MEN’S HEALTH
1. Low testosterone symptom: Your sex drive disappears.
Perhaps the most common effect of low T is low libido, says urologist Philip Werthman, M.D., director of the Center for Male Reproductive Medicine and Vasectomy Reversal in Los Angeles.
Nearly every patient who comes to his office with known or suspected low T complains of a lack of sexual appetite. Besides wanting less sex, men with low T may also masturbate less and report fewer fantasies and erotic dreams.
Brain areas involved with sexual desire, including the amygdala, are packed with testosterone receptors, says S. Adam Ramin, M.D., urologic surgeon and medical director of Urology Cancer Specialists in Los Angeles.
2. Low Testosterone Symptom: You Might Struggle to Get an Erection.
“Testosterone is necessary for the development and maintenance of erectile function in men,” says Brian Black, D.O., osteopathic board-certified physician in family medicine.
Testosterone helps you achieve and maintain an erection by signaling the brain to trigger the chemical reaction that helps you get and stay hard. Low T might make it difficult to get an erection, or you might have spontaneous erections.
But the relationship between testosterone and erectile function is complicated. Some men don’t have any trouble getting an erection when their testosterone is low.
Erectile dysfunction can also be a sign of many chronic conditions, like heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.
3. Low testosterone symptom: Your muscles shrink.
Ample testosterone puts your body in an anabolic, or muscle-building, state by helping your body produce and assemble proteins that form the building blocks of lean mass. When your testosterone levels drop, your body turns catabolic instead, breaking down muscle tissue instead of building it up, Dr. Werthman says.
4. Low testosterone symptom: Your penis may get smaller.
Without a steady flow of testosterone, the tissues in your penis, scrotum, and testicles can atrophy, or shrivel …
