Since testosterone is great for muscle gain and sexual drive and women are already loosing both when they go through menopause AND they've already started growing all the unwanted hair, have weight gain blah, blah, blah, why wouldn't women take testosterone too?

I don't understand why doctors don't heed mother nature sometimes. They may not fully understand why hormones levels drop off, but nature has seen fit in doing so. Don't put back in what has been streamed out naturally.

I agree, it is better not to mess with mother nature, so far I am health problem and medication free at 56....knock, knock, knocking on wood.

Perhaps the lowering levels are due to the aging heart. Since it cannot tolerate the high energy/stress levels associated with LIFE, it is forced into retirement by lowered levels of hormones. Thereby extending "LIFE," at least in the number of years you exist. Maybe not in terms of real "LIFE" as one knew it.

Lowered testosterone levels are actually a good thing in males who've had heart attacks. Apparently higher levels can trigger a heart attack. So maybe there is a valid reason as men get older they drop.

I've heard similar stories from people taking Human Growth Hormone. They have more energy, aren't as tired, etc.

Wow, a bit of anger there! Actually, the opposite has been true. Menopause in women is, of course, entirely normal, but the medical establishment jumped big time on hormone replacement therapy. It seemed like most post-menopausal women were on this until someone bothered to do studies documenting the ill effects. However, doctors have been very reluctant for any hormone replacement therapy for men, even in the hayday of female HRT. And, it is still just a trickle. Doctors are unsympathetic about male complaints in this area.

Wow, sorry to hear your symptoms were so bad Patricia, and that your husband left you for a younger woman.

Gotta agree with Zoo & not Patricia. Even the doc treating me said 95% may go untreated. I don't think the number would be above 10% of women who have not discussed their menopause with their doctor (of course that's a guess).

Get over it Pat. And if you can't... well there is always a SSRI, mood stabalizer or anti-anxiety pill to help with your worsening mood/affect

oops that was supposed to be "treating men" not "treating me"

Luckily I don't need hormones yet but if/when I do I hope I find a doc that will be open-minded

yeah - you have a good point. I certainly feel no sympathy for my lifetime of women endlessly complaining about being women and every other aspect of how unfair life is to them - overlooking how much of a free ride they get just for having a vagina. Growing up would go a long way in helping these percieved endless problems and injustices. Men gravitate to hot women and women gravitate to whoever can finance their wardrobes and larvae - what's the problem?

not to mention that a whole society will support a woman who dumps her husband because he lost his capacity to make the amount of money she is used to but if a man dumps a woman because she gained 200 pounds and no longer practices hygiene then society treats him as an uncaring monster. The whole gender dance is a two way street sweetheart. Both are horrible and deserve each other.

Gee Pat,did he pee in your cheerie O,s too.I'll be 57 this month,and I,ve been on Androderm 5mg a day for 6 yrs.I been on heart meds since I was 39. They lower your testosterone,thus causing, weight gain & depression.I knew something was wrong when I didn,t have mourning wood.And my Large breasted sweety didn,t excite me(and I like large breast)...Gentleman this stuff works,with no side effects and my current sweety is 17 years younger than me and I keep her very happy.(ha,ha)I also eat right and workout.....P.S. I have 5 kids,2 grandkids,and 1great grandkid...Vik.

As the hackneyed saying goes: Bitter, party of one!

Holy cow Patricia! Why not just wear a sign that says, "My husband left me for a younger woman when I got old and fat!"

First, if you'd read the article instead of viewing it through the filter of your bitterness and anger, you'd see that the point was that doctors are not rushing to treat this. You're seeing what you, in your bitterness, want to see. You're always going to find the slights to women in everything you read because you'll add them where they don't exist.

I don't mean to be disrespectful. I hope you notice the reaction people had to your over-the-top post and realize you have an issue. You might want to talk to a professional.

.

Wow, a little bitter, are we, Patricia?

