Late-onset hypogonadism / Andropause ("Man-o-pause")

Over in the really interesting thread on menopause, a little side-topic drew my attention:

Alice Wegner wrote:All this to say, hormones are a powerful force in our bodies and there are consequences for their presence and absence.  While we are having our level fluctuations the boys are also going through their own version of Men o Pause.  While we rage and sweat and crave, they lose muscle mass, get foggy brain, and cry easily.  Has anyone seen that? ...  Why isn't there a name for this for men?

Carla Burke wrote:Hi, Alice! I think that's a great topic, but it deserves a thread of its own. Why don't you start a new thread, so the massive amounts of information on each sex doesn't get lost, with the other?

Alice Wegner wrote:I think I'll leave that one up to the boys to work out for themselves.  :)

So I guess that means me.

With a quick search, I found it is a well-described thing, but pretty different, and milder, than women's menopause. At some point around the late 40s or early 50s we start losing about 1% of our testosterone per year and there are consequences even if the slide is very gradual.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late-onset_hypogonadism
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/mens-health/in-depth/male-menopause/art-20048056

Common symptoms seem to include:
- Reduced libido
- Decreased spontaneous erections or erectile dysfunction
- Breast discomfort or swelling
- Infertility
- Loss of height
- Loss of muscle mass
- Low bone mineral density
- Weight gain
- Hot flushes or sweats
- Sleep problems
- Depression
- Irritability
- Lack of energy
- Poor concentration.
   
As for my own experience of this stuff: I'm 54. I've started losing height and strength. I've always been gaining weight, so I wouldn't have thought to attribute it to this, but it could certainly be a factor. I've been a perfect sleeper my entire life until about eight years ago so that's right on schedule to go along with this condition. I experience a constellation of mental challenges (ADHD, anxiety, etc) that makes it hard to tease things apart but issues like the last four on that list have been flaring up over the past eight or so years, a correspondence which I hadn't really noticed until doing this reading -- so that's interesting. My sexual health is fine, at least so far. I can tell that I'm aging in that regard and I take longer to finish, but that's kind of nice if I'm honest, because as a young man I had to work at lasting for my partner and now I don't.

So, is there room for any fruitful conversation about this? What do you know, or what are your experiences?

The common word here is andropause.  

It's not something a lot of people talk about outside the doctors office.  I've only seen it in older relatives where it seems to show more over 70.  The voice change is one of the more common symptoms in our family,  along with body shape and food preferences.

The doc said one of the tricky things about andropause is the onset age varies dramatically depending on genetics and diet.  And not enough research has been done in this area.

r ranson wrote:And not enough research has been done in this area.

That right there is kind of interesting. I have the sense that men's issues have historically gotten more research dollars than women's issues. I wonder if it's not really that way or if this is an exception to the norm, why?

Andropause is a good search term too! https://www.heart.org/en/news/2024/06/21/is-andropause-the-same-as-male-menopause-and-should-men-worry