Testosterone for Women: Myths, Facts and Barriers to Care

On The Menopause Disruptor Podcast, Mary and I spent time on a hormone that's often left out of women's care: testosterone.

Women Make Testosterone Too

Women produce testosterone in the ovaries and adrenal glands, and it plays a role in desire, energy, mood, muscle and bone. Levels decline gradually through our thirties and forties, well before menopause.

Common Myths

• Myth: Testosterone is a male hormone. Women actually make more testosterone than estrogen.

• Myth: It will make you bulky or masculine. At physiologic doses for women, that isn't the goal or the typical outcome.

• Myth: There's no evidence. International expert consensus supports testosterone for postmenopausal women with low desire that causes distress.

Why It's Hard to Access

In the United States there's no FDA-approved testosterone product designed for women, so many providers aren't comfortable prescribing it. That leaves women without answers. When it's prescribed thoughtfully, at doses appropriate for women and monitored with lab work, testosterone can be an important part of a personalized plan.

Testosterone works best as part of a bigger picture that includes estrogen and progesterone when appropriate, along with sleep, nutrition, strength training and stress support.

Listen to the Full Conversation

We went deeper into testosterone, peptides, GLP-1s and root-cause menopause care in the full episode. Listen on The Menopause Disruptor Podcast. If you'd like help figuring out what's right for your body, learn more about bioidentical hormone replacement or work with me.