Utter the word menopause, and most people immediately picture the middle aged woman. It’s very unlikely that any American woman will reach her 40s without some knowledge of menopause lurking in her future. Pharmaceutical and herbal companies are wooing the woman, seeing her as a soon-to-be customer. She cannot help but be aware that she will experience at least some of the well known symptoms of menopause: hot flashes, moodiness, depression, insomnia, night sweats, thinning hair, vaginal dryness, and loss of libido. For all the attention given to women and their experiences with menopause, there is very little literature or advertising aimed toward the middle aged man. But men often do experience changes between the ages of 40 and 70 that are part of a phenomenon called andropause.
Like his female counterpart, the “menopausal” man may experience mood swings or irritability, thinning hair, loss of bone density, sleeplessness, weight gain due to shifting metabolism, and various sexual problems like decline in libido, difficulty achieving or maintaining erections, less than rigid erections, and decreased sensation. Yet, for a couple of reasons,...