What Does Lower Testosterone Do 

Low testosterone (male hypogonadism) is a condition in which your testicles do not produce enough testosterone. It has a number of possible reasons, including injuries or problems affecting your testicles, pituitary gland or hypothalamus. It’s treatable with testosterone substitute therapy.

What is low testosterone (male hypogonadism)?
Low testosterone (male hypogonadism) is a condition in which your testicles do not produce sufficient testosterone (the man sex hormone). Testicles are the gonads (sex body organs) in individuals designated man at birth (AMAB). A lot more specifically, the Leydig cells in your testicles make testosterone.

Low testosterone causes different signs and symptoms at various ages. Testosterone levels in adults AMAB naturally decline as they age. This includes cisgender males, non-binary people AMAB and transgender women who aren’t undergoing feminizing hormone treatment.

Other names for low testosterone as well as male hypogonadism include:

Testosterone deficiency syndrome.
Testosterone deficiency.
Primary hypogonadism.
Secondary hypogonadism.
Hypergonadotropic hypogonadism.
Hypogonadotropic hypogonadism.

What does testosterone do?
Testosterone is the primary androgen. It promotes the growth of male features as well as is crucial for sperm production (spermatogenesis). Levels of testosterone are naturally much greater in individuals designated AMAB than in individuals designated lady at birth (AFAB).

In individuals appointed AMAB, testosterone assists establish and keep :

Sex body organs and genitalia.
Muscle mass.
Ample degrees of red blood cells.
Bone thickness.
Feeling of health.
Reproductive and also sex-related feature.
Your body generally snugly regulates the degrees of testosterone in your blood. Degrees are commonly greatest in the early morning and decline through the day.

Your hypothalamus and pituitary gland generally manage the quantity of testosterone your testicles launch as well as produce .

Your hypothalamus launches gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which activates your pituitary gland to release luteinizing hormone (LH). LH after that takes a trip to your gonads ( ovaries or testicles ) as well as boosts the production as well as release of testosterone. Your pituitary also launches follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) to create sperm production.

Any kind of concern with your testicles, hypothalamus or pituitary gland can trigger low testosterone (male hypogonadism).

What is a low testosterone level?
The American Urology Association (AUA) thinks about low blood testosterone to be less than 300 nanograms per deciliter (ng/dL) for grownups.

Nevertheless, some researchers and also doctor differ with this and also really feel that levels below 250 ng/dL are low. When identifying low testosterone, providers also take signs into factor to consider.

That does low testosterone (male hypogonadism) affect?
Male hypogonadism is a medical condition that can affect people with testicles at any kind of age from birth with their adult years.

Low testosterone is most likely to influence individuals that:

Are older.
Have obesity.
Have poorly taken care of Type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Have obstructive sleep apnea.
Have persistent medical conditions, such as kidney disorder or cirrhosis of the liver.
Have HIV/AIDs.
Just how usual is low testosterone? What Does Lower Testosterone Do
It’s hard for researchers to estimate just how typical low testosterone is considering that different studies have various interpretations for low testosterone.

Information suggest that regarding 2% of people AMAB might have low testosterone. And various other research studies have actually estimated that greater than 8% of individuals AMAB aged 50 to 79 years have low testosterone.

What are the signs of low testosterone?
Symptoms of low testosterone can vary considerably, particularly by age.

Symptoms that highly suggest low testosterone in grownups assigned male at birth include:

Lowered sex drive.
Erectile dysfunction.
Loss of underarm and also pubic hair.
Shrinking testicles.
Warm flashes.
Reduced or no sperm count (azoospermia), which causes male infertility.
Various other signs of low testosterone in adults AMAB include:

Clinically depressed mood.
Difficulties with concentration and also memory.
Increased body fat.
Enlarged male bust tissue (gynecomastia).
Reduction in muscle toughness and also mass.
Decline in endurance.
Signs and symptoms of low testosterone in children
Low testosterone prior to or during puberty for kids assigned man at birth can cause:

Slowed down growth in height, yet their legs as well as arms may continue to outgrow percentage with the rest of their body.
Decreased advancement of pubic hair.
Lowered growth of their penis and also testicles.
Less voice growing.
Lower-than-normal stamina and endurance.
What causes low testosterone?
There are numerous possible reasons for low testosterone. Both kinds of male hypogonadism are:

Primary hypogonadism (testicular condition).
Secondary hypogonadism (pituitary/hypothalamus dysfunction).
Root causes of additional and also key hypogonadism are also split right into either hereditary (at birth) or obtained (developed later in youth or the adult years).

Root causes of main male hypogonadism
Primary hypogonadism takes place when something is wrong with your testicles that does not enable them to make regular levels of testosterone.

Another name for primary hypogonadism is hypergonadotropic hypogonadism. In this kind, your pituitary gland creates even more luteinizing hormonal agent (LH) as well as follicle-stimulating hormonal agent (FSH) ( called gonadotropins) in feedback to low testosterone levels. The high levels of these hormones would generally inform your testicles to produce even more testosterone and also sperm. However, if you have actually damaged (most commonly related to prior chemotherapy) or missing testicles, they can’t react to the enhanced degrees of gonadotropins. Consequently, your testicles make insufficient or no testosterone and also sperm.

How is low testosterone treated?
Healthcare providers deal with low testosterone (male hypogonadism) with testosterone substitute therapy. Testosterone substitute therapy has several various forms, consisting of:

There’s no single fix for low testosterone. Nonetheless, consistent hormone replacement treatment assists enhance sex drive, ease symptoms of clinical depression and also rise power levels for many individuals designated male at birth (AMAB) experiencing low testosterone. What Does Lower Testosterone Do