Here’s an update, gentlemen: Testosterone is not your only hormone. Humans have more than 50, in fact, that control major bodily functions like metabolism, sensory perception, reproduction and growth. They also control hunger, emotions and mood.
Even before you’re born, hormones control your brain’s development and reproductive system. Glands, part of the endocrine system, secret these hormones into the bloodstream through these organs: the adrenals, pancreas, pituitary, testes, thyroid, parathyroid and, in women, ovaries.
How We Can Help
Tallwood Men’s Health endocrinologists treat diseases caused by abnormal (high or low) hormone levels. Diabetes is, by far, the most common endocrine disease. Moderating hormone levels can also help with obesity, osteoporosis, thyroid disease, high blood pressure and infertility.
Why Diabetes Causes High Blood Sugar:
Diabetes
More than 23 million adults, or 7.2 percent of the American population, have been diagnosed with diabetes. The cases are evenly divided among men and women, according to the latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which estimates an additional 7.2 million people were either not aware they had diabetes or did not report it.
Of those additional cases, most (4 million) were men. How difficult is it to know if you have diabetes? Ask your doctor about a glycated hemoglobin (A1C) test, a blood test (no fasting required) that reveals your average blood sugar level for up to the past three months.
Are You At Risk For Diabetes?
You are an increased risk of prediabetes or Type 2 diabetes if:
- A parent, brother or sister has Type 2 diabetes.
- Overweight.
- Physically inactive (less than three days a week with physical activity).
- African American, Hispanic or Latino or American Indian.
What Are The Types Of Diabetes?
Cases of diabetes have increased 50 percent in the past decade, putting more people at risk of blindness, heart failure, stroke, kidney failure and amputation of limbs.
People with diabetes, a chronic disease, don’t have enough insulin produced by the pancreas to break down the sugar, or glucose, released into your blood after your body processes food. Because of insulin, your body’s cells can use blood sugar for energy.
Males are susceptible to two forms of diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2 (women also can get gestational diabetes because of hormones produced during pregnancy that can block insulin.)
Type 1: The immune system destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, for reasons unclear to researchers, requiring the patient to take insulin injections. This more severe form of diabetes can cause weight loss or diabetic ketoacidosis when the blood sugar levels are high and the body has little or no insulin. Type 1 typically starts during childhood and the teen years.
Type 2: This type of diabetes usually develops in adulthood, after age 35, when the body doesn’t produce enough insulin. It usually does not require insulin injections.
People with Type 2 diabetes are often overweight and inactive, so diet changes and an exercise regimen often regulate blood sugar levels. When blood sugar levels remain high, some medications can help the insulin your body produces do a better job.
How The Glycated Hemoglobin (A1C) Test Works
This test targets glucose that attaches to hemoglobin, the part of the red blood cell that delivers oxygen to the cells. Higher glucose levels in your blood means more glucose attached to the hemoglobin.
- Normal A1C level: below 5.7 percent.
- Prediabetes: between 5.7 percent and 6.4 percent.
- Diabetes: 6.5 percent or higher (confirmed with a second test)
Who Should Get A Diabetes Screening?
Men over 45 years old should get tested every three years.
You might need a test more often if:
- You’re overweight, with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or higher.
- Your blood pressure is 140/90 mm Hg or higher.
- You have high cholesterol.
- You have a family history of diabetes.
- You have a sedentary lifestyle.
Testosterone
Testosterone, a hormone produced in the testicles, fuels everything in males from sperm production and sex drive to the building of bone mass and muscle. Because testosterone production declines with age, about 20 percent of men over 60 and 30 percent of men in their 70s and 80s have low testosterone.
Some symptoms:
- Erectile dysfunction.
- Decreased sex drive.
- Loss of muscle mass.
- Less body hair, beard growth.
- Breast tissue development.
- Osteoporosis.
Hypogonadism
Gonads, or testes, are the male sex glands that promote testicle development and growth of pubic hair. When your gonads produce only a small amount of sex hormones, or none, the condition is called hypogonadism.
There are two types:
- Primary hypogonadism: The problem is related to your gonads, which are unable to produce sex hormones.
- Central (secondary) hypogonadism: Your brain doesn’t send the message to produce sex hormones because of a problem with the hypothalamus and pituitary gland, which regulates your gonads.
Hormone Imbalance
Hormones, produced in the endocrine glands, control your metabolism and other important functions.
An imbalance can cause:
- Fatigue.
- Weight gain.
- Constipation or more frequent bowel movements.
- Frequent urination.
- Thirst.
- Hunger.
- Depression.
- Blurred vision.
- Irritability.
- Facial puffiness.
- Rounded face.
- Sweating.
- Muscle weakness.
- Decreased sex drive.
- Infertility.
Thyroid
Hypothyroidism: An underactive thyroid, a gland at the front of the lower neck, that doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormones that affect your metabolism. Although some men have hypothyroidism, this condition caused by autoimmune disease is much more common among women. (More women have autoimmune diseases.) Hypothyroidism slows the body.
Hyperthyroidism: An overactive thyroid that produces too much thyroid hormones, which can cause high blood pressure, a rapid heartbeat and hand tremors.
Thyroid nodules: Lumps, an abnormal growth, in the thyroid gland that are rarely cancerous.
Thyroid cancer: Close to 80 percent of all thyroid cancers are papillary thyroid cancer, which develops as a mass in the neck. Men are much less likely than women to develop this cancer.
Pituitary
Pituitary lesion: An abnormal growth, a tumor, in your pituitary gland. Most of these lesions – the gland, which regulates hormone balances, is at the base of your brain – are not cancerous.
Osteoporosis
Up to 25 percent of men over 50 years old will have at least one osteoporosis-related fracture in their lifetime.
Bone steadily regenerates itself until bone mass starts to decline in our 30s. Thereafter, old bone is lost at a faster rate that the formation of new bone. Men in their 50s do not experience the same loss of bone mass as postmenopausal women, but by age 65 or 70, men and women lose bone at a similar speed.
As the absorption of calcium -- a foundational strength for good bone health -- declines in both sexes, bone becomes more fragile and increases the chances of a fracture.
Bone Density Test: This test, similar to an X-ray, is the only way to identify osteoporosis before a bone breaks. A bone mineral density test, typically using technology called central dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (or central DXA), measures the bone density at your spine and hip. These two areas are more likely to fracture in patients with osteoporosis and also
Though it’s not infallible, the test is a good indication of your risk for osteoporosis and associated fractures.
Here’s who should get a bone density test, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force:
- Women over age 65.
- Women under age 65 who are at high risk for bone fractures.
The National Osteoporosis Foundation also recommends a test for men:
- 70 or more years old.
- Who have had a broken bone after age 50.
- Between 50 and 69 years old with risk factors.
Your doctor also might recommend a test if:
- You have lost half an inch or more in height within a year.
- You have lost more than 1.5 inches from your previous height.
- An X-ray reveals a bone break or bone loss in your spine.
- You experience back pain related to a possible break in your spine.
If you have osteoporosis, you should get a bone density test every year or two after consulting with your doctor.
Hypercalcemia
Calcium is critical nutrient for good bone health, but excessive calcium in the blood instead weakens your bones. It can also create kidney stones and affect heart and brain function.
Diabetes and Endocrinology Locations