Jan

28

Estrogen Has Many Crucial Functions In A Woman’s Body

January 28, 2010 | 1 Comment

Take a look at the…
Estrogen Effects In The Body

Ever wonder what your body would go through without an adequate amounts of estrogen? Luckily for most women they may never know the effects of this but for a few hot flashes as they go from peri-menopause into menopause. A body properly nourished and balanced has mechanisms in place to help a woman adjust to the highs and lows of estrogen production through the many stages of her life. In fact, oriental females have no terms in their language for such things as hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms. Check out my post on the topic of nutrition and hormones.

Estrogen’s Effects on the Brain and Nervous System

Estrogen stimulates the production of choline aminotransferase, an enzyme crucial to the prevention of Alzheimer’s. It has major roles in preserving memory and fine motor skills, improves reason and helps to develop new ideas.

A healthy mind is the product of healthy estrogen levels. The ability to concentrate, to maintain good mood and a healthy disposition for life are the results of adequate estrogen levels because estrogen is needed to produce neurotransmitters like serotonin that decrease depression, irritability, anxiety and pain sensitivity. Deep sound sleep throughout the night is improbable without adequate estrogen levels.

Estrogen’s Effects on Metabolism and Energy Production

Estrogen’s effects at regulating body temperature helps enzymes work efficiently to produce high energy and increase metabolism. You will get the most out of your nutrients to build strong bone, maintain muscle mass and to help prevent muscle damage.

Estrogen’s Effects on The Heart and Blood Vessels

Estrogen helps maintain the elasticity of your blood vessels. It acts like a calcium channel blocker (a type of blood pressure medication) to keep your arteries open and dilates the smaller arteries. It decreases the accumulation of plaque in arterial beds, lowers blood pressure, lowers bad cholesterol (LDL) levels and prevents their oxidation. It increases your good cholesterol (HDL) by 10-15% while decreasing platelet stickiness to prevents clots and strokes.It reduces homocysteine levels ( another known risk factor for heart disease).

Lipoprotein A, a fraction containing both cholesterol and protein fragments is a known risk factor for heart disease that is lowered by maintaining healthy levels of estrogen. The overall reduction seen in heart disease is around 40-50%.

Estrogen’s Effects on The Skin and Skin Structures

Estrogen maintains the amount of collagen in your skin, increases hydration and maintains thickness, softness while decreasing wrinkles. Estrogen supports healthy gums to reduce tooth loss. It decreases the chances of developing cataracts and macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness with aging.

Estrogen’s Other Beneficial Effects

Estrogen helps increase your sexual interest and decreases your risk of getting colon cancer. There are many benefits of estrogen on the body because there are receptors for estrogen basically everywhere including the heart, brain, muscle, bone, bladder, gut, uterus, ovaries, vagina, breast , eyes, heart, lungs and blood vessels.

Other Youthful Aging Center Pages:
Estrogen & Other Hormones in Turmoil- A Life Out of Balance
Menopausal Hormone Replacement Therapy
Food Allergies and Obesity
Hormones and Women’s Health
Estrogen and Menopause
Three Estrogens In Balance Throughout A Woman’s Life
Take The Functional Medicine Questionnaire

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Jan

22

Hormones and Nutrition On Your To Do List For 2010

January 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Every baby boomer needs to be informed about the issues of hormones and nutrition. In fact, discovering your nutritional deficiencies and recovering your youthful levels of hormones for longevity with vitality should be at the top of your to-do lists in 2010… “Who doesn’t need some of that?”

Women are the most to feel and complain about the cycle of ‘change’ within their body, so let’s clarify the stages of female menopause

Menopause, pre-menopause, peri-menopause as well as post-menopause are the terms describing a woman’s transition from having regular periods to none at all. Pre-menopause refers to the years before any menstrual irregularities occur. Peri-menopause marks the interval in which your body begins its transition into menopause. Menopause is the permanent end of menstruation and fertility and refers to the time when periods have recently stopped for good. Post-menopause refers to the years after this transition and through the rest of a woman’s life.

But women are not the only ones to go through hormonal changes. Many times our male counterparts are also having signs and symptoms of dropping hormonal levels. That is known as Male Menopause, or Andropause. Some men will shrug it off as insignificant, either because they really don’t feel badly enough to come to the doctor, or just because they are stuck in the ‘don’t ask for directions’ mode throughout all of the important seasons of their lives. Oh well, guys will be guys. If they feel badly enough, they will find their way to words.

There is ONE little glandular system (the adrenal glands) that can make all of the difference in the world as to whether a woman (and a man, but mostly a woman) will feel the menopausal wrath from H*LL or slide through just as our Eastern Neighborly women do; in fact, Japan simply has NO words for the term HOT FLASHES nor any other subjective references relating to the discomforts our Western women complain about with intensity. Why is that? Do they stress less? Do they eat better? Is there less toxicity in their diets and environment?

