Debbie Wood realized her husband Kerry had a problem the day she married him in 1991.  “He was totally uninterested in sex and would make every excuse possible to get out of it,” she says.

“It wasn’t that he couldn’t perform – he just didn’t want to.  We only had sex once or twice a year and he just did it to keep me quiet for a few months.”

Unsurprisingly, Debbie, now 44, began to believe that her husband didn’t love her.  “It was a constant cause of arguments.  By the time we hadn’t had sex for two years, I made him go to the doctor.  It was that, or get a divorce.”

erry, 50, had a blood test to rule out diabetes, was prescribed antidepressants and was sent for relationship counselling, but nothing helped.  It was only when he was referred to a specialist at the Leger Clinic in Doncaster 15 months ago that testosterone deficiency syndrome (TDS) was correctly diagnosed.

Although lack of sex drive and energy are common and important symptoms, TDS is also a potentially life threatening condition.  Men with a low testosterone are more likely to develop central obesity, insulin resistance, poor glucose control, high blood pressure and abnormal cholesterol levels.  

This combination of symptoms and signs (known as Metabolic Syndrome) greatly increases your risk of Type 2 diabetes and of having a heart attack or stroke.  In fact, if you have an untreated low testosterone level, you are 68 per cent more likely to die prematurely, from any cause, than a similar man with a normal testosterone level.

Lack of testosterone is surprisingly common. It’s a fact of life that male testosterone levels naturally fall by around one per cent per year from middle-age onwards.

Men aged between 40 and 80 have a one in eight chance of having symptoms due to TDS.
The risk is greatest in men with erectile dysfunction (one in five), and in those with Type 2 diabetes, two out of five of whom are affected.

If the problem is correctly diagnosed, testosterone replacement therapy can improve nearly every aspect of life – and has the potential to prolong it.

Bringing testosterone levels back up into the normal range improves glucose control and cholesterol balance, as well as energy levels, sleep quality and mood.

It also increases muscle mass and bone strength while helping you to lose weight – especially around the waist.

It boosts the libido – usually within four to six weeks of starting treatment. Having a normal testosterone level also increases the chances of a good response to drugs such as Viagra, Levitra or Cialis.

Treatment options are improving all the time. As well as implants, injections, patches and a tablet that dissolves in your mouth, the mainstay of treatment is a testosterone gel.
A more concentrated version called Tostran was launched earlier this month by ProStrakan, a pharmaceutical company based in Scotland.  The gel is applied to the abdomen or inner thighs, once a day, and acts as a reservoir from which testosterone absorbs through the skin at a constant rate.

Tostran is being used as part of a large-scale European trial called TIMES2. Researchers designed the trial to understand more about the benefits of testosterone treatment on insulin resistance and blood glucose control in men with metabolic syndrome or Type 2 diabetes.  Unfortunately, many men – and some doctors – remain unaware that testosterone deficiency is such a common and serious condition.

“I didn’t know I had a problem,” says Kerry. “I just thought I had a nagging wife.
“I can’t help thinking how different much of my life would have been if I’d only known.  I feel more in control, more confident, more positive and relaxed. It saved my marriage.”

TIME TO GET A CHECK-UP, GUYS

IF you are over 40, try the ADAM (androgen deficiency in ageing males) questionnaire: