Why aren't All Doctors Restoring Hormones to Optimal Levels and/or
Effects?
There are many reasons, including out-dated ideas about aging and hormones, but these could be
easily corrected if not for the corruption of medicine by patent law and pharmaceutical corporations.
Natural molecules, vital to our body's normal function, cannot be patented. Pharmaceutical
corporations, therefore, have had no interest in the restoration of health through the correction of
hormonal, vitanutrient, or other biochemical disorders. They instead have sought to market alien
molecules (including alien hormone-like molecules) that will bring some kind of improvement,
almost always at the cost of side effects that diminish both quality of life and overall health.
Unfortunately, with their billions of research and advertising dollars, pharmaceutical corporations
exert control over medical information at all levels--from the studies that are performed, to the
content of journals, to the opinions of experts, to the conferences doctors attend, to the
recommendations made by the professional groups they fund, right down to the drug rep. bringing
lunch, drug samples, and trinkets to your doctor's office. They have created a medical system
wherein doctors view every symptom as a "syndrome" for which the treatment is a patented
drug that is alien to the human body. Doctors now fail to understand the body as a complex
biomolecular system. They fail to seek or correct the cause, which in many cases is a hormone,
vitanutrient, or other biomolecular deficiency/disorder. The use of patented drugs is encouraged,
and the optimization of nutrients and hormones is discouraged as ineffective or dangerous. This is
just what one would expect from pharmaceutical corporation influence in medicine. The result is
that among physicians, including endocrinologists, there is:
1. Ignorance of the importance of optimal levels of vitanutrients and hormones in human
biochemistry and physiology, which is tantamount to ignorance of human biochemistry and
physiology in general.
2. Ignorance of the complexity of the hormonal system and the many interactions between the
various hormones.
3. Failure to see aging as a destructive process/disease, and therefore failure to see the loss of
hormones with aging as deleterious. Since they think that the loss of hormones with age has no
negative effects, they do not think that low hormone levels are a problem in general.
4. Adherence to an outdated disease-model of endocrinology instead of a functional model.
Docs think that the endocrine system functions perfectly unless it's attacked by some obvious
disease. In fact, nothing works perfectly, especially as we age and are subject to malnutrition,
toxins, illness, and stress. Most persons with suboptimal hormone levels have no identifiable
disease. Most hormone deficiencies are not due to dysfunction of the endocrine gland (thyroid,
adrenal, testis), but due to a partial dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary system (insufficient
TSH, ACTH, LH, etc.)
5. Failure to grasp the difference between bioidentical hormone replacement and the use of
alien hormone-like drugs that have created so many problems. (Anabolic steroids, progestins,
cortisol-like "steroids", Menopausal "HRT", etc.)
6. Consideration of hormones as drugs, with "side effects". Hormones are not drugs; they are
molecules that belong to the body and are original parts in a very delicate and complex system.
Higher hormone levels do not "make everyone feel bettter". Hormone replacement helps only those
persons who have been deficient. Hormones do not cause "side effects" as drugs do. They only
have "effects". They are among the best-studied molecules in Nature. They can cause well-known
problems if introduced into the body by the wrong route, if given in too high a dose or if there is a
lack of balance with other hormones. Example: When adults given growth hormone in studies
developed fluid retention, joint aches, and diabetes, the doctors concluded that growth hormone
has serious "side effects". Because of their "drugthink", they failed to realize that they had simply
caused excessive effects with excessive doses! Hormones need to be considered and used
differently than drugs, both medically and legally, but this is not happening in our pharmaceutical
"medical" system.
7. Use of indirect and insensitive tests (e.g. TSH, AM serum total cortisol, ACTH stimulation test ) to
"exclude endocrine disease" or to monitor replacement doses. These tests cannot diagnose the
partial hormone deficiencies caused by hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction. The TSH cannot be used
to monitor thyroid replacement therapy.
