Prepare to have your health questions answered here on Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions
with Dr. Todd Binkley, owner of Binkley Healing Center in downtown Ventura.
Now, here's Dr. Todd.
Good afternoon.
I'm Dr. Todd Binkley, board certified non-force doctor of chiropractic and practitioner of
functional medicine.
For the last few episodes of the show, I've been talking about hormones, getting tested
for hormone deficiencies, sometimes excesses, usually deficiencies, and all the things that
can go along with that.
And one of the things I've always been stressing is the importance of doing salivary hormone
testing as opposed to blood testing.
There's lots of good reasons to test things in the blood.
It's the gold standard for most things, but for menopausal issues, for hormone, age-related
hormone issues, a saliva test is often the way to go.
And as with everything on this show, I'm talking about testing from a functional medicine perspective,
meaning we're not just looking for something that's a full-blown disease that requires
medical treatment, but looking to see where normal function has become lost, where something
is just a little bit low or a little bit high, and where some symptom that you have isn't
the result usually of one single thing, but often a combination of several things that
are just a little bit out of range.
So last week, we were talking all about progesterone.
The week before that, estrogen.
And for those of you who want to listen to past, I should mention that all of these shows
are saved as podcasts.
The back episodes are saved on my website, binkleyhealingcenter.com.
You can also find them by just entering my name or the name of the show, Safe, Effective,
Natural Solutions, into Apple podcasts or Spotify and also YouTube.
So last week's episode about progesterone was number 41, and the week before that, episode
40, was all about estrogen.
The week before that, episode 39, was sort of an introduction to hormones and especially
how great numbers of women with menopausal symptoms are going to their doctors with common
complaints and are not being treated effectively for the symptoms of menopause.
So they often have slightly low hormones, but doctors are afraid to give them hormone
replacement therapy for good reasons because of its risk, standard synthetic hormones,
but there are other options.
So we've covered that.
We've covered estrogen and progesterone.
Today, we're going to talk about testosterone.
So yes, women can have low testosterone as well as men.
Of course, men are often much more concerned about that than women, but it can be low in
women as well.
I'm also going to talk about an exciting case about a man who was convinced that he needed
or well, he wondered, was very curious about whether or not he needed testosterone.
He was having some fatigue and lack of mental focus, getting a little older, a bunch of
other symptoms.
So we're going to talk about that a little bit later.
In women, several things can cause low testosterone to show up when we test.
So it's included when we do a comprehensive salivary hormone test.
We're testing for the adrenal function, your cortisol levels, all three estrogens, estrone,
estradiol and estriol, your progesterone levels, DHEA and testosterone.
So yeah, we always test for testosterone, even in women, because it can cause things.
Symptoms of low testosterone include things like muscle waste, muscle wasting, loss of
muscle tissue.
Your muscles get smaller sometimes from fatigue and inability to exercise, but it can also
just by itself cause you to lose muscle mass if you have insufficient amounts.
Weight gain, low self-esteem, decreased good cholesterol, dry and thinning skin and hair,
droopy eyelids, sagging cheeks, thin lips.
These are all signs sometimes of low testosterone in women, as well as anxiety and even poor
memory.
So what causes this? Well, menopause is the most common cause of lowered production of
all the hormones, but also childbirth, chemotherapy, adrenal stress, which basically is any kind
of stress.
Most people, not most people, but many, far too many people are stressed and people don't
even know it, especially they don't know if the stress that they're having is actually
causing stress on their adrenals, causing reduced adrenal function.
So that's the importance of testing.
Also endometriosis, depression.
These are other causes of low testosterone in women.
Endometriosis is when the lining of the uterus tissue, similar to the lining of the uterus,
ends up in places where it shouldn't be.
It spreads throughout or shows up in other parts in the abdomen, causes pain.
That can also depress testosterone.
Depression can lower testosterone.
Psychological trauma, long-term use of birth control pills, cholesterol medications.
