We All know that testosterone levels decline with age. However declining levels should not stop you from replacing low testosterone when you have symptoms that may be negatively impacting your life and health. Treatment for low testosterone involves a lifelong strategy.
If your car ran out of gas for instance it would make sense that you would need to continue to replace the gas. A similar situation can exist with low testosterone. Early in life, lifestyle and nutritional factors can sometimes restore testosterone levels. Over time however if you body fails to respond to these interventions then testosterone replacement may be the answer. A whole host of factors are used to determine if replacement is the best fit for you.
The “normal range” testosterone fallacy is something that many men are dealing with today. Apparently if a man falls somewhere between the testosterone level for an 18 year old and an 80 year old then they could not possibly have low testosterone (insert sarcasm here). Unfortunately many men are told that nothing is wrong with their testosterone by their doctor when they have one of these “normal levels” with tons of debilitating symptoms.
We believe that testing your testosterone level is important however managing condition and symptoms are more important than any indiscriminate lab result. In general a free testosterone level gives you much more valuable information than just a total testosterone level.
This is due to the fact the part of your total testosterone level can be bound by a sex hormone binding globulin SHBG. SHBG binds your total testosterone and if too much of your testosterone is bound then you can have a normal total testosterone level and still have severe symptoms of low testosterone.
All in all, I would encourage you to look further to see a provider that understands hormone replacement if you have symptoms of low testosterone. Our testosterone clinic in Jacksonville Florida would be happy to be of service to you if you would like more information. Please contact the Anderson Longevity Clinic at (904) 874-5775.
