Testosterone Test/Update

March 29, 2012

I spoke with one of the nurses at the VA yesterday and you will never believe

it, the test I had the other day shows I have low testosterone, GO FIGURE! I

don't have the actual numbers tonight but she said my PCP has written me a

letter and is proposing treatment with either a patch or shot every 2 weeks. (I

will defer the answer until my return from NIH. They may have some suggestions

and I probably will not need any extra T down there! ;>) )

I need to " get on the stump " and ask again, Why do we continue using a medicine

that impacts something totally irrelevent to the condition being treated when

there is a medicine that doesn't have that side effect?

Should the protocol for treating with Spironolactone start with a testosterone

test to establish a baseline? This would be valuable so you could use science

to determine what is going on instead of the " I Guess " method. In my case the

loss of body hair ws the first sign.

IMHO, a low test result should at least raise the question if spiro is

appropriate. A follow up could see if testosterone had dipped too low and

indicate a change was in order.

Hopefully I've started to make my point and there are many more situations to

look at.

Before you ladies think you are immune you might want to Pubmed " female " and

" testosterone " Then you can decide which of the 33,462 hits you find you want

to look at! I stopped at #3, here check it out:

title: Androgen in postmenopausal women.

my take away: " Female androgen insufficiency, which is characterized by the

presence of reduced androgen level in circulation, leads to an impairment in

sexual drive, reduced libido, depressed mood, and signs and symptoms of limited

androgen exposure such as decreased muscle mass, reduced bone density and

decreased sense of well-being. An appropriate level of androgen may play

important roles in metabolic, psychological and sexual functions in women. "

Does any of that concern you? (I can tell you that NIH made a special call to

ask when I last had a bone denisity test and then added a " Bone density Dexa

scan " as my first test! I plan to ask why!)

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