These are all things that can lower testosterone in women and cause things like muscle wasting
and fatigue and all the things that I mentioned just a little bit ago.
So it's important to test testosterone in women.
But of course, most people, when they think of testosterone, especially low testosterone,
think of men.
And when men go to their doctors and ask, you know, inquire if they can get their testosterone
tested, they usually do a blood test.
And for testosterone, that's fine.
It's not as important to do a saliva test for testosterone deficiency.
But any man who's not taking testosterone shots and wants to know if he's deficient
can also measure this with a saliva test.
It works just as well.
And for men who are doing any kind of transdermal, take androgel or doing any kind of a patch
or gel, it's probably better to measure it in a saliva test for the same reasons that
measuring estrogen and progesterone when you're going to do transdermal therapies, it's better
to measure it, it's more accurate to measure whether or not you're getting the appropriate
amount with a saliva test for the reasons I've been talking about in the previous episodes.
But the problem is a lot of men just, you know, start to feel a little bit older, rush
off to their doctor, ask for testosterone shots.
And far too many doctors will give testosterone without even testing them regularly.
Maybe they test them once, sometimes not even at all.
They'll just do it based on symptoms.
And that can be a really bad idea.
If you're going to take testosterone, you should really get tested first and get tested
again and make sure that you're not taking too much because there's a lot of problems
with taking too much testosterone.
So one of the problems is hypogonadism.
It makes your testicles shrink, which is not fun, but can also increase aggressiveness
and risk taking behaviors, can cause headaches, acne, heart and liver problems.
Some studies suggest that it can increase risks of certain types of heart disease.
Other studies show that it can reduce risk of heart disease.
So the jury is still out on that particular aspect.
And sometimes it is necessary.
Sometimes if you test really, really low, the taking testosterone is appropriate.
And sometimes even really important for some men in severe cases, testosterone is only
available by a prescription.
So I do not prescribe testosterone.
Someone really needs it.
If their tests show really low and their symptoms warrant it, I'll refer them to a physician
so that they can get prescription testosterone.
But it's usually not necessary.
Very rarely see a man who truly needs that because, and there are so many ways to increase
testosterone production naturally without taking any prescription testosterone.
So many men who suspect they have insufficient amounts based on symptoms like fatigue and
less muscle strength, less endurance, sexual performance, erectile dysfunction, a lot of
people that have these symptoms don't even have low testosterone.
For starters, erectile dysfunction is not even usually related to low testosterone.
Low libido, low desire to have sex can be caused by low testosterone.
But there are many other things that can cause all of these same symptoms like low thyroid,
insufficient protein absorption.
And it's very common.
I see, and when I do blood tests on people, I very commonly see insufficient protein in
people who are even eating enough protein, they're just not absorbing it, mainly because
of a lack of hydrochloric acid in the stomach.
So I'm going to come back to that when we talk about this case study.
And so it's important to distinguish erectile dysfunction from low libido.
Low libido is lack of desire.
Erectile dysfunction is an ability to produce an erection or perform.
And erectile dysfunction is very, very common for many men as they get older, but is almost
very rarely connected to low testosterone.
It's caused by damage or impairment to nerves and blood vessels.
So erectile dysfunction, ED, is caused by damage to or impairment to nerves and blood
vessels to that organ.
Impaired control of both nerves and blood vessels can also be caused by complex psychological
and relationship issues for which counseling will often be a better approach.
But sometimes doing both, so oftentimes getting some counseling for an issue like that and
addressing the physiological aspects by testing, doing both can be the best way to go for some.
But it is important to know since we're talking about testosterone, that erectile dysfunction
often has nothing to do with testosterone levels.
And there are lots of ways to naturally improve the function of impaired nerves and blood
vessels that cause erectile dysfunction without taking testosterone or Viagra or Cialis or
any other prescription medication.
So what causes low testosterone in men?
