“Andropause” is what doctors and physiologists call male menopause. Menopause and menopausal symptoms are not just experiences that women have; men have them also. For men, the symptoms of Andropause are quite different than the symptoms of Menopause.
Sally and Jeff are a Caucasian married couple who live in Marin County, CA. Sally is 48 years old and her husband Jeff is 56 years old. They have been married for 19 years and during the first 13 years of their marriage everything had gone great. They have 2 children, Jared and Lisa, Jared is a 6 year old boy and Lisa is a 9 year old girl. Sally is upset because the marriage has not been going as well during the last 5 or 6 years or so. It seems that Jeff just isn’t willing to do his fair share in helping with the kids and he has even missed their daughter Lisa’s recent performance in the school play. Both Sally and Jeff make equal amounts of money at their careers. It is not unusual for Jeff to be found at the local bar having a drink or two after work. On weekends, Jeff often likes to just sit and watch football on T.V. with a couple of friends and does not really want to go anywhere. He has been irritable and depressed, discouraged and pessimistic for more than a year now. He seems to have fewer friends. He has gained 50 pounds of body weight in the last couple of years, was demoted at his work 2 years ago due to lack of productivity, and just doesn’t seem to care about things as much as he used to. What is even worse is that they used to occasionally go for hikes or to the nearby gym, but Jeff doesn’t even seem to want to do any of those activities any more. He seems tired all of the time. When Sally discussed this with some of her girlfriends they all shared with her that their husbands are the same way and that she doesn’t have anything to worry about. In fact, one of her friends told her that she was lucky, because her husband lost his job and was now looking for work. What also seems odd to Sally is that Jeff doesn’t seem to think as clearly and quickly as he used to. Jeff just seems lazy. What else has been upsetting Sally is that Jeff has not been able to have the same kind of erections during the last 5 or 6 years and so their lovemaking has become incredibly infrequent. In fact, they may only have sex once every couple of months and when they do have sex it is usually a big disappointment for Sally as Jeff has premature orgasms that he never had during their first 13 years of marriage. Sally has noticed other things about Jeff that have changed as well. To top it off, he seems to be less manly, has less body hair, seems to have thinner skin which is dry and a little bit flakey, and he doesn’t sleep very well at night. In fact, a couple times a week Jeff might wake up 4 or more times a night to go to the bathroom to urinate and it makes it hard for Sally to sleep.
Jeff had been seeing a nutritionist and a chiropractor a couple of times a month, but he still suffered from these same symptoms.
As you may have already guessed, Jeff suffers from Andropause. His symptoms are common for many men as they get older, but they are not normal. Andropause is treatable, preventable and reversable. I will share with you the causes and solutions to Andropause in this article. However, Andropause can never ever have a complete resolution until the person who experiences it’s symptoms does one very important thing. I will go over exactly what that one important thing is later in this article as well.
Andropause takes place when a male no longer has normal levels of Androgen hormones. The main Androgen hormones are Androstenedione, Testosterone, and Dihydrotestosterone. These hormones are metabolized from other hormones or precursor hormones such as DHEA, Pregnenolone, Progesterone and Cholesterol. Both Androstenedione and Testosterone may be converted to female hormones called Estrone or Estradiol in the presence of an enzyme (protein molecule that regulates the rate of metabolism) found in fat cells called aromatase. Even though you would think that being a bit overweight would be necessary to develop Andropause, this is not necessarily the case with everyone. Both overweight and thin people have plenty of fat cells. Most often, Andropause is due to many years of stress that disrupt the hormonal system of the body. There is a very important gland in the brain called the Hypothalamus that releases a hormone called Gonadotrophin-Releasing Hormone to another important gland in the brain called the pituitary gland. Next, the pituitary gland releases Follicle Stimulating Hormone and Luteinizing Hormone into the blood which then causes the testicles of the male to make sperm and testosterone. This complex orchestration of chemical events from the brain to the male reproductive glands can easily be disrupted by such things as emotional stress (losing one’s job or divorce), chemical toxins (statin medication or pesticides and other toxins) or structural misalignments such as poor posture or bones in the head and neck that have been misaligned due to injury or the chemical and emotional causes just mentioned. Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) is a far stronger hormone than testosterone. Testosterone is converted to DHT in the presence of another enzyme called 5-alpha-reductase. While this may sound like a good thing; excess DHT has been associated with Prostatic Hypertrophy, male pattern baldness, impotence, and even auto-immune disease. There can be any of a number of causes of Andropause such as poor diet, toxic personal care products such as products that make hair grow on mens’ heads or chemicals in the water or pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, mildicides, insecticides, emulsifiers and colorings and additives in foods, food stabilizers, toxic water consumption, excess radiation exposure, insufficient or wrong type of exercise, lack of proper rest, dissatisfaction with work or being in an unhappy relationship, etc. This should help to broaden your understanding of just how broad the number of causes of Andropause really are. But don’t worry, there is hope.
