What Are Your Views on "The Male Menopause"

[greeneg (imported)]

Male menopause exists to the extent that many males - Dr Michael Colgan's Hormonal Health suggests 5-7% of men aged 50-60 years - lose the ability to produce sufficient quantities of testosterone.

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I experienced this in my very late 40s. The most obvious symptoms were loss of physical energy and slower facial hair growth.

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I am going through this Now(at 44) and I appreciate hearing anything

about it. It is very ugly. Losing the energy is really bad for me

since I am trying to finish a dissertation and really need concentrated

burst of effort here. The "eunuch calm" is not an asset for me right

now. My other symptoms include diminished body odor, minor breast

budding, general weight gain and a more fem fat distribution (girl I think

my butt gettin' big).

One reason I was afraid of HRT is that I was frankly hoping my condition

would somehow be curable, and I thought HRT would just cause the

shutdown of the natural supply to become permanent. Could the

"cycling" you mentioned possibly wake them back up?

[Blaise (imported)]

The reason why my internal medicine physician gave me HRT was to "restart' the system. To some degree, it did work. I endorse HRT.I have not read much about the condition.

I do not miss sexual play as much as I miss the friendship one enjoys in marriage. That I do miss.

By the way, I see my urologist evey six months for potential prostate problems that I had before HRT.

[JeffEunuch (imported)]

I am going through this Now(at 44) and I appreciate hearing anything about it. It is very ugly.....One reason I was afraid of HRT is that I was frankly hoping my condition would somehow be curable, and I thought HRT would just cause the shutdown of the natural supply to become permanent. Could the"cycling" you mentioned possibly wake them back up?

What I understand generally and understood in particular in my case is that cycling HRT will not cause one's testicles to 'wake up.' What happens from time to time is that there was another reason one's hormone production was shutting down (trauma, illness), and cycling can keep the testicles from closing down entirely until one's system otherwise recovers. I had a friend that experienced this as a result of a physical trauma (horse hoof to the balls). More often, it's just one's particular pattern of aging. In my case, hormone production had never been robust, and the natural effects of aging just made themselves evident - hypogonadism - sooner than for most others. That one ball severely injured as a result of an inguinal hernia had closed down also contributed. My doc nevertheless insisted on cycling testosterone injections. Following removal of the testicles, he agreed

I could have as much testosterone as I wanted.

I haven't abused HRT and seem healthier, livelier and more robust than in many years. My waist size has reduced from 32 to 30", and I'm confident I can soon hit 29" with continued work on my abs. I ran in a marathon race 3 days ago (my 3rd since deciding that staying healthy would take work) and finished 16 of 74 in my age group (60-64) even while acquiring sore feet and a large blister.

[Blaise (imported)]

Thank you, Jeff for recounting your experience and knowledge. I had doubted that testosterone injections jump-started hormone manufacture. I do not know what my level of production now is. It had been almost non-existent. HRTdid reduce some aspects of hypogonadism. I got the injections after cardiac surgery. I am not certain what outcomes came from HRT and what came from surgery. For that reason, I won't recite the improvements.

I wonder whether years of taking Prozac and other anti-depressant medication had interfered with production of testosterone. Libido has returned but only a bit. Hypogonadism may have produced the calm that Andrew enjoys. I suppose that it has. That calm doesn't mean much to me.

[Sac_mec (imported)]

Old Softee, I am sure that taking anti-depressants over some time impacts on erectyle ability. I took some among a cocktail of other drugs for pain relief

(directed by my Dr., of course) for many years and continue to do so.

The drugs took some time to make me impotent but my libido such as it was died and I suddenly realised one day that I had gone a year without an erection. I attempted orgasm but failed and then realised that my prescribed drugs had no doubt influenced this. I saw a Urologist and after some time we both agreed that I needed to end impotency not by attempting a return to vigour but by the alternative, a total closedown and total loss of libido.

With prescribed androcur I have faced the loss of energy but as I retired young this I can cope with. Breast growth was stimulated especially the aurioles which are now pointed and body fat has been re-distributed let's say more asexually. None of these are a problem to me. I think men in their 40s do go through biological changes and lots of functions slow down including brain stimuli frequently. Is this "the male menopause"? Short of another defintion, I think yes though I take the point about birth issues.

Some of us also for different reasons create our own "menopause" and then go through symptoms such as "hot flashes", exhaustion etc.

All these issues are highly relevant as they affect daily life.

[Blaise (imported)]

The size of my sexual organs decreased. I could always get erections if I wanted them. They simply came infrequently. I do not recall hot flashes. I do not recall loss of energy until I began to have cardiac problems two years ago. That is when I had the greatest weight gain. The main problem I had was loss of libido—that problem began in 1988.

I do not know when my testosterone production first failed. The internal medicine doctor diagnosed it in the fall 2002. HRT did cause my sexual organs to regain bulk.

I was married to a beautiful, sexually acive woman. She missed my sexual libido. I miss being younger and I miss sexual play. However, it's still good to be alive.