Testosterone (T) is an essential hormone for men’s health. You remember how the influx of T as a teenager completely changed your life. It’s the T that literally transformed you from child to man, endowing you with:
Now those benefits have taken a back seat in your life. You rarely think about sex, and when you do, getting and keeping an erection is challenging.
Even if you’re ready to accept a reduced sex life as a part of the aging process, you might not be willing to let go of the other benefits of healthy T levels. Your T affects everything from your sexuality to your lifespan.
At Enrich Family Practice, we offer hormone therapy to restore T levels as part of our men’s health program. Kelly Burrows, APRN FNP-C, and Lee Ann Garza, FNP, test your levels at our office in Odessa, Texas, and customize a treatment plan based on the results and your symptoms.
How does low T affect every aspect of your health and well-being? The following are a few examples.
If you’re having trouble starting or adding to your family, low T may be the reason, or part of it. Testosterone is an essential ingredient in the sperm-production process.
Your pituitary gland produces follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). The LH signals your testes to produce testosterone. Then T and FSH work together to make sperm.
If you’re low in T, your sperm production process is impaired. While you may still be able to father a child, your odds of doing so per your partner’s cycle are reduced.
Grumpy old men are a stereotype, but they’re also a reality. Low levels of T increase the likelihood that you’re irritated by small annoyances that you used to brush off.
In fact, if you find yourself getting angry or aggressive, it may be your body’s response to a lack of T. You’re also more likely to be depressed, anxious, and have suicidal thoughts if you’re low in this essential hormone.
The T your body produced in spades when you were in puberty allowed you to grow denser bones and muscles. As T declines, the strength and health of muscles and bones decline as well.
Testosterone generates proteins that your body uses to build muscles, maintain muscle mass, and maintain bone density and strength. Your T decreases about 1-2% per year after age 40. You might start to develop a paunch and find it more difficult to build muscles. You may also be at risk of fractures due to low bone density.
Testosterone influences brain function, too. Just as menopausal women whose estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone decline complain of “brain fog,” men in “andropause” experience something similar.
In fact, low circulating T may be a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease in men. That relationship may be due to conditions that develop as a result of low T, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Worst of all, recent studies have found a link between low T levels and a reduced lifespan. A 2024 study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that men whose T measured below 5.3 nmol/L (normal is generally considered to be somewhere between 10- 35 nmol/L) had an increased risk of cardiovascular-related deaths, such as heart attacks and stroke.
You may have seen articles that dismiss the need for testosterone replacement or question how low is actually low. While science is ever-evolving, the evidence is clear: A range of uncomfortable symptoms from low libido to anxiety are associated with low T, and many improve once T is normalized.
If you want your libido — and your life — back, call us today at 432-200-9052 to schedule a testosterone replacement therapy evaluation to restore your health.
