conventional treatment. I did not want to take what was being offered to me: prescription synthetic so-called hormone drugs to alleviate my hot flashes and a general decline in my quality of life. I wanted a natural, effective way to deal with this passage; I wanted menopause to be a positive experience. I mean, there’s no avoiding it, so how could I find a way to enjoy this inevitable passage? I knew eating wild yams and taking black cohosh was not the answer, and then I found the solution—a cutting-edge endocrinologist/antiaging doctor, who prescribed a treatment of bioidentical hormones. Wow! What a difference in my life. I was sleeping again. I was happy again. I stopped itching, and bitching, and crying, and, best of all, getting fat. This became and remains a huge passion for me: to let women know there is a safe,
effective, and glorious treatment that is not based on drugs. I can’t say enough about it. This is the best I have ever felt in my whole life; by taking bioidentical hormones in perfect balance individualized just for me, I believe I am, for the first time
ever
, hormonally balanced and I am loving this passage of menopause. I wake up every day feeling glorious and frisky. You can have this.

I detailed menopause in my book
The Sexy Years
. This book goes further. More and more doctors are “getting it,” and I have found them for you. As with every new science, the information keeps growing. The purpose of this book is to take you beyond
The Sexy Years
. Bioidentical hormone replacement is the
only
answer to ward off illness, weight gain, and other symptoms associated with hormonal decline. We have come to expect that getting fat and listless is part of aging and there is nothing that can be done about it. Not so; with bioidentical hormone replacement you can regain youthful energy, a youthful body, and your youthful sex drive. You get to feel good again and have clear thinking … good-bye to “senior moments.” Gratefully I am no longer forgetful, and I can sleep through the nights beautifully without drugs. That is a blessing in itself. Women all over the globe are padding around their houses at night because without hormones you cannot sleep, period! It is impossible. You can’t function without sleep, which puts your days out of whack. With balanced hormones the symptoms go away. Your skin won’t itch any longer, and your mood is downright cheerful. Balanced, bioidentical hormones are the key. You must replace your declining hormones with
real hormones
, not synthetic drugs created by pharmaceutical companies.

If bioidentical hormones are the answer, why aren’t the pharmaceutical companies selling them in individualized doses? Because bioidenticals are a natural substance and cannot be patented; therefore, there is no money to be made from selling the best solution for menopausal women. Instead, our doctors recommend drugs that are pharmaceuticalized from a pregnant mare’s urine, even though the testing on these so-called hormones in the Women’s Health Initiative study of 2002 showed such dangers to women that the study was
called off prematurely to protect the participants! Yet as I write, these harmful drugs are still on the market and are widely prescribed! It boggles the mind.

Ageless
is the next level of understanding on the hormone front. Hormones are our life force; the decline of hormones is the hallmark of aging. Now you can “put back” these life-giving hormones by working with a qualified doctor. As hormone production sags, the body begins to slow down in its rejuvenation and repair of tissues and organs; that’s when resistance to disease begins and aging accelerates. In fact, the level of hormones in your body is one of the most telling biomarkers of aging.

In this book you will learn the importance of achieving hormonal balance beyond our sex hormones, estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. This is such exciting medicine. Through hormone replacement and new antiaging measures, you can actually slow down and in some cases reverse the aging process. I know this because I have reversed bone loss along with so many other great advantages of BHRT. I have embraced this medicine because I see and feel results, and I can tell you that I have never felt stronger, healthier, or more vital than I do today.

I believe it is possible to experience aging without illness, which is the big dream for all of us. We don’t fear getting older; we fear getting sick, really sick. In today’s world, the majority of older and aging people are suffering from one or more of the three major killers—cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s—and we have come to accept this as normal: Older people get sick; that’s just the way it is. As a young society, we have not realized the full impact of our bad lifestyle and dietary habits. We truly do not realize the aging effects of the chemicals that are part of our everyday world: trans fats, hydrogenated oils, birth control pills, synthetic drugs, recreational drugs, environmental pollution, plastics, and more. If a food or drug is FDA approved, we feel it is safe, but the ramifications of chemical buildup in our systems are killing us. We nonchalantly down our over-the-counter drugs as though they are harmless. We socialize in smoke-filled rooms without thought to the deadly consequences to
our precious lungs. We spray our homes and offices with poisons to get rid of pests, not understanding the damage being done to our livers.