00:00Hello there, welcome to the month of October and welcome to a brand new series of Putting Dr. G on
00:06the Spot.
00:07In the month of October, we celebrate on the 1st of October, International Day for Older Persons.
00:15So for older person, we want to know whether men actually encounter menopause or indeed menopause.
00:30When it comes to women, menopause is very clear-cut because the drop of estrogen will result in several things.
00:37Most obvious thing is no productions of menses.
00:43Following that, there are several things that occur such as dryness of the vagina, low libido,
00:49and also followed by long-term might be a bit of risk with osteoporosis.
00:54But how do we know whether men undergo menopause or something is called andropause?
01:02Indeed, the testosterone will also drop.
01:06However, it doesn't happen to everybody.
01:09And these can be diagnosed as clinical symptoms, biochemical symptoms, and also other form of diagnosis.
01:18For example, chemical, then there are several international societies such as endocrinological society,
01:27men's self-society, have different cut-off of what is considered as low.
01:32But most people would say between the range of 8 to 11 of the testosterone level in a man will
01:40be considered quite low.
01:42And that itself may have other symptoms associated with it.
01:46For example, men will start having weakening of their muscles, lack of libido, erectile dysfunction,
01:55putting on weight, mood changes, and also other problems associated with depression, forgetfulness, and also mood swings.
02:05And all these is very, very subtle and difficult to completely pinpoint.
02:10So therefore, combination of biochemical changes plus also overall changes needs to be taken into account.
02:18One thing that is for sure is that as men get older, when the testosterone drops, sexual function also diminishes.
02:26So that will include weaker erection, less libido, and also less of a morning erection.
02:33And that sometimes triggers a man to seek for help.
02:38The age of this happening can be quite variable.
02:41It can range from 40 to 85, and nobody really has any idea where is the actual average.
02:48So, in order to identify that, we can actually identify the symptoms, do a simple blood test,
02:55and also look at other associated comorbidities such as obesity and diabetes.
03:01One way to actually improve this is testosterone replacement therapy.
03:07And that itself carries some risk because it might actually make your blood thicker,
03:12such as polycythemia, or for men who are more at risk of getting prostate cancer,
03:19might encounter problems associated with higher risk of prostate cancer.
03:24Therefore, testosterone replacement therapy is not good for everyone.
03:28However, overall, a very healthy lifestyle, the testosterone will generally go up.
03:35So, in other words, when the actual menopause in men is reversible,
03:41we can also call it menopause.
03:44For the following week, on the 10th of October,
03:47we observe the International Mental Health Day.
03:50And what I'm going to look at is as men get older,
03:55they undergo problem with testosterone changes.
03:58Will that cause depression?
03:59And can depression result in sexual dysfunction?
04:03Stay tuned for next week's Putting Dr. G on the Spot.