I really didn't need to know that much information about you by the way, that should be left to your providers, which should include a therapist.

I'm not going to down-play that for a large chuck, the medical community has focused on men and generalized the results to women, this has and continues to change, but apparently you missed the part in the article that read "The Women's Health Initiative Study, which revealed risks of hormone replacement therapy, followed a total of 161,808 women over 15 years. No long-term research like this has been conducted in men..."

Apparently the medical community hasn't IMMEDIATELY treated this, in fact I believe the opposite is true. By the way, do you know that men can get breast cancer too, oh yea you must because they IMMEDIATELY treat that for men and not women.

Yes, you are supposed to feel sympathy for anyone who has health issues... man or woman. In case you haven't noticed, breast cancer gets all the attention, it kills 39,000 women each year. Prostate cancer kills 32,000 men each year, and that difference can be because there are more women than men to begin with. Prostate cancer and breast cancer are equally deadly, but women and breast cancer get ALL the attention. I still feel sympathy for women even though my gender's illnesses get no attention, and are completely dismissed by selfish and thoughtless jerks, such as Patricia.

You must be on crack and acid at the same time, Patricia. There's no other explanation for your stupidity.

I'm sorry Pat, I missed the part in the article where any man asked for your sympathy. It's just an article discussing a controversial male issue.

Perhaps you've been mistakenly treated for low testosterone. Jeez, lighten up please!

Brian Fox....

how exactly does having a vagina get a woman a free ride again...must have missed that class in high school....do explain.

And please....lol...spare me the women are gold diggers routine...that is so 100 years ago and so not relevant. Be original in your thought.....and then post it.

Whew! Be gone with you, before someone drops a house on you, too.

OMG, you hit a cord with me. And I DO so agree. It's all about the men and their "needs." Medicare even pays for a vacuum-type product to treat men with ED --- when I wrote the company complaining about this fact the response I got was "I'm sorry you feel this way." They do NOTHING for women and their problems or issues; but men get it all. I work with nurse legal consultants on legal cases. I wish I could count the number of times men see their doctors and the first thing they ask for is Viagra (or its equivalent) --- even men taking 20-some prescription meds who have heart problems. What is wrong with this world???

I just had to give you a vote for your reply, Patricia. You sure spawned an interesting (if vindictive) slurry of replies.

Women are not the only species on the planet that have a lot of severe problems. Men are not immune. Just to let you know. But thanks for the laughs (just had to laugh at the responses you got - humor goes a long way in treatment of a lot of ills).

And I do hope your situation improves (if, indeed, it's as bad as some have made it out to be).

Wow, Brian, now who's being bitter?

Not all women are supported by their husbands. I, too, work and help bring home the bacon. Two children later, I have gained only 10 lbs more than when we got married many years ago. It is all a matter of how a woman sees herself and how her husband makes her feel about herself. I could have stayed home and taken care of the children and the home (which, by the way, is a thankless job), but I refused to. I wanted to make sure that if something ever happened to my husband, I wouldn't have to depend on anyone. So not every woman is looking to live off of their husband. And yes, there are many of us out there.

I don't see anywhere in Patricia's post where she stated it was "personal". But I do see a lot of men being, shall we say, real trigger-happy to smackdown on the mere existence of her vagina?

Y'all need to go take your Flintstones vitamins from Mommy & then get those testosterone levels checked, because I hear bitchyness is a sign of that.

You are deaf & blind? You don't know that they have been investigating and making hormone replacements for women for decades?

That would certainly explain your irrational hatred, and why any husband would run from a b*tch like you to a younger woman.

Wow Patricia! Aren't you a Bitter little old lady? I think we should all feel bad for anyone with health problems, whether they are men or women.

Everyone ages and the the medical community should focus on men and women's health...and they do. I don't think this article suggested we should feel sorry for men but it was trying to inform men what is going on with their bodies.

