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Testosterone Increasingly Being Used To Fight Aging In Men
An anonymous reader writes: In this time of advanced technology, our battle against aging isn't going well. Lifespan has been improved quite a bit through halting numerous diseases and improving nutrition, but medical science is struggling to slow the gradual wear and tear that builds up as we get older. Cutting edge treatment theories are all hellishly complex, so many men are turning to a solution that's been with us for 80 years: testosterone. Clinics are popping up around the U.S. that prescribe no actual medicine, but instead hand out testosterone and supplements. "In 2013, 14,000 kilograms of testosterone were sold in the United States. That might not sound like much, but a typical adult male has just 0.000000035 kilograms of testosterone floating around in his bloodstream. There is a lot of extra T in the hormonal composition of the country—and it only accounts for the legal sales."
John Hoberman, professor and author, calls this new medical model "client-centered libertarian medicine." He says, "Once upon a time, respectable society feared contamination by illegal and disreputable drugs that were consumed by social deviants. Now regulators are concerned about a growing demand for legal drugs that serve socially sanctioned goals such as productivity, physical attractiveness, and sexual viability. The 'threat' posed by such drugs originates in the very system of values that sanctions their use, and it is a paradox that has put regulators in an untenable position."
John Hoberman, professor and author, calls this new medical model "client-centered libertarian medicine." He says, "Once upon a time, respectable society feared contamination by illegal and disreputable drugs that were consumed by social deviants. Now regulators are concerned about a growing demand for legal drugs that serve socially sanctioned goals such as productivity, physical attractiveness, and sexual viability. The 'threat' posed by such drugs originates in the very system of values that sanctions their use, and it is a paradox that has put regulators in an untenable position."
AKA, under-regulated.
Tunning into an infomercial food suppliment quackery site, are we? This is a new low, even for slashdot. Did Dice put you up to this or are you just giving free advertising to any shit that comes along now?
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Estrogen given to a patient is medicine, what is different for testosterone? Is he making some sort of Paleo marketing ploy or does he mean that the product isn't going through the medical approval process?
It decreases fertility, enlarges the prostate, and causes other issues.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
"client-centered libertarian medicine." is how assholes pronounce the words "snake oil" and It lives on the shelf with things like homeopathic remedies and juice cleansing. Testosterone, multi-inhaler asthma treatments, statin deficiency,and Circadian Dysrhythmia are all part of pharmaceutical corporations nose dive into profit with the concept of fear, forever and faith. Fear the disease, remember that once you have it you must always consume the product to relieve it, and finally never doubt your trust or faith in the product despite overwhelming evidence it may even be detrimental to your health.
people become old as a part of human life. Testosterone does not radically alter that condition because becoming old is not a problem but a feature of life itself. In the United states as we inch inexorably closer to single payer healthcare its becoming increasingly evident to medical corporations that an alternate revenue stream will need to be secured. As an example, cigarette manufacturers diversified into food and alcohol; they realize relatively little revenue from cancer sticks at all.
Good people go to bed earlier.
I expect many people are getting diagnosed with Low T so they can get more bulked up at the gym faster.
There is so much talk about an unrealistic body image for women. But the same thing is happening for men. We are expected to have 6 pack abs, Peck mussels that can dance, and arms thicker than your waist.
We expect to look like a Greek Statue (while the ancient greeks made their statues, based on an exaggerated body image). While men should look more like that of Roman statues (based on actual body appearances)
So we go to the doctor and explain that we have such problems and we get the prescription of T.
Sure there are good reasons too, but I expect a lot of men are getting it where it isn't really needed.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
If you lift weights you can boost your testosterone naturally. And you'll get other benefits like more strength, increased bone density and better balance. You don't have to be Jack LaLanne (though he provided an excellent example). You just need to put your body under stress for 30 - 60 minutes 2 - 3 times a week; in a way that is safe for one's age, obviously.
Regular exercise and a healthy diet can go a long way towards staying healthy and living longer. But we knew that already and still many of us do not do it. There's still the testosterone shot, I guess...
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
As a physician, I have seen the growth of the testosterone industry over the past decade. This has been pushed by direct to consumer advertising by big Pharma, which fails to adequately inform the target population of the significant risks. Co-opted endocrinologists have been paid to create a new syndrome called "andropause" which can be treated with testosterone. We learned the risks of estrogen in post menopausal women only after many years, and we now are set to repeat the same story with cardiovascular disease, prostate problems, and stroke in men. Why can't we just age gracefully?
http://www.drugwatch.com/testosterone/heart-attack/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3901445/
Low testosterone, aging, and loss of lean muscle mass, fat gain, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, low libido all correlate. Because testosterone supplementation improves some of these problems somewhat, people have concluded that they might be caused by low testosterone. But they are clearly caused simply by bad diet and lack of exercise, and you're likely going to improve your overall health much more by exercising and eating better. Exercise and improvements in diet will also naturally increase your testosterone levels.
Once you start taking testosterone, you usually end up dependent on it for life. That means not just applying it every day, it means more frequent checkups, monitoring for side effects, and pretty tough questions when you start getting prostate problems and cancer (which you will, sooner or later).
Trying to fix what are just bad lifestyle choices in most men (lack of exercise, too much sitting, bad diet) with medicine (statins, testosterone, etc.) also puts an enormous strain on our medical system and is one of the reasons the US spends so much money on health care: the cost of testosterone replacement is usually several hundred dollars a month for the drug alone, plus even more money for the extra monitoring and tests. Insurance may currently cover that, but don't bet on it in the future. And even if it covers it, you still end up with co-pays, frequent trips to the doctor, and potential complications and additional drugs to deal with side effects.
(Of course, some small percentage of men really do have abnormally low or absent testosterone due to actual disease, and for those, supplementation makes sense.)