Menopause Discussion > Personal Experiences

Why testosterone?

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sheila99:

--- Quote from: Penguin on July 14, 2023, 04:09:00 PM ---Sheila99 would absent libido be an indicator on its own, or would it have to include muscle weakness? I have the former but not the latter and really wamt my libido back!

--- End quote ---
Not everyone has muscle weakness but I'm fairly sure everyone has low/no libido. It's the only symptom the nhs are interested it, you often can't get it for anything else.

SarahT:
Why don't gps listen when we mention this? Is it because it is simpler for them to work on other symptoms?

Penguin:
Thanks Sheila99, so worth me mentioning to the GP then. I hadn't realised testosterone was good for that.

Kathleen:
Hello ladies.

Many ladies on the forum have found that the only way to have testosterone prescribed is by complaining about low libido, other benefits  are not recognised by GPs it seems. 

I am not sure about other private clinics but I am with Newson Health and they were happy to add in testosterone.  However my oestrogen levels needed to be raised first otherwise the body converts testosterone into oestrogen and the added value is lost.

I must say that I gave up on testosterone a while ago but I was very post meno when I began HRT so perhaps that is why it wasn't effective for me.

Take care ladies.

K.

Hurdity:
My view is that a declining libido and specifically the desired response ( ::) ) would be the first sign of decreasing testosterone, and the more it decreases, the other symptoms would come into play - though don't think I have read evdiecne for that, but is logical.

That being said, if you take certain anti-depressants ( SSRI's I think but would need to check which), or take oral HRT then this can also cause decreased libido/response for various reasons, and of course I am sure other meds may have similar effect as well as psychological factors. But if you're ruled out all of those, and libido has gone or is going out of the window and your tissues are nicely plumped to avoid dryness and discomfort - then chances are you will benefit from testosterone.

Blood tests are inaccurate for women though might be good to get a baseline especially of the compound SHBG before you start.

If you've got a great libido but muscle weakness then I would look for another cause.

Kathleen - 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'm a bit out of date with the literature so mostly only going by what's in my head that over read over the years! It is on the same metabolic pathway but it's the evidence of what actually happens in the body in practice under these circumstances (ie addition of T when oestrogen is low) that I'm interested in.

Hurdity x

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