Recently, reminders arrived to renew my DEA registration. I did NOT renew it!
Having a DEA number makes it legal for me to prescribe controlled substances. The only controlled substance I currently prescribe is testosterone. It is no longer a medication I wish to prescribe, as I believe there are better ways to support the body than trying to get a testosterone level into the “normal” range. What’s normal? Is it the same for everyone, at every age? And most importantly, why is it low?
What is testosterone, anyway? It’s a chemical that is tested by extracting and isolating it from blood or saliva. The most common tests are called immunoassays, which add a series of chemicals called reagents, which are then washed away or removed in some way. Is the final product, called testosterone, the same chemical that is floating around in the live person? How would we know? We’d have to be able to do the exact same immunoassay in the live person – which we can’t. Same for estrogen, progesterone, cortisol, thyroid hormone, and the rest.
Wikipedia has more information on immunoassays here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immunoassay
My understanding of hormones has changed recently. I now know that hormones are chemicals. I now know that there are no such things as bioidentical hormones – because again, how do we identify and measure these hormones in the live person? And how would we compare the test tube product to whatever is in the live person? We have no way of knowing whether the hormone in the pill or the cream or the gel or the pellet is the same thing as is in the body. So there is no such thing as “hormone replacement therapy” because we don’t know what we are replacing.
Clearly, many people feel better on bioidentical hormones; I’m not denying their effects. Prescription medications, recreational drugs, alcohol, etc all have effects on the body, but are prescription hormones the best way to help people heal? Or are they just covering up symptoms? Symptoms are important messages from the body that things are off, not just feelings that need to be suppressed so we can “feel better”.
The body has priorities. The top priority is to stay alive! Many of the other functions, including anything to do with reproduction, take back seat to staying alive. Digestion, repair, detoxification, and reproduction all are low priorities.
Why do people have endocrine problems? I view the potential causes in the following categories: nutritional, toxic, structural, and emotional/spiritual.
Nutrition: what are you feeding your body? Your mind? Your soul? What kinds of energies are you letting in – sunlight, nature, grounding, people?
Toxic: many chemicals are known to cause endocrine problems, including plastics, fragrances, flame retardants, and pesticides. Electromagnetic radiation interferes with endocrine function on many levels. Toxins can build up in certain tissues, causing damage and dysfunction.
Structural: Misalignment in the skeleton, the muscles, and/or the connective tissue can hinder the circulation of blood, lymph or energy to parts of us. I find that a good bodyworker, like an osteopath that does hands on work, can be a very helpful addition to one’s health care team.
If your blood is hypercoagulable (has an increased tendency to clot), then it doesn’t flow well thru the blood vessels. When scars or trauma block circulation or energy flow, then nothing in the area served by that circulation works well.
Emotional/spiritual: Do you believe your body can heal? How does life change if you are well? Is there a history of sexual abuse? Is your marriage OK? Because if it’s not, an unconscious consequence is to suppress endocrine function – showing up as low libido, infertility, or a host of other problems.
And, if one doesn’t search for and deal with the underlying causes of any endocrine dysfunction, then using hormone therapy is just a bandaid. Using hormones doesn’t cure the problem – it suppresses the symptoms, which drives them deeper.
When we decide to use hormones to bring the numbers into the reference ranges, we are sending the message that we don’t need the glands to do their jobs, that we will take over and use medicine instead. I no longer believe that these prescription hormones are safe, nor are they the best way to treat folks with endocrine dysfunction.
I was taught that the goal for therapy was to get the hormone levels into the range of a 35 year old person. But a 60 year old person, for example, is not supposed to have hormone levels of a 35 year old. This creates a divide between chronological age and hormonal age. Our purposes and roles change when we age. In our 30’s, we are in the procreation years – having babies, raising children, building careers. In later decades, kids leave the nest. What is your purpose then? Traditionally, elders served as mentors for the younger generations, helped build and stabilize the community, helped younger generations parent.
These concepts make me wonder how the endocrine glands communicate with each other and the rest of the body? Do they produce biochemicals (in other words, hormones)? Do they use electromagnetic energy? Do they use some other form of communication that we haven’t yet identified? I don‘t know! This is a foundation-shifting realization after practicing endocrinology for four decades. I’m now working with my patients to get them off of hormone therapy as we address the underlying root causes and their bodies heal.
So, I decided not to renew my DEA registration. By the way, the fee to register is $888 for 3 years, and they’ve also instituted a required 8 hour class on prescribing controlled substances (which is primarily focused on pain medications – not pertinent to me).