Is there a male menopause...

[Twenty Inch]

If my testosterone and hormones are heading south, why do I fancy a wider and wider range of female now I'm in my fifties?

The triumph of hope over experience?

 

[bobg]

Andropause, also described as Irritable Male Syndrome, the title of a book that helped enormously in my latest battle with depression.

Men have marked and permanent hormonal changes - more estrogen and less testosterone, in mid life. More enlightened women's responses have been along the lines of "well, if we want them to acknowledge PMS, we'd better acknowledge IMS, or else he's just being an peanut for the fun of it".

They're a bit thin on the ground in our house....

And thanks for the link Crackle, good stuff. Must have gone through it but dont remember... and yes Rich, ditto

 

[Crackle]

Endocronoligists are the chaps/chappesses you need to see to actually establish if your hormones are up the spout as opposed to just getting older and grumpier like me. Now the drug companies have developed testagels, they've actually got something to prescribe to you as well - Fantastic, oh Brave New World we live in.

 

[wafflycat]

An interesting topic. It seems perfectly plausible that a marked change in hormone levels could be related to particular symptoms, but I would be cautious about the tendency to medicalise normal ageing processes. It's no accident that the "andropause" site is authored by Schering-Plough. In principle I've nothing against men using HRT if it has positive effects for them, but (in addition to the possibility of negative side-effects) it also goes without saying that there is a psychological/social element to all this, to do with the perceived desirability of youth. George Melly memorably remarked that when his libido eventually declined it was a great relief to him - "like being unchained from a lunatic". The article Crackle posted is a good one...

Don't dismiss the andropause because of one site. The link I gave just happened to be the first one on google. There is much discussion about the andropause. Some medics say it exists - others don't. Like many a 'medical condition' it's subject to debate & speculation.

 

[Crackle]

I answered yes, to all the questions about symptoms on that site you posted Waffly. They were a bit general though. I don't think I'll make an appointment just yet.

 

[ChrisKH]

An interesting topic. It seems perfectly plausible that a marked change in hormone levels could be related to particular symptoms, but I would be cautious about the tendency to medicalise normal ageing processes. It's no accident that the "andropause" site is authored by Schering-Plough. In principle I've nothing against men using HRT if it has positive effects for them, but (in addition to the possibility of negative side-effects) it also goes without saying that there is a psychological/social element to all this, to do with the perceived desirability of youth. George Melly memorably remarked that when his libido eventually declined it was a great relief to him - "like being unchained from a lunatic". The article Crackle posted is a good one...

Not sure Melly is the best yardstick for this sort of thing as he had an extreme libido. Either that or he couldn't control himself. Perhaps a bit of both.

 

[theclaud]

Don't dismiss the andropause because of one site. The link I gave just happened to be the first one on google. There is much discussion about the andropause. Some medics say it exists - others don't. Like many a 'medical condition' it's subject to debate & speculation.

I didn't mean to dismiss it as such - I'm happy to acknowledge that the symptoms are real, that they are connected with hormone levels, and that they might be alleviated by certain treatments. I'm just not sure it's a "condition" that needs a name. Incidentally I'd say the same thing about the similar symptoms experienced by some menopausal women - menopause itself is an empirically verifiable event, not a medical condition. There is no precise male equivalent purely because men do not stop producing sperm. The somewhat clumsy back-formation that gives us the word "andropause" indicates how vague the concept is. And it does seem to me to be extremely relevant that there are powerful vested interests in medicalising men's normal ageing process - I've just had a look at the diagnosis section, and almost all the symptoms could equally be produced by the long hours British and American men tend to work.

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

I didn't mean to dismiss it as such - I'm happy to acknowledge that the symptoms are real, that they are connected with hormone levels, and that they might be alleviated by certain treatments. I'm just not sure it's a "condition" that needs a name. Incidentally I'd say the same thing about the similar symptoms experienced by some menopausal women - menopause itself is an empirically verifiable event, not a medical condition. There is no precise male equivalent purely because men do not stop producing sperm. The somewhat clumsy back-formation that gives us the word "andropause" indicates how vague the concept is. And it does seem to me to be extremely relevant that there are powerful vested interests in medicalising men's normal ageing process - I've just had a look at the diagnosis section, and almost all the symptoms could equally be produced by the long hours British and American men tend to work.

Are you looking to do some research into this interesting area?

 

[theclaud]

Not sure Melly is the best yardstick for this sort of thing as he had an extreme libido. Either that or he couldn't control himself. Perhaps a bit of both.

He certainly had a very lively one, and never placed much value in self-control for its own sake. But I think a high libido is sufficiently common to be relevant here - people's sexual activity tends to be restricted by moral or social concerns or lack of opportunity, and having a lot fewer partners than George Melly probably says less about one's libido than one's attitude to sex.

 

[theclaud]

Are you looking to do some research into this interesting area?

I see you're back then . Does travel broaden the mind, Patrick?

 

[Fnaar]

MEN-o-pause That means one woman's is not as bad as two men's... or something... I've confused myself...ignore me... I might go away... but I doubt it...

 

[a_n_t]

Now the drug companies have developed testagels.

had 2 of them in a little bag for as long as i can remember!

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

I see you're back then . Does travel broaden the mind, Patrick?

Well, I was relieved to find that the first sooty shearwater I saw was in flight and not on my plate.

 

[theclaud]

Well, I was relieved to find that the first sooty shearwater I saw was in flight and not on my plate.

You didn't eat muttonbird? I'm very disappointed in you .

 

[yumpy]

Seems to me an andropause would be a pretty handy thing to claim to be going through to explain all those irritating habits that annoy my wife... you know, like pathological control freakery of the remote ("I'm just trying to feel in control of something dear as my powers are weakening")