What Is Male Menopause?
Though “Male Menopause” is not a medically defined term, it is a saying for a condition that does happen in men called andropause. This term is meant to describe the transition that men go through when they get older and experience a change in testosterone levels, the male hormone. The symptoms that are associated are known as testosterone deficiency and hypogonadism. There are many potential signs that someone is going through male menopause, and while it is primarily seen as a feminine term, it is a very real thing that men experience.
Male menopause describes primarily the drop in testosterone production that men experience when they begin to age over 50 years old. In addition to the natural effects of aging, male menopause can also occur in men that are experiencing a condition known as hypogonadism, which is the damaged ability of the testes to produce the male hormone testosterone. Often times, these conditions work together to contribute to the male menopause condition.
For men, testosterone is the most important hormone in their bodies. Testosterone is the hormone that makes a man a man and while its main reputation as being the hormone that gives men their sex drive, it actually has a lot more functional than that. It helps men change through puberty and gives men energy when it comes to both mental and physical elements. It also helps you to build and maintain your muscle math, provides you with the instincts of flight or fight, and regulates many other parts of the body. It has been known for centuries the important role that testosterone serves in the male body.
While male menopause is called almost the same name as female menopause, there are many key differences between the two conditions. The first difference is while all women experience menopause, not all men will go through this transition. There are certain men that will never feel any effects at all while there are others that will experience severe side effects of male menopause. The other difference is that while male menopause does affect a crucial hormone in your body, it does not shut down your organs that are in charge of reproduction. While male menopause doesn’t deactivate your reproductive organs, it can result in complications within your sex life.
What Are The Symptoms of Male Menopause?
If you are getting older and you are curious as to whether you are going through the condition known as male menopause, there are certain symptoms that you are going to have to look out for. Knowing these symptoms can help you determine whether you are going through male menopause. Male menopause has many potential impacts in your life that include elements of your physical shape, sexual health, and even your mental health. Typically, the symptoms of male menopause are going to worsen with age, so if you find that your symptoms are getting worse as you get older, that could be a good indication that you are going through male menopause. Here are some of the most common symptoms of male menopause and lowered testosterone in general.
Low Energy
Testosterone plays a large part in providing you with the energy that you need to get through the day. With lowered testosterone, you are bound to have less energy and start feeling like you are running out of energy throughout your day. Fatigue and lowered energy is a very common symptom of male menopause and lowered testosterone.
Depression
Our brains are organs that have very fine-tuned chemical balances, and for men, testosterone is a large part of that balance. Without the right levels of testosterone in your body, it is very possible that you could experience depression-like symptoms. This can come in anything ranging from general sadness to a deep depression.
Lack of Motivation
Without the right level of testosterone in your body, it is possible that you have feelings of lack of motivation. This is a common symptom for those that are going through male menopause and reduced levels of testosterone in the body.
Lowered Self-Confidence
Self-confidence is something that is tied with regular or higher levels of testosterone in the body. If you are going through male menopause or reduced testosterone, you might be feeling a lowered sense of self-confidence.
Poor Focus
Testosterone is a hormone that accounts for the ability to focus on a man, albeit indirectly. With a lowered level of testosterone and the stress of the other side effects of lowered testosterone in conjunction, it is easy to experience a lack of focus and difficulty concentrating on tasks.
Insomnia
If you are stressed about the symptoms affecting you when it comes to lowered testosterone, then it is very possible that you may be experiencing insomnia as a result of your male menopause. Insomnia is the inability to sleep, whether that is due to the stress of the side effects or the direct mental lapses that occur as a result.
Obesity
If you are having trouble getting back into shape or you have increasing obesity, then you may have low testosterone and male menopause. Our physical fitness is one area that can be heavily affected by low testosterone.
Reduced Muscle Mass or Weakness
While on the topic of physical fitness, another area that can be affected by low testosterone and male menopause is our muscle mass and strength. One of the symptoms of low testosterone or male menopause is a reduction in muscle mass and general weakness.
Weaker Bones
Bone strength is heavily affected by low testosterone and male menopause, and that is why you should consider treatment for low testosterone and male menopause if you experience bone weakness. This can be done by consulting your medical professional.
Low Libido
If you have lowered testosterone levels, one of the most common symptoms that you will face is lowered libido and sex drive. Testosterone is the hormone that is responsible for our sex drive, so when it is low there is a good chance that it will affect how willing you are to engage in sexual activity. This also has an impact on your mental health and energy.
