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Testosterone is Your Friend
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Chapter 13: Women Need Testosterone, Too ______________________________________________________
It is well known that women are more influenced by their hormones than men are. This is certainly true when it comes to testosterone. Although women only have about one tenth the amount of blood testosterone men do, it is no less important to them. It is estimated that women produce about 300 mcg a day but retain more of it in their blood than men do. Just because they have a lower level of blood testosterone does not mean it has any less effect on them. Medical doctors have no idea how important testosterone is for women and almost never test them for their levels, much less prescribe supplements for them. The traditional wisdom is that testosterone is, “the male hormone” and estrogen the female hormone. Even if doctors did measure female androgens, they would have no idea of the difference between their bound, total, and free levels, and even less idea of how to properly administer it to those who are deficient. In the entire scientific world there are only a handful of published studies - most very recently - on testosterone therapy for women, few of which use natural testosterone transdermally or sublingually.
Ladies, if you have some idea you are going to visit your local physician who will help you with this, you are very, very mistaken. You may have to find a holistically oriented physician who will even be willing to write you a testosterone prescription. Normal pharmacies can’t help you. One way to do this is to ask the local compounding pharmacist which doctors are writing prescriptions for transdermal or sublingual testosterone for men and women. First, test your saliva level to see if you are low and if you require supplementation. The doctor will still insist on a blood test, so demand that he only test your free, bioavailable level; do not pay for unnecessary total and bound testing. We like to think we are technologically advanced, especially in America, but when it comes to health we are often in the Dark Ages. Yes, there are Estratest® patches available for women with estrogen and toxic methyl testosterone. This is the same methyl testosterone recommended in one insane book for women on testosterone “therapy”. Never take toxic, unnatural methyl testosterone due to the severe side effects! There are patches available for women that deliver 150 mcg of natural testosterone daily but, again, these are inordinately expensive, especially for women, since there is so little actual hormone in these. You may pay $100 a month for literally twenty-five cents worth of testosterone. Buy your own testosterone on the Internet from foreign online pharmacies. Let’s look at some of the very, very few studies that do exist.
At Massachusetts General Hospital collaborating with other clinics (New England Journal of Medicine, v. 343, 2000, pp. 682-8) researchers gave transdermal testosterone to women who had their ovaries removed (oophorectomy). The ovaries supply about half the testosterone in women while the adrenal glands supply the other half. Some of the women got 150 mcg and others got 300 mcg of natural testosterone from expensive transdermal patches. Applying one gram daily of a 0.3% cream or gel is just as effective at a fraction of the price. The loss of uterine and ovarian function has severe physical and mental side effects that are played down by the medical profession. Most doctors actually consider the uterus a useless organ with no function after childbirth or menopause! The women were given extensive psychological and physical testing. The women’s psychological well being, depression, and sexual function improved dramatically with either dose. Frequency of sexual activity, coital dysfunction, pleasure and enjoyment, as well as orgasm were much improved. “In women who had undergone oophorectomy and hysterectomy transdermal testosterone improves sexual function and psychological well-being.” It seems the 150mcg dose was more beneficial than the higher 300 mcg (two patch) dose. We should always remember that excessive androgens in women are deleterious. Doctors like this deserve a lot of credit for their ground breaking work and this is first rate work.
At the Jean Hailes Foundation in Australia (Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism, v. 12, 2001, pp. 33-7) we find somewhat less enlightened research. Here the female doctors recommend injections of nandrolone - which is an unnatural synthetic analog of testosterone with serious side effects. This kind of ignorance and irresponsibility is simply inexcusable since natural testosterone is inexpensive and widely available. Other methods of supplementation including real transdermal testosterone were discussed. The fact that women would do this to other women is appalling.
At Baylor College the doctors were even worse. They said that oral methyl testosterone, “is the most commonly used form of androgen replacement for postmenopausal women.” (International Journal of Fertility, v. 41, 1996, pp. 412-22). Methyl testosterone is the worst possible form of testosterone and is extremely toxic and dangerous. This should be completely banned for human or animal use. Any doctor who gives a person methyl testosterone should be imprisoned, sued, and their medical license permanently revoked. These doctors also try to convince us that testosterone in women actually rises with age. The facts are (as you can see by the charts on page 20 of this book) that testosterone falls until menopause and then rises slightly, but stays far below youthful levels. This is obviously the kind of “research” we don’t need.
