No, they don’t have hot flashes, but more men say they are suffering from low hormone levels in middle age. Could they be experiencing the elusive “male menopause”?
According to LiveScience:
More men are arriving in doctors’ offices complaining of sexual dysfunction, weight gain, fatigue, depression and other unpleasant, but potentially vague, symptoms. In some of these men, a blood test reveals low testosterone levels. And there has been a corresponding uptick in testosterone prescriptions, one approach to treating low male hormone levels.
However, a link between these symptoms and a theoretical male version of menopause is not widely endorsed in the medical community. Some doctors are skeptical that male menopause is different from normal human aging, while others question whether prescribing testosterone is a suitable medical solution. Even the phrase ‘male menopause’ is controversial, as it draws an inaccurate parallel to female menopause. (‘Male menopause,’ unlike female menopause, does not happen to 100% of the gender nor involve the complete shutdown of the reproductive system.) The correct medical term is late onset hypogonadism.
A study in the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin published in June found weak support for the theory that the offending symptoms were caused by lowered hormone levels. As a male member of the species, though, NewsFeed is still deathly terrified of aging regardless.