I have written before about my father, Ellis, who suffered with severe heart disease for more than 20 years. When he was 60, I treated him with a combination of bioidentical testosterone and natural thyroid hormone — and it reversed his long history of angina within a week.

Furthermore, his cholesterol, which had been above 300 mg/dL for years, fell to less than 200 mg/dL within a few weeks of taking testosterone.

Later in his life, at age 69, my father developed diabetes. To be honest, my father was overweight, ate terribly, smoked cigarettes, and never exercised.

One day, he found an ulcer on the bottom of his foot. For the next six months, Ellis went to a podiatrist, who cleaned the wound weekly, and a vascular surgeon, who prescribed a medication that cost $300 per month.

Yet six months later, my father still had the ulcer, along with a severe case of cellulitis in his leg. He was admitted to the hospital, and a surgeon wanted to schedule an amputation of his foot.

“I don’t understand,” I said. “I’ve treated so many patients for diabetic foot ulcers, and they all improve with testosterone. I don’t know why you’re not getting better.”

My father had a sheepish look on his face. “Maybe I wasn’t taking the testosterone like you wanted me to,” he said.

Needless to say, that didn’t make me happy. I called the pharmacist and found out that my father hadn’t filled the testosterone prescription for six months.

I asked the vascular surgeon to delay the surgery. Over the next six weeks, I had my father rub a 10 percent testosterone cream into the wound, and gave him injections of 100 mg of testosterone weekly.

After six weeks, the ulcer was cured. My father was able to keep his foot.

It’s significant that neither the vascular surgeon nor the podiatrist ever thought to check my father’s testosterone.

Fortunately, things may be changing. Researchers at the University of Washington reported on the difficulty of treating patients with spinal cord injuries who develop pressure ulcers on their buttocks. But using vitamin B12 and testosterone helped wounds heal.

Since treating my father, I have given testosterone to many other patients with ulcers. In every case, the therapy has helped significantly.

Testosterone is an anabolic hormone, which means that it stimulates muscle growth and helps repair injured tissue. (Growth hormone, DHEA, and pregnenolone are other examples of anabolic hormones.)

If there are not enough tissue-building anabolic hormones, how can the body heal itself ?

Balancing the hormonal system with the use of bioidentical testosterone and other anabolic hormones can help to heal injured tissue.And there are many other conditions that testosterone has been shown to benefit, including:

• Autoimmune illness

• Cardiovascular disease

• Depression

• Diabetes

• Insulin resistance

• Loss of muscle mass and libido

• Neurodegenerative disorders

• Obesity

• Osteoporosis