YES, YES and YES…

In the US we are incredibly STRESSED. We eat horrifically and live with way too many chemicals that hurt our bodies (both men and women suffer from this problem). So we will spend some time reviewing these issues on this blog site and hope that you will come around, bookmark the blog or pick up the feed trail and get fed on the subject of graceful aging, vital aging, youthful aging so you can live a long and fruitful life in health.

Other Youthful Aging Center Pages:
Testosterone for Men
Basic Lab Testing To Assure Longevity and Youthful Aging
Food Allergies and Obesity
Physician Supervised hCG Weight Loss Program
Take The Functional Medicine Questionnaire

Recommended Reading:
The Youthful Aging Center Bookstore

Jan

20

Weight Loss for 2010

January 20, 2010 | 1 Comment

Thank you for posting your comments, success and concerns with the hCG weight loss program, scroll below to leave your thoughts and share your story with the rest of us. We will offer as many tips and suggestions as time allows, please sign up to our feed to stay current on what is being posted and commented on this site.

The hCG Weight Loss program is an easy way to lose up to one pound of body fat per day for incredibly contoured body changes. This program helps reset your basal metabolic rate back into a more rapid calorie burning rate.

The only set back?

It requires a willingness to use a tiny little needle and syringe to receive a daily injection of hCG and the discipline to consume a restricted very low calorie diet consisting of 500 total daily calories.

It’’s not as bad as it sounds though because hCG makes those love handle fats available for the extra calories your body needs to function all day long.

The good news is that this is done in pulse fashion, 21 to 40 days max for each cycle. Then you are off of the program for six weeks and back on to pulse hCG again if you have over 50 pounds of weight to lose.

Our medical office is offering a special payment program to make this medically supervised natural weight loss program available to most. Check out our offer at Youthful Aging Center’s hCG Weight Loss Program page.

Download our 2010 Specials for Medically Supervised hCG Weight Loss Program supervised by the youthful aging center of Miami.

There are some other options and useful information online. Check out
The Every Other Day Diet.

Recommended Reading:
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Jan

12

Dr. Broda Barnes, MD and His Basal Body Temperature Testing for Low Thyroid Function

January 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment

The thyroid gland may be one of the most elusive causes of many chronic health issues seen in my office.This gland is capable of mimicking over 65 major symptoms of illness and disorder in the human body- the proverbial mockingbird of medicine, wouldn’t you say?

Untreated, a weak thyroid affects the metabolism of every cell in your body and mocks your attempts at living out a long and healthy life span. A weak thyroid gland can even create errors in diagnosis and treatment. For instance, treating only your frequent upper respiratory illnesses with antibiotics while missing the underlying cause which may be hypothyroidism, can continue to weaken your body further leading to chronic fatigue, poor sense of well-being and may worsens your ability to think and even remember!

However, there is a very simple way of catching this little gland off guard to help you make the diagnosis more obvious for your doctor.

If we would all just remember to go back to basics once in awhile, and doctors are no exception. If most doctors would dare revisit their roots in medicine, more of them could learn to detect that which is hidden in plain sight. Sometimes, scientists just get so caught up in all of the neat gadgets, gizmos and flashy techy stuff modern technology seems to throws at us from every which way. Be we often find that it takes just a bit of common sense, some old fashioned discipline and even perhaps frank gall to gather up the courage to look back at history as we explore all that we have forgotten or have put aside for the sake of advancement. A sensible, and simplistic approach may be all that is needed here to land this elusive, moving target.

Enter the case of the deceptive thyroid disorder known as the low T3 syndrome. This is NOT your typical hypothyroidism, in fact this diagnosis is usually missed by 98% of all traditional physicians in their rapid scanning of lab tests looking only for those values that are obviously too far outside of the normal reference range.

But we are not talking here about a blatant thyroid shut down. No, we are looking at sub-optimal thyroid deficiencies in my practice. The exact kind of deficiency that causes so many vague symptoms of fatigue, sluggishness of thoughts and that overall yucky feeling I see so much each day in patients with less than optimal physiology. Most doctors are just too busy to mess with these suboptimal levels or less than ideal physiology states, choosing instead to wait for frank disease and a total shut down to start replacement therapies with medications that are way too expensive or worse that leave behind a trail of side effects requiring other medications to calm the wake.

So here’s the formula, it’s called the Barnes Basal Body Temperature Test, developed by Dr. Broda Barnes, MD. who wrote more medical research on the subject than you can imagine and certainly at a time when perhaps we may have all been coming out of training pants and diapers. But it still sets a precedent for clinical significance and potency of diagnosis. It goes like this:

Put an axillary (armpit) thermometer by your bedside at night and make sure that you shake it down to the lowest temperature reading. In the morning and before getting out of bed or moving around, put the thermometer under your armpit for 10 minutes and lie very, very still. Record your readings for at least 3 mornings in a row. The normal readings are 97.8 to 98.2. If yours are lower than this and you have the classic symptoms (which are outside of the scope of this article at the moment), then take all of this information to your doctor to get tested.

