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Recently, I was featured in Palm Springs Life! Weight gain is part of the modern problem accelerating the aging process. At his Longevity Therapeutics practice in Palm Springs, anti-aging physician Dr. David Odom, M.D. devotes a considerable amount of his time to helping patients address their weight issues. In addition to looking and feeling better, achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is instrumental in preventing the disease states associated with obesity — namely, heart disease, diabetes and the destruction of joints. “Hormone imbalance can affect weight management tremendously,” says Dr. Odom. Not surprisingly, an age when both sexes struggle with weight gain is during their early fifties when menopause (women) and andropause (men) occur. Dr. Odom offers two basic weight loss programs to combat the issue of creeping poundage. The first is his traditional program — a multipronged, neurotransmitter modifying approach which includes a high protein/ low carbohydrate diet, cardio-vascular exercise plus resistance training, weight loss medications and supplements and most importantly, weekly monitoring. “Accountability matters! Patients who are monitoring with a doctor on a regular basis do much better than patients who do not.”
Since hCG is dispensed in smaller doses for the purpose of weight loss, there is no gender difference. Women drop an average 2/3 pound of fat per day and men an average of one pound. Again, accountability and oversight is key. “I work very closely with my patients to obtain and maintain optimum weight loss results,” said Dr. Odom. The onset of years frequently causes thyroid function to decline, which can in turn affect struggles with weight management as well. “Many in the medical profession fail to recognize this,” said Dr. Odom. Bio-identical hormone replacement therapy is another tenet of his practice which seeks to restore hormone levels to those seen in youth, the better to do battle with the aging process, and the weight gain that invariably accompanies it. “Individuals can’t go to typical health providers and get put on a good weight loss program or receive bio-identical hormone replacement therapy because such establishments don’t offer these services,” he added. Given little in the way of direction, it’s no wonder people struggle with weight management. At Longevity Therapeut ics, Dr. Odom provides patients with the tools they need to be successful. Dr. Odom received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas and has been in practice since 1970. He completed anesthesiology residency training at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. As a board-certified anesthesiologist, he subsequently spent more than 20 years practicing the specialty in Fairbanks, Alaska. He gave up operating room work in 1994 so that he could pursue other overwhelming interests he had developed. Since then, he has devoted his profession to age management medicine and by extension, weight management protocols, bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, and other methods of health maintenance. He has been in practice in Palm Springs since 2016.  Dr. Odom is not a representative of 'Palm Springs Life' and should not be considered an authority of this publication/directory.
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 We Have A New Address! We are still in California, but now we are located in Palm Springs!
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| This confusing state of affairs continues when the cheap, synthetic substance, Ergocalciferol, has been referred to as “vitamin D” as if it were equivalent to the real, human made product, Cholecalciferol. Ergocalciferol cannot be made in the human body, but is produced naturally only in fungus. Until about 8 years ago, manufacturers routinely added Ergocalciferol, to multivitamins, referring to it as vitamin “D2”. But awareness of this fraud is growing, and we see less and less of “vitamin D2.” Since D3 is a hormone, I drop the “vitamin” moniker and refer to it as Cholecalciferol or simply, D3. |  |
What does D3 do to create health benefit? Those benefits are numerous, but I will mention only a few in this paragraph. So important currently is the ability of D3 to prevent viral illness. People with low levels of D3 and co-morbid conditions, like diabetes and obesity are sitting ducks for Covid-19. D3 has been shown to have a cancer preventive effect. D3 prevents wintertime depression. D3 helps to prevent heart attack and stroke. These are just a few health benefits of D3.
Who have low levels of D3? People who wear clothes when outside. Yes, that’s what I just said, our modern habits deter us from receiving the benefits of D3. If your skin is light enough, just exposing your head, neck, and arms to sunshine during normal daily activities may be enough to prevent corona virus attack if you live in sunny climes. If you live farther north, or your skin is darker, you need to supplement D3 to obtain is benefits.
