The pharmaceutical industry has been playing a game with us all and, as with all things cultural, the sociologists have a name for it - medicalization. This is the process of inventing a disease or disorder and then selling a medication to cure it. The latest example of this is variously called andropause, late onset hypogonadism or the male menopause. OK, so all you aging men, do you recognize these symptoms? Are you feeling tired and weak? Are you sleeping less? Is your body fat increasing? Is your hair thinning and dropping out? Are you getting forgetful? Do you have sexual problems and are you sad enough for this to count as a depression? Or are you just getting old? Well, unlike women who go through a well-defined period of adjustment as ovulation stops, there's no comparable time for men to experience the effects of lower levels of testosterone. In fact, even though men can be down to 50% of their original testosterone level by the age of seventy, most are able to make sperm into their eighties. Hopefully, this last fact is reassuring. All the symptoms listed above are natural parts of growing old. If you are worried, go and see your primary healthcare provider. Erectile dysfunction, the most common problem, is treatable.

More generally, you should make healthy lifestyle choices. If you eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly, you will maintain stamina and muscle tone. The more active you are during the day, the better you will sleep at night. As you feel more rested, your mood will become more positive. In fact, getting out and socializing is good for you. Staying home can leave you feeling lonely, isolated and sad. If you find yourself drinking more or resorting to drugs, this is bad news. Indeed, giving into the pharmaceutical industry's insistence you have a medical problem that can be treated with both natural and medicinal hormone replacements can be dangerous. There's emerging evidence topping up your testosterone levels can increase the risk of prostate cancer and other health problems.

In all this, the fact your hair is thinning and falling out is just a sign of your age. Once this process really picks up after you turn fifty, there's nothing you can do about it. Propecia is an excellent drug for younger men who detect hair loss from about the age of twenty onward. Indeed, the earlier you start once the diagnosis of male pattern baldness is confirmed, the more effective the treatment. But, for older men, the thinning of hair is not reversible. Every time a single hair goes through the cycle of growth, resting and shedding, the next hair from the same follicle is thinner. Over time, thinner hair is more likely to fall out of the root early. Even though Propecia does correct your body's response to the version of testosterone causing premature hair loss, it does not reverse your body's age. Sadly, once your hair is thin, it stays that way. The moral in all this is to look at your family's medical history. If there's pattern baldness in the female side of the family, get ready to start treatment early.