anti-aging medicine -- the future of medicine

AntiAging Medicine and the Future of Medicine

Anti-Aging Medicine. What is it? Is it real? Are there real controversies here? In a word, yes.

There is a well known feature of google that highly placed references to any search tend to be negative. Google knows this. It is a well known journalistic principle. 60 minutes devoted an egregious and poorly prepared segment to this very topic last month. We could spend half a column just refuting and dissecting the problems with this journalistic exposé. Scientific American devoted an entire special issue to Staying Young in 2004 ending with the Position Statement on Human Aging of 2002 signed by 51 scientists.

Why so much negative press? How is anything of value legitimized? What gives it the stamp of approval? Is it science or politics? A most appropriate aphorism comes from Arthur Schopenhauer:

“All truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”

There is a plethora of terms that have been spun off to better describe this new field. Longevity Medicine, Age Management Medicine, functional medicine, integrative medicine. These are all terminologies in pursuit of the new paradigm.

It is with determination we continue to maintain, as well have for the last 10 years, that Anti-aging Medicine is the medicine of the future. It is the beginning of an entirely new approach to medicine – the paradigm shift. The terms only confuse us.

All medicine has from the beginning, most notably Hippocrates, been an effort to mitigate illness and suffering with the implicit goal of increasing life span. One yardstick could simply be life span or longevity. But we are more interested in quality of life. And here is the key. Increasing HealthSpan. It is about “squaring the curve” -- living longer in a healthy, vibrant, vigorous, independent, and happy state of health and well being.

The paradigm shift is tectonic. We do not have a health care system. We have a disease management system. All ICD-9 codes are a codification of disease. If you feel weak, fatigued or just “not right” you may not be suffering from a disease. You can have a battery of tests and nothing will “show positive” for a disease. You have a dysfunction. Pre-menopause is not really a disease. Yet it lasts for upwards of 4-5 years and can be seriously disabling. A dysfunction. Andropause is not even widely recognized as such. It is also a dysfunction that men suffer later than menopause. There is no formal ICD-9 code for this. It is not a disease.

The wonderful medicine of the last 50 years has been disease, pathology oriented with the goal of finding the right drug to cure or mitigate your disease. But there is a rapidly growing residua of conditions and patients who are not right, dysfunctional, that do not respond to the conventional or traditional approach.

Anti-Aging medicine is functional. It is integrative -- using techniques borrowed from conventional medicine augmented with those from alternative medicine. It is the use of a larger “tool box.” Anti-Aging Medicine is goal oriented. It is not simply a categorization or deft use of codes and nomenclature for the purpose of insurance reimbursement. What is your goal? What are trying to achieve? This can be both baffling and then liberating when first proposed to you.

All cars age. But many of you have probably been to one of the high-end Concours D’Elegance in Pebble Beach or similar specialty car shows. A Cord, a Duisenberg, a Corvette, even a Model A can be restored to the same health as when fist produced. Cars can be renovated. Can we?

“A man is as old as his arteries,” said Sir Thomas Sydenham in the late 17th century. If so, a 60 year old man with a blood pressure reverting back to 105 over 65 could be said to have achieved some degree of age regression. We now have even more sophisticated technology just coming online that will allow us to measure arterial elasticity – a far more sophisticated way of determining arterial health than simple brachial blood pressure measurements. The Omron 9000

Thus the philosophy and approach to Anti-Aging Machine. It will become the Future Shock of medicine every bit as first described in the wonderful book called Age Wave by Ken Dychtwald. The paradigm shift.

What can you do today? This has been mentioned in past columns. Graded and regular physical exercise. Eating more sensibly by increasing your protein and decreasing your fat and carbohydrate intake. Get more and better quality sleep. Sleep is rejuvenating. Use cell phones less because of the EMF and RF. Use microwaves less often because of the mallard effect on your food. Learn about better supplementation of your food. Seek out information about sensible, physiologic and bioidentical use of hormone replacement therapy.

Finding a competent Anti-Aging physician is not easy. There are really only a few stars in the country. There are many more that are beginning to master the art and science. We must first establish the acceptance, the “legitimacy” of the field. That in some small measure is up to you. It will be the first medical endeavor that is patient and consumer driven.

You must talk to your friends, colleagues, and open-minded physicians. Write to your state legislators, US congressional representatives and US Senators. They will not respond at first. But keep at it. The more that demand it in place of the expensive drug-oriented budget-busting medicine of today the more the message will eventually succeed.

It starts with each and every one of you. Now breathe deeply. Then pledge yourself to a vigorous, optimally healthy and happy life. Do something good for someone you love.

Philip Lee Miller, MD
Founder, Los Gatos Longevity Institute
Author, the Life Extension Revolution