Contents:
- Medical Video: Patient Education Video: Low Testosterone
- What is testosterone?
- Symptoms of men who lack testosterone
- Benefits of injecting testosterone
- Risk of injecting testosterone
- Conclusion
Medical Video: Patient Education Video: Low Testosterone
Ever heard of the term testosterone therapy? This choice may be one of the promising answers for sufferers of testosterone deficiency. However, before starting this therapy, it's good to know the good and bad sides first.
What is testosterone?
Testosterone is a male steroid hormone. Not only plays a role in regulating sexual arousal, this hormone also plays a role in regulating many other things in the body. This hormone affects several factors that determine your health, such as body fat, muscle mass, bone density, red blood cell count, and mood.
The normal level of testosterone is around 300 to 1000 ng / dL. If your results are below normal, your doctor will likely recommend hormone replacement therapy such as injecting the testosterone hormone aka injection of testosterone.
Symptoms of men who lack testosterone
Testosterone levels in men usually begin to fall at the age of 30 to 40s. Some symptoms of testosterone deficiency include:
- erectile dysfunction
- changes in sexual arousal
- decrease in sperm count
- depression or anxiety
- increase in body weight
- heat that spreads to the body
- changes in penis and testicular size in some men
- breast swelling in some men
If you consult a doctor about your condition, your doctor may ask for your medical history and do the necessary physical examination. Your doctor will also advise you to do a blood test to determine your testosterone levels.
In addition, you might be advised to check your red blood cell levels because injections of testosterone can increase levels of red blood cells in the body. This action is done to prevent the unwanted risk of increasing red blood cells that are too significant.
Benefits of injecting testosterone
The purpose of injecting testosterone is to help regulate hormone levels in men who experience symptoms of testosterone deficiency. The advantages can be:
- increased sexual desire
- improvement of symptoms of erectile dysfunction
- more powerful
- mood improvement
- increase in sperm count
In addition to the benefits mentioned above, injection of testosterone can also improve your muscle composition. In general, men have less fat in the body than women. This is influenced by testosterone which regulates fat distribution and keeps muscles in your body. When your testosterone levels decrease, you will probably realize that your body fat is increasing, while the size of your muscles decreases or weakens. Testosterone injection can help overcome this, except that hormone therapy cannot provide significant results.
So don't just expect from hormone therapy if you want a more muscular body. Testosterone therapy can increase muscle mass but does not increase muscle strength.
Risk of injecting testosterone
Testosterone injections can help many sufferers of testosterone deficiency. But that does not mean that injection is safe for all men. It is important for you to tell your health condition before starting testosterone therapy. You may need more rigorous supervision if you have heart disease, sleep apneaor high number of red blood cells. You also may not receive testosterone injections if you have breast cancer or prostate cancer.
Testosterone injections can also increase your risk of developing several health problems, such as:
- liver disorders
- heart disease such as heart attacks and stroke
- blockage of blood vessels
- deterioration of existing or prostate secretions benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)
In addition to health problems, keep in mind also that this therapy will cost not a little. Testosterone therapy will not cure the cause of testosterone deficiency, but only increase the levels of this hormone to normal. Therefore, you should do it regularly if you choose this therapy.
Conclusion
Testosterone injection can be useful if you really are experiencing testosterone deficiency. Consult your doctor to find out that this hormone injection is indeed the right solution for your health problems. If you do experience testosterone deficiency, your doctor can help decide whether this injection is safe for your health condition.
If your results do not show low testosterone levels, but you still feel that you are experiencing symptoms of testosterone deficiency, remember that adequate nutrition, regular exercise, and avoiding smoking may make you feel better. If this still can't help you, consult your doctor again.