Sally still loved Jeff immensely and longingly remembered how amazing the first 13 years of their marriage were. They used to make love several times a day for the first 6 or 8 years of their marriage. Sometimes they would make love before they went to work and when they got back from work as well and even again before sleep! It was not uncommon for them to meet for lunch and connect with each other passionately and lovingly in the short amount of time that they had before they each had to return to work. Both of their children had been raised well and Lisa had straight “A’s” in school. Both children were well adapted. Sally refused to buy in to what her girlfriends were telling her about their husbands being too tired to make love and chose to all but cover her ears when one of her best friends mentioned that her husband was laid off from his job after 15 years because he was told that he had become less motivated and more forgetful. Sally was determined to find a solution to Jeff’s declining health if it was the last thing she would do. After nearly 7 years she finally decided to start researching different types of treatments for men who had all of the symptoms that Jeff had. When she talked to Jeff about how upset she was and that it was important to her that he get help, Jeff wouldn’t even admit that he had any noteworthy health concerns! (Remember, being unmotivated and complacent is a symptom of Andropause.) Finally, that was it. Sally told Jeff plainly and clearly that if he was not willing to do something about his deteriorating health that she would file for a divorce. This got Jeff’s attention very quickly. However, Jeff still didn’t take any initiative to find out about a solution to his health challenges. When he went to his family Medical Doctor, the doctor just told him that his symptoms were “perfectly normal” and that they were just a result of aging. Jeff listened to his doctor as he always had. However, after Sally insisted and Jeff thought about it for a couple of weeks, he realized that something was just not quite right. He actually began to think that maybe his doctor was crazy. Jeff was only 56 years old. He had friends his same age who would go running for 10 miles 4 times a week and he had another friend who was 10 years older than him who had tons of energy all day long and was married to a lady who was 20 years his younger. Jeff thought to himself, “I am only 56 years old, I should be in the prime of my life. If my symptoms are just a natural result of aging, then why do I know of a couple of people who are my age and even 10 years older than I am who don’t have any of my symptoms and seem to be 20 years younger than I am. If I am aging “normally” then what does that make my “healthy” friends. Does that mean my ‘healthy’ friends are actually ‘abnormal.’” When Jeff began to realize how preposterous his family doctor was he began to get annoyed. Jeff was actually annoyed at himself for having listed to his family doctor and having believed in what the doctor had said without second guessing anything.
Since Jeff didn’t seem to show any signs of taking action to resolve his health dilemmas, Sally began to actively search the Internet in the hopes of finding some type of resolution to Jeff’s health crises. She was relieved that she had finally gotten some sense into Jeff and convinced him that something was seriously wrong with his health, in spite of what his doctor had told him. Jeff agreed to finally do something about his health so long as Sally would take the lead . One day she came across a website of a doctor named Dr. Ilya Skolnikoff who was a chiropractor locally in San Rafael. The website at www.triadofhealth.net went on and on and on about something called the Triad Of Health. The website caught her attention for several reasons. Nearly all of Jeff’s symptoms were discussed, but on the website they mainly seemed to be related to the female hormonal imbalances of Menopause rather than anything relating to men. She watched a few video testimonials on the website and was very impressed not just by the video testimonials of women, but of men as well. She called the Triad Of Health office to find out more. Strangely enough, the Doctor who called himself “Dr. Ilya,” actually answered the phone himself. What else was strange is that he talked to her for nearly 15 minutes about his services and how they might help address Jeff’s health concerns by discovering what the underlying causes of his symptoms were. Dr. Ilya did not charge a fee for the 15 minute phone call. He encouraged Sally to come with her husband Jeff to two separate events where he would be doing a lecture and also to visit his Youtube channel and watch several introductory videos. Sally learned that one such event called the Triad Of Health 2 Hour Introduction would allow herself and Jeff to come and witness live demonstrations of the structural, chemical and emotional therapies that would later be used to help Jeff with his health. There was no charge for the event so Sally decided to register herself and Jeff. To make a long story short, Jeff and Sally were very impressed with what they found at the Triad Of Health Two Hour Introduction. They met a number of Dr. Ilya’s patients at the event whom had had tremendous success with his therapies. They were able to discover more about what was causing Jeff’s difficulties in the two hour free workshop with Dr. Ilya than they were able to from Jeff’s Medical Doctor or all of Sally’s other Internet researching. They were convinced that Dr. Ilya would be able to help Jeff and so they set an appointment for Jeff’s initial examination, diagnosis and treatment.