8. Misuse of the broad laboratory reference ranges (misleading called "normal ranges") that often
include the levels of 95% of all persons of all ages referred to the laboratory for testing. The
hormone ranges on lab reports are not optimal ranges. They are nearly all-inclusive population
ranges, including 95% of some group of people that were studied. The group was usually not well-
screened for symptoms of hormone deficiency and often labs just use their accumulated test data--
including all the tests that physicians had ordered on sick people! With the resultant very broad
"normal range", only the bottom 2.5% of the tested population is considered below the range and
therefore considered to deserve some minimal hormone restoration to "normalize" their levels. This
is population statistics. It is not medicine. In fact, much more than 2.5% of the population has
suboptimal levels due to aging, endocrine dysfunction, and disease. Because so many persons
have low levels of some hormones, the 95% ref. range goes to "0" at the low end--as if having none
of the hormone is "normal"! This misunderstanding of the lab report results in the unthinking
practice that Dr. Lindner calls "reference range endocrinology". The doctor glances at the lab
report and if there is no bold "H" or "L" for "high" or "low" next to the hormone level, declares that
there is no hormonal problem, even if the patient has the symptoms and the hormone level is near
the bottom of the range! This simplistic On/Off thinking is inconsistent with all the evidence that
hormones work on a continuum from the lowest to the highest levels. One cannot draw a line and
say everything above this line is "normal", and everything below this line is "disease". Also there are
many other factors involved in hormone action besides the the level of hormone in the serum
Letting the laboratory report make the diagnosis fulfills the doctor's desire for simple, objective
criteria so that he doesn't have to trust his own mind or use his judgment. In fact, the human body is
more complex than we know, so there is no substitute for medical judgment in deciding who will
benefit from hormone restoration. This question can only be settled ultimately with a clinical trial--
supplementing the hormone to higher levels to see if it helps the patient.
9. Persistence of a number of HORMONE DELUSIONS such as believing that:
As the result of the delusions listed above there is:
10. Fear of restoring natural hormones; yet no fear of prescribing any of the thousands of toxic
chemicals blessed by the FDA.
11. Ignorance of the How-Tos of hormone restoration: preparations, delivery methods, doses,
monitoring, interactions, troubleshooting, etc. Docs know little-to-nothing about these issues.
12. Fear of legal liability or professional censure for straying outside of officially-sanctioned,
ignorant, reference-range-based practices--which are promulgated by pharmaceutically-funded
research and pharmaceutically-funded "experts", medical organizations and journals.
13. Over-prescription of patented drugs to treat symptoms and disorders that are caused by
inadequate hormone and vitanutrient levels or effects (e.g. overuse of antidepressants,
psychostimulants like Ritalin® and Provigil®,anti-anxiety drugs, cholesterol-lowering drugs,
painkillers, birth-control pills, anti-clotting drugs, osteoporosis drugs like Fosamax®, etc.).
Almost all physicians believe that the pharmaceutical "drug for every syndrome" model taught
in schools, conferences, and journals is the only true medical practice. They believe that the
ideas and practices advocated in textbooks and journals are uncontaminated medical science as
determined by objective experts. If they were to doubt this, each of them would have to begin
researching every issue on his/her own--a daunting and time-consuming task. It's so much easier
to just go with the system and stick to one's out-dated medical training and the proclamations of
pharmaceutically-funded medical organizations. It's also better for one's career. Besides, medical
schooling, like all other schooling, does not encourage or even allow students to challenge what
they are taught, and doctors are in school until they are 30 yrs old! The overschooled doctor will not
stray from the conventional system unless he is somehow struck with the realization that something
is wrong. Even then, he will need to have the time, the desire, and the ability to do independent study
and to re-learn many aspects of medicine. Very few doctors are therefore able to learn the truth
about hormonal disorders and how to correct them, and those who do do so only late in their
careers. No young physicians are being trained with this knowledge. The bottom line is that those
who control medical information control medical practice. Follow the money.
You might think that board-certified endocrinologists should be experts in diagnosing hormone
deficiencies of all degrees and optimizing hormone levels for best health and quality of life.
Unfortunately this is not what they are trained to do. They are taught reference range
endocrinology, and worse, they adhere to the nonsensical TSH-based thyroidology. They are
incapable of diagnosing partial central hypothyroidism and partial central adrenal insufficiency. In
fact, most endocrinologists subscribe to All the false ideas and approaches above, and are their
main defenders. In addition, they don't know much about testosterone because they leave that to the
urologists. They don't know much about female hormones because they leave estradiol and
progesterone to the gynecologists. Since all hormones affect each other, this fragmentation
guarantees that endocrinologists cannot understand the hormonal system as a whole, nor be adept
at restoring optimal/youthful hormone levels and balance. Perhaps one day "Restorative
Endocrinology" as introduced in these pages will be a universally-recognized specialty, and the
population will have easy access to knowledgeable hormone restoration specialists.
Hormone and vitanutrient restoration to optimal levels for health and well-being is not alternative
or complementary, or even anti-aging medicine. It is the foundation of sound medical practice.
Effects?
There are many reasons, including out-dated ideas about aging and hormones, but these could be
easily corrected if not for the corruption of medicine by patent law and pharmaceutical corporations.
