Are you seeing patients regularly for general care? Do you perform the standard initial and yearly laboratory evaluation “recommended” within guidelines such as lipids, HgbA1C, CBC, etc…? I really want you to consider adding some basic hormonal and vitamin labs to yearly lab work on your patients. Why? Because treating hormonal and vitamin deficiencies in your patients can truly be life altering for them.

I can’t tell you how many men I have seen who have “depression” and have been on antidepressants for years. If their PCP would have just checked a testosterone level, they could have corrected their hypogonadism FIRST, which would have prevented the use of the antidepressants. I have countless men who have gotten off their psychiatric medication once their testosterone deficiency was treated.

I also have seen individuals with subclinical hypothyroidism who have had anxiety for many years. It is amazing what bringing a T3 level up into an optimal range will do for one’s anxiety… (thyroid optimization course in the works just FYI!)

Individuals who get sick often could have a vitamin D deficiency as well. I have had countless patients comment that they no longer catch “colds” after their vitamin D deficiency was treated. Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with severe COVID-19 after all…

The point of this pearl is that sometimes treating an underlying hormonal or vitamin deficiency in your patient will help alleviate symptoms while preventing the use of unneeded medications!