Well, it gets lower as you get older, of course, but also taking steroids like prednisone,
hydrocortisone, and dexamethasone.
These are medications used to treat allergies and asthma and autoimmune conditions.
These things are, they were used for COVID as well.
These things can cause low testosterone.
Internal belly fat, the brown fat in the belly, some of the hardest fats to lose, unfortunately,
can lower testosterone because it interacts with several other hormones in complex ways.
It's a little bit technical, but aromatase is a phenomena that happens that converts
some hormones into other hormones.
And that's one of the ways that you have a net effectively less testosterone.
It's being converted by aromatase into other hormones.
Chemicals like bisphenol A, the BPA that used to be in widespread use in plastics.
Fortunately, it's been removed from a lot of them, but it is also still out there and
it's in the environment.
We're still being exposed to it.
And heavy metals like lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and uranium that I've talked about
on previous episodes can also lower testosterone.
So what do we do if somebody has low testosterone?
There's lots of ways that you can naturally raise testosterone levels.
And I have to keep reminding everyone that it's not always necessary, but most of the
people that come to me that are concerned about whether or not they have low testosterone
don't.
Or if they do, it's only slightly low.
It's often not the cause of symptoms that they think is caused by low testosterone.
But there are natural ways to raise testosterone.
Exercise.
So exercise, it can be tricky for men and women who are fatigued, who literally do have
low testosterone.
If they've got a lot of fatigue, then it can be difficult.
But the right type and amount of exercise, we can design an exercise program that anyone
can do.
Even if something just as simple as walking and then building up to resist some gentle
resistance training.
So decreasing caloric intake, just especially eating less grains, starch, and sugar.
Grains like anything made from wheat flour, starch like potatoes and corn, and sugar from
anything that has sugar in it, especially liquid sugars like fruit juices, beer, sweet
liqueurs, sweet wine, sweetened coffee and tea beverages, liquid sugars are the worst.
We're going to talk a little bit later about how diabetes, the causes and results of diabetes
overlap with low testosterone.
So eating less of that and more fresh vegetables and sometimes increasing protein intake and
certain amino acids that are in that protein, sometimes supplementing specific amino acids
like arginine, leucine, glutamine.
It's a little bit too technical, but mainly it's very common that when I test people's
blood work that they have, especially if you're over 60 or so, even younger, many, many people
come back when I do the blood work and they test low in protein for a whole host of reasons.
Getting adequate sleep, eight, seven to eight hours of sleep.
Most people need getting more, getting seven to eight hours of sleep per night can raise
testosterone if it's low, reducing stress.
So in all of the previous episodes on hormones, I talked about how all of your hormone glands,
the glands of your endocrine system influence one another.
So reducing stress can help raise testosterone.
Inadequate zinc can be connected to low testosterone.
So sometimes we'll find out that you need to supplement zinc.
Sex hormone binding globulin is a character.
That's a little bit technical, but SHBG, sex hormone binding globulin, that can only be
identified on a blood test and it's a carrier protein for testosterone and estrogen.
So it helps escort it through your body.
That can only be measured by a blood test and sometimes it is essential to measure this
for people with testosterone issues.
So just so you know, to cover all of the bases.
So we can do that if we need to and sometimes we do.
Lastly, there are some specific products that you can take, some supplements that can help
raise testosterone and some new ones are coming out all the time.
I've just spoken with a representative from Orthomolecular Products.
They've got a really exciting one in development that they haven't released yet.
My other favorite company, one of my other favorite supplement companies, Designs for
Health has a product called Libido Stem, which has been getting some promising results.
Douglas Laboratories makes a product called Testogaine.
The ingredients in some of these products are things like chrysin.
It's out like Chrysler, C-H-R-Y-S-I-N.
Chrysin chrysin is found in honey and propolis, the material that bees make beehives out of
and it is an aromatase inhibitor.
