Healthcast 693 - Case study: Hormone Misinformation

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All testosterone pellet medical practices are not equal.  Most use pellets that are inferior to ours, inexpensive but have more side effects, and are not as effective as the testosterone and estradiol pellets that I use in my medical practice, BioBalance® Health.

Most practices do not understand the many interactions between other hormones and sex hormones (testosterone and estradiol) like we do therefore you are not going to feel renewed, with all of your symptoms of testosterone and estradiol deficiency treated.

At BioBalance® Health, we provide more than just testosterone pellets. We not only replace missing hormones like testosterone and estradiol, but also address other deficiencies, manage age-related diseases early, and offer nutrition guidance, medical weight loss, genetic nutrition advice, and exercise planning. Our comprehensive approach is unmatched in the US.

Our use of non-micronized testosterone pellets and comprehensive care helps patients restore their health, leading many who leave to return when other practices do not meet their needs.

These facts were impressed on me when one of my long-term patients who had moved to Florida, returned to me after a few years and related all of her efforts to find a doctor in Florida who would treat her like we did.

A month or so ago I saw a familiar name on my appointment list.  When I reviewed her old chart, I saw that she had moved to Florida and had found a new pellet doctor there.  But I had no idea what she had gone through to find a doctor to treat her like she needed to be treated until she sat down in my office for her consultation.

I will protect her identity, by calling her Beth, my best friend’s name.  At first, I didn’t recognize Beth sitting in my waiting room.  It appeared that she had aged more years than the two she had been in Florida.  She sat down and regaled me with this story of her experience.

 Some background.  Beth had had a hysterectomy and had her ovaries removed before she saw me for the first time in 2007. She had been on some kind of hormones since then and pellets with me since 2007.  When she was my patient the testosterone and estradiol pellets literally cured all of her symptoms.  It wasn’t easy to come to the right dose of pellets and to treat her other problems:  She converts T into Estrone and Estradiol, and she is a fast metabolizer, so she needs a higher dose of testosterone that the average woman.

I ushered Beth into my office and asked how she’d been, and she began a long and sad story about trying to find a doctor who would treat her with pellets so that all her symptoms were resolved.  She went to 5 different doctors, who had her BioBalance chart, and all of them said they had to treat her differently because they were not in line with my treatment.  She argued and got nowhere. 

#1 Doctor: The first hormone doctor did not agree with giving her testosterone plus anastrazole (Arimidex), a TA Pellet, yet that was what I treated her with to lower her Estrone and Estradiol from testosterone conversion.  She got straight testosterone and her estrogens soared and inactivated her testosterone, so she felt no different on pellets than she did off of them.  She also gained belly fat and breast size and was very emotional.

#2 Doctor: This doctor was a Bio T doctor who refused to give her TA pellets and also wouldn’t give her the dose she needed.  Bio T uses MICRONIZED testosterone which are cheap, and cause hair to fall out, acne and oily skin.  That is exactly what he got, and she didn’t go back.

#3 Doctor: Not only did this doctor refuse her anastrazole in any form but he made her take progesterone even though she didn’t have a uterus and told him that progesterone made her fatigued.

#4 Doctor was clueless and used a formula one size fits all Testosterone dose, which wore off in 2 months.

#5 Doctor was essentially not educated in testosterone pellets.

Because of these experiences, she now flies in three times a year and gets the pellets dose, Estradiol dose, with anastrazole in the pellets, without useless progesterone (because she had a hysterectomy), with NON-MICRONIZED pellets that last 4 months that are dosed for her unique metabolism.

The moral to the story is all pellet treatment is not the same!  So many doctors have jumped on the bandwagon with a few days of training or no training at all so if pellets don’t work for you, PLEASE DON’T GIVE UP ON PELLETS.  Beth didn’t.  You need a doctor who understands the interactions of T and E2 and E1, and who use pellets who are non-micronized and who individually dose your pellets for YOU!

 This Healthcast  is not about patting ourselves on the back, but it is aimed at informing patients who have been disappointed with their treatment using  testosterone and estradiol pellets because of inability to relieve their symptoms of menopause or testosterone deficiency, that they should find a practice who uses NON_MICRONIZED PELLETS and who have experience taking care of all interactions of hormones with other medications, who understand the trouble shooting for every unusual symptom that may occur after pellet replacement of hormones.  It is not easy to learn to take care of hormones like Dr. Sullivan our staff, and I do, so finding someone with a lot of years in practice, who is not in a “franchise practice” which is just a business and usually use the cheapest pellets.

Don’t give up if at first you don’t feel better.  Just change pellet practices!  BioBalance® knows how to treat all hormone deficiencies, and we have 95% success rate!