Hormone depletion is a major cause of aging. Despite the medical establishment’s recent stance against hormone replacement therapy, there are major benefits derived from the careful prescribing of bio-identical hormones. Bio-identical hormones are molecules produced from a plant precursor that are chemically identical to your body’s own hormones. The effectiveness of prescribed hormones is also highly variable depending on the route of administration that is chosen. The highly publicized adverse effects of hormone replacement relate to the use of synthetic or non-bio-identical formulations given by sub-optimal routes of administration.

At the Institute for Progressive Medicine we may prescribe hormone replacement therapy using the following hormones:

  • Estradiol

  • Estriol

  • Progesterone

  • Testosterone

  • DHEA

  • Thyroid hormone

  • Human growth hormone

Administration is oral, sublingual, trans-dermal, by injection or by pellet depending on the best method of delivery for a specific therapy.

Hormone Pellets – The Strongest and Most Effective Treatment
Hormone pellets are the strongest available hormone therapy. We have been using hormone pellets for 12 years. The procedure is very simple, quick and often nearly pain-free. They are smaller than a grain of rice and cannot be felt once inserted under the skin.

To insert hormone pellets, the doctor marks a spot on the upper buttock where the patient doesn’t sit and injects lidocaine to numb the area. A small cut in the skin with a scalpel blade of about 1/8 of an inch is made and the pellets are placed using a hollow metal tube called a trocar. Once pellets are placed, the site is covered with a sterile bandage and no stiches are used.

Blood levels rise in minutes and patients feel an effect in 1-7 days. With pellets, hormone levels stay elevated 24 hours a day, so there is no dosing peaks and valleys as with other methods of hormone delivery. Pellets are usually good for 3-6 months in women and 4 months in men. We measure hormone levels before putting in pellets and then again one month later to see where blood levels are.

For most women pellets include both estradiol and testosterone. Progesterone would require too big a pellet, therefore it is taken as a capsule orally at night. Progesterone is very helpful for sleep.
In women we usually have them return in 3 months for new pellets, and take blood just before putting in pellets to see where the levels are.  Then we decide if they can go longer before the next pellets are needed.

In men we measure the testosterone level, PSA, and the blood count before putting in pellets, measure testosterone one month later, and take blood before putting in pellets four months later.
Testosterone is naturally converted to estrogen in fat cells. We include anastrozole with the pellets to block this conversion.  Without anastrozole testosterone does not last as long and higher estrogen levels may cause breast enlargement.

-Allan Sosin, MD

For more information or to make an appointment, please call us at (949) 600-5100