Why Regenesis?

Since 2015, Regenesis Performance has been improving lives of veterans with a vitamin based alternative to pharmaceutical drugs with  Dr. David Lemay at the helm.

​Regenesis is a lifestyle medical practice that focuses on removing barriers that stand in the way of maximizing human performance and recovery. People can accomplish regenesis through fitness and promoting metabolic efficiency to reduce the risk of future disease. This bridges into integrative medicine and combines a background in treating musculoskeletal injuries with functional medicine. ​

Treatments may include nutritional optimization, hormone replacement and optimization, lifestyle modification, and adjustments.  The process is quite straight forward, the veteran gets multiple blood panels drawn, Dr. Lemay's office sends them to get tested, then a time is scheduled for Dr. Lemay to speak with the veteran, where for the first time ever consulting the veteran, he is able to tell the veteran what his/her signs and symptoms are, without prior knowledge.  From there, the veteran is prescribed 100% natural vitamin regimens that are specifically tailored to their individual needs, helping restore normal levels of naturally occurring and produced hormones in the body.

​Dr. Lemay is board certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation as well as anti-aging and regenerative medicine. He does consulting work for Special Operations Forces and professional sports teams including the NBA’s Washington Wizards. He maintains positions with Thorne Research, EXOS (Athlete's Performance), and the Special Operations Medical Association Research Committee. We are honored to have his support as our program adviser.

Making a Difference

Research studies have shown that veterans returning from combat who suffer from PTSD, have hormone imbalances that start in the pituitary gland. Hormone therapy programs, such as Regenesis, have been used to optimize these hormones and relieve the symptoms of PTSD in lieu of conventional prescription medication as an effective treatment option. 

Along, with PTSD are TBI’s. Close to one fifth of the soldiers returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq are diagnosed with blast concussions, but many of these may actually have a rare hormone deficiency so uncommon that even military doctors don’t check for it. According to a recent study by researchers at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System and the University of Washington in Seattle, around 42 percent of veterans tested for blast injuries appear to have irregular hormone levels associated with hypopituitarism. 
Hypopituitarism has symptoms that mirror other extremely common conditions for veterans such as PTSD and depression. The biggest difference between those conditions and this hormonal deficiency is that the hormone imbalance can be well-controlled through hormone replacement therapy. “This could be a largely missed opportunity for successful treatment,” said Charles W. Wilkinson, one of the leaders of the study. While hypopituitarism mimics PTSD, many researchers believe it comes from traumatic brain injury, which may explain why TBI and PTSD are often diagnosed simultaneously. Recent studies have shown that between a quarter and a half of all people who suffer TBIs have low pituitary hormone levels. 
While this condition could be easily identified, it is rarely tested for in brain injury diagnostic testing. Unless they implement pituitary hormone level testing in standard TBI diagnostic procedures, the most common way to be diagnosed with hypopituitarism is to see an endocrinologist, a rare doctors appointment for most people. Sadly, this means many will go untreated for an easily mitigated condition. 

At Regenesis, we have a heart for Veterans. Our mission is to provide personalized, high-quality care on an as-needed, or preventative basis. We focus on mitigating the negative effects of stress on multiple systems in the body and brain that impact health. Our focus is more on optimal levels in our patients in order to improve health and wellbeing. We also may look at hormone changes that can occur with stress that negatively impact our mood, energy levels, ability to recover from injury, and our ability to sleep. Long term stress hormone changes that are not addressed unfortunately can negatively impact bone density, blood sugar regulation, blood pressure, cholesterol, memory and repair of injured tissues. We first do a full assessment of blood levels through a complete lab work-up. Then, with a combination of our pharmaceutical grade vitamins and supplements, prescriptions, and nutritional advice, we are able to greatly improve any levels that are out of range. In doing this, it will ensure that your blood levels are where they should be, and in turn allowing your body to be optimized to its greatest potential. 
 Research studies have shown that veterans returning from combat who suffer from PTSD, have hormone imbalances that start in the pituitary gland. Hormone therapy programs, such as Regenesis, have been used to optimize these hormones and relieve the symptoms of PTSD in lieu of conventional prescription medication as an effective treatment option. 
Along, with PTSD are TBI’s. Close to one fifth of the soldiers returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq are diagnosed with blast concussions, but many of these may actually have a rare hormone deficiency so uncommon that even military doctors don’t check for it. According to a recent study by researchers at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System and the University of Washington in Seattle, around 42 percent of veterans tested for blast injuries appear to have irregular hormone levels associated with hypopituitarism. 
Hypopituitarism has symptoms that mirror other extremely common conditions for veterans such as PTSD and depression. The biggest difference between those conditions and this hormonal deficiency is that the hormone imbalance can be well-controlled through hormone replacement therapy. “This could be a largely missed opportunity for successful treatment,” said Charles W. Wilkinson, one of the leaders of the study. While hypopituitarism mimics PTSD, many researchers believe it comes from traumatic brain injury, which may explain why TBI and PTSD are often diagnosed simultaneously. Recent studies have shown that between a quarter and a half of all people who suffer TBIs have low pituitary hormone levels. 
While this condition could be easily identified, it is rarely tested for in brain injury diagnostic testing. Unless they implement pituitary hormone level testing in standard TBI diagnostic procedures, the most common way to be diagnosed with hypopituitarism is to see an endocrinologist, a rare doctors appointment for most people. Sadly, this means many will go untreated for an easily mitigated condition. 
At Regenesis, we have a heart for Veterans. Our mission is to provide personalized, high-quality care on an as-needed, or preventative basis. We focus on mitigating the negative effects of stress on multiple systems in the body and brain that impact health. Our focus is more on optimal levels in our patients in order to improve health and wellbeing. We also may look at hormone changes that can occur with stress that negatively impact our mood, energy levels, ability to recover from injury, and our ability to sleep. Long term stress hormone changes that are not addressed unfortunately can negatively impact bone density, blood sugar regulation, blood pressure, cholesterol, memory and repair of injured tissues. We first do a full assessment of blood levels through a complete lab work-up. Then, with a combination of our pharmaceutical grade vitamins and supplements, prescriptions, and nutritional advice, we are able to greatly improve any levels that are out of range. In doing this, it will ensure that your blood levels are where they should be, and in turn allowing your body to be optimized to its greatest potential. 