So, who are the other sitting ducks for Covid-19? “Shut ins” like nursing home patients or African Americans are more likely to get sick with this current corona virus if they are not supplementing D3. “Viral load” or dose of virus combined with low levels of D3 is important as well. Let’s say that you are an African American working as a sheriff’s deputy in a jailhouse, and you are not supplementing D3, you are much more likely to get sick with Covid-19.
Who have low levels of D3? People who wear clothes when outside. Yes, that’s what I just said, our modern habits deter us from receiving the benefits of D3. If your skin is light enough, just exposing your head, neck, and arms to sunshine during normal daily activities may be enough to prevent corona virus attack if you live in sunny climes. If you live farther north, or your skin is darker, you need to supplement D3 to obtain is benefits.
So, who are the other sitting ducks for Covid-19? “Shut ins” like nursing home patients or African Americans are more likely to get sick with this current corona virus if they are not supplementing D3. “Viral load” or dose of virus combined with low levels of D3 is important as well. Let’s say that you are an African American working as a sheriff’s deputy in a jailhouse, and you are not supplementing D3, you are much more likely to get sick with Covid-19.
 | All over the world, skin tone goes from light to dark as you travel from the far north toward the equator. It’s the necessary compromise between the protection that melanin provides versus the need for D3. But in modern times, people are not necessarily living in their ancestral climes. |
So, if you have white skin and live in Africa, you better wear clothes to cover yourself, or you are going to burn up. And, if you are a black African living in North America, to stay healthy, you better be supplementing D3, and lots of it. And if you don’t, then expect high blood pressure, stroke, and other common chronic maladies.
How much D3 should you take?
In my opinion, you should take enough to raise your blood level to the neighborhood of 100 ng/ml. For the average adult, that means taking 10,000 IU or 250 mcg daily. For children, 1,000 IU (25 mcg) per 25 lbs body weight.
What about toxicity from too much D3?
I haven’t seen it. I don’t recommend it, but I have had patients who chronically and consistently take 50,000 IU daily and have suffered zero ill effects.
What is the nature of “vitamin D toxicity”? One patient of mine had taken 100,000 IU of D3 daily for 3 months, then quit because he noted feeling tired in general and not able to do as many pushups as usual. So he cut back and noted that these symptoms were relieved. Compare that to dire shortness of breath in the ICU from Covid-19.
There has got to be a happy medium. But, conventional medicine generally has not acknowledged the profound benefit of supplementing D3. The “happy medium” is a lot higher than current medical recommendation.
Remember, the important thing is not catching the virus, as everyone will get the virus eventually, as it is highly contagious. The important thing is not to get sick with the virus.
How much D3 should you take?
In my opinion, you should take enough to raise your blood level to the neighborhood of 100 ng/ml. For the average adult, that means taking 10,000 IU or 250 mcg daily. For children, 1,000 IU (25 mcg) per 25 lbs body weight.
What about toxicity from too much D3?
I haven’t seen it. I don’t recommend it, but I have had patients who chronically and consistently take 50,000 IU daily and have suffered zero ill effects.
What is the nature of “vitamin D toxicity”? One patient of mine had taken 100,000 IU of D3 daily for 3 months, then quit because he noted feeling tired in general and not able to do as many pushups as usual. So he cut back and noted that these symptoms were relieved. Compare that to dire shortness of breath in the ICU from Covid-19.
There has got to be a happy medium. But, conventional medicine generally has not acknowledged the profound benefit of supplementing D3. The “happy medium” is a lot higher than current medical recommendation.
Remember, the important thing is not catching the virus, as everyone will get the virus eventually, as it is highly contagious. The important thing is not to get sick with the virus.
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Here is Dr. Odom's pick!
(This is not an Ad - Vitcost and Dr. Odom are not affiliated.
This is a recommended product not a sponsored product and Dr. Odom in no way profits from this products purchase.)
This is a recommended product not a sponsored product and Dr. Odom in no way profits from this products purchase.)
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One of the most common chronic maladies affecting people is low thyroid function.
People may notice unexplained symptoms, such as-
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. . . and thus go to the doctor requesting thyroid testing.
