Is Male Menopause (aka Andropause) Real? Let's ask an expert

A few weeks ago, we addressed the question of whether andropause (men's menopause) is real. (Is Male Menopause Real? If so, what can be done about it?). We sourced from Harvard Health Publications and investigated testosterone therapy.

This time we are turning to andropause expert Jed Diamond, author of Male Menopause.
Jed took issue with several aspects of a recent major news magazine story on the topic and felt that it was yet another example the unfavorable portrayal of baby boomer men/women in the media.

"The 10 guys in this photo all look depressed, confused, and disconnected. They appear to be half dead–advertising, it seems, the horrors of losing your job, finding out you have prostate cancer, or spending the rest of your life with a limp penis."

Jed asks whether this is really how men feel about moving through male menopause? Are middle aged men doomed to mental/physical decline? No, he says, in fact we should really be considering the time period associated with these changes as the "prime time" of men's lives.

Jed compares andropause to women's aging, and believes that like women's menopause, andropause does not need to be a time of gloom and doom. It's real (to the tune of tens of millions of men) and it's treatable. He cited the fact that in 2005, 2,300,000 prescriptions were written for testosterone with millions of more men receiving other forms of treatment and healing.

In short, he says that it's real, it's treatable, and most notably, it's not the end of our lives.

In addition to Male Menopause Jed is the author of Surviving Male Menopause. A Guide for Women and Men.

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