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Testosterone is the most important male hormone. However, recent research suggests that testosterone is also very important to a woman’s health. Testosterone in the female body is produced by the ovaries and the adrenal cortex. For women, testosterone plays an essential role in maintaining healthy sexual desire, providing energy, strength, stamina as well as regulating mood.
Testosterone in woman also helps to regulate fertility, maintain muscle and bone, and stimulate the production of red blood cells.
Women can indeed suffer from a testosterone deficiency, or “low testosterone.” Low testosterone in women can affect sexual desire, satisfaction, and mood. Testosterone deficiency in woman can also lead to many other health issues such as lack of energy and bone loss.
For a long time testosterone deficiency in women was a topic that the medical community had been slow to address. However, today we know that low testosterone in woman is a very real problem, often associated with the loss of female hormones as she ages.
Testosterone level in the blood is measured in nanograms per deciliter, ng/dl. The normal testosterone level for woman is much less than that for a man. Women on average should have a total of 15 to 70 ng/dL of testosterone in their blood. Anything below that could be considered low testosterone, and could result in the symptoms of female testosterone deficiency.
Women’s bodies do make and need testosterone. Like men, women’s testosterone levels drop as they age.
The most common sigh of low testosterone in women is decreased libido, or sex drive. This is a condition known as hypoactive sexual desire disorder—or HSDD. HSDD is the most widespread sexual health issue among women. The most cause of HSDD in women is low testosterone.
Other symptoms of low testosterone in women include:
To be diagnosed with low testosterone, your doctor will need to evaluate your symptoms, take a complete medical history, conduct a physical exam, and then have the hormone levels in your blood tested.
Men experience the symptoms of low testosterone as a gradual slippery slope. Once a man is over 40, his testosterone levels start to drop about 2% every year.
In woman, low testosterone usually occurs along with the other hormone loss that comes with menopause. Menopause usually occurs at around age 50, but it can happen a little earlier or later. Menopause starts after a woman has stopped producing eggs and having regular periods. Most of us associate menopause with a low level of estrogen. However, we now know that most of the debilitating symptoms of menopause – hot flashes, fatigue, bone pain, depression, and mood swings – are triggered by lack of testosterone and not estrogen. This is why, estrogen hormone replacement therapy (HRT) that has been used for decades to treat menopause, is now almost always combined with testosterone replacement as well.
Just as in men, low testosterone in women is treated by testosterone replacement therapy. If you are experiencing menopausal or post menopause symptoms, your testosterone replacement therapy will likely be combined with estrogen. However, sometimes woman are given testosterone replacement by itself. Testosterone therapy in woman can be given in the form of subdermal pellets, skin patches, or testosterone injections. Our doctors have found testosterone injections to be the fastest acting, and most effective form of testosterone replacement for women.
Women who have taken testosterone injections report almost an immediate boost in libido and improve energy. If testosterone replacement is given for menopause, patients see very quick relief of hot flashes and night sweats. Other benefits of testosterone therapy for women include:
Testosterone replacement therapy is a safe and effective way to treat women with age-related low testosterone.
Now that you know a little bit more about low testosterone in women, why don’t you contact us today and see if you can be helped by the many life-changing benefits of testosterone replacement therapy.
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