Testosterone is the male sex hormone, but it’s more than just a hormone. Optimal testosterone levels are necessary for optimal health and wellness in men, and when those levels fall below what’s considered normal, the whole body can suffer. If your testosterone levels are low, we can help. At Impressions Skin Solutions in Henderson, TN, we offer testosterone replacement therapy to restore balance and vitality to your life.
What Are The Signs of Low Testosterone?
Most men who suffer from the signs of low testosterone know that something is wrong, but they often can’t put their finger on the reason why they feel the way they do. Certain signs indicate that there is a problem, something is off, and it needs to be addressed.
Sexual Dysfunction
Testosterone is critical to healthy sexual function. Low testosterone can play a part in a man’s ability to both achieve and maintain an erection. While it does play a part in sexual dysfunction, it is not the primary cause. It stimulates brain receptors to influence an erection, but sexual dysfunction can also trace back to:
- High cholesterol
- Smoking
- Alcohol consumption
- High blood pressure
- Depression
- Stress
- Thyroid problems
- Diabetes
Hair Loss
Testosterone also plays a role in the growth and quality of your hair. If you’ve experienced hair loss or male pattern balding, genetics could be the cause, but low testosterone is to blame more often than not. Men who have low testosterone are more prone to hair loss both on the face and the body.
Poor Bone Mass
Decreased bone density typically affects women, but low testosterone can make men more susceptible to this condition as well. Poor bone density is technically known as osteoporosis and can cause fragility and make you prone to bone breaks. Testosterone plays a part in bone development and volume, and when your levels are lower than they should be, you’ll experience decreased bone mass and an increased risk of fractures and breaks.
Poor Blood Count
Another symptom of low testosterone is low blood count, which is referred to as anemia. Studies have shown a direct correlation between men with anemia and low testosterone. Anemia can cause other complications, including:
- Leg cramps
- Heart palpitations
- Dizziness
- Insomnia
- Rapid heart rate
- Inability to concentrate
Low Libido
The aging process can affect the male sex drive, causing a slow decline over time. However, when low testosterone is the cause, libido may decrease much faster than what would be considered normal at a younger age.
Inability To Gain Lean Muscle Mass
Muscle mass and testosterone are directly related. When testosterone levels aren’t optimal, a man’s overall muscle mass can begin to decrease. The loss of muscle mass or the inability to put on more muscle mass can be directly related to low testosterone. However, low testosterone doesn’t affect the strength or the overall function of the existing muscle.
Increased Body Fat Percentage
Not only does body fat increase when testosterone is low, but it can cause it to develop in some very particular areas. Men who experience low testosterone are more prone to develop male breasts. This most often occurs when both estrogen and testosterone are out of balance, and it’s called gynecomastia.
Chronic Fatigue
Sometimes chronic fatigue affects your everyday life to the point that it begins to feel normal. Low testosterone can often be the cause of chronic fatigue and energy deficits among men. It can lead to a loss of interest in daily activities as well as physical ones.
Poor Quality Semen
Low testosterone can also affect the quality of a man’s semen, specifically the volume. Low semen volume can often lead to fertility issues and can be indicative of a hormonal imbalance.
Insomnia
Sleep is important to your general health, and when it gets interrupted, it can affect your whole day. Low testosterone can affect sleep cycles, making it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. It can also lead to sleep apnea, a condition where breathing stops momentarily during the sleep cycles. This not only affects the quality of sleep but can also lead to other health conditions.
Hot Flashes
Hot flashes typically happen to women as they reach menopause due to estrogen level fluctuations, but they also can affect men who have low testosterone. Hot flashes can lead to sweating, and at night, they often take the form of night sweats, which are uncomfortable and can wake you up, interrupting sleep.
Memory Loss
Memory loss is something that most people don’t think about until it starts to affect them personally. Low testosterone levels can cause changes in your memory and cause you to experience what is most commonly referred to as brain fog—forgetting names or forgetting things that you never used to. This may be an indicator that your memory loss has a cause, that that cause is low testosterone.
Mood Changes
Testosterone helps regulate mood and provides emotional stability. When it decreases to abnormal levels, the result is often feelings of depression, anxiety, irritability, and an inability to focus. Such emotional responses can affect your relationships, your job, and your family.
What Is Testosterone?
Testosterone is the male sex hormone. It plays the main role in a healthy male sex drive and also stimulates sperm production. It also regulates the development of facial and body hair in teenagers and the development and maintaining of muscle mass, function, and strength.
What Is Low Testosterone?
