August 2005
The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists in their Testosterone Deficiency Guidelines ¹ raise important health issues. These expert Endocrinologists alerted the world to their findings in December 2002.
In June 2005, the UK Society of Endocrinology, revised their position on low Testosterone in ageing men, "Hypogonadism of ageing - does low testosterone in ageing men require treatment "..

This statement plays down the importance of Testosterone in the body, by implying men only become unhealthy and in need of treatment, once the magical "low Testosterone threshold" for younger men is reached. This threshold is outlined in their earlier Statement on Testosterone. Unfortunately, these statements hide the truth.

Fact In order to determine a man's Testosterone health, at least three blood tests need to be measured. Serum Testosterone, Lh and FSH are the minimum required. Until that protocol is adopted at primary care level, the delay in detection will continue to be catastrophic, not only for the million or so individuals in the UK,( 5 million in the USA), but for their families, friends and employers.

Men across the world are losing everything, before obtaining correct treatment. Marriages, jobs, businesses, relationships, all go by the board, in the vain struggle to regain health. Persistent visits to the doctor are a feature, causing unnecessary burden to health budgets.
Significantly, if those three blood tests were carried out at GP level, many other co-morbid problems could be identified earlier. In particular, people with Pituitary related problems. For these people Testosterone therapy is not necessarily the answer.

As with all therapies, side-effects can happen occasionally. Testosterone therapy is no different. However, new daily therapies allow for close dosing and monitoring, thus achieving as close to hormone balance as we can hope for. This significantly reduces the risks associated with earlier Testosterone therapies
. It does not make sense to highlight side-effects of a permitted therapy, in an attempt to downplay the problem's significance and avoiding prudent testing. The cost is proving too high!