The Body's Aging Process...

Roby Mitchell, M. D. - Dr. Fitt

My long experience with women has taught me that you have an obsession with cleanliness. I can remember waking to the smell of Clorox on Saturday mornings as my mother made her rounds through the house, avoiding the disaster that was the room of my older brother and me. I think this is because women have to be imbued with some natural tendencies that ensure survival of the species. An environment with a low germ count is essential to prevent offspring from dying of infections. This has become even more important as women have stopped breast feeding, providing their children with natural immunity from environmental germs. My mother made sure all the dishes were washed, all leftover food was put away, and the kitchen was spotless before anyone went to bed. It was very similar to my college dorm room, except it was the opposite. This obsession with clean has made women more important than doctors in our fight against death from disease. Developing successful techniques of hygiene has done more to improve human survival than any medical intervention ever developed. Before developing successful techniques in hygiene, women and children routinely died from infections related to childbirth. Midwives had a better rate of successful deliveries than early obstetricians due to their innate obsession with keeping things clean. The male doctor, Semmelweis, who noted this and tried to get other obstetricians to follow suit (Go to ) was kicked out of his post as a medical school professor. Germs are associated with death from disease. My mother essentially used the same agent that Dr Semmelweis used, chlorine, to kill germs. Chlorine and similar elements like bromine, fluorine and iodine are powerful germ killers. In humans, iodine and iodide are the preferred germ killers. What does all this have to do with hormone replacement? You must think of your bloodstream and every tissue space in your body as a room in your house to be kept clean and free of germs. As hormone levels start to decline, around age 27, you start losing the ability to keep a clean internal environment. We find that most of the chronic diseases we treat today are associated with an overgrowth of germs in the body, causing a condition of chronic inflammation. Inflammation(meaning "on fire") in the bloodstream causes high blood pressure, heart disease stroke and a long list of other diseases. Inflammation in the liver leads to elevated cholesterol. Brain inflammation is associated with Alzheimer's. Breast cancer is predated by inflammation in the breast. If you don't keep hormone levels up, germs overgrow in your body as they would if you never cleaned your bathroom. Young women don't normally have to worry about Alzheimer’s, high cholesterol, heart disease stroke, or osteoporosis because they have good hormone levels. Maintaining healthful levels of youthful hormones in the body is as important to good health as keeping good oil levels is to maintaining good function of your car engine. The caveat is that you must only use hormones that are identical to what the human body normally creates. The problem with the antiquated form of hormone replacement is that it used hormones from pregnant mare's urine combined with synthetic chemicals that do not normally exist in nature. According to results of the Women's Health Initiative, this combination likely caused breast cancer, strokes, heart attacks, Alzheimer's and death from colon cancer in thousands of women. My mother was one of the unfortunate victims. Fortunately, the disappointment with these deadly chemicals lead many of us doctors to investigate "comprehensive bio-identical hormone replacement therapy (CBHRT) for women and men. CBHRT means that levels of all hormones are assessed and ones that are low are replaced. This includes not only the 3 natural estrogens and progesterone, but also cortisol, DHEA, testosterone, vitamin D (Surprise, it’s actually a hormone) and thyroid hormones. Cortisol is important for weakened adrenals which address stress and immune function. DHEA is proving important in preventing and treating a wide range of diseases, including auto-immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and some cancers. Testosterone is important for maintaining a strong sex drive, strong bones, good levels of collagen in the skin, and integrity of muscles. This includes those that control bladder function. Vitamin D is important in maintaining strong bones, normal blood pressure and blood sugar. Optimal replacement (Even people who get plenty of Texas Sun shine are found to be low in vitamin D) requires testing. Thyroid hormone is responsible for maintaining good levels of energy, metabolism, and immune function. If you're tired, fat and sick, you may be low on thyroid hormone. Finding out which levels of hormones are low is easy. The pharmacists I work with at D&S, West Texas, and King's Compounding Pharmacy in Amarillo will assist you in getting a saliva test to evaluate hormone levels. This simple, non-invasive test only requires that you provide a saliva sample. Hormone levels can be measured from this sample and a report is then sent to you and your doctor. If the pharmacies are inconvenient, you can order testing kits yourself by going to . Understand that without CBHRT, your body is likely to attract germs that cause disease just as a dirty kitchen would attract roaches. For more in depth information on bio-identical hormones, read Suzanne Somers' books "The Sexy Years”, “The Naked Truth about Bio-identical Hormones", and most recently "Breakthrough".

Dr. Mitchell

D&S Pharmacy

West Texas

King's Compounding Pharmacy

The Body's Aging Process and Disease

The Body's Aging Process and Diseasee

Roby Mitchell, M. D. - Dr. Fitt