WHAT IS ANDROPAUSE? HOW COMMON IS IT?

1. Dr. Stephen Sinatra, a Manchester, Conn., cardiologist board certified in anti-aging medicine.
   Sinatra, author of “Heartbreak and Heart Disease”,
2. 
   Jed Diamond, a California psychotherapist and author of “Male Menopause” and the forthcoming book, “Surviving Male Menopause”
3. 
   Dr. Adrian Dobs, an endocrinologist and associate professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
4. 
   Dr. Michael A. Werner, a White Plains, N.Y., urologist with specialized training in male reproductive medicine and surgery and male erectile dysfunction.

Dr. Stephen Sinatra
“Male andropause can be very insidious,” explains Dr. Stephen Sinatra, a Manchester, Conn., cardiologist board certified in anti-aging medicine. The loss of testosterone, which can happen to men as young as 35, is gradual, with testosterone levels dropping just 1 percent to 1.5 percent annually. Unlike the precipitous loss of estrogen that women hitting menopause face, the gradual loss of testosterone may take years to exact its mark on men with a host of symptoms not unlike changes menopausal women experience.

To help increase testosterone production, Sinatra, who heads the New England Heart and Longevity Center in Manchester, Conn., suggests men take zinc and vitamins C and E. Sinatra also suggests herbs, such as muira puama, and L-arginine to increase a man’s libido.
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That grapefruit you’ve been eating to keep those pounds away may not be good for you after all if you’re a man suffering declining testosterone levels. The body’s aromatase enzyme turns testosterone into the female hormone estrogen when certain substances are ingested, says Dr. Stephen Sinatra, a cardiologist specializing in anti-aging medicine. Grapefruit is one of those catalysts.
Sinatra, author of “Heartbreak and Heart Disease”, also advises his male clients suffering from the symptoms of andropause to cut out alcohol from their diet and increase exercise. The aromatase enzyme is also turned on by alcohol and fat, so men with declining levels of testosterone are particularly vulnerable.
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Testosterone: New and popular AndroGel, a clear and odorless topical testosterone gel by Unimed Pharmaceuticals

Jed Diamond
“It’s like puberty in reverse,” Jed Diamond, a California psychotherapist and author of “Male Menopause” and the forthcoming book, “Surviving Male Menopause”, says of andropause. Like puberty, the changes that andropause wreaks in aging men, Diamond says, are
“hormonal,
psychological,
interpersonal,
social,
sexual and
spiritual.”

Diamond says that as many as 25 million American males between ages 40 and 55 are experiencing some degree of male.
Loss of libido, for example, can be treated with the vasodilator ginkgo biloba, suggests Jed Diamond, author of “Male Menopause.” For men hitting midlife, Diamond recommends, eat soy products, lower fat foods, vegetables and tomato products, the last of which can reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Furthermore, drinking plenty of water is a key component for healthy living.
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Andropause can be easily misdiagnosed by Depression. (Depressive Disorder.)

PATIENT SAYS
Irritability, fatigue, depression, reduced libido and erection problems are hallmark signs of andropause. “I felt like I didn’t want to move,” says Cecil Dorsey of Vernon, Conn. The 68-year-old retired truck driver, who discovered via a blood test nearly four years ago that his testosterone levels dropped, said, “I just didn’t want to be bothered by anything.”

Dr. Adrian Dobs
Although the first study on male andropause was published in the “Journal of the American Medical Association” in the mid-1940s, it’s only recently that the U.S. medical community has taken notice of this condition, says Dr. Adrian Dobs, an endocrinologist and associate professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
andropausal male may be diagnosed with depression and prescribed an antidepressant, and both doctor and patient think the man’s problem has been addressed. However, if that man has other symptoms of male menopause such as loss of libido, the antidepressant will only exaggerate that problem.
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“All men should be brought up to a certain level of testosterone,” advocates Dobs, who suggests that minimum levels should be 300 nanograms per deciliter of total testosterone. The mean level for a 40-year-old is 500 nanograms, she says.