Diagnosis of Male Menopause
In order to determine if you are going through male menopause, one very important step must be taken. That step is the diagnosis. This is always done by a medical professional, but it also requires your input and collaboration to help your medical professional diagnose your symptoms. There are a number of different ways that you can go about getting a diagnosis for male menopause. Here are some of the most common avenues to take if you want to inquire about your male menopause symptoms.
Physical Exam
The most important aspect of any diagnosis for your male menopause symptoms is a physical exam. Without a physical exam, it can be difficult to know if you are going through male menopause or decreased testosterone. Your doctor is going to want to meet with you personally to help determine whether male menopause is what you are experiencing. When you go in for your physical exam, your doctor will put you through some routine tests and procedures to help determine your testosterone level and assess which symptoms you are experiencing. This is also a chance for you to have an in-person dialogue with your doctor that centers around your hormonal health.
Ask About Your Symptoms
Going in to see the doctor is a great first step, but it’s not the only thing that you have to do. When you see your doctor, the most important thing you can do is have an active conversation about your hormonal health. This often means asking your doctor or medical professional about the symptoms that you are having. You should make it routine to write down your symptoms and be descriptive when you are describing them to your doctor. This will give your medical professional all of the information that they need to diagnose and treat whatever you are going through. Without adequate medical information, you’ll find that the treatments that are provided to you are incomplete and insufficient. Be sure to be thorough and provide your doctor with all of the information that they need when asking about your symptoms.
Blood & Other Tests
Even with a physical exam and all of the information that you can provide to your doctor, you’ll find that it is still difficult to know exactly what is causing your symptoms without conducting some tests. Conducting tests are done by taking blood samples and testing the contents for a variety of conditions including diseases and illnesses. If you want to truly get to the bottom of what is affecting you, then blood tests and other tests are essential. Your doctor can use a blood test to test for testosterone levels among other things so that you can narrow down your search for what is affecting you and causing the symptoms that are associated with male menopause.
Treatments for Male Menopause
If you are confirmed to be suffering from male menopause and its many symptoms, don’t worry. There are certainly options for treatment that can help to replace your missing hormones and raise your testosterone level. There are a number of different treatments, both medical and holistic, that can help to raise testosterone levels and have you feeling back to normal. Here are some of the most common treatments that are used for male menopause and decreased testosterone levels.
Testosterone Replacement Therapy
When women go through menopause, one of the most common treatments that are used to help them overcome the challenges that come with vast changes in hormonal composition is hormone replacement therapy. When males are going through changes in their hormones, similar treatment is used that is intended to meet the same effect. This is known as testosterone replacement. Testosterone replacement therapy is a treatment that can be used to help raise the amount of testosterone in your body with varying degrees of effectiveness. There are various risks and possible benefits of testosterone replacement therapy.
Testosterone replacement therapy could be successful for you in raising the level of testosterone in your blood, but it also comes with a set of potential risks. These risks include increased change for prostate cancer and heart disease. These are both potential risks of replacing the hormones in your body and trying to medically alter the state of your testosterone.
Diet
If you don’t want to pursue a medical operation or other advanced procedure to help increase the levels of testosterone in your blood, you can also pursue other methods. One of the examples that your doctor may recommend to you is to improve your diet. Diet has been shown to have a heavy correlation with your testosterone and hormone health, so if you are able to improve your diet, you may be able to naturally increase the levels of testosterone in your body. You should consider a healthy diet one of the most surefire ways to improve your hormonal health, even if it is slightly.
Exercise
Another way that has been discovered to naturally help bring your testosterone levels higher is to exercise regularly. Your general health has a lot to do with your hormonal health, and getting regular exercise is a very important part of your general health. If you are able to exercise regularly, you may find that you are able to raise the level of testosterone in your blood rather quickly and naturally. The best-case scenario is that you are able to combine exercise and a healthy diet to enjoy maximum benefits when you are attempting to raise your testosterone level or improve your hormonal health.
