Sue:
In my work with women and perimenopause, I often find that once women find out that their mood swings, sleeplessness, hotflashes etc... are actually due to something very real happening in their bodies they are immediately relieved and then gather as much information as possible to help them understand how best to help themselves.  With the guys I've been talking with, including my own husband, they seem very resistant to talking about male menopause and don't really want anything to do with it : ).  What can we do to help them feel better about their bodies and learn what they can do to feel better?

Jed:
At this time of life men often feel like they are losing their "edge."  We often feel like our health is not what it used to be, our body is aging, and emotions are on a roller coaster, and our sexual desire and performance are hit and miss.  We often feel, though we rarely voice the fear, that our very manhood is slipping away.  For many, talking about male menopause, makes us feel even less like a man.   As more and more men speak out, this fear is decreasing.

One of the best things about the advent of Viagra was that men could talk openly about erectile dysfunction and get help for the problem.  There is a new testosterone gel now available which will help men who are suffering from low testosterone get the help they need.

Sue:
Your book Male Menopause is an awesome resource and a must read for any man and certainly every woman who has a man in her life.  You make quite clear that having difficulties with erections is only a small segment of what male menopause is all about, though an important aspect.  What made you decide to write this book and what has surprised you the most about the public's reaction to fact that men go through a menopause?

Jed:
My motivation for writing the book came from two sources.  It started with a desire to help the hundreds of men I was seeing in my therapy practice who were suffering from something that had no name.  I also wanted to help the women I saw who were devastated by the changes they saw in their husbands.

"My husband of 33 years left me for another woman much younger than," one woman who was typical of many wrote me.  "He was 55 and I was 51.  He told me he had found someone else who was more fun and wanted to do all the things he wanted and liked to do.  He was very cruel and spared no one, not even our three grown children or three grandchildren. "He said everything was our fault, and still is, that we drove him to it and he tried to warn us all.  The repercussions of what occurred after that event were devastating to the entire family, emotionally, financially, physically, and spiritually.  Our family fell apart." I wanted to prevent that from happening to other families.  I also recognized that the same problems I was seeing in other families were present in my own.  I wanted to understand what was happening in our lives before our family became another one of the divorce statistics I read about.

Mid-Life Crisis

Sue:
For men the mid-life red convertible and working- out is more than a "mid-life crisis" it is a real and tangible event.  Why do people write off these behaviors as "just a phase" when men are going through the same dynamics ( and problems) as women (do in perimenopause/menopause) and yet women are taken very seriously?

see Jed Diamond's answer

• Introduction
• What is Male Menopause
• Common Signs & Symptoms
• Erectile Dysfunction
• Mid-Life Crisis
• Book Excerpt
  Male Menopause and Erectile Dysfunction
• Q&A with Jed Diamond

The Gladiator Diet
Interview with Author
Larrian Gillespie
Fit & Trim Support Group

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Male Menopause
by Jed Diamond

So do men really go through menopause? If you think of menopause as hot flashes and a sudden change in fertility, no. But if you regard menopause as physical and emotional changes triggered by significant changes in hormone levels, then yes, men go through it. In Male Menopause veteran psychotherapist and men's-movement leader Jed Diamond looks at the observable and documentable changes associated with male midlife--weight gain, less physical endurance, longer recovery from injuries, reduced interest in sex, feelings of irritability and depression--and concludes that this is indeed a passage similar to what middle-aged women go through. The last section of Male Menopause discusses how men can get back what they've lost, but for the most part Diamond focuses on understanding and accepting the aging process, not fighting it.

The Testosterone Syndrome:
The Critical Factor for Energy, Health, & Sexuality--Reversing the Male Menopause
by Eugene Shippen, William Fryer

Just as women have a menopause, so men experience a "male menopause", often called andropause, which can occur in over a period of 15 to 20 years, and which can take an equally devastating toll on strength, energy, and zest for life. In this book, Dr. Shippan uses case histories to show how adjusting levels of testosterone can have a positive effect on this time in a man's life.

Maximizing Manhood:
Beating the Male Menopause
by Malcolm Carruthers

A revealing and in-depth study of many men facing one of the greatest male taboos. This book discusses the benefits of carefully monitored testosterone replacement therapy.

Iron John: A Book About Men
see books by Robert Bly

is a wonderful book that I've had for a few years in hardcover that I tend to reread every once in a while. It's a great "jump start" for the soul. It tells a story as abstracted from an ancient legend with practical applications for the men of today. Definitely worth buying for your personal library.