Instances where testosterone replacement therapy is advised, Dobs says, include men with clear bone density loss, which can lead to osteoporosis and decreased height, and in treating sexual dysfunction in cases where Viagra or other often prescribed remedies don’t work. Another area of possible benefits of testosterone therapy may be in cases to maintain body composition and muscle — for instance, in patients fighting cancer.
Dr. Michael A. Werner
But testosterone replacement therapy is “not a benign treatment,” warns Dr. Michael A. Werner, a White Plains, N.Y., urologist with specialized training in male reproductive medicine and surgery and male erectile dysfunction.
Specialists say that men considering testosterone replacement therapy—whether by injection, patches, cream, gel or oral form—should get their PSA levels checked as testosterone replacement therapy could increase the risk of prostate cancer. (A PSA blood test identifies a man’s risk for prostate cancer.) Other risks associated with hormone supplementation, particularly with injections, include the risk of stroke, an increase in liver toxicity and breast development. Ironically, testosterone supplementation also shuts down the production of sperm, Werner says.
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SOURCES

Disovery.com Writers
http://mydoctortells.com/?p=3625

LONG LIFE

LONG LIFE - past and present

ARE you hoping for a long life? Thought so. Are you looking forward to growing old? Thought not. Man has wanted one without the other for thousands of years, and has invariably been disappointed. Cleopatra is said to have bathed in asses’ milk to stay young and beautiful, but did not live long enough to find out if it worked in old age. The Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon was more famous for his search for the Fountain of Youth than for discovering Florida in 1513. He never did find the rejuvenating spring that the natives had told him of, and died from a poisoned Indian arrow a few years later.

The legend of the Fountain of Youth may have originated in northern India. It had reached Europe by the 7th century, and was widely known there in the Middle Ages. When Lucas Cranach the Elder was 74, he painted a famous picture of the miraculous spring, with wrinkled old women going in at one end and young beauties coming out at the other. Writers have constantly imagined worlds where people lived to prodigious ages while holding on to their youthful looks and vigour by various means, mostly foul. Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray kept a picture of himself in the attic, on which his excesses were visited while he himself remained ever young and handsome-though the arrangement, and Mr Gray, came to a sticky end. In the real world too, people are prepared to try all kinds of disgusting things, from mud baths to injections of monkey glands, in the hope of staying younger longer.

You might think they no longer needed to bother. People today generally live much longer than ever before. Neanderthal man could expect to live to about 20. Things got better, but only very gradually: by the middle of the 18th century AD, in Western Europe, life expectancy at birth averaged about 30 years. Now, that figure for the world as a whole is about 65, thanks to the past two centuries’ improvements in living conditions, public health and medical care. A baby born today in affluent North America or Western Europe can expect to live to 75-80. He (or she) has an excellent chance of avoiding heavy-and prematurely ageing-manual labour, and enjoying a comfortable lifestyle. His biggest problem will probably be to resist the temptation to eat too much, exercise too little and become obese. But if he looks after himself, he should remain in fair shape for most of his greatly extended time on earth.

Yet, though life expectancy has risen sharply, in quite a short time, the individual human lifespan set by nature has remained much the same through most of recorded history. It was-even if mainly in theory-three score and ten in Biblical times, and it isn’t much more now. Most people died of one thing or another long before their allotted span was up.

Even in the depths of history a few people lived to a great age. Researchers reckon that Rameses II, who ruled ancient Egypt some 3,250 years ago, may have survived into his 90s. So did the Greek dramatist Sophocles 800 years later (and, to judge from some of his late writings, felt it quite long enough).

His countryman and near-contemporary, the philosopher Plato, who lived to 80, shrewdly pointed out one reason for such unusual longevity in “The Republic”. An old man is told by a younger friend:

The big achievement of modern times is that, in developed countries at least, most people are now well enough off to reach the age they were designed for. No longer do they die in large numbers in the first year of life, or later from infectious diseases, or suffer malnutrition, or work themselves to death (except in Japan, where karoshi, suicide due to overwork, is a familiar end; but at least it is voluntary). Barring accidents, therefore, most people now go on until they die of one of the afflictions of ripe old age, such as cardiovascular disease or cancer. Britain’s queen now sends out ten times as many congratulatory messages to centenarians as she did when she came to the throne nearly half a century ago.

But although on average people in affluent countries now will live far longer than their equivalents even a century or two ago, individual lifespans will not be huge by historical standards. Granted, there are regular reports of healthy 130- or 150-year-olds being discovered in some remote mountain region in Eastern Europe, living on yogurt and garlic, herding goats and fathering children at an age when most people would have been dead long ago. But invariably the evidence to support their claim turns out to be less than solid. The oldest documented person in history was Jeanne Calment, a Frenchwoman from Arles, who died in 1997 at the age of 122 years and 164 days. She was old enough to have met Vincent van Gogh, in her younger days (or so she said-he never painted her). By all accounts she remained reasonably fit and compos mentis until quite close to her death, and appeared to enjoy her long life.

