Low testosterone gets written off as getting older

Women get a name for it. Menopause is a word everybody knows, with a rough age attached and a general public understanding that something real is happening. Men get andropause, which almost nobody says out loud, and so the same underlying event gets filed under getting older and left there.

Andropause is the decline in testosterone that is the male analogue to menopause. It is slower and less abrupt, which is precisely why it is easier to miss and easier to explain away.

The symptoms are subtle, and that is the problem

Nobody wakes up with an obvious testosterone symptom. What men notice is a set of small things that individually sound like nothing:

• Low sex drive
• Erectile dysfunction
• Fatigue and poor energy
• Decreased muscle mass, despite training the same way
• Body and facial hair loss
• Difficulty concentrating
• Depression
• Irritability
• A low general sense of well being

Read individually, every one of those has an innocent explanation. Read together, in a man whose training has not changed and whose diet has not changed, they are a pattern worth measuring rather than tolerating.

What bio-identical hormone therapy addresses in men

Beyond low testosterone itself, BHRT is used at Sun Valley to help with erectile dysfunction, low libido, prostate enlargement, thyroid disorders, weight gain, depression and fatigue. That is a broad list because testosterone is not a single-purpose hormone; it is involved in muscle, mood, fat distribution and cognition at the same time.

What causes it

Poor nutrition, stress, acute injury or illness, inadequate exercise, and andropause itself. Some of that is modifiable and some of it is not, and an honest conversation covers both. Anyone who tells you that the whole thing can be trained and eaten away, or alternatively that none of it can, is overselling one half of the picture.

Two delivery methods, one decision

Testosterone replacement therapy at Sun Valley is delivered either as testosterone injections or as bio-identical pellets placed under the skin. The pellets release steadily and are metabolised as the body needs them, and men are re-pelleted on average every six months. Injections run on a shorter cycle and suit some men better.

The bio-identical part is not marketing language. These hormones are sourced from plants rather than from animal or synthetic sources, and they closely replicate the molecular structure of human hormones. That structural match is why the pellets dissolve completely and leave nothing behind.

What men report on treatment

The benefits associated with testosterone replacement therapy are increased energy, decreased irritability and depression, improved muscle mass and strength, improved sexual desire, improved visuospatial cognitive function and verbal memory, higher motivation, and decreased body fat, which responds best when it is paired with diet and exercise rather than expected to happen on its own. There may also be improvement in erectile function.

Two things are worth saying about that list. The first is that it is a list of things that can improve, not a list of things that will. The second is that the fat loss line is honest about needing diet and exercise alongside it, and any clinic that leaves that qualifier off is not being straight with you.

It starts with a blood panel, not a prescription

Sun Valley requires, at minimum, its comprehensive blood panel before anything is placed, and your provider goes through it with you. Treatment is delivered by Patricia Polson, FNP-C, a board certified family nurse practitioner who has worked in the Phoenix metropolitan area since 1989 and who started out as a surgical technician before completing her nursing degrees.

If the procedure itself is what is putting you off, it is a few minutes in the exam room, the site is numbed first, and the restrictions afterwards run for about a week: no lower body exercise beyond walking, and no swimming, hot tubs or baths, though showers are fine.

Veterans

Sun Valley offers veteran discounts. Ask about it when you call rather than assuming it has been applied, because it is worth having on the table before you decide.

The practice is in Surprise and it was deliberately kept small, so an appointment is not a fifteen minute slot with a hand on the door. Tuesday through Friday, with evening appointments available by request.