If you’re flagging as a fella, don’t blame the manopause

THE male menopause — often dubbed the andropause or ‘manopause’ — is a hot topic and a moneyspinner for the doctors who prescribe testosterone replacement therapy and for the pharmaceutical industry that manufactures it.

But, according to Dr Richard Quinton, a consultant endocrinologist at Newcastle University Hospital, it’s a complete myth.

He told the British Science Festival recently that the andropause was perpetuated by the unscrupulous to exploit men’s anxieties about their sexual performance as testosterone levels fall naturally with age.

What surprises me is how many men love the idea of the andropause. I know that private clinics are inundated with patients. I think the explanation lies in the fact that while menopausal women can admit to a flagging libido as a symptom, men are reluctant to do so because it calls into question their masculinity.

Men view their bodies as machines, so the idea of ‘topping up’ hormone levels when they get a bit low makes sense.

There’s no question that testosterone levels decline as men get older and they may experience sexual dysfunction, irritability, low mood and fatigue. But I don’t think this qualifies as a male menopause.

I think a far more likely explanation for such symptoms is depression. Therapy and/or treatment with antidepressant drugs are what’s needed, not testosterone.