The current emphasis in age research is on what experts call “compression of morbidity”: finding ways to ensure that the rising number of people who achieve the apparent maximum lifespan do so in tolerable health, not just after extra years of decrepitude. Much of the advice handed out is simple common sense: adopt a healthy lifestyle, eat and drink in moderation, do not smoke, take regular exercise but don’t overdo it. These rules are often flouted, sometimes without apparent ill effect. In a speech at his 70th birthday celebration, Mark Twain outlined his own survival strategy:

He lived to 75. In 1910, that was much longer than most Americans.

But even for those who stick to the rules, all that a healthy lifestyle can do is to improve their chances of staying in reasonable shape for their age; it will not slow down the ageing process. Nor yet, for all the hype for this hormone treatment, that vitamin supplement and yonder course of injections, would any of the patent remedies so widely and profitably peddled. The only experiments on laboratory animals that have definitely shown a life-lengthening effect have involved subjecting rats and mice to a severely restricted diet. The less they eat, short of actual starvation, and the longer they go on doing so, the longer they live. But they have less fun than rodents on a normal diet. Ravenous rats reproduce less, and ravenous mice not at all.

Whether that method would work on humans, no one knows. They are so long-lived that any experiment would have to continue for many years to prove anything. Getting enough volunteers, and preventing them cheating, would prove mighty difficult. And suppose that severely restricting food intake did indeed make people too last longer? If their urges also turned out to be affected like those of rodents, what a great life it would be-and extra decades of it. That, in Greek myth, was the fate of Tithonus, lover of Aurora, the dawn: he asked for immortal life, and got it-but he’d forgotten to ask for youth as well.

A different approach might work. To some extent longevity is an inherited trait. Experiments with that old friend of science, the fruit fly, have shown that selective breeding for long life can produce significantly longer-lasting flies. But again, that would not be much help to humans: we have long life-cycles, so the results might be centuries ahead-even were we ready to choose potentially long-lived mates rather than visibly well-endowed or well-heeled ones.

What, though, if instead of selective breeding for longer-lived stock, the chosen method were to be genetic manipulation? Now that the sequencing of the human genome has been completed, all sorts of gene-therapy treatments are beginning to look possible. The process of ageing is a complex matter in which many different genes appear to be involved, but in time it may become possible to use gene therapy to slow down ageing, if not eliminate it.

Not that, even if ageing could be stopped altogether, people would stop dying. Accidents will happen. Age researchers reckon that if people were able indefinitely to preserve their maximum health and vigour (which in developed countries is reached around the age of ten or eleven), they would on average live for about 1,200 years; while one in about 1,000 would last for 10,000 years. He might get a bit lonely as all his friends bowed out. In the end, though, the incidence of death for mankind as a whole would still be the same as ever: 100%. Life is an invariably fatal disease.

Meanwhile, having individuals around for hundreds or even thousands of years would require some radical adjustments. Even without such innovations, the latest UN estimates suggest that, on fairly conservative assumptions about birth and death rates, today’s world population of just over 6 billion may rise to 8.9 billion by 2050; by when, instead of today’s 600m people over 60, there will be about 2 billion-roughly one in four of all mankind, worldwide, and in Europe nearly 40%.

And then? If people were to live a lot longer, and everything else stayed the same, old people would soon end up in a huge majority. Ugh. Demographers reckon the planet will have trouble handling just the 8.9 billion forecast for 2050. Even were there shelter and food, these hordes of super-oldies would face a grim life, unless they could survive without vast extra medical care, and remain fit enough to go on and on working, to avoid having to be maintained by the dwindling, resentful minority of younger people.

Who wants it anyway? A world of seen-it-all-before, weary crumblies would be a depressing place to live in. As Cicero wisely observed in Rome more than 2,000 years ago:

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-69842186.html?key=01-42160D517E1E1D6117080317002256213F4A374C1820234C3E0E0A60641A617F127119731B7B1D27

Articles > Government magazines > News and Education magazines > The Economist (US) articles > December 2000
The Economist (US)

Article: Who wants to live for ever?(Christmas Specials)(Average life expectancy has risen greatly. The span of individual life has not. Would it be a good thing if it did? No)

Article from:
The Economist (US)
Article date:
December 23, 2000 Copyright

]]> http://mydoctortells.com/longlife/feed/ 0 http://mydoctortells.com/father-at-age-90/ http://mydoctortells.com/father-at-age-90/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:36:55 +0000 Dr. Ashok Koparday, Sexologist and Marriage Counselor, Accredited Sex Therapist, Medical Director: Sex Therapy, Education, Research Center, Samadhan, Mumbai, India http://mydoctortells.com/?p=3621 Men-No-Pause]]>

MENOPAUSE MYTH STORY

From The Times
August 22, 2007

Father, 90, shows off new baby – and wants more
Jeremy Page in Delhi

The Sunday Times

The world’s oldest new dad has fathered his 21st child at the age of 90 and he says that he plans to continue breeding for at least another decade.