These symptoms are caused by lack of the active form of the thyroid hormone, T3.
Invariably, as a part of the diagnostic work-up, the doctor will order a TSH† test, which is a brain hormone that stimulates the thyroid gland to make more or less of the inactive form of the thyroid hormone, thyroxine or T4.
So, the thyroid gland makes T4, and it goes into circulation in the body, converting into the active form of the thyroid hormone, T3, in tissues requiring an increase of metabolic rate.
If the TSH is high, the demand by the brain is for more production of Thyroxine.
If the TSH is low, the request is for less production of Thyroxine.
This is a general relationship that has no specific correlation with the signs and symptoms of low thyroid function. Remember, it is T3 that actually corresponds to how patient feels, not T4.
Unfortunately, synthetic levothyroxine1 very poorly converts to T3.
And this is the medication most commonly prescribed for thyroid patients.
However, the TSH has a very definite, very specific relationship to the dose of synthetic levothyroxine.
The problem is that most doctors have presumed, without any scientific evidence, that the TSH has an exact relationship to the suffering perceived by the patient.
These symptoms are caused by lack of the active form of the thyroid hormone, T3.
Invariably, as a part of the diagnostic work-up, the doctor will order a TSH† test, which is a brain hormone that stimulates the thyroid gland to make more or less of the inactive form of the thyroid hormone, thyroxine or T4.
So, the thyroid gland makes T4, and it goes into circulation in the body, converting into the active form of the thyroid hormone, T3, in tissues requiring an increase of metabolic rate.
If the TSH is high, the demand by the brain is for more production of Thyroxine.
If the TSH is low, the request is for less production of Thyroxine.
This is a general relationship that has no specific correlation with the signs and symptoms of low thyroid function. Remember, it is T3 that actually corresponds to how patient feels, not T4.
Unfortunately, synthetic levothyroxine1 very poorly converts to T3.
And this is the medication most commonly prescribed for thyroid patients.
However, the TSH has a very definite, very specific relationship to the dose of synthetic levothyroxine.
The problem is that most doctors have presumed, without any scientific evidence, that the TSH has an exact relationship to the suffering perceived by the patient.
| The patient may notice some improvement of symptoms as the dose of Levothyroxine is raised, allowing some conversion to T3, but the doctor shows no particular interest in how the patient feels, only about the TSH level. |  |
So, if the patient tells the doctor that symptoms are improved with a higher dose, but since the resultant TSH level is below the range listed on the lab report, to the amazement of the patient, the doctor dutifully lowers the dose.
The sales of synthetic Levothyroxine is a $2.6 billion dollar a year business in the US.
The relationship between the dose of synthetic Levothyroxine and the TSH test allows the appearance of a rational mechanism for the diagnosis and treatment of low thyroid function.
The reality is that there is no specific blood test for measuring hypothyroidism.
The best way to determine adequacy of treatment is by how the patient responds to thyroid supplementation.
Patients taking a product made from real pig thyroid glands will immediately notice an improvement.
Pig thyroid glandular composition is very similar to that of the human.
Highly processed porcine glands is a product called, Thyroid USP.
Thyroid USP powder is made from the mixture of thousands of pig thyroid glands.
The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) establishes written and physical standards for medicines and dietary supplement products.
These standards are used by regulatory agencies and manufacturers to help to ensure that these products are of the appropriate identity, as well as strength, quality, purity, and consistency.
Prescription medicines available in the United States must, by federal law, meet USP public standards.
The sales of synthetic Levothyroxine is a $2.6 billion dollar a year business in the US.
The relationship between the dose of synthetic Levothyroxine and the TSH test allows the appearance of a rational mechanism for the diagnosis and treatment of low thyroid function.
The reality is that there is no specific blood test for measuring hypothyroidism.
The best way to determine adequacy of treatment is by how the patient responds to thyroid supplementation.
Patients taking a product made from real pig thyroid glands will immediately notice an improvement.
Pig thyroid glandular composition is very similar to that of the human.
Highly processed porcine glands is a product called, Thyroid USP.