If you are a woman that still has menstrual cycles, make sure that you do this when you are not on your cycle as this will affect your temperatures. Do it immediately after your cycle or during the final days of your cycle like on days 3, 4 or 5. Don’t do it in the middle of your cycle or you will get the rising temperatures seen with ovulation which is one of the ways we use to teach women to check for ovulation and thus improve their chances of getting pregnant.

Hope this common sense approach helps. Let me know…

Recommended Reading:
The Youthful Aging Center Bookstore

Recommended Reading:
The Youthful Aging Center Bookstore

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Jan

8

Where Does Anxiety, Adrenal Fatigue and Hormonal Imbalance Fit Together?

January 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Hormonal changes are often the trigger for many women suffering from anxiety disorder.

Young women come into puberty, mothers give birth to their babies, and mature women transition through the peri-menopausal period of life- all of these hormonal peaks and troughs set off cascades of hormonal reactions within the body.

In that sea of hormones, the effects of unresolved uncertainties around the changing roles (e.g. maturing from child to woman, taking on motherhood, becoming an independent woman past childbearing years) can make the sensation of these anxiety provoking situations overwhelmingly intolerable.

Anxiety can be sensed as a vague uneasy feeling, from fleeting ‘butterflies in your belly’ sensations to the extreme experience of severe and debilitating fear that leads to social phobias, agoraphobia (fear of leaving the security of the home) and to mental breakdowns from the draining effects this has on your adrenal glands.

The adrenal glands are the seat of a system created for handling and coping with stress. These small glands, like two sentinel walnuts sitting atop the kidneys are guardians that monitor the body’s needs for hormones created to cope with the challenges of everyday living, and for healing from illness and attacks upon the immune system.

Like a well oiled system, our bodies are built with interrelated parts relying one upon the other for optimal performance, nowhere is this better illustrated than within the adrenal glands where the seat of emotions interact with the workings of the immune system through a hormonal cascade referred to as the HPA (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrena l) axis. Our bodies are awash in a sea of hormones, and just as the tides of seas respond to the cycles of the moon, so does our internal milieu rely on the oceans of our emotions. This HPA axis links our thoughts to the physical manifestation of what these thoughts create within us.

Anxiety is the well worn path of repetitive fearful thoughts allowed to take up residence within our bodies unchecked and unbalanced through good nutrition and rest for the recovery of our adrenal glands and an overly stressed out system.

Take the time to take care of yourself. Have rest, laugh, reward yourself for your accomplishments and don’t be so harsh to judge your life based on the unmet expectations of those that may have secondary gains as motive. This would truly be a recipe tipping the scales towards anxiety disorders and hormonal imbalances sure to overwhelm the craftsmanship of your perfectly designed system.

Recommended Reading:
The Youthful Aging Center Bookstore

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Dec

30

Mike Learns About the Wrath of Cortisol And Adrenal Fatigue On His Body- Part II

December 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Mike came in on his one month follow up for severe adrenal fatigue and related symptoms. This is where we got into some deeper discussions about what was happening inside of his body because he had been living with unchecked stress and damaging his adrenal glands for over three years.

“Mike, there are a few things that feed into the problems you are having with keeping your weight in check. First that central fat around your waist line is definitely telling me that your stress is causing insulin resistance in your body.”

The adrenal glands produce hormones that cause your body to raise your blood sugars in times of stress as this is the brain’s primary source of fuel to stay sharp and to think fast. The same mechanism that causes this also creates an increased demand on your body’s production of insulin. So the pancreas has to work overtime to create more and more insulin to keep up with these demands. Over time, this creates an extremely fatigued pancreas, and just like the adrenal system working overtime will eventually burn out, so too will the overburdened pancreas burn out creating a slow descent into adult onset diabetes.

“You see Mike, stress makes your body create lots and lots of cortisol- the hormone of stress which acts as an anti inflammatory helping your body heal rapidly from its wounds. Remember, man has been around for centuries, but early man had different stressors like running from the fangs of saber toothed tigers. The system was built for immediate stress responses to temporary and fleeting stress that was sure to pass quickly. You were either eaten, or escaped to hide away and recover from the immediate threat. Today, there are no such tigers yet we have not changed all that much in the way that we are built to cope with real or imagined stressors (and therefore real or imagined tigers).”

Mike was understanding that his adrenal response was locked and set to the ‘Always On’ position. thus spilling a constant and alarming amount of cortisol throughout his system which would eventually ravage his health over time.

The cascade of hormone production can be shifted to the exclusive production of cortisol at the expense of creating downstream hormones, and this is the source of so much grief for men and especially for women during the time of menopause. I told Mike, “Our country is a melting pot of constant stress and it is no wonder that so many American women are struggling with the symptoms of menopause and pre-menopause.”

Mike just smiled at me and said that he knew what I was talking about as he could already see these changes happening to his wife Judy.

When your body has too much cortisol in the bloodstream (and a declining levels of sex hormones that results) it turns off muscle production and bone mineral deposition which leads to osteoporosis, to muscle weakness and to frailty. The excess cortisol production also blocks the activity of Growth Hormone contributing to the accumulation of central fat- that dangerous fat surrounding your vital organs and filling out your midline, Mike.

