Readers Summary Why I use highly sensitive C-reactive protein (CRP) and Vitamin D as biomarker proxies. After Leptin, Cortisol is the next most important domino to fall. Hormone Cascade explained in a paragraph. Unintended consequences of hypercortisolism destroy health. Initial HS-CRP signals the genesis of underlying hormonal disruption (First sign Leptin is toast). Now [...]
Okay, so you have heard me talk a lot about leptin. Why is it so important? It is a hormone that controls all of energy metabolism in the body. Not only that it controls all the other hormones in the body as well. So if it is not working well you can bet that the rest of your hormones are going to show clinical problems as well. I can't tell you how many people think they have thyroid issues when all the time they have been leptin resistant. One becomes leptin resistant when the brain no longer recognizes the leptin signal sent from our fat cells. Testing leptin is easy to do but rarely done in medicine today. The easiest way is to look in the mirror. If you're way too fat or way too thin guess what? You are leptin resistant, most likely. Biochemically we can also assess it with a test called a reverse T3 level. This is rarely ordered because many docs don't know about the test and because it is not covered by insurance. Reverse T3 is a competitive inhibitor to T3 and T4. Those are your thyroid hormones. So yes, leptin resistance completely turns off your thyroid gland! That does not allow you to burn fat in your muscles because it down regulates your basal metabolic rate. Now you know what controls your metabolism too! That process is called peripheral (muscle) leptin resistance. That is why some fat people can not burn fat with exercise. That is why your thyroid test are close to worthless clinically in leptin resistance. I bet many of you just had an epiphany!
Everyone knows the capability of what we can do in surgical care has dramatically increased in the last decade. I used to have to make large incisions to repair the spine or the brain back to health. Now most of my incisions are less than an inch long and some are the size of pencil eraser. Over the last decade my abilities has changed dramatically because of technology. Surgeries that once took many hours now take less than an hour. And most are not done in the hospital any longer. Moreover, the recovery times have also shrunk from months to weeks. Some of the operations for a fractured vertebrae (spine) due to osteoporosis used to be brutal for patient and surgeon. Now I can repair them through the skin using a needle half the size of a number 2 pencil in less than ten minutes. To show you just how far we have come in surgery let me share with you a short video to give you an idea of what is actually possible now in 2011.