TESTOSTERONE - Good News About Its Safety

 

by PJ Hennessy 2010

 

For men, testosterone is no longer linked to prostate cancer and is safe when appropriately prescribed. It is clearly beneficial to maintain healthy energy levels, stable moods, and sexual health.

 

For women, testosterone is beneficial for bone health and helps some women with libido.

 

For over 25 years, women have had the benefit of bio-identical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) to correct testosterone deficiency or imbalance. Men have been held outside this circle of benefit based upon a longstanding belief that testosterone is a causative in prostate cancer. In the autumn of 2008, a collective of urologists from Mayo Clinic, University of Colorado, Columbia and Baylor Universities soundly refuted this old idea. In fact, there has been a clear-cut paradigm shift. This comprehensive review of thousands of cases of testosterone supplementation has suggested that far from being harmful, testosterone may actually protect the prostate!

 

Testosterone is a necessary ingredient for vibrant good health in men. By age 60 almost 50% of men are testosterone deficient. Some symptoms of manopause or low testosterone are evidenced by increased fatigue, low energy, mood changes, or a general loss of a sense of well-being. Sexual symptoms include decreased sexual drive, erectile dysfunction or difficulty achieving orgasm. Since the old belief made testosterone supplementation taboo for sexual function, we have seen millions of dollars spent on Viagra, Levitra, or Cialis. However, at least 30% of men who try these drugs notice little of no improvements in sexual response. New research offers an answer for their predicament. It turns out that the corpus cavernosa, the part of the penis whose engorgement is necessary to achieve a full erection, has receptors that require sufficient testosterone levels to perform.

 

While physicians have been reluctant to prescribe testosterone, the media provides us with examples of athletes and body builders who have not been so conservative. It is critically important to remember that in these instances the amounts of testosterone used to greatly enhance performance and bulk-up muscle are in gross access of the amounts found in normal men. These substances are often synthetic testosterone and mixed with other compounds that are collectively referred to as anabolic steroids.

 

When a man is diagnosed with low testosterone (hypogonad), a prescribing physician can replace his diminished values in such a way as to attain levels seen in normal men. This approach restores the potential a man would achieve, not exceed it.

 

Items to consider:

 

•    Low testosterone is common and has many effects on health.

•    Low testosterone is easy to diagnose and there are several forms of effective treatment.

•    After over 60 years of research, testosterone supplementation appears to be safe. More importantly, there is increasing evidence that maintaining a normal testosterone level may be associated with improved health and quality of life.

 

Bibliography

 

1.  Shabsigh. et al. International Journal of Impotence Research, Vol 21: pp 9-23. 2009

2.  Roden and Morganthaler. New England Journal of Medicine, Vol 350: pp 482-492. 2004

3.  A. Morganthaler. Testosterone For Life. McGraw Hill. 2009