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Dr. Ferro: My pleasure. I am a functional medicine specialist. I have years of experience with hormone replacement therapy for both men and women. In particular, I have a special interest in testosterone replacement, so I thought we would talk a little bit about that today.

Amy J.: Great. I would tell you commonly people have the question of, do they need testosterone? What does testosterone actually do? What's the best way to get it? So, can we just start with an understanding of what's testosterone? Why do people even need it?

Dr. Ferro: Okay, sure. So, testosterone, and specifically testosterone pellets is the preferred therapy, so I'll talk a little bit about that. Testosterone pellets essentially are a very effective form of replacing testosterone hormone for anybody who needs it. They are natural. Very important. They are bioidentical, which means that they're specifically compounded by the pharmacy for each individual patient. It's not a one-size-fits-all. It's tailor-made for each individual, thus making it more effective. It's also pure. It's completely natural. These pellets don't have any fillers, additives, toxins, so there's really very little chance for any kind of an allergic reaction, and they are very effective. They're very small. The pellet is only approximately 6 by 3 millimeters, so just a little bit bigger than a grain of rice. And we can talk a little bit after, if you want, about the insertion process itself. The compounding pharmacy that we use has the highest sterility standards in the industry, so we have never had any problems in terms of infections or anything like that. It's a very safe procedure.

Amy J.: All right. So, here, we're at BodyScience in Miami, and it's true, I know there's a lot of other companies or pharmacies that make pellets, but I like as well, it's a safe, natural approach to replenishing testosterone. So, that brings us up to the next question. Why would anybody need testosterone, and how do you know if you need it? What are the symptoms? What does it look like?

Dr. Ferro: Okay. So, who's a candidate for testosterone therapy? Basically anybody who exhibits any of the symptoms of testosterone deficiency, or, of course, anybody who has a laboratory that proves that they're testosterone deficient. Who would this look like? Anybody with decreased energy. That's always a very big complaint. Patients that have low energy tend to have low testosterone levels. Patients that have increased...you know, they're gaining weight. They don't have as much lean mass, muscle mass as they used to. Patients often complain of mental fogginess. Their mental acuity is not quite what it used to be. They wake up and they're tired. They're not thinking the way they used to. They have mood alterations, and mood swings, irritability. Of course, libido is a big factor in this as well. Patients, both men and women, who sort of start realizing that their sex drive is not quite what it used to be are also great candidates for this, and patients with poor sleep. These are the main symptoms of testosterone deficiency. So, how do we know if you're a candidate? Well, first based on the clinical history. We take a very comprehensive clinical history and we try to elicit if you have any of these symptoms that I just discussed. And then we also do the appropriate lab work. We will look at the levels. We'll look at the testosterone levels, other hormones as well. We also screen for other conditions to make sure that they're not contributing to these symptoms and that the treatment will be effective. For example, we want to make sure your thyroid levels are adequate. Want to make sure that you don't have diabetes or pre-diabetes, and in men, you always want to make sure that their prostate function is normal.

Amy J.: Okay. So then testosterone is something that helps people feel young after they've kind of aged out of being young. I'll tell you, I think most of us can relate to that. When you look back and you think about the time that you could sleep better, you had better libido, you had better energy, you had better focus and concentration, you knew you're getting older, and even when you describe those symptoms, most people will say, "Hey, it's because you're getting older." But we know now you could prevent that or reverse it or treat it at least and get back to feeling good again. And so, the feeling good is getting your energy back, getting your focus back, getting better sleep. I think for a lot of men and women, we figure that out because at some age we just start gaining a lot more body fat and losing a lot more muscle, and that's for a lot of the folks that we see here at BodyScience, one of the first indications is that low libido, feeling that general low energy, feeling mentally like you're not quite as sharp as you used to be before and then you know something is wrong. Okay. And then do you mind walking us through? I know for lots of people, when they come on over, one of the questions is, what is the procedure? What's actually involved? You described it as tiny, kind of the grain of rice size for pellet. What's involved? And is it fast, easy? Is it scary and hard? Tell us what we're dealing with.

Dr. Ferro: So, it's actually very, very straightforward. After the patient has been, you know, appropriately counseled and prepped and whatnot, we will lay you down on your side. We will inject a little bit of local anesthetic and make a very, very tiny little incision not more than 4 or 5 millimeters. It's so small. You don't even require a stitch. Basically, we just put little Steri-Strips over the incision when we're done and that's it. Whole procedure probably takes me not more than five minutes, truthfully. It's that straightforward. In women, we usually will place one, maybe one and a quarter pellets, again, the size of a grain of rice, maybe just a little bit bigger. Men do require a larger dose, so it will be a few more pellets, but again, it's a very straightforward procedure. There is no downtime. A couple of precautions you take afterwards, you know, you don't want to do any heavy activities for 24 hours, essentially. You don't want to submerge it under water. You want to keep it dry, and that's about it. You can resume all your other normal activities after that. And again, minimal, if any, complications associated with the insertion procedure. It's very, very straightforward.

