What is HGH (Human Growth Hormone)

Human Growth Hormone is made up of 191 amino acids. It is a normally occurring hormone that reaches levels often exceeding 800 mcg during your teenage years and early twenties. After this peak, these levels will generally decrease continuously as we age. I believe the the cause of the physical signs of aging is this decrease in hormone levels, contrary to the idea that these levels fall because of aging.

Can we extend life by continuing to keep hormone levels at a youthful level? Claiming that Human Growth Hormone is the “fountain of youth” is not a fair statement; however, the lack of HGH results in the deterioration of numerous bodily functions resulting in the many of the physical signs of aging.

Human Growth Hormone is produced in the anterior part of the Pituitary. The pituitary is located behind the nose, inside of the brain. It is the command center for numerous hormonally controlled critical functions. When patients are born with poor HGH output, they are referred to as pituitary dwarves. Unfortunately, for these patients, their stature is not the only function affected by this lack of HGH. These patients do not live a normal life, aging more quickly, having a higher incidence of cardiovascular disease, recurrent illnesses, healing problems, and deteriorating bone structure. Other patients develop loss of HGH production after surgery or pituitary irradiation, developing significant changes in body composition, metabolism, lipid abnormalities, increased cardiovascular disease, and bone density abnormalities. Patients develop rapidly diminishing levels of growth hormone associated with aging, and though this may be construed as “normal”, the progressive development of life-shortening conditions including cardiovascular disease, obesity, Metabolic Syndrome, the decline in memory and thought processes, and the deterioration of physical activity should be addressed as they are real health issues.

Human Growth is produced usually around 1:00 to 2:00 in the morning, and having a very short half-life of approximately 12 minutes, disappears within one hour. Its production is associated with something called the Arcadian rhythm, or a sleep rhythm. Do you wonder why you wake up at 1:00 in the morning? Growth hormone is produced then and helps one maintain the critical REM sleep. If it is not adequately produced, REM sleep is not obtained and one sleeps too lightly - awakening very easily. The appropriate timing of replacement of HGH will help the patient reach and maintain the restful quality REM sleep.

Growth Hormone is then metabolized in the liver into IGF-1, or insulin-like growth factor. This is the active form of growth hormone, benefiting sleep, cognition, body composition, heart function, heightened immune system, and improved skin quality, only to mention a few systems positively impacted by Human Growth Hormone. Aging correlates closely with the progressive decrease in IGF-1 production. Growth Hormone deficiency is characterized by progressive weight gain (primarily central), decreased lean body mass, and increased body fat. Studies have identified patients with growth hormone deficiency have at least a 7% increase in body fat, mostly central which results in an increased waist-hip ratio, which has been associated with a higher incidence of cardiovascular disease, and shortened life-span. A classic study performed at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and published in the New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. Daniel Rudman in the 90’s identified the benefit of Human Growth Hormone supplementation in patients who were HGH deficient. Two groups identified as Growth Hormone deficient, and were told not to change their eating pattern or exercise regimen. One group was given salt water, a placebo, and the other group a low dose Human Growth Hormone. The two groups were re-examined after 6 months of therapy, and the group who had received Human Growth Hormone demonstrated a 9% increase in lean body mass, and a 16% decrease in total body fat. Without exercising, or eating properly! Imagine what could happen if proper diet, and exercise were incorporated into that therapy.

Other benefits of Growth Hormone therapy include the impact on memory and cognition. The level of IGF-1 in the brain declines rapidly in the aging brain. This decline results in impairment in memory, the ability to learn, spatial memory, and delayed processing with response. IGF-1 has also been identified as important in neuronal and dendritic repair. The falls in IGF-1 and HGH have also been associated with neurodegenerative changes such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis.

Patients who are Growth Hormone deficient appear to have memory issues and associated problems with concentration. Psychological well-being is also affected resulting in increased depression, loss of self-confidence and lack of motivation. Associated with this, patients with low growth hormone deficiency have higher rates of divorce, depression and higher rates of unemployment.

Numerous studies have identified the benefit of Growth Hormone replacement therapy and profound, impressive changes in body composition, with increased lean body mass, and decreased body fat. The improvement in lean body mass has been associated with increased protein synthesis, increased body mass, and exercise tolerance. The decrease in body fat is most significant as visceral fat, or the fat that is within your belly, and is very highly associated with cardiovascular disease. The loss of body fat truncally is most impressive, and often does not affect fat loss in the arms and legs. Then, the classic picture of a Growth Hormone deficient patient, especially males, is one with the large belly and the thin arms and legs. This pattern is probably genetic, but then the associated drop in HGH is also undoubtedly genetic!

