What Should Women Know About Testosterone?

Dr. Sarrel shares what women should know about testosterone.

Dr. Sarrel:
The bottom line is that testosterone is an androgen, and they are a family of hormones that are natural and normal in a woman’s body. There are situations in which a deficiency of these hormones occurs, and as a result there are symptoms that women develop and also biological effects like bone loss that they also develop.

If a woman is considering whether or not she should take testosterone, then we know there’s the categories of the women who have lost their ovaries, the women on oral contraceptives, the women on oral estrogens. They are likely to be candidates for some preparation, but the bottom line is need needs to be established. You don’t just take the hormone. You never take anything that your body doesn’t need. It will throw many other things out of balance.

So once need is established, then a woman has to understand the taking of some product that is carefully monitored for its effect and its safety is what total care is all about.

About Dr. Sarrel, M.D.:
Philip M. Sarrel, M.D., completed his medical education at New York University School of Medicine, his internship at the Mount Sinai Hospital, and his residency at Yale New Haven Hospital. In addition to his many years on the faculty of the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, Dr. Sarrel has also been a Faculty Scholar in the department of psychiatry at Oxford University, Visiting Senior Lecturer at King’s College Hospital Medical School at the University of London, Visiting Professor in Cardiac Medicine at the National Heart and Lung Institute in London, and Visiting Professor in the Department of Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. He is currently Emeritus Professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and psychiatry at Yale University.