Hormone Replacement Therapy with Dr. John Crisler

By Tom Furman

I enjoyed attending a workshop with Dr. John Crisler at the Life Extension Foundation Conference on Anti-Aging, "Yes We Can ...Think Outside The Box" on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009. It was held at Nova University in Davie, Florida, less than a parking lot away from the Miami Dolphins training camp.

Dr. Crisler is famous for his Hormone Replacement Therapy protocol, but calls himself, "a country doctor". He basically believes in common sense. Part of that common sense is the understanding of what is "optimal" and what is normal. He specializes in men's anti-aging medicine. He views loss of hormone with aging as a manageable condition that not only improves the quality of life, but prevents disease and lengthens life.

Here are some of the diseases associated with less than optimal hormone levels.

• Cardiovascular disease
• Cancer
• Diabetes
• Metabolic Syndrome X
• Osteoporosis
• Depression
• Dementia (including Alzheimer's)
• Erectile Dysfunction

Dr. Crisler strongly disagrees with the use of Anabolic Steroids in Sports. People in general, associate HRT with steroid use. Even some physicians do. Nothing could be further from the truth. HRT is simply restoring hormones to optimal levels, while Anabolic Steroid use in athletics may be using doses at an incredibly high level. Using blood thinners in the proper amounts is life-saving for some individuals. Using 15 times the dose of blood thinner will kill the same patient.

The speech and presentation were top-notch, informative and funny. The first segment, on Testosterone, is available HERE, in Powerpoint format. I highly recommend you download it.

The second segment of Dr. Crisler's presentation was "The Un-GHRT". It revealed his beliefs on Growth Hormone replacement. He believes it is more important to restore rather than replace. With that philosophy he uses GHRP, or Growth Hormone Releasing Peptide along with supportive measures. Primarily GHRP-6. The basis of his treatment with both GH and Testosterone is very specific blood testing. Nothing is guesswork as this area of medicine has been the Doc's specialty for over nine years. His UnGHRT lecture is also in Powerpoint format and very detailed. You can download it HERE.

Dr. Crisler has been very charitable with his time and knowledge. As anyone inside the fitness business can tell you, he's been the "go to" source for solid information about hormone replacement therapy on fitness and strength forums for years. His own website has a forum for questions on a variety of subject. He's a great source of referrals for HRT physicians as well. His website is www.allthingsmale.com .

I highly recommend checking out Dr. Crisler, then talking to your physician if the signs of low testosterone creep up on you. What are those signs? Here's the Doctor's own list. Good Luck.

• Fatigue
• Loss of muscle mass
• Fat gain
• Poor recovery
• Irritability
• Depression
• Decreased memory
• Lack of libido
• Erectile Dysfunction