Most Overlooked Hormone in Male – Testosterone
In clinical practice, it is not unusual to see male patients coming and asking for help. They look very tired with black eyebags, low energy, low libido, and their chi pulse shows deep and weak. These are the classical manifestations of Kidney deficiency in terms of Chinese Diagnosis. However, before initiating treatment, the best treatment modality is to check their testosterone level as a baseline. This is very beneficial because testosterone level can provide a baseline for a patient to monitor his progress along healing journey.
Testosterone
There is a misconception that testosterone is only a sexual hormone, meaning that it only has to do with libido and capacity, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. There are other real issues with low testosterone. A man starts to lose skeletal muscle mass integrity, starts to increase body fat, feels tired and lethargic, and experiences fatigue that just won’t go away.
Testosterone deficiency is epidemic. Typical signs and symptoms of testosterone deficiency are associated with reductions in energy, decreased motivation, initiative, self-confidence, concentration and memory, sleep quality, muscle bulk and strength, feeling sad or blues, depressed mood, increased body fat and body mass index.
What are the consequences of men with low serum testosterone concentration? Men with low serum total testosterone concentrations were at significantly greater risk for death from any cancer, cardiovascular or respiratory disease.
Testosterone level is dropping, a big time
Four underlying reasons exhaust Testosterone level. The top major reason is the stress hormone – Cortisol. Even little stressful of an event can cause cortisol to go into a range that literally shuts testosterone production in the Leydig cells of the testicles. Leydig cells of the testicles are where 95% of all a man’s testosterone comes from. Cortisol directly inhibits testosterone production in these Leydig cells. Hypercortisolemia inhibits testosterone synthesis, reduce total testosterone concentration and accelerates cell death of Leydig cells.
The second underlying reason for the drop in Testosterone is Insulin. The insulin secretion rate and fasting plasma insulin concentration are inversely proportional to serum testosterone concentration. In other words, high insulin levels are associated with low testosterone, and low insulin is associated with high testosterone.
The third underlying reason for the Testosterone drop is Estrogen. For example, if a male 50 years has a pear shape of central adiposity, the chronically stressed condition causes the increased production of Aromatase Enzyme. Aromatase causes estrogen going up at the expense of exhaustion of testosterone. If this person eats high glycemic foods that cause an insulin spike, this is the classic train wreck that causes low testosterone and high estrogen in male patients. Every male presenting with central adiposity is going to have high estrogen and low testosterone levels.
Make an appointment today for you or your loved one to give a Testosterone check.
