When we think of anti-aging - our minds picture expensive creams, Botox, Microdermabrasion.

But what good is looking good if you feel old on the inside?

For years, people have found the fountain of youth in anti-aging centers across America.

One just opened in North Texas, and unlike its predecessors, most patients here are men.

Their lives are changing - yes, including their sex lives.

At 42, Mark Wheeler looks good, but this former personal trainer was shocked recently to realize his normal "get up and go" had gone.

"I was losing my drive, my energy to get up, to go work out - something I did all my life," he said.

Middle age wasn't setting well with Wheeler.

"I had no drive. No libido," he said.

He refused to accept it. In fact, he looked to reverse it, and thinks he's found the answer in an IV bag of bio-identical hormones and micro-nutrients.

Doctors at the Anti-aging and Vitality Center in Plano say hormonal balance controls every aspect of our being - the endocrine system, muscular-skeleton, gastro-intestinal, central and nervous systems. Even our immune systems.

When we're out of whack, we have no energy, mental fog, low memory, muscle pain and weakness, bloating or abnormal weight gain, they say.

Sounds familiar? Wheeler had every symptom.

His first visit to the center involved extensive blood work looking for hormonal imbalances, nutritional deficiencies and viral, bacterial and fungal infections, which commonly go undetected, and can cause all of Mauldin's symptoms.

Wheeler's diagnosis?

Low chromium, testosterone, and omega fish oils. He takes supplements and gets an IV cocktail that also detoxes his body every three weeks.

"You feel endorphins in your body. You feel good," he said.

UT Southwestern's Dr. Richard Auchus - who specializes in endocrinology - warns nothing really reverses aging, and too many hormones can be dangerous.

"The key is to get the things in normal range," he said.

Auchus recommends close monitoring, and questions whether anything outside conventional medicine is necessary.

"There's no reason to do this weird battery of testing. Conventional testing works pretty well most of the time," he added.

Still, Wheeler likes the results.

"As I'm getting older, I don't want to wait until I get sick to come in and get better," he said.

"I know what good feels like. I know what energy feels like. For someone who thinks 'Oh I'm in my 40s, 50s - it's too late.' It's never too late," he added.

E-mail mjepson@wfaa.com.