The older I get the MORE my husband loves me. However I work to keep myself attractive and I do not complain and act like an old bitty to make his life miserable. This why Men leave their wives from what I have seen. And if they find a younger woman it could be for a couple reason. One could be coincidence and the 2nd could be that he is afraid all women are just as miserable once they hit a certain age.

Maybe you should quit feeling sorry for YOURSELF. You should take a long look at yourself and see what youcould have done to make your realationship different. Nobody man or woman want to live with someone that is cranky and complaining all the time and if you say you are not, you are lieing to yourself, as you have just proved to everyone who read your post that you are.

I am wondering, if your husband left you and seem to hate men so bad, why are you even bothering to read an article on men's health?

It sound to me that maybe you should seek some professional help so you can move on from the pain you feel from when you marriage broke up. Otherwise I am afraid that the bitterness is going to eat you up.

I really feel sorry for you, you are so pathetic that I think I will have to add you to my prayers tonight.

Wow Marly, you calling her "pathetic" for her view, then basically you yourself be the judge jury and executioner of her life, and then saying you will pray for her, seems rather creepy. I don't think she needs your prayers.

You are right BRADLEY.....

but everyone knows the squeeky wheel gets the attention. Women join together for the common good of women. They protest, picket and lobby in all the right places to be heard and to aquire the funding....

men can do the same - they just don't.

Well, you are one of the few! I remember when insurance wouldn't pay for birth control pills --- and they still fight about birth control --- but they'll do nearly anything a man asks. I'm sorry, but I don't feel sorry for most of the men in this country. In most cases they are part of the problem --- not the cure.

Yeah, Medicaid will pay for Viagra, but not for an IUD....what's wrong with that picture? And remember it when y'all are tempted to go on a stereotypical breeders on welfare rant.

Actually a lot of insurance companies will not pay for viagra, it's out of pocket unless it's being used for it's original purpose which was to treat a heart condition. As far as birth control goes, you can thank you neighborhood religion for that one because "it's a sin" and since some or rather a lot of insurance companies are funded, founded, or ran by those same nuts - well I'm sure you can guess the rest...

Sounds like Pamela may be going through it right now, my wife is to 2+ years going through it when does it ever end? Don't jump on us men we enough ourselves to worry about too. As we get older our bodies change a lot and most of them are not nice to us. As my Dad used to say "growing old is not for wimps" we have aches and pains that we all have to live with. I do not have the libido problem yet (56 years old) but I am sure it will happen someday. Everyone deserves every chance to lead a good life, male and female so get off our case. Take your Midol or whatever and don't be so quick to berate us.

Don't think of them as hot flashes, think of them as your inner child playing with matches! ;-)

You are alive. What are you complaining about??? I've lived without sex for 10 years now. There are worse things in the world. And you can still satisfy your wife. So knock it off.

When men can conceive & give birth, you'll see men's health centers crop up.

All you guys have to do is bend over & cough once in a while, & even that's past a certain age. You don't spend half your life in stirrups getting annual checkups, pap smears, biopsies, hysterectomies, having babies, etc. Women have a lot more working parts than men do.

So, scar_tissue, from the sound of your post we are to assume it's only the parts above your neck that aren't working? Bummer. Sounds like you could really use repair.

Real men won't go to the doctor, that's why.

I don't think men should take Viagra! What a waste of time. Who wants a hyper-sexual man at that age? The older ladies certainly don't, from what I have seen.

Speak for yourself, eyore! The older you get, the better it gets!

"thankfully for us, we can generally find a women who would be happy to accept our advances. Even if she's 25."

In your DREAMS...Coming from a gal who has been hounded by all you old geezer guys for years. Do I want to be with your wrinkled old smelly self? No! If a 25 year expresses ANY interest in you, it is only your wallet she is after.

Why not male menopause...the men in my life...my son and husband both have PMS worse than all of my girls and me put together. Ha ha they are everywhere.

This response was directed at Robin-2162755 # 2.1