Menopause Discussion > Personal Experiences

Why testosterone?

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Kathleen:
Hello again ladies.

Hurdity - Sadly I don't have any research papers to point you towards but I was told about the testosterone/oestrogen interaction by a doctor from Newson Health. The doctor explained that the conversion from testosterone to oestrogen was the reason why oestrogen levels needed to reach a certain level before T could be added.

I am not science minded but I wondered if   some women don't need to supplement with oestrogen during the menopause because they are efficient at converting their natural testosterone instead?   There are likely many reasons that some women suffer so much more than others and this mechanism may be one of the differences that explains it.

Sorry I can't be more helpful but perhaps one of the Menopause clinics could tell you where this information came from.

Wishing you well and take.

K.

AngelaH:

--- Quote from: Hurdity on July 14, 2023, 07:46:31 PM ---I am interested in your comment "However my oestrogen levels needed to be raised first otherwise the body converts testosterone into oestrogen and the added value is lost." because others have said this, but I've not found any evidence for it so would be great if you could point me to a study or something? I

--- End quote ---

testosterone is indeed present in women, produced primarily in their ovaries and adrenal glands. Although testosterone can be converted to estradiol, the reverse does not happen. Testosterone, however, is not the main androgen (hormones that promote male characteristics) in women. Instead, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEA-S), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and androstenedione are the more common androgens in women
https://www.americanscientist.org/article/testosterone-in-women

And here as well:

All estrogenic steroids are synthesized in vivo from testosterone or related androgens in a reaction catalyzed by aromatase. Aromatase expressing cells in the brain convert circulating testosterone into estrogen, and it is this local estrogen that is thought to control dimorphic behaviors in males
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2851224/#:~:text=Male%20behaviors%20require%20both%20testosterone,estrogen%20to%20the%20male%20brain.

Is this what are you looking for?  :)

Gnatty:
That's very interesting re DHEA. Would we be better off taking DHEA then, as well as Testosterone do you think?

AngelaH:
Thank you very much to everyone, who replied to me. So it is absent/low libido is the main sing of low testosterone and the main reason to make a decision for GP to prescribe it to a woman . Well, to be honest I see HRT as a treatment for “pathological” menopause, because “nonpathological” menopause (which most of women have) is natural thing and doesn’t require HRT at all. It is natural to have absent/low libido, when woman reaches certain age and sex hormones don’t play the main role in her life any more, so why it should be treated?

My HRT doesn’t work for me and I am trying to think why. Just pump oestrogen to my body makes me much worse than without pumping it. I was born as a hairy girl, I mean all my life I have to fight with my hair over my whole body, even in parts, where ladies normally don’t have hair at all.  ::) But apart from that I never had problems, my periods were normal, I didn’t have a problem to conceive and give a birth, I am a normal lady, just more hairy, than others  8). But now I have noticed that my usual hair on my lags, for example,  started growing more slowly than before, in some parts of my body it disappeared at all.  Now I look  like a normal lady :o  But I feel rubbish  :'( This is why I think now about testosterone, I think I was born with much higher level of it, than lady needs and the problem is now really low level of testosterone as well in my body?  ???

AngelaH:

--- Quote from: Gnatty on July 15, 2023, 10:26:00 AM ---That's very interesting re DHEA. Would we be better off taking DHEA then, as well as Testosterone do you think?

--- End quote ---
Who knows, probably we will have an answer in the next century.  8)

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