recent NYTimes article on anti-aging therapy
Jon Ford
jonmfordster@hotmail.com
Tue, 24 Dec 2002 19:10:10 -0800
Carolyn-- we can't keep old age down forever, but we can at least make the
years between 55-70 or so very productive and even fun.And some people (more
and more) are able to live active productive lives into their 80s. It sounds
like your mother-in-law is really at the end of her natural (or even
medicinally enhanced) life-cycle, which is different for different people,
including reasons like hereditary dispositions to certain ailments like
cancer or Alzeimer's. Good luck to you and to her.
Jon
>From: Carolyn Garner Siscoe <globe@zipcon.net>
>To: Jon Ford <jonmfordster@hotmail.com>
>CC: michaele@ando.pair.com, austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net
>Subject: Re: recent NYTimes article on anti-aging therapy
>Date: Tue, 24 Dec 2002 12:47:57 -0800
>
>I use to think that a person could control effects of aging just as you
>suggest, Jon, but
>I have done more reading about aging and also having to go through all
>these check-ups
>required by our HMO and being shocked by the questions they ask I have come
>to realize it
>isn't so simple. I definitely wasn't prepared for the reality of what real
>aging can be
>and the fact you have very little control over it. My mother-in-law cannot
>now open
>packages,unscrew lids off of jars, or even carry a half gallon of milk
>back to her home.
>And she is healthy; no heart problems or respiratory problems. I am not
>sure what one can
>do to prevent any of the physical problems from happening.
>Carolyn
>
>Jon Ford wrote:
>
> > Sounds like a lot of this stuff is based on wishful thinking and
>laziness.
> > The best way to ward off the problems of old age (well, it works for my
>wife
> > and me) is lots of exercise, yoga, plenty of sex, laughter, projects in
> > writing, teaching, and lifelong learning, and a balanced diet with
>plenty of
> > fish and brocolli.This takes a lot more effort than taking a bunch of
>shots
> > and pills, but without making an effort, we'll die. The choice is up to
>us.
> >
> > Jon
> >
> > >From: Michael Eisenstadt <michaele@ando.pair.com>
> > >To: austin-ghetto-list@pairlist.net
> > >Subject: recent NYTimes article on anti-aging therapy
> > >Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 13:25:10 -0600
> > >
> > >This article is SO informative and SO need-to-read that I copied
> > >it into this email rather than just putting in a link to the Times.
> > >
> > >One of our subscribers is/was undergoing this therapy. His comments
> > >on this will be appreciated.
> > >
> > >-------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > >Chasing Youth, Many Gamble on Hormones
> > >By GINA KOLATA
> > >
> > >Dr. Ron Livesey was fat, tired and out of shape. At 49, he felt that
>his
> > >best years were behind him.
> > >
> > >So one day seven years ago, on his way to a medical meeting, he stopped
> > >at a doctor's office in Palm Springs, Calif., for his first hormone
> > >injections.
> > >
> > >Early the next morning, Dr. Livesey was at the meeting, sitting in a
> > >darkened auditorium watching slides of technical data. To his surprise,
> > >he found himself alert, taking everything in. He continued the hormone
> > >treatments.
> > >
> > >"People started commenting that I had so much more bounce and energy,"
> > >he said. He lost 50 pounds — thanks, he said, to diet changes and
> > >exercise made possible by the increased vigor.
> > >
> > >So Dr. Livesey, then an internist in New Hampshire, decided to go into
> > >business for himself. With a colleague, Dr. Joseph Raffaele, who went
>on
> > >a similar regimen, he founded Anti-Aging Medicine Associates, a clinic
> > >in Manhattan. They are part of a growing movement among doctors to
>offer
> > >a hormone replacement therapy that claims to restore the bodies and
> > >energy of youth.
> > >
> > >Until recently, most scientists considered anti-aging treatments to be
> > >little more than snake oil, provided by hucksters. Now, few doubt that
> > >growth hormone and testosterone can reshape aging bodies, potentially
> > >making them more youthful.