So I talked earlier about how sometimes the net effect of having low testosterone or even
just having the symptoms of low testosterone is because the testosterone you are making
is being converted into other hormones by this enzyme aromatase.
So chrysin from beehives is a natural inhibitor of that activity.
Quercetin, a common antioxidant that's in a lot of supplements that works well in combinations
with other things.
It's a flavonoid that's in onions and garlic and grapes.
It also inhibits this over conversion, can suppress that aromatase activity.
It can also prevent testicular damage from some pollutants and help prevent testosterone
decline that way.
Quercetin also limits, can limit neuroinflammation, reduce the risk of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's,
has a limited effect on reducing blood pressure and it may even improve exercise tolerance
and endurance.
There's lots of great research on quercetin.
You can look that up on PubMed or shoot me an email if you want more information about
it.
I'm Dr. Todd Binkley.
You're listening to Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions to almost any health challenge.
We're talking about hormones today, testosterone specifically.
Anytime I do hormone testing on men or women, the complete panel, I don't always test the
female hormones on men.
It's often not necessary, just testosterone and DHEA and the cortisol levels.
So DHEA, dehydroepiandrosterone is a precursor for testosterone.
It's made in the adrenal glands and to a small extent in the testes and the ovaries.
Its production peaks in our 20s.
Starting in our 30s, it declines by about 10% every 10 years, 10% per decade.
It's also available as a supplement and many people take it for anti-aging and to improve
physical performance, for menopause symptoms, sometimes even depression.
But because it is a steroid hormone precursor, it's really important to not take it without
getting proper testing because you can get too much of it and it can cause problems like
most hormones.
You need to balance.
You need to get tested and get the levels just right.
Not too much.
The Goldilocks Principle, not too much, not too little, but just right.
If you don't need DHEA and take it or for any reason, you get too much of it.
The side effects are things like fatigue, anger, depression.
People take it to alleviate depression and it can make it worse.
Insomnia, things for say there's side effects from taking too much DHEA.
Insomnia, mood changes, weight gain, acne, sugar cravings, irritability, and facial hair
and deepening of the voice in women.
So most women don't want that.
And DHEA can also interact with many medications, especially psychoactive medications, antipsychotics,
benzodiazepines like Valium, lithium, the seratiprosax, serotonin reuptake inhibitors,
all the happy antidepressant medications that a lot of people are taking.
So if you're on those, definitely don't take DHEA without seeing a doctor and getting
tested.
But when you are tested for DHEA and show a blow, then taking it can be amazing, can
have seemingly miraculous effects because it is a precursor for both testosterone and
estrogen.
And if you're deficient in either of those, then your body will convert it into appropriate
amounts.
Never excess, it'll convert it.
You take the right dosage and it will convert it into the amount of estrogen or in this
case testosterone, that's what we're talking about today, that you need, that you actually
need.
Very rarely will it overproduce either of these things.
So when you get adequate amounts of DHEA, then amazing things can happen.
It can help reduce the stress induced excess cortisol that sometimes shows up when we test
your cortisol levels, which doing that improves mood, can help with anxiety and depression,
it can help you sleep better.
It can support bone health because it helps you maintain adequate estrogen and testosterone,
which if deficient can prevent adequate bone healing and repair.
It also promotes the production of insulin like growth factor, it can reduce excess inflammation,
it can protect the brain from free radical stress, it can also help reduce excess inflammation
in the gut.
So a lot of people that have irritable gut conditions, these things can be involved.
DHEA can often help that.
If deficient, it works for the things that people are already taking it for, buying themselves.
I encourage people not to take it unless they get tested.
But if it is actually deficient, then it does have anti-aging benefits as well, increasing
well-being, brain function, hydration and thickness of the skin, et cetera.
So I promised I was going to talk about this case, this patient of mine that came in, a
61-year-old man, comes in with decreased performance, lack of energy and strength, not that necessarily
stopped him from doing daily activities, but he just didn't feel like he should.
