I was on Androgel about 8 years ago and within 6 months began having symptoms of benign prostatic hypertrophy. I stopped the Androgel and have been on Flomax and Avodart for 7 years. I would like to go back on testosterone therapy to help with my quality of life, but not at the risk of increasing BPH symptoms.
Testosterone - Can testoterone therapy make BPH symptoms worse?
Question posted by pblead on 6 Sep 2011
Last updated on 20 January 2012 by Jack Goddard
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Answers
See My notes below about a good book to read covers BPH and prostate cancer.
Low T is a very complex thing. Both Male and Females produce two types of Testosterone. Sex T and Free T. Male Testicles and females ovaries produce sex T. Sex T is bound in SHBG and not bioavailable for use as free T. Our Adrenal glands produce free T. Free T is what controls a lot of things in our body. Muscle mass, blood pressure, and many more.
It’s important when you have your Dr. check you for low T, that he/she check total T and free T. Many Dr. just check total T and tell the patient their T levels are normal. If the Free T is low, other system may be not getting enough T.
Normal total T levels for a male say 65 to 74 years old is 327 to 721ng/dL. Free T levels 6.6 to 18.1 pg/ml.
I was seeing a Functional Medicine MD. He had me on a customized compounded
Bio-Identical Hormone (Testosterone) cream, for about a year. It was working well . Raised both my T levels. I felt super. He retired , so had to find another Family Dr. New family Dr. kept me on the same cream. All of a sudden it quit working and my levels dropped. To 150 ng/dL. He has me taking a shot every two weeks. I don’t care for it. Last two or three days before time for another shot, I feel like crap. Going to ask him to try me on AndroGel. I have used the Testim. Don’t mind it’s smell , but I had some side effects from it.
A very good book to read is Testosterone for Life. By Abraham Morgentaler MD Associate Clinical Professor at Harvard Medical School. He has also looked at the Prostate issue and Prostate cancer related to the use of Testosterone replacement.
Another good book for both sex’s is. BREAKTHROUGH. By Suzanne Somers. She covers a lot on Hormone replacement information.
Related topics
androgel, avodart, flomax, benign prostatic hyperplasia (bph), testosterone
Further information
- AndroGel uses and warnings
- Avodart uses and warnings
- Flomax uses and warnings
- Testosterone uses and warnings
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