Natural molecules, vital to our body's normal function, cannot be patented. Pharmaceutical
corporations, therefore, have had no interest in the restoration of health through the correction of
hormonal, vitanutrient, or other biochemical disorders. They instead have sought to market alien
molecules (including alien hormone-like molecules) that will bring some kind of improvement,
almost always at the cost of side effects that diminish both quality of life and overall health.
Unfortunately, with their billions of research and advertising dollars, pharmaceutical corporations
exert control over medical information at all levels--from the studies that are performed, to the
content of journals, to the opinions of experts, to the conferences doctors attend, to the
recommendations made by the professional groups they fund, right down to the drug rep. bringing
lunch, drug samples, and trinkets to your doctor's office. They have created a medical system
wherein doctors view every symptom as a "syndrome" for which the treatment is a patented
drug that is alien to the human body. Doctors now fail to understand the body as a complex
biomolecular system. They fail to seek or correct the cause, which in many cases is a hormone,
vitanutrient, or other biomolecular deficiency/disorder. The use of patented drugs is encouraged,
and the optimization of nutrients and hormones is discouraged as ineffective or dangerous. This is
just what one would expect from pharmaceutical corporation influence in medicine. The result is
that among physicians, including endocrinologists, there is:
1. Ignorance of the importance of optimal levels of vitanutrients and hormones in human
biochemistry and physiology, which is tantamount to ignorance of human biochemistry and
physiology in general.
2. Ignorance of the complexity of the hormonal system and the many interactions between the
various hormones.
3. Failure to see aging as a destructive process/disease, and therefore failure to see the loss of
hormones with aging as deleterious. Since they think that the loss of hormones with age has no
negative effects, they do not think that low hormone levels are a problem in general.
4. Adherence to an outdated disease-model of endocrinology instead of a functional model.
Docs think that the endocrine system functions perfectly unless it's attacked by some obvious
disease. In fact, nothing works perfectly, especially as we age and are subject to malnutrition,
toxins, illness, and stress. Most persons with suboptimal hormone levels have no identifiable
disease. Most hormone deficiencies are not due to dysfunction of the endocrine gland (thyroid,
adrenal, testis), but due to a partial dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary system (insufficient
TSH, ACTH, LH, etc.)
5. Failure to grasp the difference between bioidentical hormone replacement and the use of
alien hormone-like drugs that have created so many problems. (Anabolic steroids, progestins,
cortisol-like "steroids", Menopausal "HRT", etc.)
6. Consideration of hormones as drugs, with "side effects". Hormones are not drugs; they are
molecules that belong to the body and are original parts in a very delicate and complex system.
Higher hormone levels do not "make everyone feel bettter". Hormone replacement helps only those
persons who have been deficient. Hormones do not cause "side effects" as drugs do. They only
have "effects". They are among the best-studied molecules in Nature. They can cause well-known
problems if introduced into the body by the wrong route, if given in too high a dose or if there is a
lack of balance with other hormones. Example: When adults given growth hormone in studies
developed fluid retention, joint aches, and diabetes, the doctors concluded that growth hormone
has serious "side effects". Because of their "drugthink", they failed to realize that they had simply
caused excessive effects with excessive doses! Hormones need to be considered and used
differently than drugs, both medically and legally, but this is not happening in our pharmaceutical
"medical" system.
7. Use of indirect and insensitive tests (e.g. TSH, AM serum total cortisol, ACTH stimulation test ) to
"exclude endocrine disease" or to monitor replacement doses. These tests cannot diagnose the
partial hormone deficiencies caused by hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction. The TSH cannot be used
to monitor thyroid replacement therapy.
8. Misuse of the broad laboratory reference ranges (misleading called "normal ranges") that often
include the levels of 95% of all persons of all ages referred to the laboratory for testing. The
hormone ranges on lab reports are not optimal ranges. They are nearly all-inclusive population
ranges, including 95% of some group of people that were studied. The group was usually not well-
screened for symptoms of hormone deficiency and often labs just use their accumulated test data--
including all the tests that physicians had ordered on sick people! With the resultant very broad
"normal range", only the bottom 2.5% of the tested population is considered below the range and
therefore considered to deserve some minimal hormone restoration to "normalize" their levels. This
is population statistics. It is not medicine. In fact, much more than 2.5% of the population has
suboptimal levels due to aging, endocrine dysfunction, and disease. Because so many persons
have low levels of some hormones, the 95% ref. range goes to "0" at the low end--as if having none
of the hormone is "normal"! This misunderstanding of the lab report results in the unthinking
practice that Dr. Lindner calls "reference range endocrinology". The doctor glances at the lab
report and if there is no bold "H" or "L" for "high" or "low" next to the hormone level, declares that
there is no hormonal problem, even if the patient has the symptoms and the hormone level is near
the bottom of the range! This simplistic On/Off thinking is inconsistent with all the evidence that
hormones work on a continuum from the lowest to the highest levels. One cannot draw a line and
say everything above this line is "normal", and everything below this line is "disease". Also there are
many other factors involved in hormone action besides the the level of hormone in the serum
Letting the laboratory report make the diagnosis fulfills the doctor's desire for simple, objective
criteria so that he doesn't have to trust his own mind or use his judgment. In fact, the human body is
more complex than we know, so there is no substitute for medical judgment in deciding who will
benefit from hormone restoration. This question can only be settled ultimately with a clinical trial--
supplementing the hormone to higher levels to see if it helps the patient.
