MALE MENOPAUSE

Male Menopause - a personal journey
by Joh  Bellamy


Ever since my early 40's I have experienced 'hot flushes'  just like my Mother did 30 years ago when she went through ' the change'  and these hot flushes have continued, on and off, ever since.  About once or twice a year I will go through a oeriod that varies - between a month and 3 - 4 months - of these hot flushes and each and every batch - is slightly different - never the same.
Some times in the middle of watching TV in the evening I can feel myself getting hotter and hotter and just like my Mother from all those years ago, I can get all light headed,   all flappy,  my body is covered is sweat and yet to touch  is cold.  I often go and open a window or start fanning myself and taking clothes off or getting a towel to dry myself with and I can be quite an air head at these moments.  Other times I am not so hot and sweaty - just the air head bit... or on other occasions my blood sugar levels will crash as the hot flashes consume me and I have got to eat something or I will pass out,  and it is something I have learned to live with.  In between these batches,  I  am quite normal and for many months nothing will happen,  and then gradgually it will start again,  often quite mild to start with and will build up over several weeks and may last a month or sometimes longer, and in the meantime,  my friends all take the piss out of me.

I call it the MAN O PAUSE... ha ha

You may be coinfused when it starts - that's IF it starts, as it seems most men are unaware of this change in life cycles and do not feel anything like I describe here,  but if you do,  you will have many questions.

The medical community is currently debating whether or not men really do go through a well-defined menopause. Doctors say that male patients receiving hormone therapy with testosterone have reported relief of some of the symptoms associated with so-called male menopause.

Since men do not go through a well-defined period referred to as menopause, some doctors refer to this problem as androgen (testosterone) decline in the aging male, or what some people call low testosterone. Men do experience a decline in the production of the male hormone testosterone with aging, but this also occurs with some disease states such as diabetes. Along with the decline in testosterone, some men experience symptoms such as fatigue, weakness, depression, and sexual problems. The relationship of these symptoms to the decreased testosterone levels is still controversial.

Unlike menopause in women which represents a well-defined period in which hormone production stops completely, testosterone decline in men is a slower process. The testes, unlike the ovaries, do not run out of the substance it needs to make testosterone. A healthy male may be able to make sperm well into his eighties or longer.

However, as a result of disease, subtle changes in the function of the testes may occur as early as 45 to 50 years of age, and more dramatically after the age of 70 in some men.

If testosterone levels are low, testosterone replacement therapy may help relieve such symptoms as loss of interest in sex (decreased libido), depression, and fatigue. But, as with hormone replacement therapy in women, testosterone replacement therapy does have some potential risks and side effects. Replacing testosterone may worsen prostate cancer,  so thgere are risks whatever you do.

I have learned to live with the hot flushes and although they can be quite uncomfortable and stressful,  there is little I can do but get on with it and adapt.  I am getting older, having just turned 57 which as I tell my friends, is nearly 60 ( any day now ... )  and there will be things that will start to ache and hurt,  as there are things that will slow me down and I notice this going upstairs to my apartment above Hamilton Hall,  as the 36 stairs sometimes feel like a mountain  climb as I get older and I have to stop half way up for a rest ( and to ask a sherpa for some oxygen... ) 

The Male Menopause is very real and dsespite what doctors may - or may not tell you - it DOES exist.