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Men, ask yourself this question; Are you gradually losing your sex drive, strength, energy, and enthusiasm for life and love? Or more simply, “how’s your vitality, vigor and virility?” There is no need to tell you all the great things about testosterone. We know the importance of testosterone... it is all that is “male.” The male hormonal system is really all about the hormone testosterone. About 95% of the testosterone is produced in the testes and 5% in the adrenals, but it is the brain that triggers the production with specific signaling hormones. Our testosterone levels will drop with age between the ages of 40 to 70. The average man will lose nearly 60% of the testosterone in his body. How can we slow this decline down? Here is what you need to know.

Andropause is the medical term for what many people call male menopause. It is the gradual decline of the body's ability to produce dominant male hormones. Andropause is commonly overlooked because testosterone levels drop gradually over time, where as female menopause has an abrupt drop in estrogen, bringing on immediate symptoms.  Andropause usually manifests in middle aged men but it is not that uncommon to see young men in their late 20's  with this condition. Increased toxins in the environment, increased stress placed on working individuals, and the lack of essential nutrition in our diets has created a perfect storm for the development of andropause.

The focus should not totally be on the total level of testosterone, although important.  Knowing it's relationship to the other hormones is more important. There is a term call “hormonal synergy” which basically says good hormones stimulate other good hormones, and bad hormones stimulate other bad hormones. They are all related and when you effect one you effect others too. Anything you do to enhance growth hormone also enhances testosterone and vis versa. Anything you do to increase cortisol will suppress growth hormone and testosterone. The hormone  insulin sometimes helps testosterone and sometimes it suppresses testosterone. So here is your strategy:

• Enhance Growth Hormone
• Enhance Testosterone
• Suppress Cortisol
• Optimize Insulin

Here is the problem ... often times, activities that successfully increase testosterone will also increase cortisol!
 

We could go into all the different systems that play a part in low testosterone syndrome:

• liver detoxification
• estrogen metabolism
• gastrointestinal health
• insulin sensitivity
• adrenal function
• testosterone synthesis
• feed back loops with the pituitary and hypothalamus in the brain
• all the required enzyme activity
• etc...

You could devote a textbook to each of these areas but, hey, lets be men and cut to the chase. By far, the most common cause is when there is a shift in the ratio between testosterone and estrogen....toward estrogen. Even when your testosterone levels are in range, if also  accompanied with a relative high estrogen level, low testosterone symptoms are expressed.

The most common underlying metabolic imbalance to this testosterone to estrogen ratio shift is insulin insensitivity. It may also be referred to as insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, or syndrome X. Blood sugar and insulin move into the cells too slowly. The pathological end point of this process is diabetes. You may recall the commercial where the man says “I did not know that my diabetes could lead to ED.”” The commercial then goes on to promote Cialis as the solution. This is not the solution. He may skirt around the ED issue, but all the while the underlying metabolic glucose problem is covertly destroying his health. 

Another very common cause of a shifted T:E ratio is from high levels of cortisol. Stress from either physical, mental, emotional, or chemical reasons can stimulate cortisol release. The primary effect of cortisol is to increase blood sugar. As blood sugar increases, the need for insulin also increases in order to shuttle the glucose into the cell. A vicious cycle that eventually drops the T. (For more information on this process refer to my article titled Connect The Dots.) 

To evaluate testosterone function you should have a blood test that includes lipids (HDL, cholesterol and triglycerides) and blood sugar. Additionally, a salivary hormone panel to map out the male hormone pathway.  In most cases this will provide adequate information to establish a program for attaining testosterone optimization. All this may sound confusing for here is my suggestion.

Men, do not take a “do it yourself” approach with this issue. Take the easy way, call our office and let me show step by step how to navigate through this maze to get amazing results.