Is There Such a Thing as Male Menopause?

Is There Such a Thing as Male Menopause?

Women may notice it first in their male sexual partners. The decline in virility around the time middle age hits their man. Ever heard of the phrase, "male mid-life crisis?" The crisis may not be all psychological. It may be influenced by male hormone imbalance according to Dr. Karpas, who first published his research regarding male menopause in 1977. His theory includes symptoms, causes and the effects it has on the male body and his lifestyle.

He states that the symptoms start as early as age 40 and can be experienced through age 60. The symptoms are recorded as being: depression, increased irritability, lethargy to some degree, mood swings but the physical symptom most noticed is that he will have difficulty in both attaining and sustaining erections.

These symptoms hit hard especially as they cut the male ego to the quick. These symptoms are compounded if the male does not have an understanding partner/spouse. The statistic for how many males stay sexually active beyond age 70 is 40%. This statistic tells us that it is not normal to experience this particular symptom; and cannot be caused by the aging of the male in of itself.

Male menopause has no known cause as of yet, though it is being researched. There are some known factors that have come from the current researching and those are:

* Alcohol consumption of above average levels
* Getting less than ideal levels of exercise
* Hypertension
* Hormonal deficiencies
* Poor circulation
* Psychological problems
* Smoking
* Some interactions with both prescribed and non-prescription medications

Testosterone:
The hormone testosterone according to many endocrinologists and scientists is a male hormone. It is present in the male infant at birth and is responsible for bone and muscle growth in adult males as well as for the sexual drive they experience during puberty and beyond until it decreases to pre-puberty levels at age 80.

This hormone is responsible for the male libido or sexual drive. Men who experience lower than normal levels of testosterone experience difficulty with being able to concentrate, depression, fatigue, and also a decrease in endurance and muscle strength. It is expected that when males have low testosterone levels they will experience difficulty with sustaining or even achieving erections.

Some of the nay Sayers to this theory state that there are other conditions that can also exhibit the same symptoms. Conditions such as: being obese, having been diagnosed as having hypertension or high cholesterol. Men who also suffer from heart disease have poor blood circulation and as erection is dependent on good blood flow, heart disease can have the direct impact of erectile dysfunction for men with heart disease.

There are also known drug side effects from a variety of different medications that include symptoms of impotence. There have been studies that have shown that long term alcoholism of at least 10 to 15 years show that there can be significant and irreversible nerve damage to the penis which would impair the ability of have an erection.

Is male menopause for real, or is it just another label for symptoms of other conditions? You decide!