Prescribing of Testosterone for middle aged women out of control The Guardian

[Runskiyoga]

Experts warn of long term health implications. As in prescribing being ahead of or outside the available evidence. I wonder if they know about the young women 😞www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/jul/05/prescribing-of-testosterone-for-middle-aged-women-out-of-control?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Well, quite 🙄

Though as a perimenopausal women, I'd love to see more research into its use effectiveness as part of HRT.

I use testosterone cream as part of HRT. It's a bioidentical and low dose, so quite safe.

The picture with the article made me cross…that was osteogen being applied (in the wrong place too) and gave a false impression. Testosterone is a tiny amount not a big gloop!!

Ah but women taking (bigger doeses of) testosterone for identity reasons is totally different and any mention of harmful side effects is transphobic /s

Fucking hell! What a load of shite!!

No one knows the long term effects on women cause nobody gave a fuck about doing studies on middle aged women until recently when it was realised there could be money in it!!

Men who use high-dose testosterone [to build muscle] in gyms get cardiomyopathy – where the muscle in the heart becomes weak and can’t pump – and some of them die, so it’s not nothing.”

This quote made me laugh. Fuck all to do with the tint pea sized amount we put on a day!! Plus we're not men!!

Testosterone is a god send. My sex drive is back to what it was in my 20's. I'd give 10 years up in my life rather than stop it!!

Unbelievable that there isn't similar concern for young women, some still teens, taking larger doses for longer.

This is good to hear. My sex drive has completely disappeared and my GP has said she will prescribe testosterone and I have been quite concerned about it.

I read once that women have more testosterone than men when pregnant? I may have that totally wrong but it's our bloody hormone too!!

Testosterone gel for 3 years here after hundreds spent on private conversations. It's done Fuck all for my sex drive. Lots of hormonal testosterone induced spots tho 😡

Didn't do anything for my sex drive either, not that I care. Now that I'm single I'm glad to be rid of all that.

Do you think that this article might get some people thinking about just this? Hope so.

Can they not see the glaring issue, that if (as everyone has said) it's 'dangerous' for middle aged women to be using minute amounts topically, pumping it into young woman, should clearly fecking stop!

Is it just me that read the title of this as a discussion about a treatment for out of control middle aged women?
They’ve just had about enough of us!

seems an anti women (& women of a certain age) article.

women paying for time with a doctor and treatment for menopause symptoms, limited medical research on the treatment (presumably because of limited funding for research on women’s health) ‘out of control’.

It's right that any gaps in evidence are communicated to patients and prioritized for research. There does seem to have been a huge neglect of caution in prescribing to sometimes very young women. And attitude of 'we know best' and don't be greedy/silly/unnatural (when balancing risks and quality of life in HRT prescribing) towards women experiencing menopause. There's more financial cost and impact on population health of course when talking about over 50% of the population. Maybe they really just don't care about a few young women 😞. And in my experience men with low testosterone affecting libido and mood at a young age cannot get any prescription.

My friend needed Testosterone for some reason (should have listened harder 🤔)

the dr said that she couldn’t prescribe it for whatever the ‘health’ reasons were but she could prescribe it to increase her sex drive…which struck me as not being ‘interested’ in the potential health benefits for the my friend but more the potential sex benefits for her male partner

The article quotes from the national chair of the British Menopause Society, and an NHS gynaecologist. So extremely well versed in the evidence on testosterone prescribing. The point is, the evidence is weak, except for improving sex drive.

There are social media menopause specialists out there who aren’t gynaecologists who are touting Testosterone as a fix for all a sorts of menopause issues, with no medical evidence to support at all.

Which is exactly the point of the Cass review. There is no evidence of effectiveness or reviews of harm.

That might just have been a fudge, it might not be licensed for use in the condition your friend had so to help her the doctor prescribed it for a different reason. Which comes back down to the misogyny in the NHS for not doing research into the issues women have unless men benefit

It would be fair enough to say that it's an under-researched area and more evidence is needed about long-term outcomes for menopausal women using testosterone. That isn't the tone of the article. It's more silly women are listening to celebrities on social media.

The point is, the evidence is weak, except for improving sex drive.

It's not a coincidence that the research done was about sex drive. It benefits men, assuming the women have male partners. It's not just the NHS, misogyny in medicine is systemic and worldwide.

I sort of take your point but surely women also benefit from reviving a flagging sex drive? I feel sad about mine, not just for DH but for us as a couple.

Agree that more research generally into testosterone and other hormones for peri and menopausal women is needed.

I sort of take your point but surely women also benefit from reviving a flagging sex drive? I feel sad about mine, not just for DH but for us as a couple

my friend does not have a partner, she was not ‘allowed’ testosterone for her health benefits just to benefit a on existent male pertner

Gobsmacked at the irony of this. Experts are worried about the effect of presumably small amounts of testosterone being prescribed to middle-aged women, but not at all worried about the industrial quantities prescribed to teenage girls, who are then expected to stay on it for the rest of their lives?

The sheer fucking stupidity gets me down sometimes. Both of the so-called experts and the so-called journalists at the Guardian who need to get their fingers out and do their job properly.

Yeah that's shit and there shouldn't be any gate keeping of who is allowed a sex life if they want one. But my understanding is that the other benefits of testosterone are not clear cut or evidence based.

Indeed. So why is this broadsheet not reporting on similar concerns for young women taking vastly larger doses?