When Should Men Start Using Testosterone? Dr. Sean Breen Explains

At what age should men start using testosterone replacement therapy? The first answer I am about to give you is based on the medical literature and not my opinion. There was a great study in the Journal of Circulation in 2007 that concluded “men who have testosterone levels in the upper quartile of the normal range had a 25-30% reduction in mortality from all causes, including heart disease and cancer.” (The range for testosterone is approximately 350-1198 for most labs). In addition there is good medical evidence that men who have higher testosterone levels have less heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer than men with lower testosterone levels.     

My thought is that the evidence in the medical literature overwhelmingly supports keeping your levels in the upper quartile indefinitely. I tend to treat the patients symptoms and just use the labs as a guide to my therapy. What I mean is this: If a 29 year old man comes in to my office complaining of decreased libido, lack of energy and weight gain that is effecting the quality of life and has a 600 testosterone level I will treat him with testosterone. 99% of doctors will tell him “your testosterone levels are good” and send them out the door with nothing.

IF YOU ARE SYMPTOMATIC THERE IS NO REASON TO SUFFER

Too often in medicine we treat the lab number and ignore the patient. This happens more frequently with testosterone replacement than other areas of medicine. I recently had a 25 year old patient with a total testosterone of 275. He happened to be a professional swimmer and could not take testosterone but since her retired a month ago he has been denied treatment by 3 different doctors. They all told him that he had a level that was still in the normal range. The problem was that they were ignoring the fact that at 25 he had erectile dysfunction that was dramatically effecting his quality of life. The solution is to give him HCG and testosterone and bring his level up to 1200 where he will have a much better libido.

To summarize: It doesn’t matter how old you are. If you have symptoms and have levels that are below the upper quartile of the normal range you will benefit from testosterone therapy.

If you would like to schedule a consult with Dr. Sean Breen simply give us a call at 877-721-0047 and visit us online at www.breencenter.com.