Stress also causes something far more dangerous but way too silent to know that it is happening until it is too late. When you have insulin resistance like this for too long, it sets up inflammation within your body and especially inside of your blood vessels. Over time, this causes coronary artery disease and atherosclerosis (which is hardening of all the major arteries of the body). So stress IS a leading cause of heart disease and even strokes and heart attacks.

Another issue with stress is the way that it knocks out your body’s immune defenses and makes it harder to keep the outside offenders from breaking down your barriers to disease and allergic reactions to environmental pollutants.

Studies consistently show that patients with the lowest morning cortisol levels, have the worst quality of sleep and those that can not sleep well throughout the night are subject to have increased risk for all cause mortality including cancers. Studies proved that patients with metastatic breast cancer whose diurnal (daytime) cortisol rhythms showed flat line response or low levels all had earlier mortality rates.

“So Mike, it is important for us to treat these extremely low levels of daytime cortisol to reverse the trends that I see happening in your life. Are you ready to begin?”

Check out the next report to see how Mike was able to get a hold of his condition and begin reversing the grim statistics of his unhealthy lifestyle choices. Mike was getting the help he needed, including working with his psychologist to start developing much better coping mechanisms for dealing with his daily stressors.

We will continue with his story as it develops. Fatigued all of the time? Check Your Adrenal System and Your Hormone Levels!

Recommended Reading:
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Dec

27

The Mental, Physical & Social Effects From Chronic Stress- Part I

December 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment

There is a connection between stress, hormonal dysfunction and a suppressed immune mechanism. All of these seemingly unrelated factors converge upon the adrenal gland system.

Mike was suffering from adrenal fatigue. I knew this 10 minutes into our interview. He was sharing vague, seemingly unrelated symptoms and could not seem to connect the dots that these were all the result of an underlying condition known as adrenal fatigue.

“Doctor, I am always telling Judy (his wife) that I can’t seem to get motivated to go out with our friends anymore like we used to. I am always just so tired. Judy says I am abnormally fatigued so she made this appointment for me today”.

I asked Mike to elaborate on his complaints and feelings a bit more and he described how he seemed to be more nervous and irritable lately. He said Judy told him he might be depressed.

“Why would Judy say that to you Mike?”

Mike replied, “Doc, I am having a tough time concentrating, I seem to be on edge all of the time, apprehensive like something bad is about to happen. I feel tired, weak and it’s very easy to get me frustrated with the simplest tasks.”

I asked Mike about his eating habits, especially asked if he was having cravings for sweet and salty foods. He confirmed that indeed he was, and worse during the afternoon slump as he was reaching for sweets and coffee just to keep going.

“Doc, I also feel lightheaded and dizzy at times, but the worse problem is that I seem to get that second wind at about 11 pm and find myself staying up late to catch up on the work I was unable to complete during the day. I am having a terrible time getting up in the morning lately. My internal clock seems to be shifting to later and later morning start ups. I don’t know what to do.”

“Mike are you feeling any body aches or headaches?” He confirmed that he was having shoulder and neck pains and muscle spasms and that the headaches were part of his daily routine since about three months now.

Mike was also suffering from stomach and digestive problems which he never had experienced before. He was having epigastric pain, indigestion, symptoms of Irritable Bowels like alternating episodes of diarrhea and constipation. Plus he seemed to be having trouble with eating certain foods and thought he might be having symptoms of food allergies and food sensitivities for which we requested testing.

“It seems lately that I am getting more sensitive to foods and even to chemicals I come in contact with, I can’t tolerate certain strong odors, or smoking, offensive perfumes and everything seems to give me some sort of allergic reaction. Doc I feel like I am falling apart, can you help me find out what is going on with me?”

The Many Faces of Stress Due To Adrenal Fatigue

Half of all Americans are suffering from stress related symptoms and health effects. Mike was one of them. Almost 90% of the visits made to a primary care physician are for these types of stress related complaints.

Stress is a very real problem in our society and it is linked to very real medical diseases such as cancers, lung ailments, liver cirrhosis, cardiac disease, suicides and accidents. In fact, stress is responsible for more than 25 billion lost workdays lost each year from absenteeism.

A List of Physical Effects Caused By Stress and Adrenal Fatigue

The list goes on and on, but many people with this condition share in the same handful of vague, seemingly unrelated bodily complaints. Here are some of the reactions that take place in your body when you are chronically under increased stress.

Increased blood pressure
Increased heart rate
Increased heart contractions
Increased blood flow to skeletal muscles
Decreased blood flow to areas not naturally needed for rapid activities, like the kidneys and intestines
Dilation of the pupils
Increased muscle strength
Release of sugar from the liver
Increased mental activity
Increased metabolic rate.