Medication
Finally, the last way to help deal with low testosterone or male menopause is to be medicated. This method will come at the advice and consultation of a medical professional, that can guide you through your options and recommend the right medication to rebalance your hormones and testosterone levels. Again, trying to medically alter your hormonal levels isn’t always in the best interest of your long-term health, but the risks are lower than with a form of therapy or operation. With medication, you can certainly help to address the symptoms that you are feeling. One example of a medication that is commonly used for this purpose is antidepressants. Antidepressants are helpful because they help to balance the hormones in your body, meaning you can overcome male menopause and low testosterone.
Herbal Supplements for Male Menopause
Since male menopause is such a universal issue that affects men worldwide, there are a number of proposed treatments out there. Some are more effective than others. One of the treatments that have been most commonly suggested among the holistic community is the use of herbal supplements as a treatment for male menopause and lowered testosterone levels. However, this is a treatment that many should be skeptical of. Herbal supplements have not been tested in a controlled environment and thoroughly vetted by medical communities.
While many of these herbal supplements may not do direct harm to you, they can be a source of frustration, along with wasted time and money. If you are considering herbal supplements for your male menopause symptoms and low testosterone, you should also know that long-term treatments with some herbal supplements have led to an increased risk for prostate cancer and other conditions.
When it comes to using herbal supplements for male menopause, the results are, at best, mixed, and you should exercise caution when pursuing any treatment of the sort.
Difference Between Male Menopause and Female Menopause
If you are going through the symptoms of male menopause, you may have trouble diagnosing what you are feeling because menopause is probably a term that you have often heard that is associated with what women go through as they age. However, the term male menopause is relevant to millions of males worldwide and it is important that you are educated on what causes male menopause and what the difference between male menopause and female menopause is.
In female menopause, women go through a condition that is linked to the level of estrogen in their body, which is the dominant hormone in their body. These symptoms are very often involuntary and the woman has no control over them. While men don’t always have control over male menopause, there are a very different set of conditions that lead to the symptoms of male menopause.
While female menopause is linked solely to their age and is inevitable for every woman, a male’s menopause is caused by vastly different sets of circumstances. For instance, a male’s menopause is not something that affects every man. If that were true, then every man who ages and has lowered testosterone would experience the effects of male menopause. This isn’t the case.
Male menopause is an elusive condition that doctors don’t know intimately, so far. It is known that male menopause affects some men as they age, but there are many other conditions that contribute to the symptoms that come with male menopause. Some of these conditions include obesity, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes as well as heart disease. It would seem that men are more able to avoid and circumvent the effects of male menopause by leading a healthier, active lifestyle.
That’s not to say that men have full control over the symptoms that they experience, but it is important to note that while they share the same name, male and female menopause is drastically different both in the cause of the condition as well as the symptoms associated. While almost every woman experiences menopause, only about 2.1 percent of males experience male menopause.
In addition to the frequency of the occurrence of the condition, how the condition comes about is also different in men than it is in women. In women, the effects of menopause are felt nearly instantly and suddenly. While in men, the symptoms of male menopause are more gradual. This also supports the fact that health is a significant determinant in male menopause, as health is something that would gradually decline instead of being suddenly bad.
Because of all of this, it is extremely important that men keep an open dialogue with their medical professional about the symptoms that they are experiencing. Without this insight into what is affecting you and your male menopause, your doctor will find it difficult to provide a treatment or suggestion that helps you to overcome your symptoms.
Conclusion
Just as women are frequently affected by an imbalance in their hormones, men can also be affected. When this happens in men, it is known as “male menopause”. While female menopause is instant and sudden, male menopause can occur over years and the effects can gradually arise instead of happening all at once. That is why it is important to stay in communication with your doctor about male menopause.
There are many different causes of male menopause, and your male menopause could be a result of a mixture of them. Most of the time, male menopause has to do with your physical condition and health. Many of the possible causes of male menopause are tied to the level of exercise that you are able to achieve and the health of your diet. Without good physical health, you are at increased risk for male menopause.
Just as there are many different factors that could drive male menopause, there are also many different solutions to this problem that thousands of men face each year. There are a number of different treatment methods that could be utilized to help address the symptoms of male menopause as well as the root cause. While male menopause is not a topic that is as studied as female menopause, there are things you can do to help your male menopause side effects.
If you are going through male menopause and want to treat your symptoms, be sure to take care in selecting a treatment, as some carry more risks than others. With the right help from your medical professional, you should be able to find a path forward to help you cope with your male menopause symptoms or reduce them holistically with diet and exercise.