SENIOR HEALTH WITH DR. TIM PADEN


Dr. Tim Paden is a physician and partner at Lincoln Paden Medical Group, 405 Buttercup Dr., Mountain Home. Paden has 30 years of experience and is a long-term care physician. He specializes in adult medi- cine, outpatient, long-term care, and post-hospital, skilled-rehab medicine. He spoke to Living Well Maga- zine about issues that affect seniors and the elderly.


DEAN CURTIS FOR LIVING WELL Doctor Tim Paden


Juliana Goodwin For Living Well


Q. Is the term “andropause” the same thing as low testosterone? How common it is?


A. Andropause is the male equiv- alent of female menopause and it refers to a slow and steady decline of testosterone in men. After the age of 30, testosterone levels start drop- ping 1 percent a year so by the time you are 60, it has dropped 30 per- cent, on average. Q. What are the symptoms and


do you routinely test for it? A. A lot of men experience fa- tigue, depression, change in sex drive or ability. If they have those type of symptoms we check the testos- terone level in a routine lab. If they are not having the symptoms, we don’t routinely check. There are multiple other factors that can cause fatigue or depression so we look at those first. Q. What are some of the benefits and risks of hormonal treatment for andropause? A. Testosterone supplements can increase the risk of heart disease or prostate problems so we reserve that for people with extremely low levels, when we know for certain this is the cause of the depression and fatigue. Just because you have low testoster- one levels doesn’t mean you need a


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