{"id":63,"date":"2009-03-04T14:08:26","date_gmt":"2009-03-04T14:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=63"},"modified":"2015-03-08T04:19:28","modified_gmt":"2015-03-08T04:19:28","slug":"understanding-male-menopause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/understanding-male-menopause\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Male Menopause"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is generally accepted that a man’s sexuality changes as he ages \u2014 with the instant erections of, say, 18-year-olds replaced by diminished sexual urges, erections that take time to come on (and less rigid erections at that), and feebler ejaculations, among others.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What not many realize is that these signs, often seen as “normal,” may actually be signs of male menopause.<\/p>\n

\u201cAndropause is a normal condition that all men experience as they age,\u201d says urologist Dr. Jose Reyes III, president of the Philippine Society for the Study of the Aging Male (PhiSSAM), to refer to male menopause\/andropause, also known as male clamacteric, viropause, ADAM (Androgen Deficiency in the Aging Male) and PADAM (Partial Androgen Deficiency in the Aging Male). \u201cIt is used to describe any of the changes a man experiences as a consequence (when) the testes no longer, or only partially, secrete testosterone.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the majority of the male population, natural andropause usually occurs at the ages of between 40 and 55 – although it can occur as early as 35 or as late as 65, with some men \u201cacquiring menopause due to trauma, cancer or congenital reasons,\u201d some of the factors established as contributory to the condition. Others include obesity, excessive alcohol consumption, previous vasectomy, smoking, hypertension, hernia operations, mumps, prostatitis, prescription and non-prescription medications, poor diet, lack of exercise, varicocoele, poor circulation, and psychological problems.<\/p>\n

ALL GENDERS<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Reyes, andropause is similar to women\u2019s menopause, particularly since both menopauses are characterized by a marked drop in hormone levels\u2014estrogen in women and testosterone in men. \u201cHowever, there are no clear-cut signs (for men), thus, the difficulty in diagnosing it. Unlike women, men do not have a clear signal to mark their transition into andropause, such as the cessation of menstruation and, thus the ability to become pregnant, since men can continue to father children even after the age of 40. Instead, the onset of andropause occurs gradually, and is often accompanied by attitudinal and mood changes, as well as a decline in physical agility, and, perhaps more pronounced, in a man\u2019s sex drive.”<\/p>\n

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AT A LOSS<\/strong>
\u201cThere is something shameful about losing one\u2019s virility,\u201d says the head of research of a popular monthly publication, who, due to this very shame, would rather remain unnamed. It is this shame that keeps discussions of andropause in the closet.<\/p><\/div>\n

Noted symptoms include some degree of lethargy, depression, increased irritability, mood swings, hot flushes, insomnia, loss of both lean body mass and bone mass (which increases the susceptibility to hip fractures), and difficulty in attaining and sustaining erections (impotence). All these are expected to affect approximately 40% of men from 40 to 60 years old, according to www.andrology.com.<\/p>\n

MID-LIFE CRISIS<\/strong><\/p>\n

A more accepted occurence in life among men\u2014and also among women\u2014is the mid-life crisis, described by Wikipedia.org as \u201can emotional state of doubt and anxiety in which a person becomes uncomfortable with the realization that life is halfway over. It commonly involves reflection on what the individual has done with his life up to that point, often with feelings that not enough was accomplished. The individual may feel boredom with their lives, jobs, or their partners, and may feel a strong desire to make changes in these areas.”<\/p>\n

But mid-life crisis is a problem of “psychosocial adjustment,” while male menopause is a “physiological phenomenon” resulting from lowering of levels of testosterone, the dominant male hormone, which stimulates sexual development in the male infant, drives bone and muscle growth in adult males, kindles libido and aggression in the brain, and triggers hair growth, among others.<\/p>\n

Understandably, even among healthy men, the amount of testosterone secreted into the bloodstream becomes significantly lower by the age of 55 compared to the level secreted 10 years earlier. In fact, by age 80, most male hormone levels decrease to pre-puberty levels.<\/p>\n

Initially, this deficiency causes modest changes, such as an increase in weight (and growth of the \u201cbeer belly\u201d), progressive aging of the face, weakening of the muscles, and weakening of bone tissue or osteoporosis.<\/p>\n

If the lowered testosterone secretion continues, it affects many of the body organ functions, resulting in the failing of memory, irritability associated with general fatigue and higher estrogen levels in men, development of clogged arteries, varicose veins, hemorrhoids, high blood pressure and increased cholesterol levels.<\/p>\n

TESTOSTERONE REPLACEMENT<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile all these physical and psychosocial changes men undergo (with andropause) can create a form of depression and may lead to strange behaviors,\u201d says Reyes, \u201cmany men are not aware of the available treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Treatment, in andropause\u2019s case, comes in the form of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), which is the replenishment of the lost hormone to enable the body to function as before. Currently, existing forms include weekly injections, transdermal patches, implants, and gel and oral forms.<\/p>\n

Injectable testosterone undercanoate Nebido, for one, replaces testosterone in the body to treat various male problems caused by the lack of testosterone (hypogonadism), including impotence, tiredness, bone loss, depressive mood, and low sex drive. Other products to deal with andropause include Testocreme, a patch delivery system of natural testosterone that is applied on the shaved scrotum, and Androderm, a very similar preparation which can be applied anywhere.<\/p>\n

A note of warning: While testosterone administration is now widely done, it may cause health problems among older men, as it causes enlargement of the prostate (thereby accelerating progression of undiagnosed prostate cancer), increased hematocrit (the ratio of the volume occupied by packed red blood cells to the volume of the whole blood as measured by an instrument called by the same name), and triggers a variety of liver lesions, among others. As such, TRT must be administered by proper medical professionals.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, it has to do with aging gracefully. And as women – whose menopausal experiences are more documented – show, it can be done. Andropausal men only need learn how.<\/p>\n

SELECT REFERENCES<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. “Low Serum Testosterone: a Cardiovascular Risk in Elderly Men” by Conrad Swartz, Geriatric Medicine Today Vol 7. No 12\/Dec. 1988.<\/li>\n
  2. “Transdermal Testosterone Substitution Therapy for Male Hypogonadism” by Bals-Pratsch, Yoo Y.D., Knuth V.A., Nieschlag E. Lancet 4\/943-946. 1986.<\/li>\n
  3. “Transdermal Delivery of Testosterone” by Findlay J.C., Place V., Snyder P.J. Journal of Clinical Endocrinolology 64; 266-268. 1989.<\/li>\n
  4. The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, 15th edition, Berkow, Robert, MD, Editor, Merck Sharp & Dohme Research Laboratories, Rahway, NJ, 1987.<\/li>\n
  5. “Morning Erections and Testosterone Cream: A Clinical Study in Men with Erectile Dysfunction” by Abraham H. Kryger, DMD, MD. Self-published, 1998.<\/li>\n
  6. “Pumped Up and Strung Out” by Bower, Bruce, Science News, Vol.140, No. 2, July 13, 1991.<\/li>\n
  7. Barnhart, Edward R., Publisher, Physicians’ Desk Reference, 45th edition, Medical Economics Data, Oradell, NJ, 1991.<\/li>\n
  8. “Anabolic Steroid Abuse” by Erinoff, Lynda, Editor, and Lin, Geraline C., Editor. National Institute on Drug Abuse Research Monograph Series, US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Washington.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Yes, there is such a thing as MALE menopause. Time to know about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":65,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,3,35],"tags":[37,39,38],"class_list":["post-63","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-wellness-2","category-spotlight","category-wellness-2","tag-andropause","tag-male-menopause","tag-mid-life-crisis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":916,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions\/916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}