Whilst many people still like to think that there is no such thing as a male menopause, the truth is that changes in hormone levels manifest differently in men and women. The majority of women do find the "change" to be a particularly dramatic point in their life. Whilst men do not appear to go through any thing as sudden or as dramatic, this does not mean that they do not experience some sort of change in their body/mind/behaviour as a result of hormonal imbalance.

The male sex hormone doesn’t drop all of a sudden, like estrogen. And what tends to happen is that as men get older, the amount of testosterone in their blood slowly and gradually starts to decline. So that by the age of about 60 years, the majority of men will find that their testosterone levels are around the low end of normal.
Unlike women, however, who find that the menopause signals the end of their fertility, men experience no such failure with regard to their ability to reproduce.

What they may begin to notice, however, is that their sexual function starts to go down a gear. It still works but not as quickly and with as much gusto as they were probably used to in their earlier years. They will also notice physical changes to their body - such as a decrease in bone density, muscles starting to atrophy, fat deposits beginning to collect around their midriff and so forth. It is not yet quite clear as to how largely this is down to the fall in testosterone levels.

In 1889 a neurophysiologist by the name of Charles-Edward Brown-Sequard gave himself a treatment which consisted of animal testicles. He went on to report that the affect this had on him was such that it produced "a return of vigour, youthful appetites and desires".

These days, male hormone-replacement therapy (MHRT) is readily available and comes in many different forms. There are oral androgens, androgen injections and implants. Even so, the proportion of men taking HRT is significantly lower than the number of women taking HRT.

What is an androgen?

Androgens are so called male hormones - those that produce masculinizing effects on the body.

They may be consumed regularly in tablet form. Those men who have experienced a rather severe testosterone deficiency, may find that the oral testosterone does not provide much noticeable relief. In these cases, having implants or testosterone injections could prove to be a lot more effective.

Male hormone replacement therapy is still comparatively new, compared to HRT for women. Research studies carried out to date indicate that there are initial signs of benefit to be gained from taking this - although sample sizes for these studies are relatively small.

In one study, hormone injections (100mg a week) were given for a period of three months.
The results showed that these increased the volunteers’ levels of testosterone to the middle of the normal range for young males. Towards the end of the study, volunteers showed significant increases in body weight, enhanced libido, an overall sense of well-being.

That said, it should be noted that testosterone supplementation for older men should be held back until more thorough research has been carried out and until the long-term effects have been properly studied.

Tags: male menopause, androgen, hormone, testosterone, menopause