This interview quizzes Russ about the use of testosterone therapy, its benefits and the myths surrounding it. Russ describes his own personal experience and summarizes years of research to illuminate this topic.

Interviewer

There are a lot of studies out there that talk about the negative effects of testosterone.  They include heart attacks, weight loss and weight gain along with heart failure of different types.  Can you elaborate on why this may be happening and is it really the fault of testosterone?

Russ Scala

Well one of the things we have to remember about all drugs is that everybody is biochemically unique. Whether it’s testosterone for men, progesterone for women or an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) everybody does not need the same dosage of drugs—or of vitamins for that matter. If you can get your head around that concept and understand that physicians aren’t really trained in preventative endocrinology, then you can begin to see why doing research for yourself is so important.  

Scala Precision Health has been dedicated to performing research and cross-referencing hundreds of studies on testosterone—among many other subjects—where traditional medicine too often stops short.  We have educated over 200 physicians and set up 25 different clinics while studying the effects of testosterone on AIDS patients, brain injury patients, athletes and women. We have thousands of test results that we use when we’re trying to help people better understand hormone replacement and testosterone therapies and dosages.

Interviewer

Let’s speak directly to one of the articles that came out about research that says testosterone causes heart failure.  Was that the fault of testosterone directly or that some doctors kept pumping their patients with testosterone?  And what other factors are involved that lead to heart failure?

Russ Scala

Great questions. Testosterone has been vilified in the press for many years because it has been dubbed a performance-enhancing drug.  Actually, it is a life-saving therapy for a lot of people.  Like any drug out there, if you give testosterone the wrong way, one of the drawbacks is it will thicken up your blood and increase the number of red blood cells. If you cause the production of more red blood cells and you get too dehydrated, you could have a heart attack from a blood clot. That’s possible with almost any drug.

When we put somebody on testosterone therapy, we have to understand the different delivery systems for testosterone and make sure clients have bloodwork done every 90 days to monitor their blood thickness.  It’s called the hemoglobin hematocrit. Now a lot of guys are just rubbing testosterone cream on or using injections from a source they found on the internet.   These are many of the people that are having heart attacks, and some are dying.  They’re flying by the seat of their pants which is very dangerous.

Interviewer

You mentioned blood clots and the delivery systems that you use. Can you elaborate a little bit on that?

Russ Scala

Yes, we do utilize different delivery systems.  With testosterone for example, we use creams that we rub on the skin, sublinguals that go under the tongue, and injections.  Dosage is extremely important.  For example, if the testicles release five to ten milligrams of testosterone a day and you inject 100 to 200 milligrams a week, you’re going to cause levels to start skyrocketing inside the body which can lead to blood clots and damage the arteries.

So, given everybody is biochemically unique, every male needs bloodwork done before he goes on testosterone therapy.  He needs to be monitored while he’s on the therapy.  A lot of people aren’t doing that and that’s why you’re hearing the negative reports and how attorneys have become more involved.

Interviewer

Can you tell us a little about your background and where you’ve administered testosterone with some of your patients?  I understand you’ve used testosterone therapy with aging patients, heart patients and some brain injury patients.  Can you tell you us about those types of patients?

Russ Scala

Yes, I have worked with many aging patients and many with heart-related issues.  The future of testosterone hormone replacement therapy is going to move into the brain injury market.  We’ve already collected research on that within the neurology community.  Believe it or not, testosterone is going to be one of the treatment protocols and helps with neurogenesis and neural plasticity.  That basically means the development of new brain tissues.  Now we can see that in real time with FMRI scans (functional magnetic resonance imaging).  FMRI scans use the same basic principles of atomic physics as MRI scans, but MRI scans image anatomical structure whereas FMRI images metabolic function.  This is pretty amazing technology. 

For heart patients, the proper dosage of testosterone can cause the arteries that surround the heart to release a gas called nitric oxide.  This keeps the arteries dilated so it can really help patients that have had a heart attack, stent or bypass surgery.  We have patients right now that have had quadruple bypasses that are on testosterone therapy and we’re keeping their arteries open. Now a lot of cardiologists I sit down to talk with about this don’t believe that it’s possible.  It is possible and we’re doing it in real time right now. That’s what’s exciting about some of these treatment protocols.

Interviewer

That’s great news for those types of patients. I also understand that you use testosterone yourself.  So, like a lot of protocols you have developed in collaboration with doctors, you personally know the effects of the treatments.  When you were a triathlete and a paramedic attached a SWAT team you used some testosterone therapy. Tell us a little bit about that.