A Few Things That Happen to a Body Under Constant Stress

Mike is suffering from symptoms of adrenal fatigue resulting from constant exposure to unrelenting stress. A person under constant stress can have many medical problems. Here is a short list:

Reproductive problems due to disruptions in hormone production,
Constant fatigue due to insulin resistance causing problems with energy utilization,
A slowed metabolism due to thyroid dysfunction
Delayed wound healing and growth due to poor nutrition absorption from the gut
Problems with fluid balance due to decreased kidney function, and
Problems with good quality sleep.

The Mental Effects of Chronic Ongoing Stress

It turns out that Mike had been suffering from the effects of chronic, ongoing stress for about three years now. He basically had all of the following symptoms and needed not only medical intervention, but psychological counseling to work through many of these issues as well. Mike has:

Mental fatigue with a loss of creativity and spontaneity
Confusion, forgetfulness and difficulty with making decisions
Anxiety and feelings of panic
Tension, frustration, irritability, anger and resentment
Depression
Feelings of low self worth
Lowered intellectual functioning
Boredom

The Social Effects of Chronic Ongoing Stress

The psychotherapist wrote a report to our office concerning the issues that they were going to be working through. Mike was suffering from ongoing stress that was causing him problems with:

Procrastination and avoidance of important work and home responsibilities
A lack of concern for others and a resulting deterioration in his relationship with Judy
Reduced effectiveness in communication and an inability to listen to others
Emotional hypersensitivity with tendency to overreact to others, feelings of isolation, alienation and a tendency to suppress his feelings which was leading to Mike’s withdrawal from his friends and family
A loss of control, with quick tempered responses and aggressive behavior

Further, the report revealed that Mike may be showing signs of increased risk taking behaviors, such as gambling and that he was also displaying a tendency towards increased drug use and abuse of sedatives and sleeping pills to self medicate his anxiety and insomnia.

In short, Mike was really suffering and coming to a very serious crossroads. If he did not make some positive changes now, he was heading for a break down and some serious physical, emotional and financial repercussions in his life.

How To Know If You May Be Suffering From Stress Related Changes

If you can relate to some of Mike’s discomfort, then a simple, stress free non-invasive saliva collection procedure for cortisol levels is a great test to reveal the state of your adrenal health. In my opinion, this is the most appropriate way to assess your adrenal functions and to help us make the diagnosis of adrenal fatigue which may be the causing of several seemingly unrelated conditions you may be experiencing.

Mike’s salivary cortisol levels were checked throughout the day to determine the health of his adrenal glands. The normal pattern of salivary cortisol levels are:

From 7-8 am salivary cortisol levels between 13-24 nM
From 11- 12 noon cortisol levels between 5-10 nM
From 4-5 pm salivary cortisol levels between 3-8 nM
From 11 -Midnight cortisol levels from 1-4 nM.

The pattern above is a demonstration which shows how a normal curve would create higher cortisol levels in the morning, after arising. This is the time when you need more cortisol to deal with the stressors of the day. Later in the day, the levels should fall to their lowest range well into the evening, thus making it easier to get some restful sleep.

People with abnormal cortisol patterns share the same pathological rhythm demonstrating a ‘tired and wired’ curve meaning that their cortisol levels are low in the morning (so they feel exhausted as they are trying to get going). Then they get wired out later in the evening when their bodies get that second wind; therefore, they are unable to sleep. While the day is winding down- they are winding up!

Needless to say, Mike did not have a normal pattern and was showing signs of late adrenal fatigue with very low adrenal reserves. Typical of the scenario that we’ve just discussed.

Join us again as we continue our discussions on the effects of chronic stress and how we were able to help poor Mike out of his chronic adrenal fatigue due to unrelenting stress. If you want to learn more about adrenal fatigue and how it affects your hormones, please visit the Youthful Aging Center online to read about the effects adrenal fatigue has on your body.

Recommended Reading:
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Dec

21

Case Studies That Illustrate The Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome

December 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Chronic stress can lead to adrenal exhaustion. Left unchecked, it creates symptoms commonly referred to as the Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome. If chronic adrenal fatigue is allowed to take over your life it will lead to Adrenal Exhaustion.

The following case studies might be helpful to identify if your own symptoms may be trying to tell you something about the state of your own adrenal glands.

The Early Stages of Adrenal Fatigue

Tammy was a 28 year old mother of 2 small children that came to my office suffering from anxiety and insomnia. Tammy was a 5th grade teacher with many work and home stressors. She also complained of several other symptoms, namely irritability, constipation, PMS and irregular cycles.

Due to her symptoms suggesting a stress disorder, we ran a salivary hormone test to determine Tammy’s diurnal cortisol rhythms. The Adrenal Stress Index (ASI) measures Tammy’s salivary hormone levels of cortisol throughout the day. This helps us to determine the health of her adrenal glands.

These were Tammy’s results:

Morning cortisol levels       35 (normal 13-24)
Noon cortisol levels           11 (normal 5-10)
Afternoon cortisol levels   7       (normal 3-8)
Evening cortisol levels      5        (normal 1-5)
Total cortisol burden       55 (normal 23-42)

Her Adrenal Stress Index revealed that Tammy was experiencing symptoms of increasingly elevated cortisol levels throughout the day. Her elevated evening cortisol levels were the major contributors to the symptoms of insomnia.

