By my mid 50s, my age-related problems had reached a point where I couldn’t function well anymore and not just in the bedroom with minor ED problems (I could get it up OK, but lost it very easily). My job as an environmental scientist required a “trail blazing” ethos – nothing rote. My mind just would not work properly and I announced to my fellow company Directors that, if I couldn’t resolve the issue, I would have to retire. I could not justify drawing a reasonable salary while not being productive.
Apart from poor functionality and declining bedroom performance, my symptoms didn’t worry me too much. Symptoms included:
• A decline in mental skills, concentration and memory
• A loss of focus and drive
• A questioning of my values and accomplishments
• A loss of goals and directions in life
• A decline in bedroom performance (a decline in sex drive, frequency of sexual thoughts and erectile dysfunction)
• Failure of the morning woodies – they just didn’t happen anymore
• A decline in lean muscle tissue and an increase in body fat (especially developing “chicken” legs, a “beer gut” and “man boobs”). Simple jobs that required medium level strength were now very difficult
• A decline in stamina
• A pronounced drop in energy levels
• Hot flushes and sweating (especially in bed in the early morning)
• Loss of body hair (started around the ankles and worked upwards)
• Irritability – negative attitudes about life overall (I didn’t recognise these, but everyone else did)
• Depression (would seem to follow on from everything above naturally).
Other symptoms that I don’t think affected me can include:
• Nervousness and anxiety
• Decreased ejaculatory force and volume (but I never measured it to know)
• Bone deterioration in advanced or prolonged cases of testosterone deficiency
• Circulatory problems.
Further details on this matter can be found at . This is the best website I’ve seen on these matters. It’s an Australian Association for men.
Various sources suggest that testosterone is much more than just a sex hormone. With testosterone receptor sites throughout the body, it plays a vital role in maintaining a healthy immune system, insuring proper heart function, regulating mood and cognition, controlling blood sugars, regulating healthy cholesterol levels, controlling blood pressure, preventing heart attacks, and even reducing the risk for prostate cancer.
Through the web, I discovered all this had a name – andropause. I found various lists of symptoms, most of which I had (see above). I also discovered what happens with testosterone as we age – we produce about 1.5 to 2 percent less per year from about age 25 or 30 onwards. Initial losses don’t matter, but eventually it all catches up. Some suggest this can be exacerbated by stress, including PTSD.
More than that, as we get older more of what testosterone we do produce quickly becomes unavailable to do it’s work (it’s not how much you’ve got in your blood, but how much you have that is available). Further, some is converted fairly quickly to estrogen (some men in their 60s produce more estrogen than their wives). I discussed this with my doctor and have not looked back, going onto hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Most of the symptoms of andropause just disappeared after about six months.
Now I can say fairly confidently, that not only have all symptoms gone away, but I can build muscle – not much, but more than I’ve put on for years. At the gym, I can keep up with many guys in their 30 and 40s, benching 80 kg (my body weight) and pushing 65 kg with the military press. I should stress, though, that my focus here is very much on well being and bedroom performance, not muscle – that’s just a very pleasant side effect. And I should mention that, along with HRT, I’m taking L-Arginine and zinc supplements (and Creatine to help at the gym).
Several problems seem to go along with HRT in men, including:
• Once you’re on it for any more than about six months, you’re probably on it for life – your balls can shut down because your production of luteinising hormone collapses. But if they’re not working anymore, so what? I take Pregnyl (chorionic gonadotropin) to offset this and to stop them shrinking too much.
• You need to ensure that the hormones you’re on are human copies, I.e. Are bioidentical and not copies of other animals, such as horses.
• You have to monitor prostate cancer closely. Bioidentical testosterone does not seem to increase your chances in getting this cancer, but it might exacerbate it if you do get it anyway. In fact, the most common treatment for prostate cancer seems to be, what is essentially, chemical castration.
The benefits are as dramatic for men as women. If you surf the web, you’ll find that many other positive health-related benefits are likely as well.
If anyone wishes, I am happy to discuss any aspects my experiences on this further. Please just ask. There’s a lot that I have not said here for fear of boring you all.