Letter from the Editor #629: Symptoms of Low Levels of Testosterone

Jun 9, 2012
1,356 views

Last week, in the pharmacy, I spoke with 3 male patients, two in their 30’s and one who had just turned 50, who were all feeling depressed, tired and had gained about 30 lbs on average over the past 4 months. Each of them also complained that their muscles were turning to fat. Upon discussion I found that they all had been diagnosed with low testosterone but only after considerable time had gone by. One of the patients had a level of 80 and yet he did not believe he could possibly be low as he was too young.

Because this seems to be occurring more often with the increase in obesity rates, this week our Tool for Your Practice is a simple check-off sheet that you can give to your patients while they wait in the exam room that can help you identify this condition.

Six weeks ago we shared a tip with you about the use of cold water first thing in the morning to help increase metabolism and burn fat and now a new study from the Joslin Diabetes Center has found that brown fat can be activated by the cold and increase calorie burning while reducing obesity.

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Please answer this week’s poll: Which behavior do you find the most challenging to teach?

Vote in and then see results from previous polls here.

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We can make a difference!

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Check out this week’s Special GLP-1 Test Your Knowledge question and see if you can make the next medication choice for the patient.

Dave Joffe, Editor-in-chief