How Can We Change This?

[Guest guest]

In my experience its extremely difficult to find a physician who is knowledgable

about testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) and is willing to provide proper

treatment to men with hypogonadism. Does anyone else wonder why its this way? I

sure do, and the more I try to figure it out, the more disillusioned and cynical

I get about the medical establishment. A man on another forum shared a story of

how his (former) doctor " was very much against TRT for hypogonadism " ? Really?

How does this " doctor " think hypogonadism SHOULD be treated then? Does he

suggest simply waiting for a man to develop osteoporosis, depression, heart

disease, and type 2 diabetes so a fortune can be made on treating each

individual symptom of his hypogonadism? When you think about it, is there money

to be made in keeping people healthy? Not so much. There is a fortune to be made

in treating people with long term chronic conditions with patentable drugs,

however. The doctor in this example knows that a man with hypogonadism can be,

in a sense, " cured " by initiating TRT to get his hormone profile into the

optimum range. He also knows that serious health risks are assosiated with a man

living with untreated hypogonadism, but NOT with the TRT itself. He knows ALL

this, and he is well aware of the misery and suffering that a man can experience

with untreated hypogonadism,(not just his physical health but his relationships

suffer, his career suffers, his emotional health suffers, etc.). So why are so

few physicians willing to provide proper TRT? I have spent a lot of time trying

to figure this out, and I think the #1 reason by far comes down to money. I'm

not sure how, whether its pressure by the drug companies or some other mechanism

at work, but I do think that at least with the drug companies and health

insurance companies, its ALL about money. Since its the physician prescribing

the treatment (or non-treatment) to the patient, heavy pressure comes down upon

the physician to do the bidding of the drug companies and whatever other

entities out there competing for THIER procedure, medical diagnostic equipment,

etc, to be used. Many of the individuals involved in all this DO care about the

well-being of the patients, but thats far less of a priority than profits. I'm

just giving my own viewpoint, I'm not asking anyone to agree with me. I've

worked in the medical field in various capacities since 1983, and I think that

since then, health care has gotten to the point where it is almost completely

about money. The medical complex doesnt make money on healthy people, they make

money on sick people. I personally believe that health care and the profit

motive are a bad mix. The goal of curing and healing people, keeping them

healthy, disease prevention and health promotion are all in conflict with the

medical complex's goal of making profits. Money and profits are much more

important to the decision-makers than peoples health.

Providing men with proper TRT and TRT monitoring is not at all complicated. It's

not a question of ignorance on the part of physicians, its a question of what

motivations and incentives are in place here.

Any other opinions or viewpoints out there?