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Does Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) Help You Live Longer? What You Should Know · Intellectual Medicine

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  How do you want to spend the last quarter of your life?
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  You want to spend it worrying about whether or not you can get
• 0:05
  up those stairs, whether or not you can lift the groceries,
• 0:08
  whether or not you can open a jar, whether or not you're going
• 0:11
  to fall and break a hip. The number one cause of
• 0:15
  disability? Degenerative arthritis.
• 0:18
  Degenerative arthritis is not a one way St. toward infirmity.
• 0:25
  Everything about the body can be healed.
• 0:29
  Your body is constantly trying to grow new cartilage, repair
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  the bone, repair the muscle. It is just lacking some of the
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  key ingredients. It's an important question.
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  Will testosterone replacement therapy help you live longer?
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  Well, I'm going to tell you that it will.
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  Now, I know that's controversial, but I'm going to
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  explain it. But first a story.
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  When I was about 48 thereabouts, I was feeling the effect of
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  aging, a little fatigue, The power was down, energy wasn't
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  its normal 12 cylinder level. So I went to a local Doctor Who
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  had a reputation for doing hormonal therapy.
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  And I asked him if he could help.
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  And he said absolutely, Doctor Petruti, I'm going to put you on
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  this stuff and you're going to feel remarkable.
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  You'll feel like a Maserati. And then he said in all
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  sincerity, but y'all might die a little sooner, said, ho, wait a
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  minute. And it hasn't that sort of
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  stigma or that reputation hung with testosterone.
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  Somehow you're trading vitality for longevity.
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  False. Now we know the studies are in
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  that it doesn't increase the rate of heart attack or heart
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  disease. That was 1 presumption that has
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  been disproven. It does not increase the risk of
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  prostate cancer. Now, when I say testosterone, I
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  include women. Everybody needs testosterone.
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  Without your hormones being properly balanced, you're not
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  going to feel so good. But what about longevity?
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  I have people fearful, not my patients.
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  My patients are all in, right? That's why they see me.
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  That's why you're listening to me so that you can discern.
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  Is this how I want to manage my life?
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  And my answer is, heck yeah. But how about living longer?
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  Well, we'll never really know. I mean, ultimately, everybody
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  dies. So let's let's imagine that you
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  die at age 82 and you were doing testosterone.
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  Would you have died at 78 but for the testosterone, or would
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  you live to 90 without it? There's no way to answer that
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  question, folks. We have to therefore go to
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  biology, go to the research and go to common sense.
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  The beautiful thing about intellectual medicine, about the
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  era that we're in is you can do a lot of your own research.
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  Do not expect definitive answers.
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  I'm going to AI, longevity and see what testosterone does.
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  It's not going to happen. We're talking about biological
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  theory applied in real life. We do not have time to wait for
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  definitive answer people. Human beings live too long and
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  the type of studies necessary would be unethical, at least in
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  the present day and age. So how can I affirm testosterone
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  will help you live longer? Let's first look at the top ten
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  causes of death and reflect on how testosterone might have an
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  impact. Among the top ten are falls and
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  accidents. It actually comes in at #3 for
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  people over 50. Recently, I was riding my bike.
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  I have an electric bike. I buzz around here in Fort
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  Lauderdale on my electric bike, and on this particular day, I
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  did an unintelligent thing on my bike.
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  I strapped a large folding chair on my back, thinking this was a
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  clever way to get it home from the store.
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  It wasn't. I lost my balance in the middle
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  of a crosswalk on a busy highway.
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  Not a highway, but a busy St. And I hit the deck, bang, rolled
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  over, hopped to my feet. You know embarrassment will
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  shoot you with adrenaline. My point in sharing that story,
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  though? I hit and I rolled.
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  I got up. I didn't hit and brake.
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  You hit and brake. That's a problem #3 leading
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  cause of death. Those type of accidents.