This pattern of diurnal cortisol rhythm is typical for an acutely stressful event, and the Early Stages of Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome.

In these acute early phases, the adrenals still have plenty of reserves and are able to produce excess hormones in response to the offensive stressor. The adrenals do this at the expense of progesterone, the precursor to the production of cortisol. To learn more on how the body produces hormones through a cascade of naturally occurring reactions, visit the Youthful Aging Center online.

Tammy received adrenal support using appropriate supplementation to nurture the adrenal glands, stabilize blood sugar and to down regulate the overly responsive sympathetic nervous system causing so many of her symptoms.

The Secondary Stages of Adrenal Fatigue

In the Second Stages of Adrenal Fatigue, we see adrenal reserves running very deficient as they are unable to keep up with the demands the body is placing on the adrenal glands.

Take the case of John, a 57 year old male complaining of daily, debilitating symptoms of fatigue. John is the sole owner of a struggling small business who lives alone with his 3 dogs. John tells us of symptoms which include worsening food allergies with hives, symptoms of low blood sugar throughout the day (shakiness, trembling hands, sweating, weakness, palpitation, headaches, insatiable hunger pangs). He also suffers from eczema of his face and hands and symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (alternating diarrhea and constipation, crampy bowel movements, gas, bloating and nausea after meals).

John’s cortisol rhythms were as follows:

Morning cortisol levels       14      (normal 13-24)
Noon cortisol levels            3 ….. (normal 5-10)
Afternoon cortisol levels   4      (normal 3-8)
Evening cortisol levels        2       (normal 1-5)
Total cortisol burden          23    (normal 23-42)

John is recovering from his moderately severe Adrenal Insufficiency with the help of adrenal supportive nutrients, supplements for sugar regulation and nutraceutical to down regulate his overactive sympathetic nervous system.

The Late Stages of Adrenal Fatigue and Adrenal Exhaustion

Th next phase of adrenal insufficiency is much more pronounced as the patient moves towards total Adrenal Exhaustion. This is Mary’s story.

Mary was a 46 year old complaining of joint pains and depression. She is an emergency room nurse. Mary is also an avid skier and hiker but has been progressively accumulating symptoms such as fatigue, recurring yeast infections, difficulty concentrating, worsening migraines and worsening symptoms of asthma. Mary has recently been diagnosed with osteoporosis and autoimmune thyroiditis (meaning she makes antibodies to her own thyroid gland).

Here are Mary’s cortisol rhythms:

Morning cortisol levels       13      (normal 13-24)
Noon cortisol levels            3 ….. (normal 5-10)
Afternoon cortisol levels    2 …. (normal 3-8)
Evening cortisol levels         1   (normal 1-5)
Total cortisol burden         19 …. (normal 23-42)

Mary is also recovering from severe Adrenal Insufficiency with the help of adrenally supportive nutrients, supplements for sugar regulation and nutrients to help her down regulate an overactive sympathetic nervous system.

The Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue and Exhaustion

Chronic stress leads to adrenal exhaustion and finally to symptoms commonly defined as the Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome. Left unchecked, these symptoms are signaling impending Adrenal Exhaustion. The symptoms of severe adrenal fatigue and exhaustion include:

Pain/spasm in upper back & neck muscles
Loss of libido
Poor memory
Light headed when standing
Headaches
Irritability/moodiness
Alcohol intolerance
Tenderness in low back
Dry/thin skin
Scanty perspiration
Slow wound healing
Cold intolerance
Weakness
Nervous/anxious
Chronic inflammation
Palpitations
Weight gain
Low blood pressure
Sweet/salt cravings
Unexplained hair loss
Muscle wasting
Poor concentration
Frustration/confusion
Low body temps
Slow recovery from work outs

Stress comes in many forms, including:

Anger – Fear
Worry/Anxiety
Depression
Guilt
Overwork
Physical and Mental strain
Excessive exercise
Sleep deprivation
Light-cycle disruption
Late hours
Surgery
Trauma/Injury
Noise Pollution
Inflammation
Pain
Toxic exposure
Infections
Chemicals – Heavy metals
Electromagnetic fields
Radiation
Geophysical
Malabsorption
Maldigestion
Illness
Low blood sugar – Poor diet
Nutritional deficiencies
Inhalant Allergies
Food Reactions
Molds
Temperature extreme

“If you ask me what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn’t ask me, I’d still have to say it.” George Burns (1896-1996)

The important lifestyle factors leading to chronic stress must be addressed and corrected, including regulating the blood sugar through the right combination of foods eaten at the right time, reduction of mental and physical stressors, and the elimination of chronic inflammation wherever it may be found within your body.

Sleep, exercise, proper nutrition, mental and emotional factors must all be addressed. The practice of yoga, meditation, relaxation, visualization, aromatherapy, massage, personal time, soothing sounds and music and many other modalities are useful for helping you to achieve inner peace. Psychological evaluations with professional counseling and guidance for how to deal with difficult situations and relationship issues may be necessary.

