- In this video, I'm gonna talk about testosterone
and its role in depression in men.
I'm Dr. Tracey Marks, a Psychiatrist and this channel
is about mental health education and self improvement.
I post videos every week.
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Testosterone deficiency is a common cause of depression
in men and it can often go unrecognized.
As a Psychiatrist, what I see is either a depressed man
who doesn't get much improvement with anti-depressants
or the man who's not particularly sad, but instead
he's more angry, irritable, anxious or even just negative.
Here are some of the other signs and symptoms
of testosterone deficiency.
I'll just list a few here,
but the full list is in the description.
You can have decreased stress tolerance,
diminished beard growth, thinning or drying of the skin,
impaired sexual function like low desire
or erection problems,
reduced general vigor or hardiness,
mild anemia, weight gain.
If you suspect you may have this problem, you would see
your primary care doctor for an evaluation and treatment.
To determine if you're testosterone deficient,
your doctor would get your blood levels.
A useful screening is getting total serum
testosterone concentrations before 9 o'clock in the morning.
The reason for the early morning level is because
your testosterone rises and falls over the course of the day
and the highest levels are usually between 7 and 8 AM
and the lowest levels are between 7 and 8 PM.
You wanna get the level at a time when it should be
at its peak and see if it falls within the normal range.
What causes this problem, you may ask.
Well, testosterone starts to drop after the age of 30,
but it's usually a slow drop such that by age 60,
about 30% of men have low testosterone.
There are some things that have been linked
to having low testosterone.
They don't necessarily cause it, but we've seen a link.
These things are having diabetes that's been treated,
obesity, having chronic headaches, being over age 60,
having asthma that's been treated
and sleeping less than five hours a night consistently.
There's also some medications
that can cause low testosterone.
Cholesterol-lowering agents such as Lipitor, Saw Palmetto,
which is an over-the-counter agent
used to treat an enlarged prostate
also called benign prostatic hypertrophy or BPH.
Another agent that can cause low testosterone
is flaxseed oil, lots of it and then also a zinc deficiency.
If you take an anti-psychotic drug like Risperidone,
this drug can cause elevated prolactin levels.
Prolactin is a hormone that's produced in your pituitary,
which is in your brain and elevated prolactin levels
can lower testosterone as well as cause breast development.
This is not just extra fat on your chest.
You could actually feel breast tissue
and even get a small amount of milk production,
not always, but sometimes.
As far as treatments go, if the problem is due to a drug,
you could potentially discontinue the medication
if you can.
You would need to check with your doctor
if it's a prescription medication
and he or she may actually have a substitute
for you to take instead.
If it's due to a zinc deficiency,
you could supplement with zinc.
If the problem though is due to your testicles
not producing enough testosterone,
and this problem is called hypogonadism,
then the treatment is testosterone supplementation.
The supplementation can come in the form of a patch, pills,
a gel or even an injection.
If you get treated with testosterone supplementation
and it raises your levels to the mid-normal range,
you can see an improvement in your depression
and your anxiety within four weeks.
(cheering)
That's a pretty quick response.
That's not overnight, but in terms
of how long it takes things to improve in general,
that's a pretty quick response.
However, it could take a little time though for your levels
to rise depending on how low they were to begin with
and what form of the medication you take.
An injection is gonna work faster,
but it's not as convenient.
(cackling)
Once you get your levels corrected,
you can see a big improvement in how you feel
including improving your self esteem.
Some men with low testosterone can become very self-loathing
and hard on themselves.
Well, I hope this helps.
Take a look in the description for more detailed signs
and symptoms of testosterone deficiency.
If you know someone who could use this information
and it could help them, share this video.
And of course like it if you like it.
♪ I am what I am today ♪
♪ Because I did my way ♪
♪ Nothing y'all can say ♪
♪ In this life or the next one ♪