Adrenaline Dominance: A Revolutionary Approach to Wellness

By Michael E. Platt

Adrenaline is a powerful hormone whose effects have been virtually ignored by the medical community. "Adrenaline Dominance" explains how this hormone might be a major underlying cause of many conditions currently considered incurable. This book explains why people produce this "fight-or-flight" hormone even when they are not facing danger. It prese

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael E. Platt, M.D.
• Release date: Jun 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9780977668342

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

This book introduces a revolutionary approach to treating many illnesses traditionally considered incurable simply by addressing their underlying cause. I have used this approach to help patients get well for two decades. However, this was not always the case. As is true for the majority of doctors, most of what I learned during my medical training was based on research provided by drug companies. By the time I finished my residency in internal medicine, I was convinced that no matter what the problem, a drug was needed to treat it. All this changed when I discovered the world of bio-identical hormones.

Bio-identical hormones have a molecular structure identical to those of the hormones the human body produces. Manufactured by drug companies such as Pfizer and Upjohn, with implicit FDA approval, they are then formulated by compounding pharmacies into creams, pills, troches, or suppositories. Since they are natural, they cannot be patented, which is why we don’t see drug companies enthusiastically endorsing them.

Because hormones control every system of the body, they significantly affect how the body functions. Hormones out of balance can be responsible for many illnesses. Utilizing bio-identical hormones as a form of treatment thus offers an effective alternative approach to wellness. This is not alternative medicine. It is traditional medicine using bio-identical hormones that have been in existence for over 70 years.

Over time, as I helped patients get better using this approach, I came to recognize certain similar symptoms as associated with a variety of disorders. These symptoms were all related to the excess of one particular hormone, namely, adrenaline—which led to my recognition of a condition I call adrenaline dominance. At the same time, I discovered that bio-identical progesterone offers a natural, healthy, and effective way to help reduce excess adrenaline and also to help block its effects. By addressing the cause (i.e., high levels of adrenaline), rather than the symptoms, many conditions can often be eliminated, along with the medications used to treat them. Getting hormones into balance, changing the way people eat, and utilizing certain supplements can accomplish this.

The purpose of this book is twofold. First, I want to let patients who are struggling with health issues that never seem to improve know there is a different, healthier approach to getting them well. Second, I want to share what I have learned with other healthcare practitioners who are looking for a more effective way to treat patients and thereby possibly change, one by one, how individual physicians practice medicine. Hopefully, this book can restore the original goals many of us physicians had when we entered medical school, which were to help sick people get well and to help well people stay well. Hopefully, it will also reinstall the faith in medicine that patients used to have when doctors were highly respected.

Today, both physicians and patients have lost faith in the U.S. healthcare system, which has become a national disgrace. Even though the United States spends more money per capita on health care than any other developed country, we still have the highest incidence of diabetes, obesity, heart attacks, cancer, and infant mortality among all industrialized nations. The U.S. medical system is a multi-trillion-dollar-a-year industry thriving mostly on illness, not wellness. Drug companies benefit, as do hospitals and the providers of medical equipment. All the ancillary businesses involved with medical care provide millions of jobs and are the source of billions of dollars in tax revenues to state and federal governments from the sale of medical supplies. Is there any wonder that the incentive to change this system is in short supply? Not well publicized is the fact that health care is the number one budgetary item in most states. We can add to that the cost of Medicare, which is becoming an insurmountable financial burden for the federal government.

Drug companies greatly influence how physicians practice. Research conducted by these companies provides the basis for much of what is taught in medical schools, and many doctors are not comfortable making medical choices unless a drug company gives them direction. A simple example is the fact that many doctors never recommend supplemental CoQ10 when their patients are taking statin drugs because drug companies do not recommend it, perhaps to avoid liability issues. However, statin drugs prevent the production of CoQ10, which is essential for the function of muscles, including the muscles of the heart. With little or no CoQ10 in the body, muscle pain and even sudden death can occur.

Primary care physicians have traditionally formed the backbone of the medical field. Yet a recent poll of primary care providers indicated that, given the chance to do it again, 80 percent of them would not choose to go to medical school. Every year fewer medical students elect to go into primary care. The reasons are multiple: the long hours, the heavy patient load, and dissatisfaction with reimbursement of primary care compared to other specialties. At the time of this writing, implementation of the Affordable Care Act is unlikely to improve these figures.

Another factor contributing to the decline of primary care medicine may be the absence of the right tools to get patients truly well. If primary care practitioners were actually able to eliminate their patients’ problems, they would receive plenty of positive reinforcement from a multitude of grateful patients. Instead, they are taught to prescribe drugs to lower blood pressure, drugs to lower blood sugar, antidepressants, sleeping pills, pain medications, plus others. As you will see in this book, excess adrenaline can be a significant factor in many of the problems for which drugs are prescribed. In fact, antibiotics are the only drugs that actually cure anything—all other drugs simply help patients to cope with their ailments.

This book calls into question many time-honored approaches to medicine. It proposes an approach that looks at causes rather than symptoms. It suggests that many conditions regarded as incurable can be eliminated without the use of medications, which often can be toxic. And it recommends bio-identical hormones and diet, rather than drugs, as treatment.

