The acronym and name “Re-Create” stands for “Renewed Energy, Clinical Rejuvenation, Evaluation and Treatment Enterprises.”
It is a type of medical practice based on the principles of regenerative and anti-aging medicine. This is a type of practice that approaches the aging (and health) process as one that can be significantly impacted by a combination of natural medicines, supplements, and lifestyle changes.
Not only is it often possible to restore much of what we have lost over time, but in doing so we can slow, and to some degree even reverse, the aging process.
What does Dr. Z have to say about Re-Create
Traditional, or allopathic, medicine is simply stated, more or less, “wait ‘til it’s broke, and then try to improve it with pharmaceuticals or surgery.” While there are a few attempts to practice prevention, this is usually just vaccinations and recommendations to lead healthier lifestyles which sadly usually falls on deaf ears. Wouldn’t it be incredible if, on the other hand, we focused on preventing problems before they manifest themselves; this might put some traditional doctors out of practice, but as a practicing emergency physician, I’m okay with that. It would take an enormous change of thinking for this to happen which certainly, at best, will be slow incoming, but any improvement should be welcomed with open arms. Sadly, it is not. Traditional medicine has an incredible inertia, or resistance to change. While theoretically this may be good, in order to avoid trendy “quackery,” all too often it is based on being satisfied with the status quo and simply accepting that “what I was taught in medical school, etc. must be right!” Placebo controlled, randomized trials are certainly necessary for pharmaceutical interventions, but other aspects of medicine rely on the “art,” which includes critical observation with a dose of common sense. Over time, these observational studies can be confirmed with more rigorous studies, of course. All too often I see physicians willing to prescribe “artificial” pharmaceuticals, many with enormous risks and side effect profiles simply because they are FDA approved. These same doctors often scoff and ridicule the use of “natural” bioidentical hormones and supplements without these same problems. Common sense alone would seem to dictate that using an identical substance to replace what is deficient would make more sense than using some similar chemical with a questionable safety profile. I most certainly believe in the Latin motto “primum non nocere;” first, do no harm. I do believe there will always be a need for allopathic physicians, and am very proud of my accomplishments in this arena as well! On the other hand, after practicing allopathic medicine for more than thirty years, and regenerative and anti-aging for less than ten, I have seen more consistent good from the latter!
I look at regenerative and anti-aging medicine as a combination of restoration and preventative medicine combined with a common-sense healthy lifestyle modification. In many ways, it can be viewed as attempting to restore and/or maintain the body’s natural internal milieu at a state where we are “at our best,” or healthiest, and keep it there for for the rest of our lives. It is still a specialty in its infancy and evolving rapidly. Much of this will be addressed in person if you elect to take this journey with me, but it should be obvious that aging and declining health do not always go hand in hand. We all see people (especially in my other world — the ER) that age “more gracefully” than others. Clearly, this is multifactorial in nature. While there are certainly genetic factors at play, and we know the many self-inflicted factors (smoking, obesity, etc.), there are many undefined factors involved including the environment! We know that individuals who live in less developed regions, who can afford to eat healthy diets and maintain healthy lifestyles, age more slowly and remain more productive longer.
Industrialized nations, on the other hand, seem to promote earlier and earlier decline in health (mistakenly attributed to the natural aging process), undoubtedly related to numerous causes including environmental toxins, poor diets with countless little understood food additives, and increased stress.
Many different complaints and goals bring patients to a regenerative and anti-aging medicine medical practice. The top three in my experience were patients wanting more energy, better sex (libido), and less fat (aesthetics). Another common scenario was based upon frustration. Patients (usually, but not always, over forty) would go from primary care physicians to sub specialists with a variety of non specific complaints, including those listed above, usually including some statement to the effect: “I just don’t feel right” or “I just don’t feel like I used to!” There frustrations were only escalated when they were told things like “you’re just getting older,” and frequently they had been tried on numerous anti-depressants with no improvements…only side effects making things worse. I have witnessed, first hand, countless people in this situation miraculously transform into the “I finally feel like my old self” or “my marriage is back to the honeymoon days” category of grateful patients.
At this point in my life, I’m not only trying to promote my medical practice. I am definitely, also, trying to familiarize anyone who will listen, preferably with an open mind, with the exciting fundamentals of regenerative and anti-aging medicine. I believe with all of my heart that this is only the beginning of a future that will include the ability to live much longer in a healthy, happy body. My only regret with regard to this way of thinking is I wish I had known about it and started at least ten years sooner myself !