Russ Scala

Yes, I did.  Here’s the evolution… I’m one of those guys that gravitates towards high-stress environments.  I didn’t realize being a paramedic responding to emergency calls and taking care of people dying in my arms was creating a lot of stress that was impacting my own body.  I thought I was bulletproof working on a SWAT team in my 20s.  I didn’t know how it was compromising my metabolism.  So, our way of decompressing was drinking a lot at the time because we didn’t want to talk to anybody and we didn’t know what else to do.  We definitely didn’t want to go to a counselor.  I knew with my personality I was going to have to pick up a positive behavior or go to an unhealthy place. 

So, I decided to start running, which led to triathlons for close to 20 years.  I actually became competitive and had a lot of racing experience.  I loved the camaraderie and the way training outside got me away from work.  It cleared my head and helped me gain more focus. What I didn’t realize was the triathlon training was damaging my metabolism.  It lowered my thyroid and cortisol levels.  It lowered my testosterone and growth hormone levels.  I was literally killing myself racing as a triathlete.  I had low sex drive and I was depressed.  I kept getting up in the morning and training thinking this had to be healthy.  It really wasn’t.

I’m not shooting down people that are training and competing or anything like that.  I’m just saying it is really important to get your bloodwork done and get a baseline.  When I started doing that, I knew how to design a treatment protocol for myself.  Luckily my doctor prescribed testosterone and growth hormone and thyroid treatment for me.  It took me about four years to rehab my body.  I quit doing triathlons and long-distance training and got back in the gym.  I do more interval workouts now and I’m just trying to be smart about training.  Before, I just thought that fast race times meant I was healthier.    

Interviewer

There is a lot of curiosity about testing and testosterone therapies.  Can you educate us on some questions we should ask our physicians?  

Russ Scala

Sure.  If you’re going to think about any type of hormonal replacement therapy, make sure you do your homework.  I did a lot of research before putting my mother on a replacement protocol to help her with dementia.  My father was on the program well into his 80s.  So as the population ages, testosterone and hormone replacement therapies are going to be very important to maintain our quality of life.  I remember being called to nursing homes when I was a kid working on the ambulance and thinking about how often patients had muscle wasting, fragile bones and many were so thin.  I would also take them to nursing homes and watch them just fade away.  That always stayed with me.  So now I can improve an elderly person’s quality of life with these programs.  

Testosterone therapy is going to help with muscle mass and bone density, but you have to find the right doctor.  How do you do that?  You can call us directly and our doctors can take care of you and your family members or you can interview doctors that provide those therapies and ask questions like: How long have you been doing testosterone therapy, doctor?  What pharmacy are you using?  What is your treatment protocol?  Are you on the testosterone therapy yourself?  Because if he’s over 40 and he’s not on it, how’s he supposed to prescribe it?

Interviewer

What was the name of that blood test?

Russ Scala

You want to get a baseline blood panel with CBC and make sure to measure hemoglobin hematocrit to see how thick your blood is.  As I mentioned, if you’re not sure, it can cause you to produce more red blood cells.  This is why all the Tour de France guys love to juice because they’re in the mountains and it enables them to carry more oxygenated blood to the muscle.  It also helps an elderly person carry oxygenated blood to the muscle to keep them healthy.  This stuff has been vilified in the press, but it can really improve the lives of our elderly folks.  So, I encourage everyone to ask the tough questions and educate themselves on these subjects.  I have often said we need to become the CEOs of our own health.

Interviewer

Let’s wrap this up by talking a little bit about the future of testosterone therapy.

Russ Scala

Earlier we discussed performance and longevity.  The future of hormonal replacement therapy is exactly where my company is headed.  I’m working with doctors from different specialties and interviewing cardiologists and neurologists right now to deliver this program.  In working with cancer patients and AIDS patients for issues like muscle wasting, we’re collecting data right now that we know is going to be the paradigm shift in helping people maintain their quality of life.

It’s amazing that if you’re nine feet tall or you’re three feet tall, they say it’s hormonal, but not if you’re three feet wide.  Weight loss has a lot to do with hormone levels and that is not in the mainstream discussion.  Weight loss is not about calories as much as it’s not about exercise.  We interviewed 100 marathon runners who gained weight while training for a marathon.  Think about that.  So, the more stress that you’re under, the more you lower your hormone levels.  The only way to get better is to correct those hormone levels with a physician who knows what they’re doing.  We’re out on the tip of the spear right now in this area.  Only about 5% of the doctors we are talking with are digging deeper into this area and are really getting good at what we’re doing.  Those are the ones that want to get involved in our research.  Many of the other physicians we talk with just take our research and put it aside and go back to business as usual seeing 30 people a day and writing their prescriptions.  You know what, that’s okay too.