Discover the truth about testosterone and its impact on women's low libido! Watch as Dr. Malik discusses into the potential benefits ...

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Testosterone in Women?! The Key To Boosting Your Sex Drive?

have you ever heard of testosterone for women well I'm Dr Rena Malik urologist and pelvic surgeon and today I'm going to talk about the use of testosterone for postmenopausal women with low sex drive now before we get into testosterone did you know that a significant number of women experience low libido in studies that look at the prevalence of hypoactive sexual desire disorder or hsdd they find that rates of low desire range anywhere from 6 to 27 percent of women who have low desire and are bothered by it now when you define this in a clinical setting we describe it as a persistent lack of interest in sexual fantasies or sexual activity which causes significant distress to you and maybe issues with your partner now we also know that low libido is significantly higher in post-menopausal women and by 2030 it's estimated that 1.2 billion women in the world will be post-menopausal and 47 million and will become menopausal each year after that now menopause is a really significant time because hormones dramatically change and one of those hormones is testosterone now women normally have testosterone levels that are about one tenth of that of men and that ranges anywhere from 300 to 400 Pico moles per liter and testosterone is produced in the ovaries the adrenal glands and other peripheral tissues through conversion from other precursors they're also made by the adrenals and the ovaries now we can find receptors that respond to testosterone called Androgen receptors in a variety of tissues including the brain the genitals the bladder the urethra and reproductive organs and specifically you can find these receptors throughout the vagina the clitoris the labia the vestibule and the bladder and the supporting structures of the pelvic floor and it's believed that they actually help maintain smooth muscle function in the vagina and the clitoris and may even stimulate vaginal nerve density so what we do know is that it helps with a number of things including bone health brain health and Sexual Health in terms of brain health we've seen that post-menopausal women with Alzheimer's disease tend to have lower levels of both testosterone and estrogen compared to healthy individuals and normal testosterone levels has been shown to be related to well-being and mood overall also higher testosterone levels in premenopausal women has been linked to improved performance in math and spatial relationship tasks and as I mentioned before it's involved in sexual health because it's a major component of sexual desire or libido for women it actually causes increased vasocongestion or blood flow into the clitoris vulva labia and vagina and it also increases vaginal lubrication so many of the symptoms of low desire become more noticeable after menopause because the major contributors of testosterone the ovaries and adrenal glands produce less testosterone now while testosterone can be one cause of low sex drive in women there are a number of other things that can also cause low sex drive so make sure you check out my video where I talk all about the causes of low sex drive in women so you can figure out if there's other things you should also be considering so back to why we're here do women actually benefit from getting testosterone for their symptoms of low libido so testosterone itself is not FDA approved there has been a consensus statement by experts that reviews the use of testosterone replacement as an off-label treatment for postmenopausal women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder or hsdd so initially like over 10 years ago a testosterone patch was shown effective in improving hypoactive sexual desire disorder in women however at that time the FDA didn't approve it because they had safety can concerned specifically about cardiovascular risk and breast cancer even though there was really no evidence of these issues in the trials however it was eventually approved by the European medicines agency but because of poor sales it got pulled off the market now subsequent to that many studies specifically meta-analyzes of randomized controlled trials which is basically looking at all the studies and putting them together that looked at testosterone treatment for naturally or surgically induced post-menopause found testosterone therapy for women at doses which were similar to Natural levels that are seen in pre-menopausal women had a positive effect on sexual function specifically it led to improvements in sexual experiences including an increase of about one satisfying sexual event per month compared to those not receiving therapy now one per month may not seem like a lot but someone who's not having it very often that may mean quite a bit it also enhances specific aspects of sexual function like desire arousal orgasmic function pleasure and sexual responsiveness it also helps reduce sexual concerns and distress which results in an overall Improvement in sexual well-being so yes it is effective now how do you take it well after you discuss with your doctor you can get prescribed testosterone off label and you can get a tube of testosterone gel and use about a pea size of it on the back of the calf on the upper outer thigh or the buttock daily and it's about one tenth of the amount a man would take a man usually takes the entire tube and you're going to take just a pea size of it now in the United States we don't have any appropriately dosed Patches at any other oral compounds pellets or intramuscular injections are just generally not recommended because of variability in dosing and other side effects with those options there have been really no serious side effects with the use of testosterone when it keeps your levels at the normal range of premenopausal women specifically there have been no problems with cholesterol blood pressure glucose levels or hemoglobin A1c which is a test for diabetes there have been some mild side effects if the testosterone goes to a higher than physiologic level meaning that you're at a higher level than you're supposed to be and that is usually mild increases in acne and body or facial hair growth in some women maybe in enlarged clitoris maybe deepening of the voice but again these are extremely rare and only if you're taking really high doses so because there has been not a ton of study in this area the guideline panel states that there is no clear evidence of safety of the testosterone replacement treatment after 24 months however there have been studies looking at treatment up to four years now if you decide to go ahead and get testosterone you do need some monitoring with blood tests typically you'll start with a baseline total testosterone blood test which should be measured before starting and then you want to recheck it three to six weeks later usually you'll start seeing symptom Improvement after about four weeks now if you're doing okay you want to then recheck testosterone levels every six months again as I mentioned before the goal of testing is not to get to some specific number but really to make sure that you're not going at too high of a testosterone level because we don't want to have those bad side effects and if you're not seeing a benefit in symptoms after six months it's generally advisable to just stop taking the treatment so what do I think I think this is a wonderful option for women who are struggling with hsd however it's extremely important to be evaluated and make sure there's no other contributing factors that might be causing low libido and to make sure that if you get testosterone replacement that you continue to be followed by your doctor I hope you guys found this helpful if you enjoy this video I'm sure you will enjoy my video on vaginal estrogen so make sure you check that one out and if you've enjoyed this please make sure to subscribe and share this Channel with your friends as always remember to take care of yourself because you are worth it

Dr.

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