Male Versus Female Menopause

When it comes to comparing male and female menopause, there really is no real comparison. Mainly because female menopause is the end of something while male menopause is just a change in something.

According to Dicitonary.com, the definitions of male menopause and female menopause are:

• Male Menopause is defined as a “stage in a middle-aged man’s life supposedly corresponding to the menopause of a woman, associated with the loss of sexual potency and a crisis of confidence and identity.”
• Female Menopause is defined as “the ceasing of menstruation.”

When you think about the differences between menopause and the correct term for male menopause, which is andropause you can see that it’s completely different. Men gradually drop their testosterone levels over time as they age but some lifestyle factors can make it worse. For example, drinking too much, being obese, and that type of thing can make it worse in both sexes. However, for men, it’s reversible with treatment.

For men and women who enter menopause via treatment, due to the removal of testes or the ovaries, it’s closer to the same thing since its removal of the organ that produces the hormones. In this case, both can possibly be treated with hormone replacement therapy, under the right circumstances.

In many ways, both conditions are completely normal. However, due to the scientific understanding of hormones now often these normal aging conditions can be treated. However, sometimes there are conditions that can cause early-onset situations that are not normal. For example, in men, they may have a condition that gives symptoms of male menopause but is not, called hypogonadism. Men with this problem experience delayed puberty and often have small testes. If developed later in life, it’s accompanied by obesity and sometimes type-2 diabetes.

For women, some go through early menopause characterized by experiencing menopause symptoms by age 40. In fact, about 1 in 100 women go through early menopause. Most of the time there doesn’t seem to be a reason this is happening but sometimes it may be accompanied by other illnesses like cancer, diabetes, and more such as genetic issues like Fragile X syndrome, Turner syndrome, and autoimmune issues.

During menopause, the interesting thing for both men and women is that the experience is often a lot like going through puberty in the first place. It can cause mood issues, hot flashes, brain fog, depression, hot flashes, night sweats, hair loss, low sex drive and more. It’s like going on a hormone roller coaster just like when you were going through puberty. And, just like that, if both men and women understand what may be happening to them, they can adjust their lifestyles to accommodate the issues.