> > >
> > >But whether they counteract aging is unknown. And their long-term risks
> > >are ill defined. So medical experts ask whether it is right to regard
> > >aging as a disease, as fierce as a malignant cancer, to be fought with
> > >any and all means, tested or not.
> > >
> > >"How much are you willing to pay for a treatment that is not proven?"
> > >asked Dr. Huber Warner, an associate director at the National Institute
> > >on Aging. "How much risk are you willing to take?"
> > >
> > >But Dr. Ronald Klatz of Chicago, the founder and director of the
> > >American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, says patients cannot wait for
> > >long-term studies, which are not even in planning stages and would take
> > >years or decades to complete. "We'd have to wait," he said, "until the
> > >baby boomers are dead and in the ground and worms' meat."
> > >
> > >Clearly, many are not waiting. The academy, which began with 12 doctors
> > >in 1993, now has 8,000 physician members in the United States, Dr.
>Klatz
> > >said.
> > >
> > >The treatment is expensive: $1,000 a month for the panoply of drugs and
> > >dietary supplements, including human growth hormone and testosterone
>for
> > >men and women, estrogen and progesterone for women (the doctors say
> > >their "bioidentical" hormones are safe), melatonin, DHEA, vitamins and
> > >antioxidants.
> > >
> > >The unlikely hero of today's anti-aging movement was Dr. Daniel Rudman,
> > >an academic researcher at the Medical College of Wisconsin who asked if
> > >he could reverse the effects of aging by giving growth hormone to
> > >elderly men.
> > >
> > >Aging people, he noted, lose muscle and put on fat, their skin thins
>and
> > >their bones weaken. At the same time, growth hormone levels steadily
> > >decline. He observed that the effects of aging also appeared in young
> > >people who lacked growth hormone for medical reasons.
> > >
> > >So he gave growth hormone to 12 elderly men for six months, reporting
> > >that they gained muscle and lost fat. Nine men who served as controls
> > >had no such body changes. In his paper, published on July 5, 1990, in
> > >The New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Rudman concluded with this
> > >sentence: "The effects of six months of growth hormone on lean body
>mass
> > >and adipose-tissue mass were equivalent in magnitude to the changes
> > >incurred during 10 to 20 years of aging."
> > >
> > >Dr. Klatz, of the Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, called the paper "a
> > >thunderclap in the medical profession."
> > >
> > >"It was the first clinical paper in a mainstream U.S. medical journal
>to
> > >show that there were available interventions that could have a dramatic
> > >effect on the physiology of aging," he said.
> > >
> > >Human growth hormone has been approved by the Food and Drug
> > >Administration for use by people with medical deficiencies, and once a
> > >drug is on the market, doctors can legally prescribe it for any reason.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >"I was thrilled by the concept," said Dr. Maxine Papadakis of the
> > >University of California in San Francisco. But Dr. Papadakis said she
> > >worried about the sweeping conclusion about reversing aging. It was a
> > >small study, she said, and the men who took part knew who was taking
> > >growth hormone and who was not.
> > >
> > >Dr. Papadakis set out to test growth hormone in 52 healthy men from 70
> > >to 85. She designed the study so that the men did not know if they were
> > >taking the drug or a dummy medication.
> > >
> > >Reporting in 1996, she found that growth hormone slightly increased
> > >muscle mass and decreased body fat but, paradoxically, did not make the
> > >men stronger. People had claimed it improved their mental clarity, but
> > >she found no such effects; if anything, those taking growth hormone did
> > >slightly worse on memory tests. They also suffered swollen legs and
>feet
> > >and achy joints, making them so uncomfortable that a quarter taking
> > >growth hormone had their doses reduced during the study.
> > >
> > >Dr. Papadakis said her results were ignored by growth hormone
> > >enthusiasts. "They can't let go of the hypothesis because they like
>it,"
> > >she said.
