What are the reasons for low testosterone in men?
What is testosterone?
Testosterone is the primary sex hormone and the anabolic steroid in men. It is a hormone that was made by the testicles. It is important for the sex drive and the physical appearance of a man.
What does testosterone do?
Testosterone should regulate the sex drive or libido, the bone mass, the fat distribution, muscle mass and strength as well as the production of red blood cells and sperm. There is a key role in the development of male reproductive tissue such as the testicles and the prostate as well as the promotion of secondary sexual features such as increased muscle and bone mass as well as the growth of body hair.
What is low testosterone?
Low testosterone or male hypogonadism is a disease in which the Leydig cells in the testicles do not produce enough testosterone. There are other names for low testosterone and male hypogonadism:
- Testosterone deficiency syndrome.
- Testosterone deficiency.
- Primary hypogonadism.
- Secondary hypogonadism.
- Hypergonadotropic hypogonadism.
- Hypogonadotropic hypogonadism.
Can testosterone level really drop?
Testosterone begins naturally in men, every year, after 30 years. This can be significant in some men. Between 19 and 39 percent of the older men can have a low testosterone level in the world population. In addition to age, certain health states, medication or injuries can also lead to low testosterone (low-t).
Late hypogonadism (LOH) is a kind of secondary male hypogonadism that results from normal aging. With increasing age of men, they have a deterioration in the hypothalamic pituitary function and the Leydig cell function, which reduce testosterone and/or sperm production. Loh and low testosterone occur more frequently in people with type -2 diabetes, overweight and/or obese.
Top reasons for low testosterone in men
There are several possible causes of low testosterone. The two main classifications of male hypogonadism are:
- Primary hypogonadism or testicular disorder
- Secondary hypogonadism or pituitary/hypothalamus dysfunction
The causes of primary and secondary hypogonadism can also be divided into:
- Innate or at birth
- Later in childhood or adulthood acquired or developed
1. Congenital conditions/reasons that have an impact on testicles and can lead to primary hypogonadism
- Missing from testicles in the birth (anorchie).
- Unknown testicles (cryptorchidism).
- Leydig cell hypoplasia (underdevelopment of Leydig cells in the testicles).
- The Klinefelter syndrome (a genetic illness in which people are born amab with an additional x chromosome: xxy instead of XY).
- Noonan syndrome (a rare genetic disease that can cause delayed puberty, undiminished testicles or infertility).
- Myotonic dystrophy (part of a group of inherited diseases that describe muscular dystrophies).
2. Carred conditions/reasons that affect the testicles and can lead to primary hypogonadism
- Testicular injury or distance.
- Orchitis that is inflammation of one or both testicles. This is usually the result of a bacterial infection such as sexually transmitted infection, but can be attributed to viral infections such as mumps.
- Chemotherapy or radiation therapy for testicles.
- Certain types of tumors.
- Anabolic steroid use.
3 .. Congenital conditions that can lead to secondary hypogonadism
- Isolated hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (an illness that leads low gonadotropine exemption hormone hormone from birth).
- Kallmann syndrome (a rare genetic disease that causes the loss of the development of nerve cells in their hypothalamus, which can produce the gonadotropine exemption hormone and also cause a lack of smell)
- Prader-Willi syndrome (a rare genetic multi-system disorder that can cause hypothalamus dysfunction)
4. Calded conditions/reasons that can lead to secondary hypogonadism
- Hypopituititarianism (this disease can result from an adenoma, an infiltrative disease, infection, injury, radiation therapy or an operation that influences your pituitary gland.)
- Hyperprolactinemia
- Iron overload or hemochromatosis
- Brain or head injury
- Cushing syndrome
- Cirrhosis
- Kidney failure
- HIV/AIDS
- Alcohol disorder
- Badly managed diabetes
- obesity
- Obstructive sleep apnea
- Certain drugs, including estrogens, psychoactive medicines, metoclopramide, opioids, Leuprolid, goserelin, triptorelin and newer androgen biosynthesis inhibitors for prostate cancer.
Can low testosterone levels be healed?
Low testosterone or male hypogonadism is usually treated with testosterone replacement therapy. The testosterone replacement therapy is carried out as mentioned below in several forms:
- Testosterone skin gels
- Intramuscular testosterone injections
- Testosterone pellets
- Bukkale testosterone tablets
- Testosterone nose angel
- Oral testosterone or undecanoat pills