Thyroid USP powder is made from the mixture of thousands of pig thyroid glands.
The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) establishes written and physical standards for medicines and dietary supplement products.
These standards are used by regulatory agencies and manufacturers to help to ensure that these products are of the appropriate identity, as well as strength, quality, purity, and consistency.
Prescription medicines available in the United States must, by federal law, meet USP public standards.
Would you like to discuss natural hormone replacement therapy?
I can't wait to help!
I can't wait to help!
How do women past age 40 drop excess fat?!
The frustration of dieting and exercising...... and not dropping the weight!!!
There are many reasons your body is incapable of losing the weight, such as an imbalance in your hormones, blood sugar is too high, etc.
But first, you must realize that you do not have a problem that will be forever
solved by simply the dropping weight.
There are many reasons your body is incapable of losing the weight, such as an imbalance in your hormones, blood sugar is too high, etc.
But first, you must realize that you do not have a problem that will be forever
solved by simply the dropping weight.
Why?
Because the weight comes back on after you have stopped implementing
the techniques that caused the weight loss.
Most people, after losing any amount of weight decide
"I no longer need to diet and exercise!"
the techniques that caused the weight loss.
Most people, after losing any amount of weight decide
"I no longer need to diet and exercise!"
WRONG!
The term "diet" refers to what you eat.
It is a misconception that a "diet" is a temporary state,
there is no such thing as "going on a diet" or "dieting".
You can only change your diet.
What is YOUR diet like?
Do you only choose to eat healthy when you are trying to lose weight?
This is one of your problems!
If you only choose a healthy lifestyle to lose the weight then go right back to your unhealthy ways of living after the weight is dropped then you will be right back where you started in no time.
However, once your metabolism slows due the number of issues that arise with age, most women require extra assistance to even be able to drop the weight in the first place.
It is a misconception that a "diet" is a temporary state,
there is no such thing as "going on a diet" or "dieting".
You can only change your diet.
What is YOUR diet like?
Do you only choose to eat healthy when you are trying to lose weight?
This is one of your problems!
If you only choose a healthy lifestyle to lose the weight then go right back to your unhealthy ways of living after the weight is dropped then you will be right back where you started in no time.
However, once your metabolism slows due the number of issues that arise with age, most women require extra assistance to even be able to drop the weight in the first place.
Two ways that actually work:
1. Medication & amino acids that raise levels of 2 neurotransmitters: norepinephrine and serotonin, reduce appetite, but more importantly enhance the breakdown of stores of fat. This technique has been used successfully by weight loss doctors for almost 30 years.
2. The natural hormone, chorionic gonadotropin or hCG. While dieting, taking this hormone causes you to drop fat, especially belly fat, with the average female dropping 25 lbs of fat in 40 days. The hCG diet includes 15 hours of fasting daily. This diet is not to last past 40 days at one session.
2. The natural hormone, chorionic gonadotropin or hCG. While dieting, taking this hormone causes you to drop fat, especially belly fat, with the average female dropping 25 lbs of fat in 40 days. The hCG diet includes 15 hours of fasting daily. This diet is not to last past 40 days at one session.
Some women can drop weight using (this will sounds strange) the diabetes medication, Metformin.
Some can utilize intermittent fasting.
Like diabetes or high blood pressure, obesity is a chronic problem, it must be gotten under control, then managed indefinitely.
(That means no quitting your health routines!)
The good news, is that you can maintain a normal body weight by paying attention, and re-starting the techniques that have worked for you in the past.
You just need to make a pact with yourself to resume your healthy lifestyle, or at the very least, return to your weight loss routine whenever you reach a particular weight.
You know, the weight beyond which you are uncomfortable.
So stick with that plan!
Don’t allow life’s unexpected events to prevent you from following this agenda and steal your happiest.
Would you like to discuss a weight-loss "plan of attack" custom to your body?
I can't wait to help!
I can't wait to help!
You have a health problem and you want it analyzed and treated, if not cured.
So, after a long wait, the day finally arrives for your appointment with the specialist.
