Creating Hormonal Harmony : Part 2

Hormones, Health, and Happiness: A Natural Medical Formula for Rediscovering Youth with Bioidentical Hormones
By Steven F. Hotze, M.D.

(Page 2 of 2)

The book you hold in your hands is actually two books in one. First, it is the story of my journey down the road less traveled, from mainstream physician to wellness practitioner. Second, and more important, it is a guidebook designed to help you begin your own journey down the road to optimal health and wellness.

In this book, you will learn about an eight-point treatment program developed to address the underlying causes of the most common health problems that occur in midlife. The components of this comprehensive program are:

1. Treatment of airborne allergies (chapter 4)

2. Treatment of food allergies (chapter 4)

3. Treatment of yeast overgrowth (candida) (chapter 5)

4. Treatment of low thyroid function (hypothyroidism) (chapter 6)

5. Natural hormone replacement in women and men (chapters 7 and 8)

6. Treatment of adrenal fatigue (chapter 9)

7. Nutritionally balanced eating program (chapter 10; appendices B and D)

8. Vitamin and mineral supplementation (chapter 11 and appendix C)

All eight of the elements listed above are important to the optimal functioning of your cells, tissues, and organs and to how you feel physically, mentally, and emotionally. For example, consuming the right kinds and amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and fats can keep your energy levels steady throughout the day while helping you avoid the serious diseases that result from a lifetime of unhealthy food choices.

Nutritional supplements are much more than an insurance policy against deficiency diseases such as scurvy and rickets. Studies have shown that taking optimal amounts of key nutrients - amounts that in some cases are much higher than the recommended daily allowance (RDA) - can actually reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease, and a host of other illnesses and maladies.

Treating food and airborne allergies and eradicating yeast from the body can help rejuvenate the immune system, restore energy, and alleviate seemingly unrelated conditions such as headaches, sinus and respiratory infections, asthma, digestive problems, and skin disorders.

Of all the elements outlined above, however, I have come to believe that the three that involve replenishing and balancing levels of key hormones are the most important to obtaining and maintaining optimal health and well-being.

Why are hormones so important? Quite simply, the aging process is the result of declining hormone levels. Levels of most hormones peak in our twenties and begin a slow, inexorable decline thereafter. As levels drop below their youthful peaks, you may begin to lose energy and gain weight. You may experience mood problems or have difficulty with thinking, concentration, and short-term memory. Your immune system is likely to become less efficient, leaving you vulnerable to infectious diseases. Restoring hormones to their optimal levels using natural, biologically identical hormones is a safe, effective way to preserve vitality as you mature.

The key term in that sentence is biologically identical. I am no fan of the counterfeit hormones manufactured by drug companies. These drugs are not identical to the hormones that are present naturally in the human body. In fact, in order to be patented, these drugs cannot be identical to the body's own hormones or to any other molecule that exists in nature. They must be chemically unique. This gives drug companies proprietary use of the drugs without competition and subsequently allows them to reap huge profits. Women who take these artificial hormones pay the price, not just with their pocketbooks, but also with their health and well-being.

Because counterfeit hormones are not identical to those produced by your body, they do not fit perfectly into the receptor sites in your body's cells. That is why these drugs can never restore optimal health. In fact, a wealth of research conducted over the past several decades clearly shows that, far from being age-defying wonder drugs, counterfeit female hormones such as Premarin, Provera, and Prempro may cause serious disease. Major studies, including the Women's Health Initiative in the United States and the Million Women Study in Great Britain, have documented that these drugs increase the risk of life-threatening ailments such as breast cancer, heart attack, stroke, pulmonary embolism, and Alzheimer's disease.

Women today who are experiencing symptoms of hormonal imbalance or deficiency are given few options by conventional physicians. Some physicians continue to prescribe counterfeit hormones, despite their known dangers, insisting that the benefits outweigh the risks. Others have begun to prescribe antidepressants as an alternative, as if mind-altering drugs are the solution to declining hormone levels. Still others have given up on the treatment of female hormone problems altogether and tell patients that they simply must learn to live with their symptoms.

And yet, there is a remarkably simple and safe alternative that has received relatively little attention in the mainstream press: the use of bioidentical hormones, formulated from plants and identical to the estrogens, progesterone, and testosterone produced in the human body. Unlike counterfeit hormones, bioidentical hormones fit perfectly into the hormone receptors found in the cells of the body and have natural, biological results without undesirable side effects.

Unfortunately, the major drug companies have no interest in biologically identical hormones, which cannot be patented. Because drug companies have no financial incentive to produce or market bioidentical hormones, most doctors have not been trained in their use and are unaware of the benefits of this type of therapy. After all, most physicians receive their continuing medical education at seminars and conferences sponsored by drug companies.

My staff and I have seen thousands of our patients get their lives back by following the comprehensive program outlined in this book. Because we have witnessed firsthand the dramatic improvement in health and wellness that can be obtained with the proper use of natural, bioidentical hormones, along with a healthy diet, nutritional supplementation, and the treatment of allergies and yeast, we believe it is our moral imperative to widely disseminate the information about our program.

I have written this book to give you information that you will not receive from the mainstream media, the medical establishment, or conventional physicians who are steeped in the disease-and-drug model of medicine. My hope is that once you have a better understanding of the root causes of your health problems, you will be inspired to find a doctor who can guide you onto the path to wellness. Most important, my deepest desire is to help you obtain and maintain health and wellness naturally so that you enjoy a better quality of life.

Copyright © 2005 by Steven F. Hotze

About the Author

Steven F. Hotze, M.D., founder of the Hotze Health & Wellness Center, and author of Hormones, Health, and Happiness, has been a pioneer in the natural wellness revolution for almost two decades. With a goal of helping individuals achieve optimal health and lifelong wellness by treating food and airborne allergies and yeast sensitivity, as well as balancing the thyroid, adrenal and sex hormones, Dr. Hotze believes in evaluating an individual's symptoms and then treating their underlying causes naturally.