Nanu Ram Jogi, a farmer in the Indian state of Rajasthan, cannot remember exactly how many children he has produced with his four wives, but estimates that he has twelve sons, nine daughters and at least twenty grandchildren.

“Women love me,” he boasted as dozens of relatives came to see his 14-day-old daughter, Girija Rajkumari. “I want to have more children. I can survive another few decades and want to have children till I am 100. Then maybe it will be time to stop.”

Mr Jogi married his first wife, Lalki, in 1942 when he was 25, the world was at war and India was still five years away from gaining independence from Britain. He fathered his eldest daughter, Sita Devi, a year later.

He married his second wife, Punni, when he was 50 and his third marriage, to Rukman, came 20 years later in 1987. He married his current wife, Saburi, in 1997 when he was 80 and India’s economic boom was beginning to get under way.

Saburi, who is 50 and has given him seven children, was previously married to his eldest son, Shiv Lal, who died ten years ago.

“At first I didn’t want to stay here after my husband died,” she said. “It was a bad time and I was going to go back to my family, but Nanu insisted. He promised to look after me and said he would take care of my family, so I stayed and now we have seven children.”

So what is Mr Jogi’s secret? “I eat all kinds of meat: rabbits, lamb, chicken and wild animals,” he said. “There is a dense forest around the village. I go hunting most days and eat whatever I catch. Lots of food is my secret to staying healthy. I will survive another few decades to take care of these kids!”

The world’s oldest known father was an Australian called Les Colley, who was 92 when his ninth child was born. He died in 1998, just before his 100th birthday.

]]> http://mydoctortells.com/father-at-age-90/feed/ 0 http://mydoctortells.com/male-menopause-andropause3/ http://mydoctortells.com/male-menopause-andropause3/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 16:31:01 +0000 Dr. Ashok Koparday, Sexologist and Marriage Counselor, Accredited Sex Therapist, Medical Director: Sex Therapy, Education, Research Center, Samadhan, Mumbai, India http://mydoctortells.com/?p=3619

Many clinicians believe that andropause is not a valid concept, because men can continue to reproduce into old age. Their reproductive systems do not stop working completely, and therefore they do not exhibit the sudden and dramatic drops in hormone levels characteristic of women undergoing menopause. In some men before the age of 60 there is a complete loss of libido, erectile function, and orgasmic ability.

MYTH CALLED ANDROPAUSE

Men don’t pause
Sophisticated presentation of illness and it’s medicine with scientific name for changes associated with aging could well be marketing and advertising pitch for pharmaceutical giants. Something has to come after Viagra © and people are buying the belief dished out correctly with scientific explanation and the medicine sells. It is a billion dollar business.

After all is said and done the prevention boils to appropriate changes in LIFE STYLE, which is the mantra of the decade. Hold on, if you are lazy quick fix modern guy we have one more medicine for you, TESTOSTERONE.

Scientists feel that andropause is simply synonymous with hypogonadism or low testosterone levels.

There is opposition to the concept of andropause in Europe as well as the U.S.

Some clinicians argue that many of the cited symptoms are not specific enough to warrant describing a new condition. For example, people who are overweight may be misguided into treating a new illness rather than addressing the lifestyle that led to their being overweight. Similarly, energy levels vary from person to person, and for people who are generally inactive, energy levels will automatically be lower overall.

While it is true that active and otherwise healthy men could in theory develop andropause-like symptoms, how common and widespread the phenomenon is, and whether genetics, lifestyle, environment, or a combination of factors are responsible, is not yet known.

Some of the current popular interest in the concept of andropause has been fueled by the book Male Menopause, written by Jed Diamond, a lay person. According to Diamond’s view, andropause is a change of life in middle-aged men, which has hormonal, physical, psychological, interpersonal, social, sexual, and spiritual aspects. Diamond claims that this change occurs in all men, generally between the ages of 40 and 55, though it can occur as early as 35 or as late as 65.

The term “male menopause” may be a misnomer, as unlike women, men’s reproductive systems do not cease to work completely in mid-life; some men continue to father children late into their lives (at age 90 or older).

