From David Matheson, Walsall, West Midlands, UK
A sidebar to Jessica Hamzelou's article on the menopause queried whether men have an equivalent (2 September, p 36). Many men who undergo treatment for prostate cancer have hormone therapy that quickly reduces their testosterone to extremely low levels. As my oncologist said to me, “It'll be like having a menopause.”
She wasn't joking: from hot flushes, through mood swings to emotional fragility, I had a plethora of menopausal symptoms. Had I had to continue this treatment for longer, I would have been at risk of osteoporosis. The andropause may or may not exist, but for those men whose prostate cancer is treated this way, the menopause is a reality. It did, however, get me in touch with my feminine side.
