Male Menopause: The Real Thing or Just Another Scam from the Health Care Industry?

We all know menopause is a natural part of life for women, but what about men? Is male menopause real, or is it just another scam designed to get men to buy male menopause products from Johnson & Johnson, Merck and other big pharmaceutical companies? Aren’t the so-called symptoms of male menopause really nothing more than natural parts of aging and nothing specific such as is the case with female menopause?

Consider these symptoms typically mentioned when discussing male menopause: irritability, erectile dysfunction, reduced libido and fatigue. Well, I mean, you know. Look at those symptoms again and do a little mental math. A guy is fatigued because he’s older and doesn’t have the energy he used to have, so his sex drive isn’t what it used to be. His significant other doesn’t have the same problem and so uses his or her wiles to convince him to give it the old college try, resulting in an inability to perform, which causes him to be irritable. Does that mean he’s suffering from male menopause?

Biology—and some would argue evolution—works in such a way that a man’s testosterone level declines with age. This decline is usually gradual to the point of not even being noticed, but occasionally it can be much more rapid. Whether the decline is rapid or not, lowered testosterone levels means less firm erections, not to mention taking longer to get there. In other word, erectile dysfunction is perfectly normal. Indeed, it is the rare 50 year old who carry a jacket from one side of his house to another without using his hands or draping it over his shoulder, if you know what I mean. And since this loss of ability to be and maintain the firmness you once had often comes in concert with an increasing inability to achieve ejaculation…well, what guy wouldn’t be irritable!