That said, this is not an anti-drug-company book. In fact, it is not anti anything. It is only promoting a different approach to practicing medicine that stands to provide greater satisfaction to both patient and doctor. Doctors who are comfortable relying primarily on guidance from drug companies must accept the fact that their patients will rarely, if ever, get cured. On the other hand, one of the rewards of the approach this book offers is the frequency with which patients will say, Doc, in my entire life I’ve never felt so good.

Many of the ideas put forth here are likely to evoke resistance because they have not been subjected to the double-blind studies that have become the standard of present-day medical research. While double-blind studies can be great research tools, they are not perfect. It is widely recognized that their results can be skewed by the expectations of the researchers or to meet the needs of the funding drug company.

The ideas in this book are derived from a combination of observation-based and evidenced-based medicine. This is how most advances in medicine have been achieved throughout medical history: through observation followed by evidence to support that observation. Alexander Fleming’s initial discovery of penicillin, for example, was purely observational. It took years before research revealed how and why penicillin works. Getting patients well should be the bottom line, whether or not there are journal articles to support the protocol. Progress in medicine has probably been delayed 50 years because experts have denigrated observation-based medicine to the category of anecdotal, that is, having no credibility.

The book begins with an explanation of adrenaline dominance, a discussion of the role and function of adrenaline in the body, and an overview of the basics of treating adrenaline dominance. The chapters that follow cover—with a nod to the title of Clint Eastwood’s movie—the good, the bad, and the ugly effects of hyperadrenalism. I consider ADHD the good aspect of excess adrenaline, since it is associated with high intelligence, creativity, and success. Many famous and high-achieving people have ADHD. The bad forms of excess adrenaline include medical conditions that are more or less manageable. In the ugly category I have put conditions that significantly impact quality of life. These divisions are not meant to suggest that excess adrenaline is all good, all bad, or all ugly. Rather, a person with excess adrenaline will often have symptoms and conditions that fall into more than one of these categories. By lowering excess adrenaline a person can experience primarily the good aspect of adrenaline, that is, heightened intelligence and energy.

There is an extensive chapter discussing the specifics of treatment, including the use and dosing of progesterone, a diet for managing adrenaline, and nutritional supplements for the brain. Interspersed throughout the book are letters I have received from patients, testifying in their own words how these relatively simple changes brought about life-altering improvements in their health.

I have included a chapter on Fen-Phen as a point of interest because, unbeknownst to most doctors, this combination of medications had a significant effect on lowering adrenaline levels. I include also some thoughts on the standard of care demanded of doctors by medical review boards. Many review board experts represent the worst that medicine has to offer—if it were left to these doctors, there would be no progress in medicine, since they do not make allowances for non-traditional approaches.

If you are a patient or a healthcare practitioner who is dissatisfied with our present medical system, this book is written for you.

CHAPTER 1

WHAT IS ADRENALINE DOMINANCE?

Consider for a moment the following three cases:

Case I: A 58-year-old man who is the CEO of a software company comes to see his doctor, complaining of trouble falling asleep. He tosses and turns through the night. When he does finally fall asleep, he grinds his teeth. He is on high blood pressure medication and an antidepressant. He has a tendency to drink more alcohol than he should. When sitting, one knee often twitches up and down involuntarily. His wife tells him that during the night his legs move constantly. At work he has trouble focusing and is often forgetful. When he was in school he never opened a book until the night before an exam. Later on he developed a type A personality.

Case II: A 42-year-old woman hopes her doctor can help with the severe mood swings and anger issues she experiences 10 days out of the month. She often awakens around 2:30 or 3:00 a.m. and lies awake the rest of the night. She reports a problem with bladder pain and burning when she urinates. She gets shaky and irritable if she goes too long without eating. A stay-at-home mom, she is homeschooling her two children, who have both been diagnosed with ADHD and, at the ages of 8 and 10, are still bed wetters. During her second pregnancy, she vomited the entire nine months.

Case III: A 50-year-old woman who is currently on disability complains of persistent fatigue. She awakens in the mornings with pain in her lower back and along the sides of her hips. She has occasional episodes of road rage. She is unable to lose the excess 42 pounds of weight she carries. She has persistent constipation, chronic headaches, and has been diagnosed with an anxiety/depression disorder. Her 30-year-old son has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She is on nine different medications, including one for diabetes.

These patients’ complaints and concerns are problems doctors deal with on a daily basis. Between them, the three patients are presenting symptoms of the following conditions, some of which are considered incurable. These include:

• ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)

• fibromyalgia

• depression/anxiety

• severe anger

• PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder)

• IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)

• chronic interstitial cystitis

• alcoholism

• RLS (restless leg syndrome)

• insomnia

• hyperemesis gravidarum

Interestingly, every one of these conditions is related to an excess of a single hormone, adrenaline.

I refer to excess adrenaline, or hyperadrenalism, as adrenaline dominance. It is in some ways comparable to estrogen dominance, a term coined by John Lee, M.D. In estrogen dominance, signs and symptoms of excess estrogen, caused by an imbalance between estrogen and progesterone,