Help is Available for Waning Testosterone
Submitted by: Marc C. Gittelman, M.D.
Submitted on: September 26, 2006
Q: My husband is 51 and he doesn’t have the sexual desire he had when we were younger. We’ve been married for 10 years and we have a great relationship. My friends think he is going through male menopause and has a low level of testosterone. Isn’t he too young for that?
A: There is no question that has men age, our testosterone levels get lower. Symptoms of low testosterone include fatigue, low sexual desire, grumpiness and, occasionally, signs of depression. The aging male body will also lose bone strength, muscle strength, and erection arousal and response
A recently published study from the University of Florida has demonstrated that low testosterone is incredibly common. Physicians evaluated healthy men over the age of 45 and found that a whopping 39 percent had low testosterone. More remarkable is that they also found low testosterone in men who were overweight or who had diabetes, high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol.
The good news is that there are a variety of medicines available to replace testosterone that our bodies are no longer making in sufficient quantities. The most common way to increase testosterone is the use of a gel applied anywhere on the body. Your physician may also offer you a skin patch or injections. We can’t fool Mother Nature when it comes to changes in our bodies, but we can learn to recognize when there are sexual problems or other issues that may be due to aging. Talk to your physician so he or she can determine whether testosterone medications can help put your sex life back on track.