The Petteruti Center For Life Extension Blog

Do you have "low T"?  Recent commercials advertising name-brand prescription testosterone creams and gels have raised this question in the minds of many men.

The good news is that hormonal balance is becoming more acceptable as a means of improving quality of life. This has led many men and women to seek medical consultation for conditions that previously had been considered just part of getting older.

Problems such as low-energy, diminished physical strength, loss of mental clarity, decreased sex drive, decreased sexual responsiveness, trouble with erections, and in women trouble with climax. Often times rather than just being inevitable events of aging, these symptoms can be from treatable forms of hormonal imbalance.

The problem comes from looking at this issue to simplistically. It's not simply a matter of collecting the symptoms and applying cream until gone. It's important to realize that testosterone is linked to other hormones in a very balanced manner.

Testosterone is converted into estrogen in the body. This process known as aromatization, and is the reason why at times prescribing testosterone can actually make things worse. If a person's body is turning testosterone into estrogen then the problems of low T will not be solved.

Things that tend to enhance the conversion of testosterone to estrogen include excess body weight. Fat cells convert testosterone into estrogen and then store estrogen. Part of treating low testosterone should be treating excess body fat and restoring a person to a healthy body weight.

When properly replaced, testosterone therapy does not have any known increased risk for cancer. However if not properly balanced, the subsequent increases of estrogen can have the potential to raise the risk of certain forms of cancer including prostate cancer.

Many physicians and patients don't fully appreciate that all of the sex hormones including testosterone are made out of cholesterol. Sometimes in our zeal to treat high cholesterol, we can lower the level to a point that can affect our overall health and cause low testosterone.

Some patients have interpreted the commercially available information to put themselves on the supplemental DHEA. While it's true this is a precursor to sex hormones, it's also true that It can drive down either the testosterone or the estrogen pathway. Simply taking this precursor does not reassure that the outcome desired will be achieved.

There are things that you can do without a prescription to improve your hormonal balance. Diminishing stress increases testosterone level as does increasing exercise and decreasing body fat. All these things are good for general health and available without a prescription.

If healthy living still leaves you with some of the symptoms of low testosterone, seek consultation with a physician who has an appreciation for the breath of complexity that comes with proper hormonal balancing.

At the Petteruti Center, we are experts in hormonal balancing and managing body weight. Together my staff and I will be able to guide you toward the safest and most effective treatment options available.

From the time we are born we are in a battle against bacteria. Shortly after birth, our oral cavities becomes covered with a veneer of bacteria that remains for a lifespan. Much of this bacteria is helpful and when well-balanced can keep us more healthy, but a combination of some bad luck and dental neglect can unleash severe consequences.

Ever wonder why you always see so much hungrier when you're trying to lose weight? It's a common struggle many people deal with, so if you have felt this way rest assured that you are not alone.

One percent to two percent of all weight-loss, or bariatric, operations are on patients under 21. Many physicians have a legitimate concern on the effectiveness and consequences of such operations. Studies are under way to gauge the outcomes of surgery on children as young as 12. Allergan, the maker of the popular Lap-Band, a surgically inserted silicone band that constricts the stomach to make the patient feel full quickly, is seeking permission from the Food and Drug Administration to market it to patients as young as 14, four years younger than is now allowed. Hospitals across the country have opened bariatric centers for adolescents in recent years but one has to wonder, is this safe?

We hear it all the time, I'm going to join a gym to lose weight. If people pursue it so frequently why does it not seem to work? In a typical pattern, the patient will enter the gym with great enthusiasm. Initially motivated, they workout hard perhaps enjoying some modest weight loss at the start. However what little weight loss occurs quickly stops and becomes a point of discouragement. 

Often times patients suffering with the metabolic condition known as obesity are pushed to consider extreme measures out of desperation for treating their condition. One such extreme measure is a surgical intervention known as a “lap band.” 

I love to workout. Okay, that may be a big of an over statement. What I love is the feeling afterwards of being stronger and healthier. However, I struggle on when to actually fit it into my life.

At The Petteruti Center for Life Extension we have developed The Zaino Protocol for taking type II diabetics off insulin. I first conceived of this approach while treating obese type II diabetics. It is named after one of first patients to benefit from this treatment to come off his insulin completely. 

At The Petteruti Center for Life Extension, we believe in the mind/body/aesthetic interface with regard to Life Extension or Age Management. Our goal is to help you live to the full measure of your life span. 

Think of protein like the 2 X 4 of the house. Is the structural material that our bodies need to build all the components that make for healthy life. Protein is the raw material that we use to construct our muscles, bones, enzymes and other molecules that make body run. Without adequate protein intake our body simply cannot function.