Is male menopause real?

The newspaper recently had an article claiming that men suffer depression as a result of male menopause. It also causes decreased sexual function.

I certainly notice this problem with my friends. Do you think zinc and saw palmetto can help a man's ailments?

A: Dr. Dean: A newspaper alone is not an authoritative source for medical information. Many people do not believe there is such a thing as male menopause. It depends on how you define it.

For a woman, menopause is a sudden change. Her ovaries stop producing estrogen, she doesn't ovulate any more, and her periods stop. She knows, uh-ho, it's here. This can bring on rumination and depression. There is no sudden change in men. They experience a gradual decrease in testosterone levels.

We do not think that decreased estrogen causes the psychological upset that plagues some women during menopause, because many women go through menopause with no trouble. For either sex, depression can be part and parcel of reaching middle age.

You betcha men lose sexual function, but not all of a sudden. A man can have his testosterone measured, and if it's low, we can fix him up with a testosterone patch.

In my experience, though, low testosterone is not ! the most common cause of a man's low libido. Very often, stress or depression is the cause. We're very quick to look for medical solutions as opposed to sitting down and communicating that we need help.

Overall, most people report that sex gets better as life goes on. It may not be as frequent, but it can be better quality.

Saw palmetto may be effective for an enlarged prostate, but unless he is zinc deficient, zinc isn't going to do anything for him. As a matter of fact, too much zinc can be toxic. Zinc is over-hyped by the health food people.

I once saw a study that claimed to clinically prove that zinc could enlarge men's penises. And you know what? The subjects of the trials were Egyptian midgets. These midgets had small penises, because they were small men; they were zinc deficient, and it had stunted their growth. When they took the zinc, they grew - and all parts of them grew.

Manufacturers get rich peddling this stuff to gullible Am! ericans.

Dean Edell, M.D.