If you believe that you may be suffering from Adrenal Fatigue, get tested and treated before it leads to damage to your adrenal glands. This condition is reversible, but like all glands of the body, exhaustion takes many months to years for a full recovery.

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Dec

13

Obesity, An Overview Into Its Cause and Results

December 13, 2009 | 1 Comment

Obesity is becoming an epidemic. The US trends labels obesity the disease of the decade due to alarming costs, causes and consequences. In 2007, obesity accounted for 280,000 deaths annually with a cost of $77 billion per year in the US. This put this sum in perspective, this sum represents 5-7% of all health care dollars spent annually.

To download a full manuscript prepared by Dr. Ana M. Hernandez, DO/Medical Director of the Youthful Aging Center, download her Natural Weight Loss Alternative Products Fact Sheet in PDF format.

Obesity is a complex disorder that has genetic, behavioral and environmental causes.

In the American Journal of Public Health, 2001 It was published that obesity would soon overtake smoking as the leading preventable cause of death, presenting greater morbidity than smoking, problem drinking and poverty.

Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater.

The BMI is calculated from a person’s weight and height, provides a somewhat reasonable indicator of body fatness and weight categories that may lead to health problems. However, it says nothing as to the quality of this weight, is it lean body mass? Is it excess fat pounds? There are more reliable ways of calculating body composition and determining risk, including body measures, calipers, and bio-impedance testing equipment.

Obesity is a major risk factor for chronic disease in adults.

Obesity increases an adult’s risk of having cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer, and type 2 diabetes. But we are also seeing these conditions starting to become a health threat for our children and adolescents as well.

Obesity is a growing serious health concern for young children and adolescents.

Data from NHANES surveys (1976–1980 and 2003–2006) show that the prevalence of obesity has increased: for children aged 2–5 years, prevalence increased from 5.0% to 12.4%; for those aged 6–11 years, prevalence increased from 6.5% to 17.0%; and for those aged 12–19 years, prevalence increased from 5.0% to 17.6%.

Obese children and adolescents are at risk for health problems during their youth and early adulthood.

As youths, obese children and adolescents are more likely to have risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease (such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and Type 2 diabetes) than are non obese children and adolescents. They are also more likely to become obese adults.

Studies have shown that approximately 80% of children overweight by age 10–15 years become obese adults by age 25.

One study found that approximately 80% of children who were overweight at aged 10–15 years were obese adults at age 25. Another study found that 25% of obese adults were overweight as children, and that that if the overweight condition began before 8 years of age, that obesity in adulthood would likely be more severe.

What Are The Health Consequences As A Result Of Being Obese?

The following are conditions that are closely linked to obesity in Americans:

Heart Disease
Other Vascular Diseases
Stroke
Dementia
Cancers (Breast, Colon and others)
Type 2 Diabetes
Sleep Apnea
Depression
Osteoarthritis
Back Pain
Gallstones
Surgical Complications
Congenital Malformations
Urinary Stress Incontinence
Psychological Problems

According to the American Institute for Cancer Research being obese makes you 25 – 33% more likely to get colon, prostate, esophageal, kidney and post menopausal breast cancers.

Who was Dr. ATW Simeons?

Dr. Simeons was a medical doctor and scientist that made many contributions to medicine during his years of practice. Dr Simeons was born in London in 1900, and graduated ‘Cum Lauda’ in Heidelberg. Dr. Simeons is credited for the discovery of a stain used in laboratories for the detection of malaria, a stain which now also bears his name. He also discovered the antimalarial drug Atebrin which is in use today in the treatment of this disease. He organized the first Leprosy Center in India and was awarded by the Queen of England with the Iron Cross of Merit for his achievements in the field of Medicine.

Dr. Simeons revealed the medical use of hCG to ‘cure’ obesity by resetting the hypothalamus to promote a healthier, more accelerated and robust metabolic rate.

Dr. Simeons is also responsible for the discovery of the medical use of hCG to ‘cure’ obesity by resetting the hypothalamus and promoting a healthier, more accelerated and robust metabolic rate. But for this research, the doctor has been criticized and his work still draws much controversy in the medical community. However, if you examine the medical literature, you will see many inferences and clinical studies pointing to the fact that the diencephalon (hypothalamus) is very much indeed involved in the generation of obesity and the generation of certain types on abnormal fat reserves that are responsible for much of this country’s obesity epidemic.

The American diet industry has grown consistently in the last 40 years from $2 billion/year to well over $40 billion/year.

Obesity treatment is BIG business in this country. Imagine the impact on this system were it to collapse if word gets out that obesity is a curable symptom of hypothalamic dysfunction.

What is most disturbing to many clinicians that are willing to look beyond traditionally accepted standards of care is that almost 3 generations of obese Americans have had to endure with ineffective and costly maintenance of their disease, or have paid for the incredibly costly surgical options because of the greed of this industry.