9. Persistence of a number of HORMONE DELUSIONS such as believing that:
- Restoring a hormone that is "Low" to anywhere with in the reference range is good medicine.
(In fact that lower halves of most reference ranges represent hormone deficiency, and many
studies show the benefits of higher levels within the ranges. - The hypothalamic-pituitary system that controls our other glands always functions perfectly
unless destroyed by some disease. (Of course nothing always functions perfectly, and partial
H-P dysfunction is the most common cause of inadequate hormone levels. All these patients
are currently undiagnosed.) - The TSH test is immaculate--always indicating the overall thyroid hormone status of the
person whether taking or not-taking oral thyroid hormones. (No, the TSH production is just as
likely to be inadequate as is the thyroid gland's production, or as is any other hormone or
neurotransmitter in the human body.) - Simply normalizing a hypothyroid patient's TSH levels using levothyroxine (Synthroid) is
adequate treatment. (Multiple studies show that it is not, some authorities have even admitted
that it is not; yet this non-sensical, non-clinical practice is universal!) - A low or undetectable TSH in a person on thyroid replacement therapy means that he/she is
overtreated and will suffer all the consequences of hyperthyroidism. (The TSH is not a
measure of thyroid levels or effects. Treatment must always be adjusted according to
symptoms first, free T3 and free T4 levels second.) - Free T3, the active thyroid hormone, is irrelevant to diagnosing thyroid insufficiency and need
not be tested. (In fact, studies show that in persons taking levothyroxine, the free T3
corresponds better to symptoms than any other test.) - There is no benefit to giving a thyroid patient T3 or Armour thyroid (which contains T3 and T4),
because the body always converts just enough T4 to T3. (When a doctor says "always", you
know he/she is just blowing smoke.) - Armour thyroid or Nature-Throid are outdated treatments and are inconsistent in hormone
content from batch to batch. (In fact they are USP-certified because they pass the same tests
for hormone content as Synthroid and other T4 preparations. They are more efficacious than
levothyroxine alone because they contain the active thyroid hormone, T3 in significant amounts
and also contain T2.) - Testosterone is bad for a man's heart. (actually low testosterone is a major risk factor for heart
attacks in men.) - Testosterone causes prostate cancer. (On the contrary, low testosterone is a risk factor for
cancer. Read Dr. Morganthaler's "Testosterone for Life".) - Testosterone causes liver toxicity. Another false "old doctors tale" caused by the use of
hormone substitutes. Certain testosterone-like drugs were created by pharmaceutical
corporations for oral therapy and did cause liver toxicity. They are no longer prescribed.