To show more doctors who are out of touch with current research we only need to look at a study from Vienna Medical University in Austria (Obstetrics and Gynecology, v. 89, 1997, pp. 297-9). These poor women were given transdermal testosterone, but 1) they used the synthetic, unnatural propionate ester rather than real natural testosterone, and 2) they gave the women 40 mg a day!!!! If only 10% of this was absorbed (it was in petroleum which is a very ineffective base for skin penetration) this would mean 4,000 mcg instead of a reasonable 150 mcg. This is a one month supply every day or almost thirty times what they needed. Almost all of the women were immediately well over the high range and started to develop serious side effects. To make things worse they did not limit the supplementary testosterone to women who had low levels, but gave it to all the women in the study regardless of their level.
One of the very few good reviews on women and testosterone was done at the University of Utah in 2002 with an impressive 56 references (International Journal of Fertility, v. 47, pp. 77-86). It was pointed out that women only produce about 300 mcg a day (one third of one milligram), half of this from the ovaries and half from the adrenals. Contrary to logic, a few women after hysterectomy still have excessive testosterone levels even though their ovaries have atrophied (regardless of whether or not they were removed). They discuss “Female Androgen Deficiency Syndrome” or FADS. The researchers here show that testosterone falls strongly between the ages of 20 and 50 prior to menopause, but rises somewhat after menopause.
One third of American women will needlessly suffer from a hysterectomy at an average age of only 40 years. This senseless butchery is somehow accepted as normal. If doctors tried to castrate one third of the men in this country they would all be hung the next day. Why do women so passively agree to be castrated for no valid reason? Ladies, please read such books as No More Hysterectomies, The Hysterectomy Hoax, and The Castrated Woman. At UCLA in San Diego (American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, v. 118, 1974, pp. 793-8) thirty years ago women with endometrial cancer had their ovaries removed. Their testosterone and androstenedione levels fell to less than half immediately after the operation. Their DHEA also fell but was not measured. No attempt was made to supplement their deficient levels nor was the concept even addressed! To add insult to injury they were then injected with synthetic toxic medroxyprogesterone instead of being given natural transdermal progesterone. Why aren’t women with deficient hormone levels after hysterectomy routinely given supplemental natural hormones?
Most all American women suffer from PMS and some rather severely. At NIH in Maryland in 1998 (Biological Psychiat-ry, v. 43, pp. 897-903) women with PMS and low testosterone levels were compared to healthy controls. PMS is the most common female complaint and the symptoms can last for up to 15 years after the menses cease. “PMS subjects had significantly lower total and free plasma testosterone levels with a blunting of the normal periovulatory peak, a finding that may be epiphenomenal (related) to age.” This is not to suggest that supplemental testosterone is a “magic cure” for PMS, nor even that all women with PMS are testosterone deficient, but rather it is an important factor that needs to be addressed. PMS is epidemic in Western cultures, but not in Asian or African cultures. Women suffering from PMS can cure this by changing their diets and balancing their progesterone, estriol, DHEA, T3, T4, and pregnenolone in addition to their testosterone.
Another study from Hope Hospital in England in 1998 (Clinical Endocrinology, v. 49, pp. 173-8) came to the same conclusions. Women with severe PMS (average age of 40) were given under the skin (s.c.) silastic implants of natural testosterone. These implants slowly release 100 mg of the hormone every six months for over two years. This is expensive and very un-necessary, but does, in fact, use natural testosterone delivered in reasonable amounts. Plasma levels rose from an average of 237%, which is definitely excessive. They found this regimen to be safe and without side effects with good improvement in the short term. Imagine the improvement if they had addressed all their basic hormones. The silastic implants are not practical means to do this since they need surgical implantation, are unnecessary, and very expensive. The doctors were concerned about the long term safety of low-dose androgen supplementation for women, but found, “Overall, this study provides largely reassuring data about the safety of low-dose androgen treatment in women. No patient experienced adverse symptoms while on testosterone treatment.”
More and more doctors are realizing that androgens such as DHEA, testosterone and androstenedione are vital to the health and well being of women and are not merely “male hormones”. Australian researchers (Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, v. 17, 2003, pp. 165-75) did a review with many references on testosterone therapy for women. “Clinical symptoms of androgen insufficiency (in women) include loss of libido, diminished well-being, fatigue and blunted motivation and have been reported to respond well to testosterone replacement, generally without significant side effects.” It is doctors like this that will help women maintain their natural hormone balance throughout life, instead of poisoning them with horse estrogen and synthetic progestins.
