Often I find practitioners are a bit mystified by the male hormonal milieu and their skills at interpreting androgen results are patchy compared with their confidence in female hormone investigation. Yet, just like in females, understanding the sex hormones is a critical part of the whole health puzzle in our male patients – leading us to a better understanding of possibly the cause of their presentation (impaired motivation and mood, subfertility or infertility & osteoporosis etc.) or perhaps the consequence of unhealthy behaviours & other health risks (e.g. obesity, excess alcohol, chronic inflammation etc.). The natural decline in androgen levels with ageing (so called andropause or PADAM) gets talked about a lot but when does it start (typically in the 4th decade), why does it happen (primarily due to reduced number, function & responsivity of testicular secretory cells) & how low does it go? Is it possible for men to age and not become hypogonadal in the process? Well the answer to the last question is emphatically, ‘Yes!’ according to Australian research. Often, however, I’m finding younger males with very low testosterone levels which require thorough investigation to determine any direct cause. When none emerge, we are left with the ‘canary in the mine’ scenario, whereby testosterone production, not considered essential for survival, will be sacrificed when the organism is ‘under threat’. To hear more about how to comprehensively assess & interpret androgens, the real causes and consequences of low testosterone and some treatment suggestions check out the following premium audio https://rachelarthur.com.au/product-category/premium-audio/
