All women, at some point in their lives, go through menopause. Their reproductive hormones reduce to the point they become infertile and can no longer have children.
As for men, that's not the case.
"It doesn't happen as abruptly," Dr. Nannan Thirumavalavan, chief of male reproductive health at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. "There's not one time point where the switch turns off and you stop having testosterone, it happens kind of gradually as men age."
Unlike women, men can still be fertile, or may not notice any significant symptoms or changes at all. For that reason, we say women go through menopause, while men may (but not always) experience a condition called "andropause," or better yet "testosterone deficiency."
"Testosterone deficiency basically refers to a situation where a man's body is not producing enough testosterone for what his body needs," Dr. Peter Bajic, assistant professor of urology at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, told 3News/
One reason for the nickname "male menopause" - or "man-o-pause" - is because many of the symptoms are the same for both sexes.
"Feelings of being tired or sluggish is one of them," Thirumavalavan says, [along with] decreased energy, and, in general, a decreased sex drive or libido. You can also notice some physical changes, like a decrease in muscle mass or increased fat mass."
Treating a testosterone deficiency can be relatively easy. There are several treatments your physician can prescribe, from gels, injections, a pill for testosterone, a nasal spray, or even pellets injected right under the skin and dissolve over time.
However, doctors first need to make sure something else isn't to blame for the symptoms.
"If a man is experiencing these issues, there seems to be a tendency to look for an easy fix," Bajic explained, "but really, we need to get to the bottom of what the problem is."
Monica Robins reports: www.wkyc.com/article/news/hea... --
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8 фев 2023
