Testosterone Therapy – Why Bother?

I like a glass (or three) of wine now and then. If a pill existed that could reliably prevent hangovers with a relatively low risk of adverse side effects, I would take it. No question.Testosterone Therapy

Is my hangover a disorder? No, it’s a simple consequence of drinking too much. I can choose to just grin and bear my hangover, or I can choose to spend my day more ‘optimally’ by not suffering from a hangover all day.

Is andropause a disorder? No, it’s a simple consequence of living for a long time. Testosterone levels decline 1% every year after the age of 30, so if you have been lucky enough to live until 60 years old, your testosterone level will on average be 30% lower than it was at aged 30.

Here’s the 21st century kicker in all of this. In addition to the natural testosterone decline that you will suffer, there is also a pronounced decline taking place in the overall testosterone levels of the general population. The ‘Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism’ published a study showing that testosterone levels have, on average, declined 1.2% per year for the past 25 years. This was a huge, well designed study – and nobody seems to be able to explain why this is happening.

So, we find ourselves in the 21st century with an increasingly elderly population, with significantly lower testosterone levels than they had in their prime, as well as some kind of environmental factors at work that are compounding the problem even further.

So, is Andropause a disorder? No, it’s just a normal consequence of living for a long time in a developed country.

So, why use testosterone therapy to treat the low testosterone levels associated with andropause? Well, that’s the part that some people don’t like – treating andropause with testosterone therapy allows men to make the decision to reject ‘normal’ and aim for something a little better than that. We are entering the age of ‘personal enhancement’ – people are not just using medicine to treat diseases, they are also using every tactic possible to improve the quality of their extended lifespan. It’s not just enough to live, people want to live ‘optimally’.

They want their viagra so that they can continue to have sex, they want their lasik so that they can continue to see optimally, they want their human growth hormone therapy for anti-aging, and they want their testosterone so that they don’t feel like an old man, when in fact they really are an old man. Remember, it wasn’t so long ago that if you lived to see andropause then you really were old – in the early 20th century the average lifespan was only 40!

Welcome to the age of personal enhancement. You are probably going to live for a very long time – how you choose to live is entirely up to you.

Anyway, off my soapbox, and back to my glass of wine……

(P.S – you can find out how to test your testosterone level here, and if you want to do it cheaply with minimal hassle, you can use the link below)

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Check Your Symptoms – Is It Low T?

So, what are the symptoms that would indicate that a man may have low testosterone levels? Well, it’s generally a combination of things – I will give a quick rundown of the common symptoms of low T here.

Low Sex Drive

The first symptom that most people think of when you say ‘low testosterone‘ is a reduced libido. From my experience, when you have low T you just don’t really think about sex much at all. It generally bothers the man suffering from low T much less than it bothers his partner. It’s usually the woman who asks ‘is it low T‘ before their partner!

For our female readers (yeah, we get a lot of them), I would give this advice:

If you are in a relationship with a man aged over 35 and he doesn’t want sex anymore, get his T levels checked. When a guy with low T gets his testosterone level in check he can literally go from ‘birthday and Valentines day’ to almost every day within a month. It’s really that striking.

Is it low T?

The symptoms of low testosterone levels in men

Erectile Dysfunction

Got ED? Before you reach for the Viagra, first ask yourself, is it low T?

The penis actually contains testosterone receptors – they are located in the ‘corpora cavernosa’, which are the chambers which control an erection. One study has shown that testosterone therapy resolved ED issues in one third of men who tried it. Why was this study not bigger news? Probably because the drug companies can make more money selling you Viagra and Cialis.

Lack of Energy/Depression/Brain Fog

I have already written a fair bit about depression and brain fog.

These are the symptoms of low T that nobody seems to talk about, even though plenty of studies have definitively proven the link. This was the most striking difference for me when I started testosterone therapy – within a few weeks my mood improved dramatically and my brain just worked ‘quicker’. It was literally like a curtain being lifted.

Decreased Muscle/Increased Fat

Low testosterone causes obesity, and obesity causes low testosterone. It’s a vicious cycle – if you’re gaining a lot of weight around the middle, and you share some of the other symptoms of low testosterone discussed here, when you try to fasten your pants in the morning ask yourself is it low T? Numerous studies have proven that men who start testosterone therapy gain muscle and lose fat very quickly.

So, there you have it. If you are a man aged over 35 (maybe even 30) and you have any of the symptoms of low T, you should get your testosterone level checked. I know, you’re a man and you hate going to the doctor, but this is totally worth it. I even tell you exactly which tests to ask for in my ‘newbie guide‘.

You have everything that you need to take action! What are you waiting for? It’s time to find out – is it low T?

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Is Low T Center of Your Problems?

low t center

I’m thinking of a number. This number could have a huge impact on every aspect of your life, and you have probably never given it a second thought. This number is something that you can successfully manage to improve your quality of life, but I’m guessing that you have absolutely no idea what it is. [...]

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Low Testosterone & ‘Brain Fog’

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OK, let’s see if you can concentrate for long enough to finish this article….. Low T has quite a few weird symptoms that most guys don’t really notice that they have until they fix them. A classic example of this is what I will call ‘brain fog‘. The scientific studies that have looked at this [...]

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Low T & Depression – It’s Hard To Read A Blog With Your Head In The Oven!

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I have had a couple of comments from people that this site is too depressing and that I should lighten the subject matter. Clearly I have chosen to ignore that advice as I kick off the first of many articles that I will write about low T and the link to depression. I used to [...]

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Feeling Down? Try Getting A Boner!

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No, really – I’m serious. Low testosterone makes you depressed – the evidence is conclusive on this point, it’s no longer even up for debate. Check out some of the posts on low testosterone levels and depression here. The good news is that scientists have discovered that the simple of act of getting a boner [...]

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Hacking Your Hormone Levels – On Oprah?

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Women are really interested in hacking their hormone levels. Even Oprah is doing it – from the article in Newsweek: “After one day on bioidentical estrogen, I felt the veil lift,” she wrote in O, The Oprah Magazine. “After three days, the sky was bluer, my brain was no longer fuzzy, my memory was sharper. [...]

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Tofu is turning you into a chick, bro….

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OK, flame away – I know that there are two sides to this argument, but this one was just so funny that I had to post it. There is a growing feeling that low T is a 21st century epidemic in the developed world. One lab that does hormone level testing (ZRT Lab) released an [...]

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“Caution – May Cause Oily Anal Discharge!” WTF?

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Drug side effects – they can sound funny, unless they are happening to you. At the end of every drug commercial they list the side effects. After a while you start to tune them out, like your average smoker tunes out the giant warning on a pack of Marlboro. It just becomes ‘noise’. May cause [...]

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Low T & Obesity – The Vicious Cycle

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A low testosterone level makes you fat, and being fat lowers your testosterone level. It’s a vicious cycle. As you know, testosterone and estrogen are like your ‘yin and yang’ – people of both sexes have both hormones, and the balance of these two hormones is what makes us have male or female characteristics. Something [...]

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Low T Treatment – What Are The Options?

low t treatment

Low T treatment has been around for more than sixty years. It is well understood, generally well tolerated and available in a surprisingly wide range of treatment options. Which one is for you? Testosterone Creams and Gels This is the most common form of low T treatment in the US, with just two FDA approved [...]

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