^ “Father, 90, shows off new baby” – timesonline.co.uk, retrieved 9/08/07

]]> http://mydoctortells.com/male-menopause-andropause3/feed/ 0 http://mydoctortells.com/male-menopause-andropause2/ http://mydoctortells.com/male-menopause-andropause2/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:19:07 +0000 Dr. Ashok Koparday, Sexologist and Marriage Counselor, Accredited Sex Therapist, Medical Director: Sex Therapy, Education, Research Center, Samadhan, Mumbai, India http://mydoctortells.com/?p=3599 Prevalence of Andropause and comparison between menopause and andropause.]]>
Andropause is a menopause like condition in aging men.
It has to be associated with LOW LEVELS OF TESTOSTERONE to be called Andropause.

PREVALENCE of andropause

It is estimated that 30 percent of men in their 50s will have testosterone levels low enough to be causing symptoms or putting them at risk.
Between the ages of 40 and 70 years, male bone density falls by up to 15 percent.
What’s more, approximately one in eight men over age 50 actually have osteoporosis.

COMPARISON WOMEN AND MEN

Unlike women, middle-aged men do not experience a complete and permanent physiological shutting down of the reproductive system as a normal event

The incidence of hip fractures rises exponentially in aging men, as it does in women, starting about 5 to 10 years later. In Canada, 20-30 percent of osteoporotic fractures occur in men. The incidence of fractures has been increasing in men, whereas it seems to be stabilizing in women – likely due to their lifestyle changes, calcium supplements and hormone replacement therapies (HRT).

Two important consequences of osteoporosis are often seen as a slow but progressive rounding of the shoulders as well as a loss of height and back pain. Particularly devastating seem to be hip fractures, up to one third of patients never seem to regain full mobility.

It is now well accepted that women’s risk of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) increases after menopause. Estrogen replacement therapy seems to reverse this trend.
New evidence suggests that a similar phenomenon occurs in men as their testosterone levels diminish with age.

TESTOSTERONE LEVELS

Different labs have varying ranges of what they consider normal with values ranging from the low 200s to over 1200 ng./dl. considered normal for men and from 15 to 70 ng./dl. considered normal for women. Much of the recent research suggests that people living with HIV should be in the upper range of normal, with men at ranges of at least 500 ng./dl. or higher. Jon Kaiser, M.D., author of Healing HIV, suggests that for peak health we should be in optimal ranges of 500 to 1000 ng./dl. of total testosterone levels for men, and 50 to 100 ng./dl. of total testosterone levels for women.

Testosterone can be measured as “free” (that is, bioavailable and unbound) or more commonly, “total” (including the percentage which is chemically bound and unavailable). In the United States, male total testosterone levels below 300 ng/dL from a morning serum sample are generally considered low

]]> http://mydoctortells.com/male-menopause-andropause2/feed/ 0 http://mydoctortells.com/testosterone-level/ http://mydoctortells.com/testosterone-level/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 12:54:41 +0000 Dr. Ashok Koparday, Sexologist and Marriage Counselor, Accredited Sex Therapist, Medical Director: Sex Therapy, Education, Research Center, Samadhan, Mumbai, India http://mydoctortells.com/?p=3593 Male total testosterone levels below 300 ng/dL from a morning serum sample are generally considered low. Jon Kaiser, M.D., author of Healing HIV, suggests that for peak health we should be in optimal ranges of 500 to 1000 ng./dl. of total testosterone levels for men, and 50 to 100 ng./dl. of total testosterone levels for women. ]]>

NORMAL TESTOSTERONE LEVELS IN BLOOD

GROUPED BY AGE AND GENDER

[3]
In the United States, male total testosterone levels below 300 ng/dL from a morning serum sample are generally considered low

A testosterone test checks the level of this male hormone (androgen) in the blood.
Normal

Specialists say that men considering testosterone replacement therapy—whether by injection, patches, cream, gel or oral form—should get their PSA levels checked as testosterone replacement therapy could increase the risk of prostate cancer. (A PSA blood test identifies a man’s risk for prostate cancer.) Other risks associated with hormone supplementation, particularly with injections, include the risk of stroke, an increase in liver toxicity and breast development. Ironically, testosterone supplementation also shuts down the production of sperm.

All men should be brought up to a certain level of testosterone. Minimum levels should be 300 nanograms per deciliter of total testosterone. The mean level for a 40-year-old is 500 nanograms.