Vitamin and Supplements… A Discussion

When Racing for Heroes was looking into helping veterans through the use of vitamins and supplements it was clear early on that not all of them are created equal. After working with our partners at Regenesis we realized that the quality of the materials mattered. This is why we only use medical grade supplements. They use only two providers to source supplements, specifically Klaire Labs and Pure Encapsulations. Both sources manufacturing takes place in temperature, humidity and dust-controlled facilities. Laboratory conditions are maintained with each piece of equipment dismantled and sterilized before each production run to include scales, mills, blenders, powder fillers, encapsulating machines and capsule counters. Materials are maintained in climate-controlled facilities in order to maximize the stability of our raw materials and finished products. Then, certified independent laboratories test raw materials and finished, encapsulated products. Independent microbiological testing is also performed to ensure supplement purity and safety.
There are very particular reasons for using medical grade supplements versus over the counter (OTC) supplements. One reason is that OTC vitamins are not regulated by the government. As an example, a recent report shows that some OTC supplements that were called gluten-free had gluten in them, some that said they contained a certain amount in a capsule had less than the amount listed, and one didn’t even contain the ingredients listed on the label at all. There are thousands of OTC supplement companies, and they all say the same things about their products – pure, high quality, etc., etc. – but usually they are not able to back up those claims. Further, good marketing does not necessarily equate to it being a good product. 

​This is where the care of a medical provider to get the “right” vitamins and supplements really matters. Because, many people don’t know that there are often multiple forms of a single vitamin – from cheap and synthetic, to more pricey but natural and much better for you. For example, folic acid is an inexpensive and synthetic form of the naturally occurring vitamin folate, and many people (due to common genetic mutations such as MTHFR) need the methylated natural forms of their B vitamins, including methyl folate and methyl B12. This is because folic acid can actually block the folate receptor and prevent it from responding to the better, more natural vitamin folate. For example, Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) is better as the more expensive P5P (pyridoxine-5-phosphate). Vitamin E is better as the pricier mixed tocopherols as opposed to alpha tocopherol only, and so on. Hence, medical grade supplements are preferred to ensure that your body is getting the most natural and effective form of the vitamin or supplement required. 

Another big reason that OTC vitamins are not the same as medical grade vitamins is the concentrations found in the product. For example, as anyone in the military can attest Motrin (Ibuprofen) used to be a prescription drug only and was 800 mg per pill. When it became available OTC, they lowered the dose to 200 mg. Vitamins are often the same, with much lower doses being the norm in OTC products. For example, in fish oil pills, OTC products usually say “1000 mg per pill” but this is not necessarily reality. Because the most important part of that fish oil is the omega-3 fraction of the oil. In OTC fish oil, there is usually only around 200-400 mg of omega-3 (EPA + DHA) per 1000 mg of oil in a capsule. Since our daily goal for EPA+ DHA should be 1500 – 2000 mg per day, you would have to take five to ten of those OTC fish oil pills to get what you need, as opposed to usually 2 of the medical grade versions. In essence OTC isn’t necessarily the cheaper route to get the same result. 

Another issue we see is the bioavailability of products that are not subject to stringent standards. For example, many of the “one-a-day” kinds of multivitamins, have small amounts of lots of different things stuffed into one pill – so that the label looks good, and again, people believe they are getting a lot of impact in one pill. In reality, many of those compacted pills are excreted in the stool undigested and unabsorbed, because they compacted so densely, that they don’t dissolve well and therefore the benefit is lost.
Additionally, many produces focus on percent of Recommended Daily Allowance. However, RDA is really the amount of a vitamin that you would have to get, in order to not have a vitamin deficiency disease. The amount of a vitamin that you need to be optimally healthy, is often many times more. This is where the combination of blood work profiles coupled with oversight from a medical professional truly matters.

Please consider helping us fund this program by earmarking your donation "Vitamin and Supplement" and provide a life saving opportunity to a veteran in need!