About Hypogonadism and those low testosterone levels
One of the most common reasons people go to their GP is because of chronic tiredness. This is often due to our breakneck pace of life but, gentlemen, if you are experiencing other symptoms such as
- Feeling tired and weak
- Aching muscles
- Loss of body hair
- Loss of bone mass (leading to fractures)
- Loss of libido
- Loss of morning erections
- Erectile dysfunction
- Difficulty concentrating
- Loss of motivation
- Irritability
- Low moods
…you may be suffering from low testosterone. This is caused by a condition called hypogonadism and affects about 5 in every 1,000 men.
Whilst the cause of classical hypogonadism is often genetic it’s being increasingly recognised that older men with common medical conditions - including obesity, Type 2 Diabetes and coronary heart conditions – have a higher prevalence of borderline low serum testosterone levels. This is called “late onset hypogonadism”
Testosterone treatment in patients with classical hypogonadism is effective and safe but - whilst studies suggest that testosterone replacement in late onset hypoganidism may have some short term benefits - there is a lack of longer term studies in terms of documenting clinical outcomes for prolonged treatment. Monitoring is the key.
I hope you've found this helpful.
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