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(813) 867-0608 • Contact • Schedule an Appointment

Baking the Cake to Treat Low T (Testosterone)

In functional medicine, we strive to address the underlying cause(s) of illness, not merely to provide symptomatic relief. So when someone visits my office with symptoms of low T — low libido, erectile dysfunction, fatigue or hot flashes, muscle weakness, weight-loss resistance, and so on — I don’t just treat the low T. Instead, I ask what’s causing it, and the answer to that question is often metabolic syndrome.

I then ask what’s causing the metabolic syndrome, and I work with my patient to identify and address the root causes of that condition. After successfully addressing the metabolic syndrome, we can then reassess hormone levels and seek other ways to restore healthy levels, if necessary.

I refer to this approach as “baking the cake.”

What Is Metabolic Syndrome?

Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of biochemical and physiological abnormalities that place a person at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes. While there are several definitions and different sets of criteria for diagnosing metabolic syndrome, the easiest set of criteria used to diagnose metabolic syndrome is Continue reading…

A Valentine’s Day Gift for Your Heart

By |2018-02-14T19:01:47-05:00February 14th, 2018|Categories: Inflammation|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

Valentine’s Day is filled with images of healthy red hearts. They are a symbol of love. But sadly, on Valentine’s Day, our hearts are often neglected, as they are for the other 364 days of the year. It’s easy to neglect something that typically functions as reliably with as little maintenance as the heart requires. It’s easy to take for granted an organ that functions 24/7/365 without a conscious thought from you; it even keeps the beat while you sleep!

On average, the heart beats 80 times a minute, 4,800 times per hour, and 115,200 times per day. If you live to the age of 80, your heart will have beaten more than 3.3 billion times. Most people think about heart health only when something starts to go wrong, when it’s often too late to reverse the damage resulting from long-term neglect or abuse.

Photo © by Jamie Street | Sourced via Unsplash — used with permission.

Don’t wait until it’s too late to optimize your cardiovascular system and ensure that you have a healthy red heart. Use this Valentine’s Day to pledge your undying love to your heart, and then make it feel the love by taking these steps to optimize your cardiovascular health: Continue reading…

Fighting the Flu in Florida Naturally

By |2018-02-07T20:02:24-05:00February 7th, 2018|Categories: Influenza (Flu)|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

Our sunshine state has been hit particularly hard by the flu this season. As reported in Florida Flu Review published by the Florida Department of Health (January 21-27, 2018), “Flu activity was at higher levels than at the highest points in previous flu seasons,” and deaths due to pneumonia and influenza “were slightly higher than expected and are expected to increase over the coming months.”

Photo © by Kinga Cichewicz | Used with permission from Unsplash

While the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Florida Department of Health (FDH) recommend everyone boost their immunity to the Influenza virus by getting a flu shot, vaccines aren’t a silver bullet. According to the CDC, the effectiveness of the flu vaccine is between 40 and 60 percent; in other words, it works about half the time. And effectiveness can vary, because each flu season vaccines are developed based on predictions of what will be the three or four most prevalent flu strains for the coming season. If you’re exposed to other strains, the vaccine will be of little or no use. In addition, viruses frequently mutate and “dodge” the silver bullet.

Also, despite claims that flu vaccines are safe, they still carry risks, not the least of which is that the virus introduces foreign substances into your body that serve as stressors. After getting a vaccine, people often report a number of symptoms, including Continue reading…