For example, symptoms such as fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and lack of sexual desire may be due to a poor diet, lack of exercise, and lack of sleep. Stress, anxiety, and depression can be side effects of erectile dysfunction. Increasing low testosterone levels alone won't fix these problems, says Dr. If bothersome symptoms and low testosterone levels persist after exploring these avenues, your doctor may prescribe a short-term TRT. TRT is usually given as a gel, cream, or daily patch that is applied to the skin (usually on the shoulder or thigh, which are easy to reach).
TRT can also be taken as a daily oral medication or as weekly or biweekly injections. Another option is granules implanted in the buttocks that release testosterone slowly over several weeks. There's no advantage over different apps, he says Dr. However, injections can produce a faster change.
TRT can have short-term side effects, such as acne, breathing disorders while sleeping, breast swelling or tenderness, or ankle swelling. However, for most men who qualify for treatment, the benefits of TRT often outweigh these potential risks, says Dr. Patients often continue treatment with TRT as long as they feel that the benefits they occur in your lives. TRT doesn't cure low testosterone levels, so your symptoms may come back if you stop taking it.
Usually, your doctor will recommend that you use doses to gradually lower your TRT levels to create a safe “weaning” process. Regardless of the reason why a TRT protocol is initiated, a licensed healthcare professional must monitor and adjust treatment as needed. If the underlying health condition cannot be resolved, TRT can be a lifelong solution to maintain optimal hormone levels. You can also be sure that ThriveMD will not ignore your concerns about your ability to stop TRT once treatment begins.
In these cases, addressing underlying lifestyle factors together with TRT could improve testosterone levels, which could allow the person to discontinue treatment after several months. Testosterone decreases in women as they age, especially after menopause, but most of the time, TRT isn't necessary. After 1 to 2 years of TRT, your doctor will measure your bone density if you had osteoporosis when you started treatment. If you're considering testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) to treat low testosterone levels, you may be wondering how long you should stay with this treatment.
However, your TRT-free status may be preferable for you if you had adverse reactions to treatment and felt that the benefits were not justified. A professional must confirm your suspected symptoms of low testosterone before you can begin to consider if TRT is right for you. However, the study also found that men taking TRT had more cases of irregular heartbeats, blood clots in the legs or lungs, and kidney problems than men who received the placebo. Many men assume that TRT should be taken for life once a treatment plan has been initiated to restore testosterone levels.
Even TRT doesn't cure the problem of low testosterone, but simply offers a way out of the debilitating symptoms associated with it. The longer you have been taking TRT, the longer it will take for your body to restore its normal testosterone production after discontinuing your protocol. The biggest difference is that the doses of testosterone used in TRT are small and are designed to achieve natural levels of the hormone in the blood. Ultimately, the appropriate length of a TRT cycle depends on the individual's unique needs and circumstances.