There have been numerous studies that identify the cardiovascular benefits of Human Growth Hormone. A meta-analysis was performed in 2004, this approach uses a way of looking at numerous studies all together and determining benefit of the growth hormone, not on one individual study, but on the results of numerous well designed studies that were randomized to patient selection, blinded to the researchers on what the patients were receiving, and compared to placebo or basically receiving an injection of salt water instead of growth hormone. This approach is the absolute best way to determine the benefit of a therapy, and the best statistically. Dr. Maison published this article in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology in 2004(vol 89 pp 2192-2199). He found that the use of low dose human growth hormone will increase lean body, decrease percent body fat, decrease the total cholesterol and the “bad” LDL cholesterol, as well as decrease diastolic blood pressure. Another important study by Juul(Circulation 106(2002) 939-944) demonstrated that when comparing patients in the lower 25% of the reference range of IGF-1(growth hormone metabolite) to patients in the upper 25% of the reference range that there was a two fold higher risk of ischemic heart disease in the lower group. Prospective studies have repeatedly identified a higher risk of ischemic heart disease and congestive heart failure in the growth hormone deficient patients in the lower 50th percentile of normal.

The classic profile for a Growth Hormone deficient patient may include increased central obesity, increased body fat, decreased lean mass, decreased energy, and exercise performance, altered lipid profile with low HDL’s (good type), high LDL’s (bad type) high total cholesterol. In addition, these patients often show early diabetes with evidence of Insulin Resistance. Patients with compromised lung function also demonstrated improvement with therapy. These patients almost universally have higher risks of cardiovascular morbidity/mortality, poor quality of life with more depression / neurodegenerative diseases, and metabolic deterioration. Medicine is very aggressive to manage already existing diseases. If we know ahead of time that we can dramatically reduce these disease processes than I firmly believe that physicians should intervene with the progressive depletion of human growth hormone. It is not about being a taller person, but it is about being a healthier individual, and doing everything we can do to proactively protect ourselves, and thus improve the quality of our lives.

What are symptoms of stress?

Certainly become enraged about something that occurred to you is a form of stress, that will increase your blood pressure and heart rate. However, I would like to focus on issues of more of a long-term or chronic basis, which stress your adrenals and may progress to adrenal fatigue. In adults, fatigue and lethargy are two of the most common complaints of adrenal fatigue. One of the most important questions I asked is: How do you feel in the morning? Often patients with adrenal fatigue are exhausted after a seemingly good night of sleep. The require hours after initial awakening to be able to start on the normal tasks of a day. One man told me that he did okay in the morning….. after eight cups of coffee. These are key patient comments that make me think about adrenal insufficiency. Other symptoms may include tiredness, fearfulness, allergies, frequent flu symptoms, arthritis, anxiety, depression, reduced memory and concentration, insomnia, and the inability to lose weight after extensive efforts.

Do you have adrenal fatigue?

What are some signs and symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue that I should look for?


1) Tendency to gain weight and unable to loose it, especially around the waist.
2) Tendency to tremble when under pressure
3) Reduced sex drive
4) Increased frequency of getting g the flu and other respiratory illnesses, and these symptoms seem to linger on.
5) Lightheaded when arising from a laying down position when getting up in the morning
6) Increasing forgetfulness
7) Lack of energy in the morning, especially upon awakening.
8) Lack of energy in the afternoon between three and 5 pm, and a "second wind" around 9 or 10 in the evening.
9) Need coffee and stimulants to get going in the morning
10) Crave for salty, fatty, and high protein food such as cheese and meat.
11) Intermittent pain in upper back or neck for no apparent reason.
12) Difficulties getting up in the morning, which often requires numerous "snooze alarms"
13) Increased symptoms of PMS for women.


Are there any other signs and symptoms?

Yes, there are more and it is understandable that adrenal insufficiency might be either written off by the patient and or the doctor as just "normal". Nevertheless, it definitely is not normal, nor is it healthy or productive.
1) Mild depression
2) Food and inhalant allergies
3) Lethargy and lack of energy increased effort to perform daily tasks
4) Decreased ability to handle additional stress
5) Dry and thin skin
6) Low blood sugar
7) Low body temperature
8) Nervousness
9) Palpitations
10) Unexplained hair loss
11) Gastric reflux or nausea with eating

Are you having trouble sleeping?

