Testosterone Pellet Therapy

What are Hormones?

Hormones are the body’s chemical messengers that affect the function of your body’s regulatory systems. Each hormone has a specific job function; when these hormones become out of balance, the body becomes less efficient at taking care of itself.

What are Bio-Identical Hormones?

Bio-identical hormones are hormones that are chemically exactly the same as those made by your body. Non-bio-identical hormones vary slightly in their chemical structure and it is these variations that are responsible for the side effects that are seen when non-bio-identical hormones are used.

What is Testosterone?

Testosterone is a naturally produced steroid hormone that is essential to the health of both men and women. Testosterone helps to increase lean muscle mass, strength and endurance, increases bone density, improves healing capacity, improves skin tone, sharpens memory and concentration, increases libido and sexual performance, and helps to create a sense of well being and enhanced mood. At the same time, testosterone helps to decrease fat, reduces blood sugar levels, decrease cholesterol levels, and protects against cardiovascular disease.

Testosterone naturally decreases with age. In men, testosterone typically decreases at a rate of about 1% per year after the age of 30. A 40 year old woman has approximately half the testosterone that she did at age 21. Low testosterone levels in men can result in the following symptoms:

  • Anxiety
  • Decline in sense of well-being
  • Decrease in beard growth
  • Decrease in ability/frequency to perform sexually
  • Decrease in number of morning erections
  • Decreased sexual desire/libido
  • Decreased muscular strength
  • Depressed mood
  • Excessive sweating and hot flashes
  • Feeling burnt out
  • Irritability
  • Joint and muscle pain
  • Nervousness
  • Fatigue
  • Sleeping problems

Low testosterone levels in women can result in the following symptoms in premenopausal women:

  • Diminished sense of well-being
  • Increase in fat not related to change in diet or exercise
  • Dysphoric mood (sadness, depression, anxiety, irritability)
  • Fatigue
  • Decreased sexual desire/libido
  • Hot flashes, bone loss
  • Decreased muscle strength
  • Changes in cognition and memory
  • Insomnia

These early symptoms usually progress to include the menopausal symptoms of:

  • Hot flashes, sweating
  • Heart discomfort (heart skipping, racing, tightness)
  • Insomnia
  • Depressive mood
  • Irritability, feeling nervous, feeling aggressive
  • Anxiety, inner restlessness
  • Physical exhaustion, decrease in performance
  • Mental exhaustion, impaired memory and concentration
  • Sexual problems, change in desire, activity and satisfaction
  • Bladder problems, difficulty urinating, frequency, bladder incontinence
  • Dryness of vagina (burning, difficulty with intercourse)
  • Joint and muscular pain/discomfort

What is Testosterone Pellet Therapy?

This is a well-documented method of delivering bio-identical testosterone that utilizes small pellets about the size of a grain of rice, which are painlessly inserted under the skin. The testosterone pellets are manufactured from yams, and other than a small amount of stearic acid, there are no other ingredients in them. They dissolve slowly and completely over a period of 3-6 months. The advantage of testosterone pellet therapy over other delivery systems of testosterone is that the pellets release a consistent level of testosterone during this time period resulting in a sustained hormone level throughout the day and avoiding the “roller-coaster” effect often seen with oral and transdermal forms of testosterone, which can result in fluctuations in mood and energy in the patient. The goals of testosterone pellet therapy are to alleviate the symptoms of low testosterone, and to help the patient optimize their quality of life.