Dr. Ilya shared with Jeff and Sally the ONE THING that they would need to do in order to help Jeff to no longer suffer from Andropause. The one thing Jeff needed was a properly trained professional to accurately and meticulously with laser-sharp focus diagnose exactly what were the structural, chemical and emotional causes of Jeff’s Andropause. Dr. Ilya explained that what causes one person’s Andropause is completely different from what causes somewhat else’s Andropause. The Doctor elaborated for a good minute or two by explaining that he would not even be helping Jeff with his symptoms, but that he would diagnose the underlying causes of his symptoms and then treat the many causes of his symptoms with structural chemical and emotional therapies: the triad of health system. On the same note, the causes of Jeff’s Andropause were completely different than what was causing Andropause in the husbands of Sallys’ friends. After all, Jeff was raised by different parents, lived in a different neighborhood, ate slightly different foods growing up, has slightly different ways of exercising, uses a different type of shampoo and conditioner, etc. Additionally, to alleviate the Andropause, there would need to be a comprehensive system of treatment that would need to be tailor fit just to Jeff, and results would need to be measureable. They discovered that Dr. Ilya was the only person in Northern California who was using just such a system with all of his patients.
The examination with Dr. Ilya took an entire hour of time. Jeff’s blood pressure was measured on both arms in 3 different postural positions. He had never had this done before. Dr. Ilya asked Jeff unusual questions ranging from such things as the type of deodorant he wears, whether or not he has any tattoos, and whether or not he had had a vasectomy. The Doctor even went so far as to ask him about the type of beer he drinks, how many silver fillings he has in his mouth and questions about his father and the family he was raised in. Jeff didn’t understand the point in some of these questions, but went along with the doctor, wanting to prevent a divorce to the woman he had loved for so many years.
After the initial examination, Dr. Ilya shared with Jeff that Jeff had a number of major health concerns most of which were stemming from poor digestion caused by an improperly functioning stomach. Although Jeff did not understand all of the things which Dr. Ilya talked about, he did understand that Dr. Ilya could help him and that if he made a variety of lifestyle changes which would include changes in diet, exercise, and even personal care products, that he would feel much better in just a few visits. After all, when Jeff and Sally were at the Triad Of Health 2 Hour Introduction they were able to meet several of Dr. Ilya’s patients whose lives had completely turned around as a result of his therapies.
Jeff’s initial treatment with Dr. Ilya lasted nearly an hour and a half (something that would never happen at his regular family doctor in a million years). During Jeff’s first treatment, Dr. Ilya used different types of Energy Medicine that made it almost seem like Dr. Ilya was some type of witch Doctor. At several points in the therapy session Jeff was convinced that Dr. Ilya somehow must have gotten outside information about his family life because the Doctor knew that Jeff’s sex life was not going well and he even knew that Jeff was angry about the situation. There were numerous other things that Dr. Ilya touched upon from Jeff’s childhood that he hadn’t thought about in many years. The doctor used homeopathy and chiropractic adjustments and prescribed Jeff a zinc supplement that he was told to take with his meals. The Doctor explained that the highest levels of zinc in the human male were in the prostate and that Jeff was severely deficient in zinc. This helped Jeff to understand why he was having difficulty urinating at night and why he had to urinate so often. He also explained that Jeff was unable to make stomach acid without zinc which explained quite a bit about why Jeff’s stomach was not working. Jeff was told that 80% of his digestion took place in his stomach. Jeff also learned that zinc was necessary to make melatonin in order to sleep well at night and it was also necessary to make epinephrine (adrenalin) which would give Jeff energy, and it was even necessary to convert progesterone to testosterone. Jeff was told that he would be quite tired for several days after the treatment but that this was normal because his body was in a deep state of healing and undergoing many benficial changes. Jeff was asked to keep a journal of the foods that he was eating, to change deodorant, and to drink a different type of beer than he had been drinking previously, and less of the beer. He was asked to return in 3 weeks.
When Jeff left that first treatment with Dr. Ilya he was feeling completely different. By the time he got back home, he was exhausted and slept until nearly 12 noon the next day – fortunately, it was a Saturday and he did not have to go to work. After about a week Jeff noticed big changes in how he felt. He began to have a better mood and soon he was no longer depressed. His energy was beginning to improve. He had lost about 8 or 9 pounds even though he had not been exercising. His digestion had improved and the flatulence he had had before was now gone. By the time the 3 weeks had gone by, Jeff was already experiencing healthy normal erections again and he and Sally were successfully making love several times per week. Jeff and Sally were incredibly excited about Jeff’s progress in just one visit! They had both been under the impression that these results would take at least 4 or 5 visits. Sally and Jeff both decided to make Dr. Ilya their primary family doctor and only go to their Medical Doctor when there were emergencies such as fractured bones, another need for surgery, or if Doctor Ilya were to refer them to their Doctor.