You sit down, and he introduces himself. But first, the preliminaries: he needs to fill out the electronic medical record. So, he whacks away on the laptop, filling in every box and line. He is required to do this by his employer.
Wait a minute, you say! I am employing him! This is my chance finally to get to the bottom of this problem!
So, after a long wait, the day finally arrives for your appointment with the specialist.
You sit down, and he introduces himself. But first, the preliminaries: he needs to fill out the electronic medical record. So, he whacks away on the laptop, filling in every box and line. He is required to do this by his employer.
Wait a minute, you say! I am employing him! This is my chance finally to get to the bottom of this problem!
| Wrong! You are not employing him. He is not your doctor. He is his employer’s doctor. He owes his allegiance to the operating company that owns and operates the clinic. The customer of the clinic owner are collectively, the insurance companies. The doctor does not work for you. |  |
His employer considers the electronic medical record as legal proof of complete evaluation, a mechanism for legal protection. But, how does this help you? How does this get you closer to your quest? You thought that the medical record was a cogent evaluation of your health problem. Sorry, not true!
So, he continues to ask questions: “Are you sexually active?” “How many times have you had sex during the last week?” “Masturbation?” “Do you have any firearms in the house?” “Do you spank your children?”
After the electronic medical record is filled out, he turns to you and asks: “What brings you in today?”
His employer considers the electronic medical record as legal proof of complete evaluation, a mechanism for legal protection. But, how does this help you? How does this get you closer to your quest? You thought that the medical record was a cogent evaluation of your health problem. Sorry, not true!
So, he continues to ask questions: “Are you sexually active?” “How many times have you had sex during the last week?” “Masturbation?” “Do you have any firearms in the house?” “Do you spank your children?”
After the electronic medical record is filled out, he turns to you and asks: “What brings you in today?”
 | Within minutes after you express a list of symptoms, he is writing prescriptions: Prozac®, Xanax®, Vicodin®, Nexium®, or some other pharmaceuticals designed to smooth over whatever ails you. |
He appears distracted. He hurries on. Remember, he works for his employer. He needs to produce. That means seeing more patients during the business day.
The documentation that he has produced results in a “superbill”, which is a receipt that is electronically sent to the billing department from his laptop.
Although your problem remains, the specialist has conducted what his employer needs in order to generate cash flow. There has been disposition of your case without any measurable benefit to you.
| You begin to realize that no one is going to evaluate your problem in any deep and organized way. This is the problem with the modern system of medical care. It is definitely not “healthcare”. |  |
And you don’t have “health insurance”, you have “medical insurance” regardless of the name change over the previous 15 years.
You need to find a health professional trained in functional medicine, perhaps including bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, whether a Naturopath or MD or DO. You need someone who will listen to you carefully, someone willing to spend the time and effort to look carefully into your situation. You need someone who works for you.
Agreed?
Do you have a question that you’d like Dr. Odom to answer? Submit your question here and look for Dr. Odom’s answer in a future post.
The anti-aging movement got its initial boost after the publication in 1990 in the New England Journal of Medicine of an article by Daniel Rudman, MD, professor of medicine and academic endocrinologist, whose career focused on the aging of the endocrine system and the resulting hormone deficiencies. His landmark article, "Effects of Human Growth Hormone in Men Over 60 Years Old", concluded that "Diminished secretion of growth hormone is responsible in part for the decrease of lean body mass, the expansion of adipose-tissue mass, and the thinning of the skin that occur in old age." (N Engl J Med 1990; 323:1-6.)
| It is a well-known fact that hormone production declines with age. (The exceptions are insulin and cortisol, which typically increase with age.) The controversy that has arisen is whether health benefit can accrue from supplementation of hormones to maintain them at youthful levels. |  |
Us "anti-aging" or preventive medicine doctors rely on the increasing scientific evidence that optimizing hormones creates physical well-being. We see prevention of continued decline and even restoration of lost function. Conventional medicine, however, refuses to accept this simple concept.