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  You trip and fall. You don't trip and fall when
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  your testosterone's robust because your muscles are
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  powered. Those hip flexors keep you
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  balanced, critical. Now, if you fall and break a
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  hip, the likelihood of death goes sky high.
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  But for the broken hip, maybe you live another 10 years.
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  That's how I affirm testosterone can help.
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  Because there's nothing better for your bones, your muscles, in
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  your joints than hormone replacement therapy.
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  Nothing better. All the drugs out there aren't
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  worth a hill of beans. All those bone density drugs,
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  they give you an inferior quality of bone that is not
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  elastic or resilient. Anyhow.
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  So bone, what else is up here? How about lung disease?
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  Chronic lung disease? Now I get it.
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  You got to take care of your lungs.
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  You shouldn't smoke. Duh.
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  How about that wood burning stove that you love so much?
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  Yeah, it's spewing pollutants in your house.
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  I I hate to break the news because I love wood burning
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  stoves. They're so cozy, but they're
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  toxic. Get rid of it.
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  Just get one. Fake me out burner things the
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  way in which it can help. In lung disease, and I've borne
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  witness to this in my clinical practice, the bellows effect,
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  the muscles required to move air in and out of the lungs are
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  stimulated by testosterone. So if you've got chronic lung
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  disease, you have emphysema. One of the variables that affect
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  your ability to breathe is just that.
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  It's the muscle. And one of the variables that
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  protects you from dying of an infection because of your
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  chronic lung disease is, yeah, the ability to cough, power
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  critical to the lung, chest cavity, cardiovascular.
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  And this one gets a little bit more nuanced.
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  The heart is a muscle. We know from studies that using
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  testosterone therapy does not cause hardening of the artery,
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  atherosclerosis or increased heart attack rate.
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  But how about heart failure, The heart muscle not pumping as
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  powerfully as it once did? Might testosterone support that
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  type of cardiac health? It's possible.
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  I like the Physiology behind it. So we talked a lot, you and I.
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  We talked a lot about vitality. So can testosterone help you
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  live longer? I'm betting in the affirmative.
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  And for women, it is equally important.
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  So I use this analogy, thinking about hormone replacement.
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  If you went to the doctor and you said, doc, I feel tired, I'm
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  run down all the time. I'm gaining weight, my hair's
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  falling out, my skin is dry. What's going on?
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  I'm constipated. And the doctor did a test and he
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  said, you know what, You don't have enough thyroid hormone and,
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  and I can replace it and all those symptoms will get better.
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  But suppose the doctor then added, but you know, at your
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  age, it's kind of normal for the thyroid to kind of wind down.
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  So we're not going to do anything.
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  It'd be unnatural to replace the what?
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  That'd be malpractice. The thyroid is a gland.
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  It makes thyroid hormone. Without it, you don't thrive.
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  Your gonads are glands, ovary, testicles.
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  They produce testosterone. So too does the adrenal gland.
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  Point being, they produce testosterone, an essential
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  hormone. Without it you don't do so well
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  and as it declines you don't do so well and do not let them tell
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  you for your age your testosterone is normal.
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  A. They have no idea what a normal
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  range is for women. They will.
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  In the near future when my book on testosterone for women comes
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  out, it's going to describe the therapeutically relevant levels
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  for women. Until then, the the the blood
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  levels reported in the lab are semi useless.
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  Same thing for men. Look, I do not want testosterone
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  levels apropos for my age. I don't want to sink down like
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  everybody else. Vitality, longevity.
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  It's not a it's not a, a binary choice.
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  You get both. OK, so let's turn the page a
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  little bit. You know that I advocate
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  vitality. That's number one.
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  Immortality, unlikely. Longevity, Yeah, I'm on board
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  with that. But I put vitality very high on
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  the list that links to longevity.
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  We talked about some of the reasons why.
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  Let's look at disabilities, some of the leading causes of
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  disability. How do you want to spend right,
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  the last quarter of your life? Do you want to spend it worrying
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  about whether that you can get up those stairs, whether or not
• 9:27
  you can lift the groceries, whether or not you can open a
• 9:29
  jar, whether or not you're going to fall and break a hip?
