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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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Docs Debate Male Menopause

Low testosterone can make you grumpy, impotent—and a great target for drugmakers

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(Newser) – If you’re a guy in your late 40s or 50s, and you’ve been feeling unusually grumpy, borderline impotent, and all around miserable lately, you might just have male menopause, ABC News reports. Many physicians believe men experience a drop in testosterone as they get older, which can result in something called “andropause” or “T-syndrome.” Indeed, ads for drugs to treat it been cropping up across primetime TV. Which is just what annoys some docs, who think it's a drug-company hoax.

One doctor says andropause is “largely promoted by industry, accepted by a handful of physicians, and embraced by some patients who are looking for an antidote to aging.” But another doctor calls that an “absurd view” that “conveniently ignores medical observations going back 500 years.” Most studies on it are relatively recent, however; one estimates that by 2025, 6.5 million Americans will be suffering symptoms of low testosterone.

Feeling grumpy? Is your libido missing? You could have male menopause.
Feeling grumpy? Is your libido missing? You could have male menopause.   (Shutterstock)
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Male menopause is real. I describe it as adolescence, the second time around. Everybody goes through it, just as no one can say I didn't go through puberty. - Jed Diamond, psychologist and author of Irritable Male Syndrome.

Men are more in denial about this than women. It's taken guys a little longer for the medical evidence to come out and for doctors to find ways to treat this. But more men are getting help. - Jed Diamond, psychologist and author of Irritable Male Syndrome.

A lot of women come in and say, 'Fix him, or I'm not
taking him home.' - Dr. Robert Gitlin

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4 comments
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Timinator2K
Aug 10, 09 8:45 AM CDT
Hence, PrezBO's recent hissy-fits over not getting his unquestioned way?! TAKE-A-PILL. Reply
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schmidtkoff
Aug 10, 09 10:52 AM CDT
i dunno - there seems to be more randy men in their 50's 60's and seventies. but 40 year old men? that seems to be a stretch. i could be wrong. but 40 year old men seem perfectly adequate in the testosterone department, and then some. Reply
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Snarfeh
Aug 10, 09 3:01 PM CDT
Like menopause for women, the symptoms vary from person to person. Some have little to no symptoms but when they do, the symptoms are severe. Still others have all the symptoms but mildly. There is no doubt in my mind that men go through their own menopause. It just may not be as apparent for some as it is for others. Reply
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JedDiamond
Aug 10, 09 5:09 PM CDT
What many people forget is that testosterone effects all systems not just the sexual and there is more to male menopause than hormones. Our emotional life changes, so do our relationships, our health, our sense of our future, our kids and parents, our hopes and dreams. Jed Diamond, author Reply
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