Michael A. Werner, M.D.

If you have andropause and low testosterone levels, this could cause insomnia or sleep apnea, both of which contribute to fatigue.

Basically, insomnia is defined as a person who has sleep difficulties. Usually, a positive response to either of these two questions provides the clue: "Do you experience difficulty sleeping?" or "Do you have difficulty falling or staying asleep?

Insomnia can be both a sign and a symptom of several sleep, medical, and psychiatric disorders, characterized by persistent difficulty falling asleep and/or staying asleep or sleep of poor quality. People with insomnia generally don’t function well while awake. One definition of insomnia is difficulties initiating and/or maintaining sleep, or non-restorative sleep, associated with impairments of daytime functioning or marked distress for more than 1 month.

Sleep Apnea
This is a condition where you have abnormal pauses in breathing or periods of abnormally low breathing while you sleep.  Each pause in breathing, called an apnea, can last from a few seconds to minutes, and may occur 5 to 30 times or more an hour. Sleep apnea can be easily diagnosed with a polysomnogram.

People who have sleep apnea are rarely aware that they have this condition, even when they awake.  It takes someone else to notice the person’s difficulty in breathing or apnea is suspected because of its effects on the body.  Sometimes these symptoms can go on for many years without being identified.  During this time the person suffering from it may become conditioned to daytime sleepiness and fatigue caused by the sleep disturbance.

It is extremely important to identify what is the cause of the sleep disturbance so it can be treated accordingly.

To learn more about symptoms of andropause and testosterone therapy, please call Dr. Werner's office at (646) 380-2700 in NYC, (914) 997-4100 in Westchester, or (203) 831-9900 in Connecticut, or send us an email at info@wernermd.com.