Normal values may vary from lab to lab. Your doctor will have your test results in 1 to 2 days.
Total testosterone for males
Age Male

7 months to 9 years -Less than 30 ng/dL (less than 1.04 nmol/L)

10-13 years- 1-619 ng/dL (0.04-21.48 nmol/L)

14-15 years 100-540 ng/dL (3.47-18.74 nmol/L)

16-19 years 200-970 ng/dL (6.94-33.66 nmol/L)

20-39 years 270-1,080 ng/dL (9.00-37.48 nmol/L)

40-59 years 350-890 ng/dL (12.15-30.88 nmol/ L)

60 years and older 350-720 ng/dL (12.15-24.98 nmol/L)

Total testosterone for females
Age Female

1 month to puberty Less than 10 ng/dL (less than 0.35 nmol/L)

7-9 years 1-12 ng/dL (0.04-0.42 nmol/L)

10-13 years 2-53 ng/dL (0.07-1.84 nmol/L)

14-17 years 8-53 ng/dL (0.28-1.84 nmol/L)

Premenopausal 10-70 ng/dL (0.35-2.43 nmol/L)

Postmenopausal 7-40 ng/dL (0.24-1.39 nmol/L)

The testosterone level for a postmenopausal woman is about half the normal level for a healthy, nonpregnant woman. And a pregnant woman will have 3 to 4 times the amount of testosterone compared to a healthy, nonpregnant woman.

Normal free testosterone levels in men range from 44 to 244 pg/mL (0.68 to 3.76 pmol/L).
In women, the free testosterone level may range from 0.6 to 9.2 pg/mL (0.01 to 0.14 pmol/L).

[2]
Jon Kaiser, M.D., author of Healing HIV, suggests that for peak health we should be in optimal ranges of 500 to 1000 ng./dl. of total testosterone levels for men, and 50 to 100 ng./dl. of total testosterone levels for women.

[3]
Testosterone can be measured as “free” (that is, bioavailable and unbound) or more commonly, “total” (including the percentage which is chemically bound and unavailable).
In the United States, male total testosterone levels below 300 ng/dL from a morning serum sample are generally considered low

Source:
Thanks to
[1] webmd.com
[2]Is Your Testosterone Level “Normal?”
By Dan Dunable
October 2000
http://www.thebody.com/content/art32237.html
[3]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testosterone

]]> http://mydoctortells.com/testosterone-level/feed/ 0 http://mydoctortells.com/male-menopause-andropause1/ http://mydoctortells.com/male-menopause-andropause1/#comments Sat, 07 Aug 2010 16:56:27 +0000 Dr. Ashok Koparday, Sexologist and Marriage Counselor, Accredited Sex Therapist, Medical Director: Sex Therapy, Education, Research Center, Samadhan, Mumbai, India http://mydoctortells.com/?p=3583 testosterone level has to be low for diagnosis and the symptoms have to improve on supplementation of testosterone. ]]>

WHAT IS ANDROPAUSE?

In menopause estrogen level falls (dramatically) in women as she ages. \
In Andropause the level of testosterone falls (gradually) in men and (also the level of dehydroepiandrosterone) as they age.

To call it ‘Andropause’ there has to be
fall in blood level of available testosterone along with the
cluster of symptoms, (also decrease in Leydig cells of testis) which
improve by giving Testosterone medicine.

Some SYMPTOMS of Andropause are as follows.

1. Low sex drive 
2. Emotional, psychological and behavioral changes
3. Decreased muscle mass 
4. Loss of muscle strength 
5. Increased upper and central body fat 
6. Osteoporosis or weak bones and back pain
7. Cardiovascular risk

All people with decreased testosterone levels do not have symptoms, hence will not be said to be having ‘andropause’.

WHAT’S IN A NAME [1]

Unlike “menopause”, the word “andropause” is not currently recognized by the World Health Organization and its ICD-10 medical classification.

The impact of low levels of testosterone has been previously reported.

In 1944, (There has been a prolonged gap in the study of effects of low testosterone after 1944 till today mainly because measurement of blood levels of testosterone were expensive.) Heller and Myers[1] identified symptoms of what they labeled the “male climacteric” including

1. loss of libido and potency,
2. nervousness, depression,
3. impaired memory,
4. the inability to concentrate,
5. fatigue,
6. insomnia,
7. hot flushes, and
8. sweating.

Heller and Myers found that their subjects had lower than normal levels of testosterone, and that symptoms improved dramatically when patients were given replacement doses of testosterone.