Amy J.: Okay. Here's a question for you because again, it's something that we hear commonly when people are calling or coming over and thinking about testosterone pellets. So, testosterone could be a cream, it could be an injection, it could be a pellet. We know from your vantage point and ours as well, from a BodyScience point of view, pellets are the way to go, but would you tell us why?

Dr. Ferro: Sure. Two main reasons. The first one is the convenience factor, for sure. The alternatives to pellets would be, for example, a cream or a weekly injection, intramuscular injection. Well, with the creams, first of all, you have to place it...you have to use it every day, on a daily basis. It does have its limitations. The absorption of the cream is not that great, so the effectiveness is not nearly as good as it would be in a pellet form. Also, there's other considerations. If you have small children, you got to be careful that they don't touch you when you apply the cream because it can rub off on them and get absorbed, and, of course, you don't want that. So, there are some convenience factors. With the injections, they are painful, to some extent. It's a weekly injection, much better absorption than the cream, but not quite as good as the pellet. The pellet, after we insert it, you don't have to worry about it for another three or four months. You know, it's an awesome therapy, knowing that you only have to do this every three or four months. Not only that, and most importantly, the pellet is available to your body, to your system whenever it needs it. The human body uses different levels of hormones at different times during the day. This mimics the normal physiology of the human body. It's there. If your body needs it, it will absorb it. If it doesn't need it at a certain time, it won't absorb it. So it really is the closest thing we can get to a natural and normal physiologic hormone function in the body.

Amy J.: Okay. So then here is what we know. Here is kind of our summary. For a lot of people, they notice changes. They contribute it to just aging, but it's reversible. And one of the easiest way to reverse aging is testosterone because one of the common causes that leads to aging is lack of testosterone.

Dr. Ferro: Correct.

Amy J.: We know testosterone is building muscle and breaking down fat. We know that testosterone is critical for sleeping and making sure that you get good sleep. We know that it's a primary component of libido and driving libido. We know it's energy. So, when people start feeling a lack of those things, one of the number one considerations that they should have is do I have low testosterone? They come on over, we run labs here at BodyScience and go through a clinical. We know it's a fast procedure, we know it's a safe procedure, and we know it's good at giving people the quality of life back that aging can oftentimes interfere with.

Dr. Ferro: Absolutely. I always tell the patients it's interesting, aging is inevitable, but how we age is really within our control. And, you know, I can't think of too many therapeutic options that allow us to really control the aging process the way this does, and especially nothing that's natural, that is as safe and effective as these pellets. I always like to give my personal experience because I have been doing testosterone therapy myself with the pellets for about five years now, and it changed my life. I feel like a different person. I have energy. I get out of bed and I'm ready to go to work and do things, and I'm motivated. It just changes your life. I can tell you from personal experience, you know, obviously I believe in it as a physician, but as a patient, to me, it's been life-changing. I can tell you that.

Amy J.: Okay. Doc, you're an MD and you've been practicing how long?

Dr. Ferro: Going on 20 years now.

Amy J.: Twenty years focused on hormones here in Miami saying, "I use pellets and I use pellets in my patients to restore better quality of life, better function." I 100% agree. Anything else you want to let everybody know?

Dr. Ferro: No. I would urge anybody to really consider how they feel. It's not normal...well, it is, let me say, it's normal to feel these symptoms that we've discussed as you age, however, you don't have to feel that way. It's something that we can modify through a very safe and natural procedure. So, I would strongly urge you to see how you feel, and if you think you have any of these symptoms that we've discussed today, you know, give us a call. We'll be happy to discuss this with you, and we'll be happy to see if you're a candidate for this awesome therapy.

Amy J.: Okay. And then the one last thing I'll say out there for everybody, we're here at BodyScience in Miami. We're right off of Sunset Drive. There are places that do pellets, but pellets are not all the same, right? There's natural and pellets that are not natural. There's pellets that have filler and pellets that do not have filler. So, the approach over here is only natural, without filler, bioidentical. So, I think what sets us apart from other places, well, number one, you, Dr. Ferro, and your hands, and thing number two, using pellets that are very different than most other clinics, our safety profile when it comes to hormones, it's second to none. Our criteria when it comes to treating patients, natural all the way. So, what we want as great results, but doing it in a way that's healthy, safe, and without side effects.

Dr. Ferro: Absolutely. I agree.

Amy J.: Dr. Ferro, thanks so much for your time.

Dr. Ferro: My pleasure.