The body needs a specific amount of testosterone to function optimally, and when those levels drop, negative symptoms arise. The aging process involves a natural decline in testosterone, especially as men reach their 60s and beyond.
Low testosterone is a condition that goes by many names, including Low T and Testosterone Deficiency Syndrome. When you undergo testing to find out your testosterone levels, you qualify as testosterone deficient if your testosterone is 300 or less. However, there is a solution, and we have it. It’s called testosterone replacement therapy.
Age and Testosterone
This decline is gradual, but what if it happens sooner than 60 and it feels like your levels have come crashing down? If this describes you, you most likely have been suffering from low testosterone deficiency, a condition that most commonly affects men in their 40s but can also affect men younger than 40.
Is Low Testosterone Common?
While it’s unclear how many men suffer from testosterone deficiencies, it is a fact that more men are seeking out treatment for their low levels. While some medical conditions can cause levels to drop beyond what is considered normal, other factors play a part in determining your levels beyond your control, including genetics.
What Causes Testosterone Deficiencies?
Aside from age, genetics, lifestyle, and the unknown, some health conditions can cause low testosterone. These include both Klinefelter syndrome and Noonan syndrome. Some other more common factors and health conditions affect testosterone levels, including:
- Diagnosis of HIV/AIDS
- Testicle damage or removal due to cancer
- Testicle damage due to an accident
- Diseases and infections
- The aging process
- Metabolic syndrome
- Undergoing radiation or chemotherapy
- Qualifying as obese
- Narcotic pain medications, antidepressants, and other medications
- A disease of the pituitary gland
- Autoimmune disease
Testosterone Replacement Therapy
Testosterone replacement therapy has helped millions of men restore balance and vitality to their life. It helps increase testosterone levels to what’s considered optimal for your age, lifestyle, and health. Those who follow a treatment plan to address low testosterone find relief from their symptoms and feel that their overall life has improved.
When Should I Seek Treatment?
If you suffer from the symptoms associated with low testosterone, you should seek treatment. A blood test will give evidence that your levels are low and need adjustment. If they end up showing a normal reading, you can cross low testosterone off the list as the cause of your symptoms and take the necessary steps to address your health and improve your life.
Diagnosing Low Testosterone
A blood test is the best way to measure your testosterone. This test will provide us with the necessary numbers to diagnosis your condition and then develop a treatment plan that’s right for you. We’ll review your health history to get a better idea of life events or health conditions that may have affected your testosterone levels. We’ll review:
- Whether you experienced mumps during puberty
- About your overall development during puberty
- If you’ve ever used opiates
- If you have a history of brain tumors, cranial irradiation, or any brain surgeries
- Whether you’ve ever experienced trauma to the head
- If you suffer from headaches or if you’ve had any vision changes
- If you have had any testicle infections
- If you have a history of a stroke or heart attack
We can perform some other examinations to determine other aspects of your health that may affect your testosterone levels. These include:
- Whether you suffer from gynecomastia
- A waist circumference measurement to check your BMI for obesity
- An exam to check the prostate size and testicle size
- Hair pattern analysis
How To Treat Low Testosterone
Those who experience low testosterone most often find relief from their symptoms with testosterone replacement therapy. After reviewing your symptoms and performing an extensive blood test to see exactly where your levels are, one of our experts can prescribe you testosterone to replace what your body is deficient in.
Delivery Methods
There are different delivery methods of testosterone, including pellet therapy or pellets inserted just below the skin’s surface. Other methods include creams, injections, oral tablets, and patches. Once treatment begins, you will begin to experience relief from some of your most concerning symptoms, and you will feel the most benefits by six to eight weeks post-treatment.
Adopting a Healthy Lifestyle
In addition to testosterone replacement therapy, you can make some lifestyle changes to help alleviate your symptoms. While lifestyle changes cannot completely resolve your symptoms, they go hand in hand with feeling your best while on this treatment. Certain foods that increase testosterone production include certain dairy products, shellfish and oysters, beef, and some shelf products.
You’ll also experience the best results from testosterone replacement therapy when you adopt a healthy lifestyle inclusive of a consistent workout routine and a healthy diet.
Schedule Your Initial Consultation Today
Low testosterone isn’t normal. If you suffer from low testosterone, you know something isn’t right because the symptoms can affect every aspect of your life. We have a solution that can restore more than normalcy; we’ll help you achieve vibrancy. Contact us today at Impressions Skin Solutions in Henderson, TN, and schedule your initial consultation with one of our hormone experts to learn more about testosterone replacement therapy.