Andropause has been observed in association with Alzheimer’s disease.[2]

In one study, 98.0% of primary care physicians believed that andropause and osteoporosis risk were related. [3]

The term “symptomatic late onset hypogonadism” (or “SLOH”) is sometimes considered to refer to the same condition as the word “andropause”.[4] [5]

Some researchers prefer the term “androgen deficiency of the aging male” (“ADAM”), to more accurately reflect the fact that the loss of testosterone production is gradual and asymptotic[6] (in contrast to the more abrupt change associated with menopause.) The “D” is sometimes given as “decline” instead of “deficiency”.[4] In some contexts, the term “partial androgen deficiency in aging males” (“PADAM”) is used instead. [7]

REFERENCE SOURCES

[1]#^ Heller, C.G., Myers, G.B., “The Male climacteric: Its symptomatology, diagnosis and treatment.” JAMA 1944; 126:472-77.

[2]# ^ Fuller SJ, Tan RS, Martins RN (2007). “Androgens in the etiology of Alzheimer’s disease in aging men and possible therapeutic interventions”. J. Alzheimers Dis. 12 (2): 129–42. PMID 17917157. http://iospress.metapress.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&issn=1387-2877&volume=12&issue=2&spage=129.

[3]# ^ Pommerville PJ, Zakus P (2006). “Andropause: knowledge and awareness among primary care physicians in Victoria, BC, Canada”. Aging Male 9 (4): 215–20. doi:10.1080/13685530601040661. PMID 17178557. http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&doi=10.1080/13685530601040661&magic=pubmed.

[4]# ^ a b “Columbia Presbyterian – Department of Urology”. http://cumc.columbia.edu/dept/urology/What_is_hypogonadism_Intro.html. Retrieved 2007-12-17.

[5]# ^ “There’s help for “grumpy old men”, but they’re reluctant to admit to problem, says Queen’s urologist”. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/24551.php. Retrieved 2007-12-17.

[6]# ^ Morales A (2004). “Andropause (or symptomatic late-onset hypogonadism): facts, fiction and controversies”. Aging Male 7 (4): 297–303. doi:10.1080/13685530400016664. PMID 15799125.

[7]# ^ Tancredi A, Reginster JY, Luyckx F, Legros JJ (2005). “No major month to month variation in free testosterone levels in aging males. Minor impact on the biological diagnosis of ‘andropause’”. Psychoneuroendocrinology 30 (7): 638–46. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2005.02.002. PMID 15854780

]]> http://mydoctortells.com/male-menopause-andropause1/feed/ 1 http://mydoctortells.com/sex-old-age/ http://mydoctortells.com/sex-old-age/#comments Mon, 24 May 2010 13:17:27 +0000 Dr. Ashok Koparday, Sexologist and Marriage Counselor, Accredited Sex Therapist, Medical Director: Sex Therapy, Education, Research Center, Samadhan, Mumbai, India http://mydoctortells.com/?p=3294

SEXY ELDERS

When at old age a person does sex – or -talks about sex – or -revels in sex she/he is ridiculed because of the mistaken belief that sex is for young and not for old.

EVEN AT SUCH AN OLD AGE

Is there any age limit for sex or is sex limited by age? At what age does a woman or man become incapable of sex?

NAUGHTY AFTER SEVENTY

MEN

It is well known that single affording elderly men satisfy themselves on regular basis by paid sex. Men often cultivate relation on the pretext of helping a needy woman/widow and satisfy themselves sexually on regular basis covertly.
Sexy comments of elder men are no less lewd than those of an unabashed teen.

Those children/grandchildren are to be commended who knowing that elderly people too require sexual intimacy respect and give space and privacy to their aged parents/grand parents. Sexual feelings/attraction/love may change its shape and hue, but it does not die until the person dies, becomes severely ill or kills it by erroneously believing that because I am above age 60 my sex is bound to go.

“Moderate and suitable use of the sexual function-which is possible upto a very great age-keeps the entire rganism completely vigorous and efficient.” _ by Dr. T. H. Van de Velde, authority on marital happiness.

WOMEN

Women express their utmost love with such an intuitive tenderly concern by knowing exactly what ‘husband’ wants at a particular time. She can almost read his mind and tease or grudge about him. The want may be of coffee or newspaper or physical embrace to console.
Women often have covert sexual intimacy with young boys who may be relatives or servants.

AGED MEN WOMEN AND INCEST

Given the opportunity, secrecy men as well as women can indulge in sex play to get sexual satisfaction.

AGED MEN WOMEN AND CYBER SEX

Pornography caters to fantasies of men having sex with _ _ _.
It is important to note that profit making porn industry has almost no content catering to sexual needs/fantasies of women. It corroborates the fact that women are more ‘love seeking’ than ‘physical sex ‘ seeking.
Dating sites and social networking sites like facebook are used for lewd, sexy, vulgar chat, exchange of obscene pictures with or without webcam to derive sexual satisfaction by old men as well as women with a fake id.

