Does a man experience menopause?

In fact, some men experience a hormonal change between the ages of 50 and 60, sometimes strikingly referred to as “male menopause” or similar. However, it is correct to say that the hormonal change in men is of course not comparable to that in women: whether this hormonal change is a trigger for the hot flushes should therefore only be decided after more probable causes have been ruled out.

While the female body is subject to larger fluctuations of several different sex hormones, the hormone fluctuations in the male body are much smaller.Accordingly, the change in the male hormone balance is less fundamental than in women and is therefore perceived much less or not at all by the persons concerned. Due to the smaller differences in the fluctuations, it is also difficult to diagnose the “male menopause” beyond doubt.

Other accompanying symptoms

Hot flushes always occur in the body with the involvement of so-called adrenergic hormones: these include adrenaline and noradrenaline. Both are stress hormones that act briefly and quickly to boost the body’s metabolism in the short term. Adrenergic hormones act on the whole body and cause, among other things, an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and dilation of the blood vessels.

On the one hand, the latter can lead to the hot flushes treated here. Other accompanying symptoms of hot flushes can also be a noticeably fast pulse or high blood pressure, which some people experience as “throbbing in the chest“. If the cause of a hot flash lasts for a long time (i.e. about several weeks), the permanent stress state of the body can also lead to unplanned weight loss and sleep disturbances (see hyperthyroidism).

An increased susceptibility to minor infections, for example a cold, can also be a concomitant symptom of prolonged hot flushes, as stress impedes the immune system in its function. Last but not least, hot flushes can also occur as part of an anxiety disorder. Accordingly, the affected persons also suffer from panic attacks with, for example, subjective breathing difficulties, dizziness or nausea.

As a frequent accompanying symptom of hot flushes, the affected persons often experience outbreaks of sweating. This is because the development of the two symptoms is related: The heat sensation of the skin in turn causes the sweat glands to react, which now want to cool the body. As a result, the accompanying outbreak of sweating occurs mainly in the parts of the body affected by the hot flash. In addition, the stress hormones adrenalin and noradrenalin can also activate the sweat glands, which simultaneously trigger the hot flush.