In 1995, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approved the testosterone replacement drug, Androderm. This drug is delivered a via a transdermal system.
General Information
Per the manufacturer, men should apply two or four milligrams of the testosterone to their arms, back, legs or stomach. The drug has been approved to treat hypogonadism and manage hypothalamus defect related testosterone disorders as well as primary hypergonadism (i.e. medical issues with the testis).
According to the manufacturer, Androderm was tested in a small trial of 94 subjects, 86 of whom enjoyed normalized testosterone levels as a result.
Side Effects
Some commonly reported side effects include:
- Redness and itchiness at the side of the patches;
- Fatigue;
- Depression;
- Osteoporosis;
- Impotence;
- Loss of male sex characteristics;
- Lightening of the voice;
- Loss of muscle;
- Redistribution of hair.
Some of these side effects may seem paradoxical. After all Androderm is a testosterone supplement. So how could it decrease male sex characteristics and/or increase female ones? The answer is that the body is not a simple system. Just because a man suffers from hypergonadism does not necessarily mean that supplementing him with transdermal testosterone will return him to biochemical balance. Perhaps, for some men, supplementation could depress the body’s internal production testosterone (known as “endogenous” production). This suppressive effect could lead to a net lower level of testosterone in the body and/or interfere with other biochemical pathways and lead to short term and long term side effects.
To understand how the drug affects long term health, researchers need to conduct much larger and more in-depth studies to answer questions like:
- Do men who take Androderm, long term, live longer?
- Do these men suffer fewer or more adverse heart events?
Different cohorts of men may have radically different reactions to the drug. For some men, Low T replacement might be benign or helpful. For others, it could cause more harm than good.
For insight into your Testosterone case, call the Davis & Crump team now at 800-277-0300 or email us at info@daviscrump.com.
