The Hormone Nobody Warned Me About — Low Testosterone at 59
The Morning I Looked in the Mirror and Saw My Father A few months ago, I was shaving at the bathroom sink when I stopped mid-stroke. The face in the mirror looked tired. Not sleepy tired — deeply tired. The kind of tired that a full night of sleep doesn't fix. My cheeks had thinned out, my jawline had softened, and my eyes had a dullness I'd never noticed before. I looked like my father. Not the 90-year-old version — the version from 20 years ago, when he first started slowing down. I told myself it was just age. I'd been telling myself that for two years. Tired? Just age. No motivation to exercise? Age. Belly fat that wouldn't budge despite walking 10,000 steps a day? Age. Falling asleep on the couch at 8:30 PM? Definitely age. Then I got a blood test. And one number explained almost everything. Total Testosterone: 285 ng/dL. The normal range for men is 300 to 1,000 ng/dL. I was below the floor. Nobody warned me about this. Not my doctor during annua...