BHRT For Men Dealing With Hormonal Imbalance
My wife starting going through ‘the change’ two years ago. Needless to say, it changed our lives. We had always had a very close relationship and fought rarely. We were always considered to be ‘that couple’ that other people wanted to mirror. We are married for over 30 years, two kids, a house with a fence. We are pretty simple people. We mind our own business and just live our lives as best we can. We are both hard workers and really enjoy our vacation each year. Our vacation is something that we saved for throughout the year, and since being empty nesters, it is our splurge. Two years ago, when she began exhibiting signs of menopause, we were on our coveted vacation. She felt awful and was very sensitive just about everything. We ended up in an argument that resulted in us not speaking for the remainder of our trip, which was about five days. Needless to say, it was a memorable trip in the worst way.
When we returned, my wife decided to go to a clinic that specialized in bio-identical hormone replacement therapy. Within a few months, she began feeling better, and it was great to see her happier. It’s easy, as a man, to chock everything up to blame on menopause and take no responsibility for a bad experience. As much as I would love to take no blame, I was to blame as well.
There is no way that a woman goes through this massive change in her life, and men are left unscathed. Granted, I firmly believe that menopause is much worse than anything a man experiences with age, but there had to be a direct result of aging for men as well. The answer is Andropause. When a man starts to decline in testosterone production significantly, noticeable changes can take place. Sure, I stopped working out as much as I used to, but why? I didn’t have the energy or mental motivation to go anymore. Also, my cholesterol was through the roof, and my doctor started me on a statin.
After reading about the side effects and risks of taking statins, I knew my lifestyle needed a change. I knew that there had to be a more natural way of treating what was going on. If my wife needed hormone replacement therapy, why wouldn’t I? After I visited our local bio-identical hormone replacement clinic, I found out that I also needed to address severely deficient hormones. After I got my labs drawn, the doctor called me and said that he had no doubt I felt awful. The funny thing is, I knew I wasn’t my old self, but I didn’t realize I was as bad off as I was. I had gotten used to feeling sluggish and less libido. I figured that my belly getting bigger is just part of life; my dad did it, my brothers did it. Accepting negative health changes only made sense to me. After my BHRT began, I finally realized just how bad I really did feel! Once I noticed my energy increase and my waistline decrease, I knew that I could never go back to where I was before BHRT.
Understanding that women go through far worse symptoms of low hormones is mind-blowing. What I don’t understand is why do we accept these negative changes as ‘normal’? Who sets that standard? My PCP told me that the midsection weight gain was genetic, and to cut back on having a few beers on the weekend. Never once was the topic of my hormone levels brought up.
Watching bio-identical hormone replacement change my wife’s quality of life and then experiencing the very same thing for myself makes me want to scream this from the rooftops! I feel like too many people are told that aging and decline is normal and to deal with it. If I have an issue, I don’t want to be told to accept it or put a bandage on it like buying elastic waistband pants! This is my health, body, and I do have the right to hear all of the possibilities as well as the options for treatment. Instead, my PCP didn’t know enough about BHRT; therefore, it was left out of our conversation. I feel bad that so many others live in misery like myself and my wife did for the remainder of their lives. This is a golden time in our life, kids are gone, and we get to live life more. I am so thankful for BHRT; it has given us both a second chance at life. We are closer than we have been in years, and we are happy. I love to tell my story because if it reaches even one person that didn’t know about BHRT, I feel like I have shared my wealth!
