One of the most hotly debated controversies in modern medicine is whether hormone replacement therapy should be used. The use of synthetic HRT has been linked to the development of other major diseases such as heart disease, cancers, and blood clots to name a few. In the case of SYNTHETIC hormone replacement this has been shown very likely to be true.
The Women’s Health Initiative Study of 2002 has proven this to be true. Also, the World Health Organization (WHO) in a much ‘overlooked’ but very comprehensive review of the literature regarding SYNTHETIC HRT released a Monograph in 2005 proclaiming that SYNTHETIC HRT and Birth Control ARE – not maybe, or could be, or possibly – but ARE a cancer causing agent.
Does anyone remember Vioxx? It was an anti-inflammatory like Celebrex that caused several heart attacks. It was very quickly recalled by the FDA, and rightly so. I remember seeing Pharmacists on the national news pulling it off the shelves the day it was recalled. Yet, we have known cancer causing synthetic HRT products still being dispensed like aspirin. Did I miss something here? Why haven’t the SYNTHETIC HRT products been recalled and pulled from the shelves like Vioxx was?
So what does this have to do with the title of this blog, “Is Anti-Aging Medicine for Real”?
Well quite a bit, says Dr. Gary C. Bernard MD, founder of Pointe Medical Services and Live Well MD. Dr. Bernard has developed a most unique medical practice in Jacksonville, Florida. Clients come to see him from all over the United States. Over the last 9 years he has fine-tuned the practice of using BioIdentical Hormone Therapy, treatment of all kinds of hormonal imbalances, utilization of therapies that have been given the name Anti-Aging by the media, nutritional support, vitamin supplementation; plus many other treatment regimens with tremendous success.
It has been well documented and accepted in medicine that our hormones decline in production with age. That, in one view, explains why we feel so much better in our 20-30 year ages. Keeping the critical NATURAL hormones in the appropriate supply for your body, helps to keep you feeling good, functioning well, and feeling youthful. Studies have shown it may prevent many of the disease processes that develop with aging. Saying it boldly, “NATURAL hormone replacement may be an anti-aging modality.” I did say MAY BE.
Do I think we can turn back the clock, or put it on pause like a DVR? No I don’t. The clock runs the same for all of us. The importance is not in the quantity of time we have. What is important is the quality of time. Quality of life is when we feel good, have energy, are happy, can do what we want to do, and not how much time we can have hooked up to a catheter, or carry around 300 lbs of fat, or have clogged up arteries, or need a wheelchair, or even a handicapped parking sticker. Personally, I would rather have quality of life.
There are many competent BHRT and anti-aging physicians out there that really believe their treatment can pause the “DVR of Life”. And maybe they are at least heading down the correct road to achieve this lofty goal. But not yet. It has not happened yet.
At Pointe Medical Services, Inc., and Live Well MD, Dr. Gary C. Bernard has developed a broad-based protocol, utilizing his Internal Medicine background, BHRT, Vitamin Supplementation, and appropriate diet schemes to fight obesity, assessing all the medical needs of a patient in order to provide them ‘Quality of Life’. Since I have worked with him for 12 years, I have seen the very positive results of his program, just like his patients have seen. Word of mouth has built the practice, not costly advertising. I have watched him assess a patient with his 6th sense. I have seen him do a visual physical, and before the patient can express the problems he is experiencing, Dr. Bernard names off to the patient many of the issues that the patient was about to complain of. The patient’s mouth would drop, and he would proclaim to the 6th sense Doc, “You are right! I didn’t say a word and yet you know what is wrong with me!”
Throughout this post, I have emphasized SYNTHETIC versus NATURAL hormones. Pointe Medical Services, Inc. and Dr. Bernard utilize the ‘Complimentary’ approach or ‘Integrative’ approach to medical treatment. This natural medical treatment approach has had many names given by the conservative branch of medicine and the media, including the term “snake oil”. The pursuit of using natural BioIdentical hormones and other natural substances are used as much as possible. In true Complimentary medicine though, the philosophy is that you utilize whatever you need, as long as it works, and is not harmful to the patient.
It is a no-brainer to me that given the choice between quantity and quality OF LIFE, quality wins hands down.