Finally in 2004 the medical profession provided some much needed light on the subject of androgens for female health. The entire supplement of Mayo Clinic Proceedings (v. 79) was devoted to this subject. We will cover all five studies:
At Columbia University “Formulations and Use of Androgens in Women” was submitted. They reported that the most common symptoms of female testosterone deficiency are decreased libido and sexual pleasure, low energy and fatigue, anxiety, lack of motivation, diminished sense of well being, decreased bone density, diminished muscle mass, increase in body fat, less cognitive ability and memory loss. They recognized the need for routine measurement of free testosterone in women and supplementation when necessary. Unfortunately they feel methyl testosterone is a valid means of administration as well as the overpriced patches, oral salts, and injected salts. They do see promise in sublingual, vaginal, and transdermal gels to their credit.
At Adult Women’s Health and Medicine in Florida an article on hot flashes was submitted. Hot flashes are all too common for premenopausal and menopausal women especially in European countries. (This is not true in Asian and African countr-ies generally.) Testosterone therapy is suggested for this very popular problem. Again, methyl testosterone is recommended as a valid means of administration, which shows good intentions are not always matched by intelligence, competence, nor capability.
At the Mayo Clinic itself bone health was studied in relation to female testosterone levels. This has already been covered in the Osteoporosis and Bone Health chapter. Osteoporosis is epidemic in European women, but not so much in Asian, African or Latin women in their indigenous countries. In-stead of treating bone mineral density deficiency with toxic, in-effective, expensive and symptomatic prescription drugs we should be doing this with natural hormones like testosterone and progest-erone and supplements like glucosamine, minerals, and vitamin D.
The fourth study from Harvard Medical School was “The Role of Androgens in Female Sexual Dysfunction”. This has already been covered in the Female Sexuality chapter. “The role of low androgen concentration in female sexual dysfunction is gaining increasing attention….and early clinical trial results suggest that they may be both effective and safe in the treatment of FSD, specifically low libido.” They point out that a survey of thousands of American women aged 18 to 59 (Journal of the American Medical Association, v. 281, 1999, pp. 1174) that a full 43% reported serious sexual dysfunction. Almost half!
The last study was on safety and side effects from Johns Hopkins University. Unfortunately it was oriented around “risks” and “side effects” instead of benefits. They pointed out that using methyl testosterone (the most commonly prescribed form for American women), nandrolone (a dangerous analog), and inject-able salts have side effects. It was admitted that transdermal gel, natural implant pellets and patches do not have these problems. If doctors would just realize that natural testosterone used in natural ways in women proven to be deficient literally has no side effects whatsoever and is completely safe, they would finally understand the situation. When transdermal or sublingual testosterone is used in the proper amounts there are never any side effects. Women suffering from hyperandrogenism were also discussed. Excessive testosterone levels in women can only be lowered by diet, exercise, supplements and lifestyle, not toxic prescription drugs.
Some good work was done at the Kinsey Institute (Clinical Endocrinology, v. 45, 1996, pp. 577-87) on androgens in women after menopause. Women will live the last third of their lives after their menses cease. The menopausal transition is problematic for the vast majority of Western women. These problems (such as osteoporosis, memory loss, body fat, etc.) persist throughout the rest of their lives. Women 40 to 60 years of age were studied to see the endocrine changes after menopause for estradiol, estrone, progesterone, LH, FSH, testosterone, androstenedione, DHEA, cortisol and even BMI. There were no easy answers or pat generalizations here. Each woman had a distinct and unique endocrine profile that must be addressed individually by testing each of her hormones.
Because one in three American women suffer from a hysterectomy and their entire hormone balance upset, we need to review the few studies done on them. At McGill University in Canada (American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, v. 151, 1985, pp. 153-60) women were given supplemental testosterone after hysterectomy. They were evaluated with an index of 26 common symptoms. “The superior efficacy of the androgen-containing preparations on somatic, psychological and total scores of the menopausal index may also be relation to the anabolic and energizing properties of this sex steroid (testosterone).”
Women reading this book should also read my No More Horse Estrogen! to learn more about natural health for women. Surgery and drugs are obviously not the answer for female health problems. Diet, proven supplements, natural hormone balance, avoidance of bad habits, exercise, and even fasting and meditation are the answer. Natural health is about diet and lifestyle more than anything else. The more women take responsibility for their own health and stay away from doctors the better off they will be. As more women look at the very causes of their health problems and not try to cover up the outward symptoms they will be able to prevent and cure their illnesses. The medical profession is going to be decades catching the fact that women need youthful levels of androstenedione, DHEA and testosterone. Any woman can basically test and balance her own hormone levels with inexpensive saliva kits without a doctor. There are almost no medical doctors or gynecologists in the world who have any ability at all to help with natural hormone testing and supplementation. Take responsibility for your own health and well being, ladies.
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