Vitamin, nutrition and hormone therapies deliver energy boost.
The human body is built to move. As a working single mother of two active teenage boys, Christy’s* body is one that’s in perpetual motion.
“Both my sons are big into sports, so I spend a lot of time just getting them to and from practices and games,” says the 52-year-old 
freelance photographer. “Throw in work and taking care of the house and things like that, and I’m always on the go.”
A former college volleyball player, Christy managed for years to squeeze a few hour-long workouts into her hectic schedule. However, a little more than a year ago, she abandoned those workouts. It wasn’t because she was too busy, but because she was too tired.
“I suddenly became very fatigued,” Christy says. “At first, I thought maybe I was coming down with something. Then, after a couple of weeks, I went to the doctor, and he couldn’t find anything wrong with me. I didn’t have a virus or anything.
“After seeing the doctor, I thought the problem would eventually pass, but it didn’t. So, for a while, I was going to one of those IV bars where they give you the intravenous treatments that supposedly give you an energy boost.
“A friend of mine talked me into it, but the IV bar thing didn’t work at all. It was really a waste of my time. Then I read an article in Florida Health Care News about a real health and wellness facility and decided to check it out.”
The practice Christy read about is the Dean Wellness Institute in Vero Beach, where Melissa Dean, MD, and her staff have been providing patients with a holistic approach to wellness for more than 15 years.
Medically Managed Treatments
“We focus on each patient individually, and instead of offering cookie-cutter treatments for them, we tailor our treatments specifically to that individual,” Dr. Dean emphasizes. “And a lot of those treatments are given intravenously.
“For example, we specialize in treatments such as intravenous vitamin therapy, intravenous ultraviolet blood irradiation (UBI) therapy and Prolozone® therapy, all of which are medically managed.”
Intravenous (IV) vitamin therapy uses a mixture of vitamins and minerals that are delivered directly into the bloodstream to fight fatigue and correct potential vitamin deficiencies that are often caused by a diseased state.
“I noticed a difference from the vitamin IVs almost immediately. About a week after starting them, I just felt a lot better.” – Christy
Ultraviolet blood irradiation is an in-office procedure where the patient’s blood is exposed to ultraviolet light. The light exposure helps regulate the body’s immune system, which helps it fight off infection and manage autoimmune conditions such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
Prolozone is a reconstruction and pain management treatment in which ozone gas is injected into damaged areas of the body. The gas increases the amount of pure oxygen in the body, which helps relieve all forms of musculoskeletal and joint pain.
Dr. Dean, who practices internal and preventative medicine, has trained with some of the pioneers in alternative medicine, including Dr. Frank Shallenberger, Dr. Charles Runels and Dr. Patricia Kane.
She also earned a Master of Metabolic and Nutritional Medicine degree and specializes in adrenal support therapy as well as bio-identical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT). The latter is considered the most natural and effective solution for hormone-related issues.
Those issues can include insomnia, vaginal dryness and an inability to focus. BHRT has also proven to be effective in preventing diabetes, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease and cardiovascular disease while also slowing the aging process.
Bioidentical hormones are natural byproducts of a plant derivative that are molecularly identical to the hormones produced by the human body and can be administered in a number of different ways.
“Some people want to do topical creams, which are very inexpensive and easily managed, while others prefer sublingual tablets,” Dr. Dean educates. “We also do a lot of bioidentical hormone pellets, which are about two times the size of a grain of rice.
“With the pellet therapy, we make a small incision and insert the pellet subcutaneously [below the skin]. The pellet slowly dissolves and is absorbed into the system. Many patients find that approach to be much easier than managing a daily application.”
Prior to prescribing any of her available treatments, Dr. Dean meets privately with each patient to learn of their activity levels, lifestyle choices and medical history, including where women are in the cycle of life.
“My first appointment with a new patient can last up to an hour because I really dig deep,”
Dr. Dean explains. “I want to know what I don’t feel well means to that patient and what’s really bothering them, whether it’s fatigue, memory loss or possibly depression.
“And I always ask questions like: What do you eat? How many hours a night do you sleep? How would you rate your moods? Do you have things that you do for hobbies that bring you pleasure? If the patient is a woman, I ask, Are you menopausal?
“These are all things that, once I get the answers, I can use to better determine exactly what will and won’t work for a patient. Once I’ve done that, I come up with a treatment plan that fits that patient’s unique needs.”
Balancing Act
In examining Christy and further evaluating her answers to those questions and the results of the lab work she ordered, Dr. Dean discovered that Christy’s lack of energy was tied largely to a vitamin deficiency and a hormonal imbalance.
To correct those problems, Dr. Dean prescribed a combination of general nutrition and IV vitamin therapies as well as BHRT pellets. The combination of treatments has given Christy the energy boost she needed, and more.
“I noticed a difference from the vitamin IVs almost immediately,” she says. “About a week after starting them, I just felt a lot better. Then, about a month after beginning the BHRT therapy, I started feeling more energetic. I was more like my old self again.
“Up until a year ago, I was always very active, but something sort of robbed me of the energy to do a lot of the things I needed and wanted to do. The combination of therapies prescribed by Dr. Dean changed all that.
“Now, I’m going to the gym again, and I’m not feeling as weary as I once did. I’m also enjoying work more because I have the energy to give it my best effort. I’m even enjoying my kids’ games more because I’ve got more energy to cheer them on.
“Dr. Dean was confident these therapies would work for me, and she was right. I’m so glad I found Dr. Dean, and I’ve already recommended her to some friends, including the one whom I visited the IV bar with. I told her, Dr. Dean beats that by a mile.”