Mainstream medicine is stuck on the idea that pharmaceuticals are the best answer to life’s woes as we strike middle age. Increasingly alien molecules, totally not found in nature, are somehow going to ease the diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and other maladies that strike us later in life.
I have a patient who was doing very well on my bio-identical hormone program, who needed to see me, but could not due to distance. His new "provider" asked him why he was taking thyroid. He answered, for age-related decline. She told him that thyroid function does not go down with age.
Mainstream medicine is stuck on the idea that pharmaceuticals are the best answer to life’s woes as we strike middle age. Increasingly alien molecules, totally not found in nature, are somehow going to ease the diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and other maladies that strike us later in life.
I have a patient who was doing very well on my bio-identical hormone program, who needed to see me, but could not due to distance. His new "provider" asked him why he was taking thyroid. He answered, for age-related decline. She told him that thyroid function does not go down with age.
Huh?!
 | This medical professional is not only stating that taking thyroid will not provide youthful health benefit, but she is saying that thyroid activity simply does not decline with age in the first place! |
Let’s look at the scientific literature.
“Serum TSH concentrations decrease in healthy elderly subjects due to an age-related decrease in TSH secretion by the pituitary.”[1,2,3] So, pituitary gland function declines with age, including production of the hormone (TSH) that stimulates the thyroid to produce more of what the thyroid gland makes, T4. The T4 is inactive, acting as an available store, and accessible for conversion throughout the body into the active form, T3. But, this T4 to T3 conversion occurs less and less efficiently as we age, also.[2]
“After exclusion of.... confounders, most studies show similar results: A clear, age-dependent decline in serum Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) and (free) T3 ....”[2] In the elderly, “Thyroid hormones levels are usually within the lower part of normal values reported in the general population.”[4] “There is evidence that the decreased thyroid hormone levels observed in aging are due to lower TSH concentrations, and that lower TSH concentrations may be linked to an impaired pituitary activity.”[5] But, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, T4 to T3 conversion is vital as well, with “the net result of this decreased de-iodination with advancing age is a clear, age-dependent decline in total and free T3 levels...”[2]
“After exclusion of.... confounders, most studies show similar results: A clear, age-dependent decline in serum Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) and (free) T3 ....”[2] In the elderly, “Thyroid hormones levels are usually within the lower part of normal values reported in the general population.”[4] “There is evidence that the decreased thyroid hormone levels observed in aging are due to lower TSH concentrations, and that lower TSH concentrations may be linked to an impaired pituitary activity.”[5] But, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, T4 to T3 conversion is vital as well, with “the net result of this decreased de-iodination with advancing age is a clear, age-dependent decline in total and free T3 levels...”[2]
| However, studies done only in centenarian Ashkenazi Jews, analyzed due to their genetic homogeneity, show a rise of TSH. Certainly we can say that this represents a genetic predisposition to higher levels of TSH that are associated with exceptional longevity. [5] And this rise of TSH in these individuals is not related to a decrease of thyroid hormone.[6] |  |
Bottom line, in most humans, thyroid function declines with age. Exceedingly long-lived individuals do not show a decline of thyroid function.[7]
Regarding the management of chronic health conditions, the sad reality about the current medical system is this: You get processed, but no benefit. In return for allowing the clinic to update your electronic medical record, and get access to your insurance money, you get a few prescriptions for pharmaceuticals that “manage” your problem. Who is satisfied with all this: the “provider’s” employer, who ends up with liability coverage and profit.
Regarding the management of chronic health conditions, the sad reality about the current medical system is this: You get processed, but no benefit. In return for allowing the clinic to update your electronic medical record, and get access to your insurance money, you get a few prescriptions for pharmaceuticals that “manage” your problem. Who is satisfied with all this: the “provider’s” employer, who ends up with liability coverage and profit.
Do you have a question that you’d like Dr. Odom to answer? Submit your question here and look for Dr. Odom’s answer in a future post.
Bibliography:
- van Coevorden A, Laurent E, Decoster C, et al, 1989 Decreased basal and stimulated thyrotropin secretion in healthy elderly men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 69: 177-185.
