Morning everyone!
Welcome to another edition of the Doctor’s Note where we talk about what’s on our minds when it comes to your health.
In this week’s Common Sense MD episode, I talked with our newest provider, Robin Riddle FNP-BC, about what PEPTIDES are and some of our favorite combinations to use with patients.
Robin is an expert on peptides, now seeing patients in our Knoxville office. Hopefully this will give you a good introduction to her, along with a good idea of how to look at peptides for your own personal health goals.
What are Peptides?
Peptides are a short string of amino acids that act as a signaller to another part of your body (whether it be a hormone or an enzyme) to perform an action. It’s like a protein, but a lot shorter and easier to break down.
Proteins provide structure. I think of peptides as more of an actor and signaller.
They are great for anti-aging with lots of different choices to target different things that you’re wanting to do, such as:
Do you want to burn fat and build muscle?
Do you want to recover faster?
Do you want to repair ligaments?
Do you want something for your skin?
There are peptides that help with all of these things and lots of options to help you reach your health goals.
Peptides are also great for the long term. As Robin says, “keep your growth hormone levels up, and you will keep looking and feeling great”.
The two most common reasons people go see their doctor is 1. they are tired or 2. they’re hurting. Peptides can address these two things.
Sermorelin is the most popular one that we use in our offices. It’s good for boosting growth hormone levels, muscle recovery, and fat loss. When on Sermorelin, you’ll also get much better sleep. Everyone on Sermorelin always tells us how much better they sleep.
Peptides vs. Growth Hormone
Growth hormone is a repair hormone. Remember, recovery is just as important as the workout phase! The problem with getting growth hormone is that it’s not exactly legal. It’s also very expensive.
Growth hormones can also cause potential problems. It can pop your blood sugar up and cause carpal tunnel. If you have a growth or a tumor somewhere, it could theoretically make it grow faster.
Peptides, however, don’t have that risk. They also won’t shut down that pituitary axis. They have no effect on that!
With peptides, you’re simply amplifying what your body wants to do naturally. They send a strong signal to the cells to tell them what we want them to release. Peptides are a way to get your growth hormones up safely and affordably.
Different peptides work on different pathways.
The first peptide was actually insulin. That insulin pathway is so important to our overall health. I’m always looking at insulin levels in people. Half of what we do is get people leaner, stronger, and aging better.
The big thing with peptides is knowing which ones to use, and how to use them appropriately.
I love the use of peptides to affect hormones. Using peptides with Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT) will help you get even better results out of the BHRT.
Growth hormone works very synergistically with testosterone (fyi: men and women both need testosterone).
Note: Testosterone is an anabolic steroid and growth hormone is more of a repair hormone.
I believe strongly that it starts with nutrition. That’s the most important thing in regards to getting and staying healthy. Then exercise, sleep, and stress management.
After that it’s hormone treatment, and that’s really where peptides come into play for me. I use them to affect the hormones.
My Favorite Peptides and Peptide Blends
Ipamorelin with CJC 1295. This is an awesome blend. You’re definitely going to see body composition changes with something like this. It’s great anti-aging because it keeps those growth hormones up.
BPC 157 Oral. This one is amazing for the gut. There’s been studies that have shown it works for Crohn’s Disease as well as IBS. Use this in combination with DigestShield.
Melanotan. This protects your skin against the sun. You don’t want to use this if the patient has a history of melanomas or a family history of melanomas.
PT141. Recently FDA approved for women’s libido. It also comes in a nasal spray.
GHK CU (Copper Peptide). This is available in a bunch of different forms. The injection form is good for inflammation and healing. You can use it on your skin which is good for wrinkles, dark spots and sun damage. If you get it in the foam form it can be great for receding hairlines.
Collagen Peptides. This works great on skin.
Beta Thymosin. This is something you would inject into an injured area. You can also let the patient go home and inject it themselves.
BPC157 mixed with Beta Thymosin. This is great for inflammation and healing. It can help with minor tears to avoid surgery and also speed up recovery.
The amazing thing about peptides is that you can tweak and customize them based on what the patient is looking for.
Remember that we are in a continual state of buildup and repair, whether it be our muscles, bones, brains, or skin. That’s why I believe Peptides are important.
As patients in today’s healthcare environment, you need to know about Peptides. You need to know how to get them safely from a provider who knows what they’re doing.
Hope this is helpful! Share this with a friend who wants to learn more about Peptides!