He didn't feel like he had the energy that he should.
He was otherwise really fit for his age, but he just had fatigue and lack of mental focus,
sort of gotten a lot worse in the last few years.
He also had gas, bloating and bouts of constipation and diarrhea.
So I did blood work and salivary hormone testing on him.
And his cortisol levels, which is produced by the adrenal glands, were really, really
low.
This is often caused by stress.
I see it all the time.
And this is so important because it's so common for people to have low cortisol and not know
it.
Just most doctors do not test for this, or they only do one test, a blood test first thing
in the morning, and it doesn't tell you about the rest of the day.
It's really important to do a salivary test for this and test it four times during the
day, half hour after waking, lunchtime, bedtime, lunchtime, dinner time, and bedtime.
So anyway, his adrenals were really low.
His DHEA was also low.
His testosterone was a little low, but was within the low end of the normal range.
So functionally, he didn't really have low testosterone, a little bit low.
His blood work also showed significant protein deficiency.
I see this all the time.
So he was eating plenty of meat.
He loved eating steak and chicken, and I asked him about his diet.
So it was no doubt in my mind that he was getting plenty of protein in his diet, but
he wasn't getting enough protein to his cells and it wasn't showing up in his blood.
Why does that happen?
Why is that so common?
Usually it is because of a lack of hydrochloric acid in the stomach.
So we gave him some hydrochloric acid, but let's get back to the rest of his results
here.
His white blood cell count was low, and that usually means that you have some kind of chronic
infection that your body's never been able to completely fight off.
So presumably that's going to be in his gut given his symptoms, constipation, gas, bloating,
etc.
His thyroid was also a little bit low, and he had signs of B12 deficiency.
So you guessed it, I gave him some betaine hydrochloric acid to improve his body's ability
to absorb the protein that he was eating, some B12, some support for his thyroid, support
for his adrenals.
I recommend that he reduce consumption of grains, starch, and sugar.
I gave him some stretches to reduce the tension in his muscles and joints so that he could
exercise better.
A lot of the things that he was chalking up to in a bill that the fatigue was really just
he couldn't exercise, like he couldn't articulate it that well, but he couldn't exercise because
he was in pain, his joints hurt.
So we got him out of that, so it reduced that tension in his muscles and joints so that
he could exercise better.
That obviously gave him more energy, gave him some anti-inflammatory support and nutrients
for his cardiovascular system and his joints and his nervous system as well.
So after about three weeks on this program, diet and supplements and exercise, his energy
was 50% better after about three weeks.
After about three months, his energy was better, quote, better than it had been in years.
His ability to focus and concentrate was also much better, and the gas, bloating, and constipation,
and diarrhea were nearly completely gone.
After about six months, we retested his hormones and his adrenals, and his cortisol levels
were back to normal.
His DHEA was well up into the normal range, and his testosterone had only barely increased,
slightly increased, but he felt like he'd had a huge boost in his testosterone.
And I say this because as I mentioned at the top of the show, a lot of people who think
they have low testosterone really don't.
They have a whole host of other things that are causing the symptoms that get chalked
up to deficiency in testosterone.
We're about out of time.
Send me your questions.
Who do you know that wonders whether or not they have adequate hormones that just doesn't
feel... that feeling a little older than they should, would like to identify what's causing
their fatigue, lack of mental focus, and other symptoms of aging.
There is often a safe, effective, natural solution to all of these issues.
Thank you for listening.
I look forward to speaking with you right here next Friday at 4 p.m.
Have a fantastic weekend.
You've been listening to Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions with Dr. Todd Binkley.
If you have a health question you want discussed on the show, email your health questions to
drbinkley at binkleyhealingcenter.com.
Take advantage of this opportunity to ask questions for yourself and for your loved
ones because our health matters.
Join him next Friday at 4 p.m. for Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions right here on 98.3 The
Word KDAR.