Testosterone (T) is a sex hormone that jump-started your adolescence, making your voice crack, your face break out, and hair sprout in new places all over your body. Those surges of T may have made your life uncomfortable at the time. You probably struggled with acne and some ill-timed erections.
You were glad to put those days of surging hormones behind you and settle into adulthood. But now you’re having another set of problems, and you think T may be behind them again.
Instead of a surplus of T, however, you’re dealing with its slow and inevitable plunge. When your T drops, a lot of other things drop, too, from your libido to your mood to your erections.
At Enrich Family Practice, our expert nurse practitioners offer men’s health care services in Odessa, Texas. If you suffer from the symptoms of low T, we may recommend hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to bring your T levels — and your life — up to normal.
Do you struggle with low T ? Here’s how hormone therapy helps.
When you first start noticing the signs of low T (hypogonadism), you may have asked your doctor about hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Maybe they tested your blood and told you your levels were “normal,” so you didn’t need it.
However, the range of normal T varies widely — from 300-1,000 ng/DL. What’s normal for one man might be low for you if your baseline is naturally high.
While low T is a problem when it declines, it also affects the levels of another hormone, estradiol.
You need estradiol to achieve and maintain erections, just like you need T, and some T converts into estradiol. However, low levels of estradiol lead to fat gain. So, even if your T levels are in the “normal” range, if you’re not producing enough T to convert to estradiol, you’ll likely suffer the symptoms of hypogonadism.
In addition to bloodwork, we consider the types of symptoms you have to determine if your T levels are too low for you. Common symptoms of low T include:
If you experience one or more symptoms of low T, you may benefit from HRT. We insert hormone pellets into a fleshy part of your hip to give you long-lasting relief from low T.
T pellets give you long-lasting relief from hypogonadism and its many symptoms. We insert about 10-12 at a time. They’re only about 3mm x 9mm, but slowly and steadily release T over the next 3-6 months.
It may take your body about two weeks to adjust to the HRT. Then, your symptoms gradually resolve. When it’s time for a new dose, we test your blood again to ensure the dose is still correct or make adjustments if needed.
Don’t suffer with low T, assuming your levels are normal. To learn more about HRT, call us for an appointment today at 432-200-9052 or use our online form.
