Testosterone - The Forgotten Female Hormone

Many think of estrogen as the "female hormone", along with progesterone. However women produce other hormones that are also very important. Growing evidence suggests that testosterone may play an important role in maintaining women's bodies and health. Many people do not realise that decreased testosterone may contribute to many of the menopausal changes that have been attributed to decreased estrogen, including bone loss, fatigue and vaginal dryness.

In women, testosterone is produced in the ovaries, adrenal glands and to a lesser extent in the skin, brain and liver.

The ovaries continue to secrete testosterone following menopause, but there is a gradual decline as a women ages after menopause. This decline is not rapid or substantial as the decline in level of estrogen and progesterone.

In women, testosterone enhances the sex drive, helps relieve menopausal symptoms, restores lost energy, strengthens bone, elevates mood and increases sensitivity and sexual pleasure in the nipples and genitals.

What happens when testosterone levels in women decline?

Testosterone levels peak in our 20's, with the ovaries supplying about half and the adrenals the other half. Production declines slowly and steadily leaving women in their 40's with about half the testosterone they had in their 40’s. The ovaries manufacture it throughout life, even though they stop producing estrogen at menopause.

Symptoms relating to a lack of estrogen, such as hot flushes and vaginal dryness are hard to ignore, but those produced by a loss of testosterone may go unrecognised. Some signs are subtle while others such as bone loss, vaginal dryness and fatigue are similar to those related to estrogen loss. But testosterone may cause other postmenopausal changes, including thinning body hair, particularly in the armpits and pubic region - and a lowered libido.

Women most likely to benefit from testosterone therapy are those with drastically reduced natural supply of the hormone. If any of the following apply to you, you may be a good candidate for testosterone replacement:

Ø          Your ovaries have been surgically removed

Ø          You have Addison's disease (in which the adrenal glands do not function adequately)

Ø          You have a disorder of the hypothalamus or pituitary gland (both of which regulate ovarian and adrenal function)

Testosterone and Menopause

When the ovarian function declines during menopause, the quantity of testosterone produced is cut in half. Women who are taking natural estrogen usually respond and the hot flushes and other symptoms of menopause are lessened. However, a small number of women do not. Researchers believe that these women may be more sensitive to the accompanying loss of testosterone.

Dr John Moran of the Optimal Health Clinic in London has pioneered Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy over the past decade, prescribing testosterone to men and women. He has noticed that many women respond positively when a small amount of testosterone is added to there hormone program. Notably, libido and energy seems to be replenished.

Studies Show Testosterone Improves Sex Drive

In 2000, American researchers from nine medical centres across the USA tested a topically applied testosterone. They reported that a lower testosterone dose -one designed to bring testosterone levels more in line with a pre-menopausal line rather than increasing testosterone levels immensely- improved sexual response without adverse effects. They studies 75 healthy women who said that their sexual pleasure had declined after their ovaries were removed. All were taking estrogen and all were in stable, long-term heterosexual relationships.

One Australian clinical trial on testosterone developed specifically for women, showed that post-menopausal women had an improvement in overall well-being, particularly in relation to depression, increased energy, and improved libido.

Although some people mistakenly believe that testosterone increases risk of heart disease, Dr Susan R. Davis, MBBS, PhD, of the Jean Hailes Foundations, an Australian not-for profit organization who is involved in education and research regarding women's health care issues, maintains that this is an unsubstantiated claim. In her studies testosterone has some benefits and does not appear to have risks. While adverse effects of testosterone in women, such as masculisation and fluid retention are possible, these effects are unusual when hormone levels are maintained within normal physiological levels, which is why proper medical supervision is so important