First, let me just start by saying that getting old sucks. There's nothing fun about it and, if I could, I'd dial back to 35 in a heartbeat. Of course you can't but, if you don't want to just passively become your grandparents, there are things you can do to make the journey more palatable.
Some things - like eating better and exercise - you can do on your own. Others - like hormone replacement and anti-aging medicine - require the help of competent medical professionals. After trying other physicians and programs, about 10 years ago I became a client of BodyLogicMD and Dr. Center.
On the therapeutic side, I'm very pleased with their core hormone replacement therapy. While it took several iterations to get the dosage and timing properly tuned (they are, after all, messing with your body's natural chemistry), the results come close to dialing you back to the vitality you had 20 years earlier in nearly every way; physically, mentally, sexually. The initial testing was significant (blood, urine, saliva tests at varying intervals) but has diminished to the current once a year (the standard of care, I am told) except when something arises that requires special attention. In fact, after I get the results from Dr. Center I provide a copy of the test results to my primary care physician and they have now become a standard part of my annual checkups (since these tests are paid for by my group medical plan, this ends up saving time, money, and duplication).
To be honest, I haven't been as excited about some of the ancillary programs (special diets, supplements, etc.) - although I have tried quite a few. Some work well, so I have continued them. Others not so well, so I stopped. I guess I've never been afraid to speak plainly to physicians (it's called the "Gift of Feedback") and Dr. Center seems very open to conforming a patient's individual treatment plan to each patient's needs and wishes.
On the clinical side, I've found Dr. Center's staff to be easy to work with - provided that you make an attempt to be cooperative, understanding of their limitations, and reasonably proactive (they hate making last-minute schedule changes if they don't have the actual medications in-hand). Carol is very patient, cooperative, and efficient. Carmen is always friendly and easy to work with. Perhaps it's just me, but Dr. Center always seems to be in a good mood; chatty and upbeat. Although in his conferences he seems to love to break out his descriptive diagrams and give you a bit more information about the interactions of your body's chemistry than most people probably want or need to know.
I did have one incident several years ago that arose from some confusion coordinating between the BodyLogicMD staff in Florida and Dr. Center's office in San Diego. An over-zealous technician in their Florida office took it upon herself to cancel an appointment at the last minute because they didn't have my lab results. I contacted Dr. Center's office (upset, of course) and, as it turned out, they had received the results and we simply went ahead as scheduled (thanks Carol).
It's been my experience that there is much more "art" involved in anti-aging medicine than with traditional acute care and, consequently, physicians in this area take a somewhat different approach. That seems to be the case with Dr. Center; he's more interactive, more flexible, more experimental. Some patients probably have an easier time with this than do others. But when it works - as it has for me - the results can be amazing. read more