- Peeters RP. Thyroid hormones and aging. Hormones (Athens). 2008 Jan-Mar;7(1):28-35. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18359742
- Mazzoccoli G, et al. Hypothalamus-hypophysis-thyroid axis function in healthy aging. J Biol Regul Homeost Agents 2010, 24: 433–439. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21122282
- Retornaz F, et al. Thyroid in the elderly (Part 1). Rev Med Interne. 2013 Oct;34(10):623-7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23352291
- Sell MA, et al. Functional central hypothyroidism in the elderly. Aging Clin Exp Res 2008, 20: 207–210.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18594187
- Peeters RP. Thyroid function and longevity: new insights into an old dilemma. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2009 Dec;94(12):4658-60. http://press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/jc.2009-2198
- Jansen SW, et al. Human longevity is characterised by high thyroid stimulating hormone secretion without altered energy metabolism. Sci Rep. 2015 Jun 19;5:11525. http://www.nature.com/articles/srep11525
Remember Fen-Phen?
What was it?
Actually, it was the simultaneous use of two separate drugs to effect weight loss.
| One drug, Phentermine, releases a neurotransmitter, norepinephrine, that reduces appetite and separately causes more fat breakdown. (Drinking 3 to 4 quarts of water rinses these fat metabolites out through the urine.) Norepi also causes most people to feel more alert, but at higher doses, jittery. Sleeplessness is common when Phentermine is used alone. |  |
The other drug, Fenfluramine, but going by the trade names, Pondimin and Redux, reduced appetite by releasing the neurotransmitter, serotonin. Serotonin makes most people feel relaxed, satisfied, even sleepy.
So, Phentermine and Fenfluramine complimented each other.
The problem was that excessive doses of Fenfluramine caused very high blood levels of serotonin which stimulated 5-HT2B receptors on heart valves and in the pulmonary arterial system. Fibrotic lesions of heart valves did result from excessive doses of Fenfluramine.
Fenfluramine also stimulated 5-HT2C receptors in the brain, resulting in the desired anorectic effect.
 | Belviq® (=Lorcaserin) launched on June 11, 2013. This drug stimulates only the desired 5-HT2C serotonin receptors in the brain as long as doses are kept with the recommended range or 10 to 20 mg per day. The FDA has approved Belviq for long-term use to control obesity. |
What weight loss doctors have discovered is that the combination of Phentermine and Belviq mirrors the beneficial weight loss effects of Fen-Phen, but without the problems of heart valve issues.
Many of you used Fen-Phen without any problems, but were scared away by the negative publicity.
| The patients arriving at the Mayo Clinic in 1996 with shortness of breath were found to have fibrosis of heart valves, leading some to have heart valve surgery. Those who did not have surgery typically got better on their on. This fact is reported in the medical literature, but was not reported by the press. |  |
They got better simply by discontinuing the Fenfluramine. Moreover, it was not widely reported that the patients having heart valve problems were typically taking 6 times the dose of Fenfluramine! Instead of taking 1 Pondimin pill, they were taking 6 of them!
Also, what is not stated in the press is the widely held attitude that people taking medication to lose weight are “cheating”, that it’s their fault that they are overweight. “If they would just diet and exercise and not give into their lusts, then they would be thin just like us moral people.”
If you have diabetes, it’s OK to take medication. If you have high blood pressure, you are not immoral taking medication. But, if you are overweight? You have to overcome your sin on your own.
And this attitude is hurtful. It shows a complete lack of understanding.
Also, what is not stated in the press is the widely held attitude that people taking medication to lose weight are “cheating”, that it’s their fault that they are overweight. “If they would just diet and exercise and not give into their lusts, then they would be thin just like us moral people.”
If you have diabetes, it’s OK to take medication. If you have high blood pressure, you are not immoral taking medication. But, if you are overweight? You have to overcome your sin on your own.
And this attitude is hurtful. It shows a complete lack of understanding.
Do you have a question that you’d like Dr. Odom to answer? Submit your question here and look for Dr. Odom’s answer in a future post.
Author
- David M. Odom, M.D.
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