‘Low T’ therapy: Is it for me?

By Serena Gordon HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 1, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- When men are young, testosterone tends to get a bad rap, often blamed for aggressive and overly competitive behavior. But as men get older, the bad rap continues, though for a different reason.

In older men, it's low testosterone that has captured attention.

Testosterone, the male hormone, plays a vital role in many body functions, and low testosterone levels can leave men tired, uninterested in sex, infertile and with thinning bones, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

It's also a fairly common problem in older men. As many as four in 10 men older than 45 have lower than normal levels of testosterone, according to the American Urological Association.

But, replacing lost testosterone isn't a panacea, despite what you might have seen on TV.

"There's been a lot of advertising, and every guy that comes in now asks about testosterone," said Dr. Ryan Terlecki, a urologist at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. "They've been led to believe that it's a fountain of youth, but it's not a cure-all."

For example, many men hope that testosterone therapy will help treat erectile dysfunction. But, Terlecki said that though testosterone is a treatment for low libido and taking replacement testosterone may increase a man's sex drive, it's not a direct treatment for erectile dysfunction.

Testosterone replacement also isn't an option for men who want to preserve their fertility. That's because when a man takes testosterone therapy, the testosterone receptors in the body tell the brain that there's enough testosterone, and, in turn, the brain signals the testes to stop producing sperm.

Terlecki said it's possible that sperm production could return to normal levels after testosterone therapy is stopped. But there's no solid evidence that it will, so doctors prefer to err on the side of caution if a man believes he might still want to have children.

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'Low T' therapy: Is it for me?

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