Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet, M.D.
Founder of Hormone Health Strategies PA, dba VIVE! LIVE CENTER, is a nationally known physician, specializing in preventive and climacteric medicine since 1985, and the author of 7 consumer health books focused on the overlooked hormone connections in all aspects of health.
“Our consultative practice is designed to give you an integrated picture of your health — to show you how all the pieces of your “health puzzle” fit together.”
OUR MISSION
OUR FOCUS IS ON YOU
When hormones go awry – for women or men, regardless of stage of life or cause – the imbalances can wreak havoc with one’s physical and emotional health, as well as sap energy, vitality, focus and concentration.
When hormones go awry – for women or men, regardless of stage of cause or stage of life from adolescent through late life– the imbalances can wreak havoc with one’s physical and emotional health, as well as sap energy, vitality, focus and concentration.
Few doctors today thoroughly evaluate the critical roles that all our hormone (endocrine) systems play in the brain and body pathways. Women, especially, often find that their symptoms are dismissed as “just stress” or depression or anxiety or you are just “getting older” and turn to over the counter remedies that further interfere with hormone balance. Patients often do not feel heard and do not know where to turn for effective help.
Many “hormone doctors” today have not had much more training than a weekend course in “natural hormones” or “bioidentical hormones,” often taught by pharmacists or celebrities. Hormone therapy in the US –whether “natural hormones” or commercial products — has often been a “cookbook” approach using one-size-fits-all doses and “protocols” that are not tailored to each person’s unique metabolism and genetic makeup, lifestyle, or other medications that can affect hormone levels.
Yet, the field of hormone medicine is complex, rapidly-changing, and exploding worldwide with new research findings. We believe that medical care for hormone problems should be done by a physician with expertise gained through years of experience treating these conditions and will evaluate “hormonally-challenged” patients in an integrated way and can develop individually tailored treatment plans that complement and do not conflict with medications and alternative therapies for other health problems.
OUR SERVICES
- We empower patients, consumers, and health professionals with cutting edge, research-based information on the overlooked hormone connections for women and men that affect health risks from puberty to from puberty to menopause or andropause, and beyond.
- We evaluate patients with hormonally-related health problems in a compassionate, competent, caring manner tailored to each person’s individual health goals.
- We help patients develop a comprehensive, long-term health strategy, not just a quick fix for the symptoms that affect you but address the root cause.
- We treat patients as a whole person, and not just a medical condition.
- We “connect the dots” to treat the whole person, not just symptoms.
- We integrate preventive medicine with cutting edge approaches to optimize hormone balance
- We complement not replace your primary care physicians.
HORMONE EDUCATION
MEDIA & FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
It used to be that medical professionals thought men having difficulty with erections primarily had psychological factors causing this, but research has now shown that there are over 100 diverse medical causes for men having difficulty achieving an erection for sex, loss of morning erections, loss of rigidity of erections to allow successful sexual encounters, or difficulty sustaining an erection. TV ads are common to describe medications to treat ED, but what about getting to the underlying cause? That is often a little more difficult for patients, since doctors often are not focused on diagnosing the cause as much as they are on just treating the problem. I prefer to do a comprehensive evaluation of my patients to get to the root of the cause, because many causes of ED also have OTHER serious health risks that may cost both quality of life and longevity if not treated.
Diabetes is one of the most common medical causes of ED, and in fact, ED is often one of the earliest “symptoms” of untreated diabetes. Approximately 50-60% of diabetic men will develop ED, especially if blood sugar is poorly controlled. The consensus is that ED in diabetes results from both an autonomic nervous system nerve damage and to the micro- and macro-vascular damage caused by the disease itself. Other endocrine disorders such as high prolactin, hyper or hypothyroidism, and the iron overload disorder hemochromatosis (elevated ferritin) can also cause ED.
Low testosterone (Low T) commonly causes loss of early morning erections in addition to loss of normal desire for sex. Low T may also contribute to difficulty sustaining erections, and to loss of normal rigidity via effects on nerves and blood vessels. Low T has many causes – side effects of many medicines such as ones for lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, opioids narcotics, antidepressants, mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, antihistamines, diuretics, and others.
Alcohol and marijuana (cannabis) both have marked adverse sexual effects leading to loss of sexual desire and loss of erections. Both drugs increase estrogenic effects in men and lead to breast formation (gynecomastia), shrinkage of testicle size, and decreased production of testosterone. Both drugs affect many pathways involved in normal sexual function, including brain effects and adverse effects on blood vessels and nerve function.
The most important thing patients can do is have a comprehensive medical evaluation to determine the cause of ED, and decide the correct, combined treatment approaches that may be needed to restore normal healthy sexual function as well as reduce later disease risks. At Vive Life Center, we are here to help you do that!