Progesterone usually starts to drop ten years before menopausal symptoms appear. Did you know that decreasing levels of progesterone cause difficulty sleeping and increase anxiety? With each passing year, our organs produce fewer hormones, notable from age 25 onwards, with a decline in almost all hormones. This is a slow a steady decline, but also the receptors that receive this hormonal signal throughout the body begin to disappear.
Should we be without hormones when symptoms might span a great deal of time, when progesterone deficiency causing anxiety and PMS might extend over a 10 to 15 year span prior to menopause?
Data shows that there are receptors (or receiving stations) for estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone in every organ in the body, in the brain, bone, kidney, liver, skin, hair follicles, muscles, and even the heart. The concentration of testosterone receptors is higher in the heart than any other organ.
It’s no wonder that hormone deficiency causes a host of symptoms including, hot flashes, dryness, sleep disturbances, lack of motivation, depression, declines in energy and stamina. And then come the degenerative diseases that follow from organ deterioration as time goes on: osteoporosis, colon cancer, heart disease……..how safe is that?

Progesterone is the first to go, producing a host of symptoms, like lighter sleep, mood swings, heavier bleeding, worse PMS, mid-abdominal weight gain. This is one of the deficiencies that are most commonly misdiagnosed. The number of women in there late thirties or early forties that are being treated with Ambien™ to help sleep, Xanax™ for anxiety and Elavil™ for depression are staggering. The resultant “zombie” state exists when all that is needed is proper attention to the progesterone deficiency, and not treating a supposed ambient or xanax deficiency.
toms appear. Progesterone given orally stimulates the GABA receptors. GABA receptors help you sleep and Ambien,lunesta, and restoril stimulate these receptors synthetically. Progesterone naturally stimulates these GABA receptors resulting in a restful night of sleep, and marked shortening of the time required to fall to sleep. Why should a woman be without progesterone?

Are you having trouble remembering things?

Estrogen and memory

Are you having trouble remembering things?

Did you know that Estrogen is a powerful hormone that remarkably improves memory and cognitive thought processes? Estrogen positively enhances neuronal structure, function and the conduction down neurons or nerve channels in your brain. Basically, increasing the speed of the electricity traveling throughout the brain, this enhances memory, accelerating the thought process.
Now associated with the lowering of their natural estrogen levels with menopause, women may experience changes in memory and normal thought processes. Of course they often write it off as "just getting old." Often, I hear women talk about walking around in a cloud, and amazingly proper estrogen replacement lifts this cloud making, their thinking crisp and sharp again. If estrogen replacement could do that, then why not use it?

How does estrogen improve my thought process, and are there studies that support its benefit?

There are estrogen receptors within the brain that are critical for memory and processing of information. If estrogen is low, then these critical functions will either occur at a slower rate, or not at all, thus resulting in a form of “brain fog”. The association with memory changes and menopause with the resultant decrease in estrogen has been studied. Two studies by Birge et al in 1996, and 2004 have identified that two out of every three women report poor memory either during menopause or with perimenopause. A study by Yaffe et al in the journal of the American Medical Association concluded that estrogen hormone replacement therapy would improve cognition in menopausal women.

What type of estrogen therapy will help me think more clearly?

There is a significant difference in improving memory when comparing the use of bioidentical estrogen, against the synthetic conjugated equine estrogen or “horse urine” estrogen. In fact recent follow-up studies have demonstrated a higher incidence of dementia in women who used the synthetic estrogen, Premarin. The oral estrogen replacements result in lower and less stable levels of estradiol than when the preparation is administered transdermally, or as a paste. Studies support that the use of transdermal bioidentical hormones are safe, and will improve longevity and quality of life.

An interviewer once asked Suzanne Somers, why don't you wait for twenty years to allow thorough randomized prospective trials on hormone replacement therapy to be performed. Her response was, "By then I'll be 80 and I will have missed out on all the benefits of proper hormone replacement therapy." Interestingly, there are already numerous large clinical trials already completed in Europe that prove the benefits of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, but the U.S. literature has dramatically fallen behind because of the powerful pharmaceutical companies forcing "horse urine" estrogen on patients and doctors.
The practice of Age Management Medicine, an extension of preventative health care, is about providing solutions to health problems before they become unmanageable. At Andlos Preventative Care Institute, Dr. Carlson is successfully treating many aspects of the aging process through the careful application of the safest hormone replacement therapies available – using bioidentical rather than synthetic hormones. By regulating hormones, Dr. Carlson says, millions of Baby Boomers could be enjoying a vitality of health and lifestyle that allows them to live their best lives possible – no matter what their chronological age.

And though bioidentical hormone replacement therapy can be extremely effective in treating the physical effects of aging, it can be even more successful on an emotional level. When the body is functioning at an optimal level, individuals sleep better, think more clearly, and enjoy higher energy levels – and all these factors influence their emotional state as well.