The fix may include hormone replacement therapy, an easy 5-minute procedure
Despite what pop culture may denote, men aren’t always in the mood. Actually, they’re not even thinking about sex nearly as much as we think. An Ohio State study[1] debunked the myth in 2011 that men think about sex every seven seconds, which would amount to more than 8,000 sexually driven thoughts during 16 waking hours. What they found was men—college-age men to be more precise—actually had an average of 19 thoughts about sex a day, narrowly edging out how many times they thought about food—18.
So, men, the pressure’s off to be walking, talking sex machines. And, the pressure’s off to have a raging libido all the time. It’s normal for a man’s libido to fluctuate for various reasons including[2]:
- Stress
- Fatigue
- Drug or alcohol use
- Depression
- Childhood trauma
- Chronic kidney disease
- Chronic pain
- Obesity
- Type 2 diabetes
- Sleep apnea
- Certain prescription medications
- Aging
- Too little or too much working out
At its core, low sex drive is caused by low testosterone, that well-known androgen, or sex hormone, produced in the testicles responsible for sperm production, bone mass, fat distribution, muscle strength and the production of red blood cells. If you’re low on testosterone, you’re probably also low on the desire-to-have-romantic-relations scale. And it can happen to anyone.
“I see young guys all the time with low testosterone. Aging is part of it, but in young men, we see a lot more than you would think,” says OBGYN Doug Woodford, MD.
The next question, of course, is how to fix it. If you want a higher sex drive, it helps to first take a look at lifestyle factors, like diet and exercise. Be honest about your mental health and consider behavioral therapies like counseling to help with factors like stress, depression, trauma or low self-esteem. Then, ask your doctor if they’d recommend testing your hormone levels. It can be done with a simple blood test. If testosterone is low, something called bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) may be just the ticket.
Woodford has offered BHRT to both his male and female patients in Florence, Alabama for the last 10 years and says it can make an incredible difference in conditions like low sex-drive. The key is to get the dosing exact, which is why he uses a new technology from Simpatra to precisely dose patients depending on the results of their blood test.
After that, the procedure to implant hormone pellets typically takes less than five minutes. An area of skin usually near the hips is numbed with local anesthesia. A small cut is made and a 3-millimeter needle inserts the pellets just under the skin. The dose doesn’t need to be repeated for another four months, on average, and results can be seen as early as a week later.
Woodford says only about 1-2 percent of patients see an increase in facial hair as a side effect, which depending on your look may actually be a bonus. Hormone replacement can also suppress sperm count, so Woodford says he advises patients who still wanted to have children to talk to their doctor about this.
Dosing is of utmost importance here. Simpatra uses an advanced technology dosing system, providing the exact amount of hormones needed by each individual patient, in order to see the best results possible. This is half of the procedure’s success: It’s also important to make sure the hormone replacement pellets you receive are of the highest quality. Simpatra providers receive their pellets from reputable manufacturers.
To learn more about BHRT or to find a provider near you visit us at www.simpatra.health.
[1] https://news.osu.edu/study-debunks-stereotype-that-men-think-about-sex-all-day-long/
[2] https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/men-s-health-issues/sexual-dysfunction-in-men/decreased-libido-in-men and https://www.healthline.com/health/low-testosterone/conditions-that-cause-low-libido#side-effects-of-low-libido
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