Low testosterone therapy boosts serious heart and stroke risks

Don’t be tricked by these commercials into taking a dangerous drug

You finally get a chance to sit down, relax and turn on the TV. Before long that commercial, the one for guys, comes on…

Are you feeling tired, run down, moody, have you “lost your appetite for romance”? Then “you might have a treatable condition called low testosterone.”

But before you ask your doctor for an Rx, there’s something you need to know about these drugs…and this so-called “treatable condition.”

A trip to Fantasy Land

First let’s tackle the real issue: The drugs.

Research on these drugs has turned up frightening results. The newest study reports that testosterone patches and gels — the very ones pitched in those commercials — can increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, and death by up to 30 percent.

These dangers have prompted urgent calls to the FDA to act quickly on this. But don’t hold your breath.

Instead, the FDA recently gave Abbott the okay to sell yet another testosterone gel product. And this one contains an even HIGHER concentration of this controlled substance than its original AndroGel drug.

But long before the new research, the warnings on these hormone drugs should have been frightening men away in droves.

Instead of running to a doctor to check for “Low T,” they should have been running for cover. Because these drugs increase your risk of stroke, reduced sperm production, worsening of BPH, or an increased risk of prostate cancer.

But the side effects FDA officials are really concerned about — the ones they make the drug manufacturers put in that “black box” warning — have nothing to do with you guys.

Nope…it’s the dangers they pose for women and children who come into contact with these drugs. It’s not even safe for them to touch them!

So you can imagine if you had this stuff all over your body… Well that would be a problem now, wouldn’t it?

Still, that’s not even the most abhorrent part of this marketing campaign.

“There is no such disease.” That statement comes from a Harvard M.D. who specializes in the study of male hormones. He says low testosterone is entirely made-up as a “treatable condition.” And of course it’s brought to you courtesy of Big Pharma and the real “mad men” on Madison Avenue.

The idea that men are being duped into seriously increasing their risk for heart disease and death — and putting their wives and children in danger — by treating a make-believe condition is absolutely shameful.

Sources:
“‘Low T’ Rx Tied to Higher Stroke Risk in Veterans” Elizabeth DeVita Raeburn, MedPage Today, 11/6/13, medpagetoday.com

“A Push to Sell Testosterone Gels Troubles Doctors” Elisabeth Rosenthal, The New York Times, 10/15/13, nytimes.com