> > >
> > >Others, like Dr. Warner, worry about animal studies.
> > >
> > >"I agree that mice and rats are not people, but mice that don't make
> > >growth hormone live longer," Dr. Warner said. "Mice that overproduce
> > >growth hormone live shorter lives. The same principle applies in fruit
> > >flies and little worms called nematodes. It may be irrelevant, but it
> > >makes us wonder."
> > >
> > >The next major paper was published on Nov. 13 in The Journal of the
> > >American Medical Association. In it, Dr. S. Mitchell Harman of the
> > >Kronos Longevity Research Institute in Phoenix and Dr. Marc Blackman of
> > >the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of
> > >the National Institutes of Health, reported that older men and women
> > >taking growth hormone lost fat and gained lean body mass without
>dieting
> > >or exercising. They did not formally assess the subjects' appearance.
> > >But Dr. Harman said, "you could see that some of these guys lost a
> > >significant amount of pot belly."
> > >
> > >On the other hand, many had the same side effects that afflicted Dr.
> > >Papadakis's subjects. Although they went away when the subjects stopped
> > >taking growth hormone, they gave the investigators pause.
> > >
> > >The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine said in a statement that
>the
> > >doses used in the study were far too high. Lower doses that reproduce
> > >the hormone levels of youth are safe and effective, the group said.
> > >
> > >But Dr. Papadakis said those were the levels her study reproduced.
> > >"Maybe we don't know the right dose," she said. "But then how can you
>be
> > >giving it to people? Get a grip."
> > >
> > >Dr. Livesey and Dr. Raffaele, at the Anti-Aging Medicine clinic in
> > >Manhattan, had expected most of their patients to be old people trying
> > >to gain enough strength to rise from a chair unassisted, or middle-aged
> > >people wanting to look young. Instead, they tend to be baby boomers,
>the
> > >doctors said, who are searching for something that other doctors did
>not
> > >provide.
> > >
> > >"By the time they come here, they've already gone to places to look
> > >better," Dr. Raffaele said. "They've had the Botox, the plastic
>surgery.
> > >The reason they're here is they want to have a good quality of life."
> > >Most keep their visits a secret, he said, adding: "They don't even want
> > >to tell their close friends. It's kind of like plastic surgery."
> > >
> > >They are like a 50-year-old woman living in New York who arrived at the
> > >doctors' anti-aging clinic last February. "I was feeling desperate,"
> > >said the woman, who did not want to give her name because she is
>keeping
> > >the treatment secret from her friends.
> > >
> > >She was depressed, gaining weight, feeling old and fatigued. But, she
> > >said, when she began taking growth hormone, estrogen and progesterone,
> > >she noticed an immediate change in her mood and energy. It gave her the
> > >stamina and enthusiasm to start dieting and working out at a gym and
>she
> > >dropped 10 pounds. She said her libido returned, her hair grew, and
>even
> > >her bunions regressed so she could wear high heels again.
> > >
> > >Was it the drugs or the power of suggestion, the diet and exercise or
> > >the growth hormone that made the difference? Will she develop a serious
> > >disease as a result of taking the drugs or will she enter old age
> > >healthy and vigorous, younger than her years?
> > >
> > >It is impossible to know, researchers said, and that is why good
>studies
> > >are needed.
> > >
> > >"Our concern is that the evidence is mostly based on personal
> > >testimonials rather than good data," Dr. Warner said. "It's not hard to
> > >get people to believe something works, particularly if they are paying
>a
> > >lot of money for it."
> > >
> > >Dr. Alvin Matsumoto, a geriatrician at the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound
> > >Health Care System, sounded a similar note of caution.
> > >
> > >"For any particular patient, the trick is to determine who is the
> > >practitioner who has your best interests at heart. It is hard to
> > >distinguish that sometimes."
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
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