Transdermal and injected testosterone have no negative effects on the liver. - Men do not need optimal testosterone levels, whatever is "normal" for age is OK. (Studies
show that higher, youthful levels can improve important health parameters.) - "All hormones are alike"--therefore transdermal estradiol (bioidentical estrogen) for
menopause must also cause blood clots, strokes, and heart attacks as does oral Premarin®
and birth control pills. (In fact transdermal estradiol does not increase blood clotting at all!) - Human progesterone is no different from other drug-company-invented progestins. (They are
different molecules, and most studies show marked differences in favor of progesterone.) - Progesterone causes breast cancer. (In fact there is overwhelming evidence that it protects
against breast cancer, unlike Provera® which increases breast cancer risk.) - Restoring a woman's estradiol and progesterone increases the risk of breast cancer. (No it
doesn't. See the E3N-EPIC study in the powerpoint presentations. Estradiol and progesterone
restoration is essential for the prevention of many serious diseases and for a woman's health
and quality of life.) - Adult women never need testosterone restoration, after all the free testosterone lab range is 0-
2.2! (In women, testosterone improves mental function, muscle strength, and sexual function!) - Adults do not need DHEA, the most abundant steroid hormone in the human body. (Consider
the odds of that! DHEA is an important hormone that is ignored by doctors because it is
available over-the-counter; they can't write a prescription for it!) - Female hormone replacement doses do not have to be individualized. (Well, no doctor actually
believes this but the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology made this ridiculous
statement under pressure from its supporters, the drug companies!) - Adults do not need any growth hormone and cannot benefit from supplementation. (In fact
adult growth hormone deficiency is well-known to reduce health and quality of life, and older
adults often make practically no growth hormone.) - Adults have all the cortisol they need unless they have a disease that destroys their adrenal or
pituitary glands. Functional cortisol insufficiency does not exist. (In fact cortisol deficiency in
women is prevalent but is diagnosed instead as depression, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue,
hypoglycemia, insomnia, rheumatic disease, etc., and is treated with anti-depressants that,
unknown to physicians, work by raising cortisol levels!) - Cortisol is no different from any of the artificial patented steroids, except in dose. (Only the
correct, bioidentical hydrocortisone molecule works properly in the human body.) - Taking any dose of cortisol long-term will cause all the problems of Cushing's syndrome.
(Doctors don't realize that when they give a patient cortisol or an artificial steroid, they
completely suppress DHEA production--they produce a severe hormone deficiency!)
As the result of the delusions listed above there is:
10. Fear of restoring natural hormones; yet no fear of prescribing any of the thousands of toxic
chemicals blessed by the FDA.
11. Ignorance of the How-Tos of hormone restoration: preparations, delivery methods, doses,
monitoring, interactions, troubleshooting, etc. Docs know little-to-nothing about these issues.
12. Fear of legal liability or professional censure for straying outside of officially-sanctioned,
ignorant, reference-range-based practices--which are promulgated by pharmaceutically-funded
research and pharmaceutically-funded "experts", medical organizations and journals.
13. Over-prescription of patented drugs to treat symptoms and disorders that are caused by
inadequate hormone and vitanutrient levels or effects (e.g. overuse of antidepressants,
psychostimulants like Ritalin® and Provigil®,anti-anxiety drugs, cholesterol-lowering drugs,
painkillers, birth-control pills, anti-clotting drugs, osteoporosis drugs like Fosamax®, etc.).
Almost all physicians believe that the pharmaceutical "drug for every syndrome" model taught
in schools, conferences, and journals is the only true medical practice. They believe that the
ideas and practices advocated in textbooks and journals are uncontaminated medical science as
determined by objective experts. If they were to doubt this, each of them would have to begin
researching every issue on his/her own--a daunting and time-consuming task. It's so much easier
to just go with the system and stick to one's out-dated medical training and the proclamations of
pharmaceutically-funded medical organizations. It's also better for one's career. Besides, medical
schooling, like all other schooling, does not encourage or even allow students to challenge what
they are taught, and doctors are in school until they are 30 yrs old! The overschooled doctor will not
stray from the conventional system unless he is somehow struck with the realization that something
is wrong. Even then, he will need to have the time, the desire, and the ability to do independent study
and to re-learn many aspects of medicine. Very few doctors are therefore able to learn the truth
about hormonal disorders and how to correct them, and those who do do so only late in their
careers. No young physicians are being trained with this knowledge. The bottom line is that those
who control medical information control medical practice. Follow the money.
You might think that board-certified endocrinologists should be experts in diagnosing hormone
deficiencies of all degrees and optimizing hormone levels for best health and quality of life.
Unfortunately this is not what they are trained to do. They are taught reference range
endocrinology, and worse, they adhere to the nonsensical TSH-based thyroidology. They are
incapable of diagnosing partial central hypothyroidism and partial central adrenal insufficiency. In
fact, most endocrinologists subscribe to All the false ideas and approaches above, and are their
main defenders. In addition, they don't know much about testosterone because they leave that to the
urologists. They don't know much about female hormones because they leave estradiol and
progesterone to the gynecologists. Since all hormones affect each other, this fragmentation
guarantees that endocrinologists cannot understand the hormonal system as a whole, nor be adept
at restoring optimal/youthful hormone levels and balance. Perhaps one day "Restorative
Endocrinology" as introduced in these pages will be a universally-recognized specialty, and the
population will have easy access to knowledgeable hormone restoration specialists.
Hormone and vitanutrient restoration to optimal levels for health and well-being is not alternative
or complementary, or even anti-aging medicine. It is the foundation of sound medical practice.
For Health and Quality of Life
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