Misleading new testosterone study should not scare men away from safe testosterone injections.
The popularity of testosterone replacement therapy has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, as more and more men realize the vast potential of this treatment to restore a more natural, youthful, and healthy balance to their body chemistry. Unfortunately, the very popularity of testosterone therapy has helped to perpetuate and spread certain myths and misinformation about the safety of treatment.
Myth #1: Testosterone Therapy is Bad for Your Heart
One particularly troublesome myth has to do with an alleged link between testosterone replacement and heart attacks. A widely reported JAMA study from 2013 bears most of the responsibility for the spread of this myth. Unfortunately what most media sources fail to mention when reporting on this study is that the researchers did not differentiate between safe and unsafe treatment protocols or between healthy men and those that were already at higher risk for a heart attack when they began their treatment.
Other studies have shown that, when done properly by a qualified physician, testosterone therapy does not cause side effects and can actually help protect heart health.
Myth #2: Testosterone Injections are Unsafe
Earlier this month, another JAMA study was published that also threatens to spread misinformation about testosterone therapy. In this new study, researchers attempted to determine if the method of delivery used in testosterone therapy could be linked to men’s heart health. Using insurance claims made between 2000 and 2012, the researchers compared data on men who had received treatment with injections, gels, and patches. In this data set, the researchers claim, injections were associated with a 26 percent higher risk of heart attack. However, the researchers themselves point out that “this study did not assess whether patients met criteria for use of testosterone and did not assess the safety of testosterone among users compared with nonusers of the drug.”
In other words, there was no consideration of whether the therapy provided via the injections was safe. It should come as no surprise that unsafe testosterone replacement therapy can cause side effects.
The Truth about Testosterone Injections and Your Heart Health
Testosterone injections are actually the safest, most natural and most effective way to replace testosterone—provided of course that they are administered by a board-certified physician as part of a safe treatment protocol.
Testosterone injections allow a precise dose of hormone to pool in muscle tissue, where it will be released as a slow and steady supply to the bloodstream. This mimics the natural way testosterone is made available to the body and avoids the potential for spikes and lows in testosterone supply that are often seen with patches. Testosterone gels or creams can also provide a good time release of testosterone, but the dosage is less precise than with injections due to differences in how various skin types absorb the cream.
At Renew Man™, we recommend self-administered testosterone injections as part of our proven safe and effective treatment protocol which incorporates the following safety standards:
- Testing to confirm men suffer from Low T before beginning treatment
- Dosages calculated to bring testosterone to a healthy level
- Exclusive use of bioidentical hormones—never harmful synthetics
- Consideration of other hormones—especially estrogen, since high estrogen can create risk factors for heart attack
- Monitoring and management of hematocrit levels to protect against risk of stroke
- Measures to protect fertility
- Ongoing testing and oversight by a board-certified physician
To learn more about Renew Man’s™ approach to treating low testosterone, please contact us today.