Yes of course, our kids and their friends think we’re old. But even though they look at us and wonder if we co-existed with the dinosaurs, we know we’re still youthful. Well, at least until we start to feel like we’re not operating at our best and wonder how we can ensure we’re able to stay healthy and vibrant for many years to come, maybe even until we are as old as our kids think we are now.
Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) has become a hot topic in the world of women’s health in the past few years, due to an increased interest in the onset, symptoms, and effects of perimenopause and menopause. Less has been reported about the male counterpart to menopause, called andropause. Dr. Peter Marta, D.O., a board-certified physician and surgeon, and founder of Codex, a science-backed program that combines the precision of conventional medicine with the nuance of functional medicine, would like to change all that.
As a doctor trained in general surgery and critical patient care, Dr. Marta witness firsthand the rise in the mortality rate for patients who were obese or affected by the metabolic syndrome epidemic in the US, particularly during the Covid-19 epidemic. Dr. Marta noticed that the majority of these deaths were in men and so, inspired by the success of his wife, local OB/Gyn and hormone expert, Dr. Tracy Verrico, he set out to create Codex, a program that utilizes Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) to help reverse the causes of metabolic syndrome and promote health and longevity in men.
Whereas Hormone Replacement Therapy in women includes estrogen, progesterone, and sometimes testosterone, in men, HRT involves the administration of bioidentical testosterone. The purpose of using HRT in men ages 30 and up is to maintain and restore normal, physiologic levels of testosterone, which begins to drop at a rate of about 1% per year, somewhere between age 30 and 40. The goal is to restore the foundation of men’s health so their bodies can function optimally, when paired with a nutritious diet and exercise.
The issue is that often, unlike in women in which an abrupt decline in their hormones results in more pronounced symptoms, the slow rate of loss of testosterone in men means that often men don’t begin to feel the effects of testosterone loss until their late 40s. Because of this, Dr. Marta says that the majority of his clients are between the ages of 35 and 65 but that his ideal client is “any man between the ages of 30 and 80 who are driven to live in health and enjoy their families and lives without limitations as they age.”
When working with a new patient, Dr. Marta first orders bloodwork that includes a comprehensive hormone panel, a PSA test to determine the amount of a prostate- specific antigen (protein), liver enzymes, and complete blood count. Test results will indicate the appropriate form of HRT for each patient. This lab testing is repeated again at three months to ensure dosing is accurate, then every 6 months to a year from then on, depending on the patient’s unique medical history and particular circumstances.
Physician-administered Hormone Replacement Therapy is not a one-size-fits-all solution and requires the experience and training of a physician to balance properly. It is different than anabolic steroids in that the testosterone given to men during HRT is a bioidentical testosterone that is chemically the same as that made by the body and as a result, is metabolized identically. Anabolic steroids are synthetic, chemically modified forms of testosterone that have been synthesized to boost their muscle and performance enhancing qualities.
Patients find that it takes six months to feel the full effect of HRT and it may take up to a year to optimize dosing depending on the individual patient and their lifestyle. But once the patient has achieved their optimal dosing, they will begin to feel relief from the symptoms of testosterone loss that, similar to menopause in women, can include loss of energy, disturbed sleep cycles, increased daytime napping, generalized joint pain, osteoporosis, weight gain with muscle loss, impaired insulin resistance resulting in diabetes type 2, increased rates of cardiovascular disease, decreased cognitive function that may lead to dementia, decreased libido, prostate cancer, and even erectile dysfunction.
Testosterone HRT can be administered by injection, topical gel, cream, nasal spray, or surgically implanted pellets. Once a patient has started a course of HRT, they must remain on it for life in order to maintain the benefits. Stopping HRT will result in a return to low hormone levels and health risks that include increased chances of dementia, heart disease, and prostate cancer. The good news is that most patients tolerate HRT well and have no side effects. Those who do experience side effects report anything from increases in hemoglobin, increased PSA, elevated liver enzymes, and increased estrogen levels.
HRT has proven to be a game changer for men and women who aren’t quite as old as their kids suspect, but who are, despite their best efforts, aging. The benefits, both physical and mental, from bioidentical hormone replacement therapy have improved the lives and health outcomes for men and women who require optimized physiologic levels of hormones for continued health. Dr. Marta is on a mission to educate and inform men, and to erase any stigma attached to HRT. He’s committed to ensuring men understand the aging process and know how important the use of bioidentical hormones is in promoting health and longevity. For more information, or to learn more about Dr. Marta’s practice, please visit his website, his Instagram page, or his YouTube channel.
275-277 Forest Avenue
Suite 125
Paramus, NJ