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  The number one cause of disability?
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  Degenerative arthritis. Degenerative arthritis is not a
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  one way St. toward infirmity. Everything about the body can be
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  healed. Your body is constantly trying
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  to grow new cartilage, repair the bone, repair the muscle.
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  It is just lacking some of the key ingredients.
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  One of those key ingredients is testosterone and the other
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  hormones. One of the most important
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  variables regarding a joint health is the power of the
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  surrounding muscles power. You got to have testosterone,
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  you got to have the right protein, and by golly, you
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  better do some strength training.
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  Those muscles are not going to grow themselves.
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  So I've got severe arthritis in my right shoulder.
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  It's bone on bone, so I've been told.
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  I don't believe that term, by the way.
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  Bone on bone would mean you can't move it.
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  Petrified. So I can move my arm, get up in
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  the air, play a little volleyball.
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  Hurt somewhat, but keep it strong.
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  Going to the gym twice a week, training that shoulder
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  heavyweight. So yes, we can revert
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  testosterone that can improve what else?
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  Back pain. Once again, your back is
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  dependent upon the muscles that surround it.
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  Do not let them do an MRI of your back and tell you, Oh my
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  goodness, your L4L5 has slipped and you've got osteophytes and
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  you've got arthritis. Of course you do.
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  Any bipedal homo sapien walking around on the planet past the
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  age of 50, they do an X-ray and they're going to see some
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  arthritis. You're going to see some
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  degenerative change. Par for the course.
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  It does not mean, however, that that is a cause of your pain.
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  It does not mean that they need to go digging at it surgically.
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  It means you got to beef up the muscles.
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  Think of your back. Think of it like a suspension
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  bridge, right back in Rhode Island, they have the Newport
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  Bridge and it marvel at it. It has a huge, I don't know what
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  they're called. You know, the suspension part
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  with the cables holding it in place.
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  Those cables that hold it in place are like the muscles of
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  your back along the spinal column.
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  The stronger those muscles are, the less pain, more function
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  you're going to have. Yeah, abdominal muscles count,
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  too. Testosterone stimulates muscle
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  growth. Muscle growth correlates with
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  longevity. Urine else correlates with
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  longevity, Grip strength and something called a sit stand
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  test. I'll tell you about it in an
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  upcoming podcast. But both of those measure power.
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  Power equals vitality. Muscle power equals longevity.
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  Do not be afraid of strength training, especially women out
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  there who are worried about becoming bulky.
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  Ain't going to happen. Will not happen.
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  Another leading cause of disability is depression.
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  Testosterone is a powerful neurotransmitter and it can lift
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  mood and it can improve energy and it can instigate a more
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  optimistic outlook and it can make you more resilient towards
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  stressors, external stimuli. They're always there, right?
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  When is life not stressed? Never.
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  But how about your resilience? That's where the testosterone
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  comes in. I've treated women in their 20s
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  with testosterone and had profound benefit to their mood.
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  So those of us past 50 now we're looking at reverting depression,
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  supporting mood. And this ties back into function
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  and optimism. Hey, if you're sitting here
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  listening to me, you're 75 or 80, whatever age you are and
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  you're thinking, well, the best years are behind me.
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  I'm just going to sit here and be limited and get weaker every
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  year. And my joints are no, do not
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  think that way folks. It's self fulfilling.
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  This is the era of anti aging primary care.
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  It's the era of being able to manage the consequences of aging
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  at the highest level ever in human history.
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  So there you have it folks. Testosterone affirmative.
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  Can it extend life? I believe it can.
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  I just explained why. If you're not sure, listen to
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  this again. All right, well, thanks for
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  spending this time with me. Let's keep living vitally every
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  day until we breathe our last, and may death calm, quick, quiet
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  in the prime of your health at a very advanced age.
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  I'll talk to y'all next time.