Today, special testosterone replacement therapies are available to increase testosterone levels. But why even ask whether a man has enough testosterone in his blood? The fact is that many men suffer from a partial testosterone deficiency for about a third of their lives. Older men are particularly affected by this.
Typical consequences are: a sharp drop in libido, the formation of many fat deposits, and a loss of drive, creativity and energy. Declining hormones are mainly responsible for this, but the resulting deficit can easily be compensated with hormone injections.
There are certainly natural ways to boost testosterone levels, but unfortunately that is often not enough. That is why we are reporting on testosterone replacement therapy here. A medical examination is an important prerequisite First of all, there must be a hormone deficiency. The testosterone level is determined by a blood test, which means that the doctor orders a blood sample to be taken and immediately sent to the laboratory to record the measurement. Taking testosterone "on your own" without medical supervision is extremely risky because it can trigger life-threatening illnesses.
Hormone replacement therapy can be useful if testosterone levels are actually significantly too low and there are no other causes that can be remedied. In addition, if you have (early) prostate cancer, this type of treatment should not be carried out under any circumstances. This means that the status of your prostate must also be the focus of the examinations.
Different approaches to testosterone replacement therapy Hormones such as testosterone can be administered to the body through injections, depots, capsules, creams or gels. The gel The administration of testosterone using a gel is a relatively new method. The gel is applied once a day to the following main areas: shoulders, upper arms, inner thighs, calves and stomach. While the gel dries within a few minutes, the testosterone it contains is absorbed by the skin. The skin acts as a hormone reservoir, as the release of the hormones into the blood is delayed (slowly, little by little). In this way, it is possible to regulate the effective level within the normal range over a longer period of time. It is recommended to apply it in the morning to optimally stimulate the circadian rhythm.
One positive aspect here is that the gel causes significantly less skin irritation than a corresponding patch. Injections Immediately after an injection, the testosterone levels in the body rise sharply, before slowly falling back to the initial level. After two or three weeks, the doctor will repeat the procedure. This essentially artificially triggers a "hormonal rollercoaster" that leads to physical as well as psychological or mental side effects. Testosterone undecanoate has therefore developed a significantly longer-term injection method that ensures that the testosterone concentration in the blood can be kept more or less constant within the normal range for up to 16 weeks. These types of injections are popularly known as "three-month injections".
Important note: A good specialist does not simply administer these injections every three months, but checks each time based on blood values to determine when the next dose really makes sense. Patients have very different "testosterone metabolizers". Anyone who is slow in this respect will not tolerate the next injection of testosterone undecanoate well after just twelve weeks.
The patch There are patches that can be stuck onto the skin of the back, stomach, thighs or upper arms. The steady, defined release of the hormone occurs 60 percent during the first twelve hours, the remaining 40 percent is released into the skin in the following twelve hours. However, this often leads to severe skin irritations. Therefore, these patches are no longer allowed to be sold on the German market, but they can still be bought from international pharmacies.
The "scrotal patch" has now been completely taken off the market because of the side effects. The depots In this case, crystalline testosterone is implanted under the skin. This makes it possible to achieve an almost constant testosterone level for half a year. But this is not entirely normal, because our testosterone level is naturally somewhat higher during the first half of the day than in the evening. These implants are also no longer on the market in Germany. They can still be purchased from England. The capsules Depending on the severity of the hormone deficiency, the capsules are taken two or three times a day.
In this way, a roughly constant testosterone level can be regulated (theoretically). But our active liver is also involved. All substances that we absorb through the gastrointestinal tract are more or less completely broken down by the liver. The effectiveness of the capsules is therefore often considered questionable, although the damage to the liver is undoubtedly present.
