|
Testosterone is Your Friend
Download This Book
|
Chapter 12: Male Sexuality______________________________________________________
The published literature on male sexuality is overwhelming and mostly concerns erectile dysfunction. Again, we always see “performance” in men, and “satisfaction” in women. Science proves that testosterone and androgens in general are very important to sexual function in men, but far down the list as to causing impotence. Testosterone supplementation is only going to help sexually dysfunctional men who are very low in this hormone.
We’ll concentrate on measurement of testosterone and use of trans-dermal forms rather than the usual injections or oral use of synthetic salts.
A very good study came from the famous Karolinska Institute in 1996 (Journal of Urology, v. 155, pp. 1604-8). Hypogonadal men aged 21 to 65 were given transdermal patches that delivered 5 mg a day of natural testosterone (only about 20% penetration rate and very expensive). These doctors are to be given a lot of credit for using natural testosterone transdermally in normal doses. These patches raised their free testosterone levels to youthful levels without raising estrogens or DHT. They gave these men extensive subjective and objective tests of various kinds to monitor their improvement. They concluded, “…nocturnal erections occurred more frequently with longer duration and greater rigidity, and patient assessments of sexual desire and weekly number of erections were higher.” They said further, “These findings suggest that androgen replacement therapy has an impact on all aspects of male sexual function, unconscious and conscious.” They quoted a number of other studies that found similar results. Research like this will eventually result in testosterone testing and supplementation in normal routine medical practice instead of symptomatic and unnatural chemical band-aids like Viagra®, Levitra®, and Cialis®. Remember though, this was a great improvement and not a cure-all by any means.
At the Association pour l”Etude de la Pathologie in France (Journal of Urology, v. 158, 1997, pp. 1964-7) we find out just how little the medical profession knows about hormones. 1,022 men complaining of erectile dysfunction (ED) were studied and their testosterone measured. The doctors arbitrarily decided that any man with a level of less than 4 ng/ml was testosterone deficient. This meant that only 9% (one in eleven) men over the age of 50 were deemed hypogonadal and in need of supple-mentation. Folks, the facts of the matter are that at least 90% of men over the age of 50 are testosterone deficient and could benefit greatly from supplementation. Calling the worst 9% the cutoff point is ridiculous. To use a sickly, but technically average, standard like this makes no sense at all. Low levels found in aging men may be “normal” for their age, but are nevertheless pathological and cause serious problems. The youthful levels men enjoyed at about the age of 30 should always be the standard. They used both testosterone heptylate (a toxic and unnatural injected salt) and human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) to raise testosterone levels!!!!! Again, even using the wrong type in the wrong ways resulted in impressive benefits. They did find good success with erectile dysfunction but only with the men with the lowest testosterone levels. Again, we see that sex is 90% psychology and only 10% biology in men.
At the University of Modena in Italy (International Journal of Andrology, v. 19, 1996, pp. 48-54 and Journal of Andrology, v. 18, 1997 pp. 522-7) two studies were done. In the first, healthy men were divided into four groups according to their testosterone level. Only the lowest group showed problems as reflected by nocturnal electronic monitoring of their erections. “Group 1 showed significantly impaired night erections when compared with any of the other 3 groups, but no differences were detected among groups 2, 3 and 4.” In the second, healthy subjects were divided into eight groups according to their testosterone level. Their erections during sleep were also monitored electronically. “The groups of subjects with higher testosterone serum levels (400 ng and above) showed almost constantly higher value for the erectile parameters studied than the subjects with serum testosterone less than 99 ng/dL.” It must be pointed out that only the men with the lowest testosterone levels had serious problems with nocturnal erections so the majority of men will not be helped by such therapy.
At the well known Kinsey Institute of Research (Psychoneuroendocrinology, v. 20, 1995, pp. 743-53) a double blind study with normal and hypogonadal men was done. They were given erotic stimuli and their erections monitored electronically. “The number of satisfactory nocturnal penile tumescence (nighttime erections) responses, in terms of both circumfrence increase and rigidity , were less in the hypogonadal men than the controls and were significantly increased by androgen replacement, confirming the results of earlier studies.” There was good improvement here, but only in the hypogonadal men. Testosterone is only one factor, albeit a major factor is male sexual performance and ability.
Some important, extensive, and comprehensive work was done at Boston University in 1994 (Journal of Urology, v. 151, pp. 54-61). This was the famous Massachusetts Male Aging Study (MMAS) on 1,290 average men aged 40 to 70. Fully 10% of these men were impotent and 52% suffered from transient or partial impotence. One in ten men over the age of 40 in America cannot function sexually! Over half of them have serious problems with sexual performance. The older the men were the more prominent their sexual dysfunction. They found the causative factors to be age, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, prescription medication, anger, depression, high cholesterol, cigarette smoking, and low DHEA levels. Seventeen hormones were measured in these men and only low DHEA was related to impotence. Testosterone, including free testosterone, was not found to be a factor at all surprisingly. There are no simple or easy cures for male sexual dysfunction. Alcoholics functioned just fine for some reason, as did obese and arthritic men. This epidemic of impotence is largely hidden because of the shame these men feel about their condition. This is due to lifestyle obviously more than anything else.
Impressed by the above study, doctors at the University of Vienna looked at men with erectile dysfunction (ED) for their hormone levels (Urology, v. 53, 1999, pp. 590-5). They also found that low DHEA was a major cause of impotence. “Our results suggest that oral DHEA treatment may be of benefit in the treatment of ED.” It becomes obvious that both testosterone and DHEA should be measured and supplemented if necessary in men over 40 or younger men with sexual functioning problems. (Androstenedione generally tracks testosterone and very rarely needs to be supplemented by itself).
Doctors at Northwestern University did a fine review and meta-analysis of 16 major studies chosen from 73 published ones (Journal of Urology, v. 164, 2000, pp. 371-5). “Our meta-analysis of the usefulness of androgen replacement therapy for erectile dysfunction indicates that the response rate for a primary etiology was improved over that for a secondary etiology, transdermal testosterone therapy was more effective than intramuscular or oral treatment…” They found 81% of men treated with transdermal forms got benefits, but this sounds very optimistic. They pointed out that erectile dysfunction, while too embarrassing to be openly discussed, affects up to 30 million American men.
Impotence and sexual dysfunction in men is a hidden problem they are not willing to admit to or discuss openly. Synthetic chemicals such as Viagra®, Cialis®, and Levitra® are not the answer at all, don’t work in most men, and merely deal with the superficial symptom of much deeper problems. We will not discuss the many dozens of studies around the world over the last twenty years that used injections or oral doses of toxic salts. Yes, the patients nearly always got impressive benefits, but only if they were very low in free testosterone. Fortunately doctors are slowly waking up to the fact that the correct way to administer non-oral hormones like testosterone (progesterone, estriol and growth hormone) is transdermally or sublingually. Sexuality is a complex situation and hormones are only one part of this especially in men. It is your total lifestyle that causes - and cures - impotence, not Magic Hormones.
|