Dr ATW Simeons postulated that obesity was the symptom of a disorder in the hypothalamic gland, likely due to an imbalance of neuropeptides in the surrounding area. He further hypothesized that due to this dysfunction, the body begins accumulating fat from the over consumption of calories beyond that which it can use on a daily basis. This accumulated (abnormal) fat is metabolically quite active and produces its own hormones, it also acts quite differently to our normal structural fat pads and is far more resistant to diet and exercise.

Laboratory research shows that a destruction of portions of the hypothalamus in laboratory animals produces excessive hunger, high blood insulin levels (which stimulates the storage of fat from the extra calories consumed in the diet), a drop in growth hormone secretion and rapid weight gain leading to obesity until a new plateau in body weight is reached in experimental animals.

A 1993 study revealed results suggesting that obese women with Abdominal Fat Distribution may have hyperactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Pasquali R, Cantobelli S, Capeli M, Bortoluzzi L, Flamia R, Labate AM, Barbara L. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1993 Aug;77(2):341-6

A study done in 1996 concluded that hypothalamic lesions induce overeating and obesity and selectively in the male causes high blood pressure and glomerular (kidney) damage as well as declines in kidney function. ‘Chris Baylis, Lennie Samsell, Lorraine racusen, Wil Gladfelter’ Published in Hypertension Journal, 1996;27:926-932

A study done in 2000 showed that subjects with abdominal obesity are characterized by hyperactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which leads to a condition of ‘functional hypercortisolism’ (high cortisol levels). Pasquali R, Vicennati V. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2000 Jun;24 Suppl 2:S47-49

In 2002, a study showed that many signals acting at several central nervous system sites seem to converge their pathways on the hypothalamus, which contains a large number of peptides and other neurotransmitters that influence food intake. Wilding, JP. Diabet Med. 2002 Aug;19(8):619-27

At the Youthful Aging Center we are prepared to address this dysfunction and help patients to correct their hypothalamic imbalances. We incorporate all of the fundamental instructions that were so well described by the doctor and help our patients achieve incredible results using this safe technique.

If you want more information visit http://YouthfulAgingCenter.com or call us at 866-For-Health. Do yourself a favor, lose the weight and get healthy. We can help.

To download a full manuscript prepared by Dr. Ana M. Hernandez, DO/Medical Director of the Youthful Aging Center, download her Natural Weight Loss Alternative Products Fact Sheet in PDF format by clicking on the PDF file icon below.

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Dec

13

Thyroid Disorder Can Mimick Over 65 Major Symptoms of Illness

December 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment

One of the most unsuspecting cause of many chronic problems I see in my office is actually due to low thyroid functions (hypothyroidism). That’s because the gland is responsible for mimicking over 65 major symptoms of illness! Left untreated, it affects the metabolism of every cell in your body and will definitely ruin any plans you may have in place to help you live a long and healthy life span.

The thyroid gland is responsible for mimicking over 65 major symptoms of illness!

A weak thyroid can sabotage your best laid out plans and cause errors in treatment as well. For instance, treating only the frequent upper respiratory illness with antibiotics while missing the underlying cause of hypothyroidism will continue to weaken your body further leading to chronic fatigue, a poor sense of well-being and worsens your ability to think and even remember!

The Basal Body Temperature Test by Broda Barnes, MD

One of the oldest methods of testing for weak thyroid functions is known as the Barnes Basal Body Temperature Test. It goes like this:

Put an axillary (armpit) thermometer by your bedside at night and make sure that you shake it down to the lowest temperature reading. In the morning and before getting out of bed or moving around, put the thermometer under your armpit for 10 minutes and lie very, very still. Record your readings for at least 3 mornings in a row. The normal readings are 97.8 to 98.2. If yours are lower than this and you have the classic symptoms which I will review with you now, then take all of this information to your doctor and get tested.

If you are a woman that still has her cycles, make sure you do this when you are not on your cycle as this will affect your temperatures. Do it immediately after your cycle or during the final days of your cycle like days 3,4,5. Don’t do it in the middle of your cycle or you will get the rising temperatures seen with ovulation which is one of the ways we tell women to check when they are ovulating to improve their chances off getting pregnant.

This test was developed by Broda O. Barnes, MD, PhD who during his illustrious career spanning over half a century published more than 100 papers on thyroid literature in well respected and reputable journals. Dr Barnes correlated the temperatures of over 2,000 individuals with their basal metabolic rates and compared those numbers to the patient’s standard laboratory tests. He discovered that there was a much higher correlation of low metabolic rates and clinical hypothyroidism using the basal body temperature test than with any other testing method available.

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Obesity is a complex disorder that has genetic, behavioral and environmental causes.

Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater.

Obesity is a major risk factor for chronic disease in adults.

Obesity is a growing serious health concern for young children and adolescents.

Obese children and adolescents are at risk for health problems during their youth and early adulthood.

What Are The Health Consequences As A Result Of Being Obese?

Who was Dr. ATW Simeons?

The American diet industry has grown consistently in the last 40 years from $2 billion/year to well over $40 billion/year.

Related Reading:

Dec

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The Basal Body Temperature Test by Broda Barnes, MD

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