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Testosterone Replacement Therapy Research Paper

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Androgen replacement therapy, also known as testosterone replacement therapy is a kind of hormone replacement therapy. It involves the administering of testosterone via needle or testosterone creams or gels. When someone needs this it is typically because of erectile dysfunction, osteoporosis, diabetes, chronic heart failure and dementia. It can also aid in making the red blood cell count in the blood higher and fatigue.

The most common "out of balance" testosterone levels are found to be on the low side of normal. This occurs because a male's highest testosterone level usually peaks at about age 20, and then it decreases slowly with age. It has been suggested that a 1% decrease in testosterone level per year is not unusual for middle-aged (30 to 50 years old) and older males. While this decrease may not be noticeable in some men, others may experience significant changes starting in their middle-aged years or more commonly at age 60 and above. This drop in testosterone levels is sometimes termed pogonadism, male menopause or andropause. …show more content…

Luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) are the two important messenger hormones made by the pituitary gland that act on the testes. LH is needed for the leydig cells in the testes to make testosterone. Sometimes these don’t make testosterone efficiently enough for the feedback loop or they might not produce it at all which can cause things like gynecomastia (men growing breast) because of the estrogen levels rivaling the testosterone levels. (Women’s and Children Health Network,

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