It is not recommended to treat normal aging with testosterone therapy. If you don't have a medical condition that contributes to a decrease in testosterone. If you don't have any medical conditions that contribute to lower testosterone levels, your doctor may recommend natural ways to increase testosterone, such as losing weight and increasing muscle mass through resistance exercise. While testosterone therapy can be very effective in improving symptoms, it's not recommended for everyone. It can have side effects, such as impaired sexual function, infertility, and shrinking of the gonads.
The therapy requires careful evaluation and regular monitoring. Testosterone should NOT be used in people with major cardiovascular diseases and prostate cancer. Extreme caution may be necessary in cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia. In addition, based on available evidence from published studies and expert input from an Advisory Committee meeting, the FDA has concluded that there is a potential increased cardiovascular risk associated with the use of testosterone.
These studies included older men treated with testosterone. Some studies reported an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, or death in connection with testosterone treatment, while others did not. As you age, your testosterone level gradually decreases, usually about 1% a year after age 30 or 40. The increase in interest in testosterone replacement therapy has further stimulated the pharmaceutical industry to develop a variety of testosterone formulations; therefore, testosterone sales are expected to continue to grow in the near future. The prevailing confusion over the diagnosis of testosterone deficiency, the inappropriate use of TRT, and recent reports of the potential increased risk of serious adverse effects with the use of TRT indicate that it is important for health professionals to provide guidance on the treatment of testosterone deficiency.
While this new information is somewhat reassuring, men and their doctors should still weigh these issues before committing to long-term testosterone treatment.
Despite their low specificity, the questionnaire on male hypogonadism and other questionnaires on male hypogonadism may be useful for evaluating the presence and severity of symptoms, as a prerequisite for initiating and monitoring the clinical response to testosterone replacement therapy
(TRT). Testosterone is approved by the FDA as replacement therapy only for men who have low testosterone levels due to disorders of the testicles, pituitary gland, or brain that cause a condition called hypogonadism. Guidelines from the American College of Physicians indicate that testosterone therapy may slightly improve sexual function in some men, but there is little evidence that it improves other functions, such as vitality and energy.Meanwhile, comorbidities, such as obesity and diabetes mellitus, were relatively high in clinical trials of testosterone. In addition, social interest in testosterone replacement therapy has increased in recent decades. Men can often feel a big difference when they stop therapy because their body's testosterone production has not yet recovered. Therefore, hematocrit and hemoglobin levels should be closely monitored in older men receiving testosterone replacement therapy.
Some testosterone supplements have been shown to cause health problems such as erectile dysfunction or kidney failure. Earlier observational studies suggested that long-term use of testosterone could increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. To date, clinical trials have reported some benefits of testosterone replacement therapy in older men, including improved bone density and bone strength, improved body composition, such as an increase in lean body mass and a decrease in fat mass, as well as a modest but significant improvement in physical function. The main analysis evaluated mortality in men with low serum testosterone levels compared to men with normal serum testosterone levels.