]]> http://mydoctortells.com/sex-old-age/feed/ 1 http://mydoctortells.com/old-age-sex2/ http://mydoctortells.com/old-age-sex2/#comments Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:48:39 +0000 Dr. Ashok Koparday, Sexologist and Marriage Counselor, Accredited Sex Therapist, Medical Director: Sex Therapy, Education, Research Center, Samadhan, Mumbai, India http://mydoctortells.com/?p=2213

STUDY OF
SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION IN OLD AGE

Study Authors

• Barbara Bartlik, M.D. and
• Marion Zucker Goldstein, M.D.

How to evaluate and treat sexual dysfunctions of old age

It is a companion piece to a column on women’s sexuality that appeared in the June 2000 issue of Psychiatric Services. This column describes the normal physiologic sexual changes that occur as men age as well as the physiologic causes of male sexual dysfunction. The psychological, cultural, and relationship factors that may contribute to the premature loss of sexual functioning in older couples are also described. Medical treatments and sex therapy techniques that have been found to be useful are reviewed. An overview is provided of important issues for the clinician in addressing sexuality with older patients.

With the proper guidance and education, many older people can adapt to these changes and continue to function sexually.

STUDIES DONE IN PAST

The majority of studies on sex and aging confirm that most individuals in late life retain sexual interest and ability.

However, as one might suppose, the frequency of sexual activity declines in the later years. In a review of the literature, Kaplan concluded that 70 percent of healthy 70-year-old men and women continue to have sex at least once a week. However, another study showed that 95 percent of men between the ages of 46 and 50 had weekly intercourse, compared with only 28 percent of men between the ages of 66 and 71.

In many instances, medications, illnesses, partner availability, relationship problems, erection difficulties, or age-related changes in sexual responsiveness are responsible for discontinuation of sexual activity.

With the proper guidance and education, many older people can adapt to these changes and continue to function sexually.

Practical Geriatrics:

Men’s Sexual Health After Midlife
Barbara Bartlik, M.D. and Marion Zucker Goldstein, M.D.
Psychiatr Serv 52:291-306, March 2001
© 2001 American Psychiatric Association

]]> http://mydoctortells.com/old-age-sex2/feed/ 0 http://mydoctortells.com/old-age-sex3/ http://mydoctortells.com/old-age-sex3/#comments Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:30:35 +0000 Dr. Ashok Koparday, Sexologist and Marriage Counselor, Accredited Sex Therapist, Medical Director: Sex Therapy, Education, Research Center, Samadhan, Mumbai, India http://mydoctortells.com/?p=2214 It takes longer time to get an erection, requires more intense, more continuous, and more lengthy physical stimulation. Moreover, erections are not as firm as earlier in life.]]>

AGE RELATED BIOLOGIC PROBLEMS

Click To Go to Topics in
PRACTICAL GERIATRICS
Introduction
Background
Age-related biologic changes
Loss of sexual desire
Erectile dysfunction
Disorders of ejaculation
Psychosexual therapy
Talking about sexuality with…
Conclusions
References

Authors:

• Barbara Bartlik, M.D. and
• Marion Zucker Goldstein, M.D.

This section examines age-related biologic changes in male sexual response.

Desire phase

In both men and women, sexual desire is linked to levels of testosterone. In men, testosterone levels begin to decline in the fifth decade and continue to do so steadily throughout later life.

Excitement phase

As men age, penile sensitivity is reduced. In addition, achieving an erection takes longer and requires more intense, more continuous, and more lengthy physical stimulation. Moreover, erections are not as firm as earlier in life .

Orgasm phase

As men age, contractions of orgasm are less intense and less numerous. Thus orgasms are more brief, and the ejaculate is expelled with less force. The volume of semen in the ejaculate is also diminished. Furthermore, older men may not experience ejaculation every time they have intercourse.

Resolution phase

Following orgasm, detumescence occurs more rapidly in older men. The refractory period, or the amount of time that must pass before a man is capable of another ejaculation, significantly increases with age, from several minutes or hours to as long as 48 hours.

THANKS TO PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES ONLINE

Practical Geriatrics:

Men’s Sexual Health After Midlife
Barbara Bartlik, M.D. and Marion Zucker Goldstein, M.D.

Psychiatr Serv 52:291-306, March 2001
© 2001 American Psychiatric Association

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