My observations on man-made drugs

Man made pharmaceutical drugs always exhibit a doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde behavior. All doctors know this and will have to decide if the benefits far out weigh the risks when prescribing them.

One of my clients happened to be on Propecia for nearly 10 years. Propecia controls male pattern alopecia (hair loss). However, side effects include loss of libido, decreased reproductivity and suspected increase in tummy fat due to the reduction in DHT which is antagonistic to estrogen production.

An excerpt of the benefits of DHT( Dihydrotestosterone) are as follows;

"How does DHT protect against estrogen? There are at least three ways that this likely occurs. First of all, DHT directly inhibits estrogens activity on tissues. It either does this by acting as a competitive antagonist to the estrogen receptor or by decreasing estrogen-induced RNA transcription at a point subsequent to estrogen receptor binding.

Second of all, DHT and its metabolites have been shown to directly block the production of estrogens from androgens by inhibiting the activity of the aromatase enzyme. The studies done in breast tissue showed that DHT, androsterone, and 5alpha-androstandione are potent inhibitors of the formation of estrone from androstenedione. 5alpha-androstandione was shown to be the most potent, while androsterone was the least.

Lastly, DHT acts on the hypothalamus / pituitary to decrease the secretion of gonadotropins. By decreasing the secretion of gonadotropins you decrease the production of the raw materials for estrogen production – testosterone and androstenedione (DHT itself cannot aromatize into estrogens). This property of DHT comes into particular utility when it is administered exogenously, and this is to be discussed in further detail in the next section."

With the reduction in DHT, and corresponding icnrease in estrogen, the client had difficulty in increasing muscle density and reducing his hormonal imbalance. This resulted in less than stellar results in his weight management programme.

In conclusion, i sincerely believe that everyone should be fully aware of the consequences of being too dependent on man made drugs. There are always natural alternatives that will give you all the benefits and none of the side effects.