Testosterone Is Not a Male Hormone: Levels, Dosing, and What It Does During Menopause

The 'Pause Life by Dr. Mary Claire Haver - The unPaused Podcast

In this episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with Dr. Mohit Khera, a board certified urologist and professor at Baylor College of Medicine, where he directs the Laboratory for Andrology Research at the McNair Medical Institute. Dr. Khera specializes in sexual dysfunction and has spent nearly two decades researching testosterone therapy, focusing much of his career on closing the gap in research, training, and treatment access for women.

Dr. Khera lays out the biology behind the episode title: testosterone is not a male hormone. Women actually produce more testosterone than estrogen, with receptors for it throughout the brain, heart, bone, and muscle, yet not a single FDA approved testosterone product exists for women in the United States. He walks through the history of three failed attempts to bring one to market, the funding gap between men's and women's sexual health research, and why testosterone deficiency in women is so often dismissed, misdiagnosed as depression, or treated with antidepressants that make the underlying problem worse.

The conversation covers the practical details women and clinicians both need around hormone therapy: how to test testosterone levels correctly, why timing and fasting matter, what SHBG is and how oral contraceptives can permanently elevate it, and the real differences between creams, injections, and pellets for dosing. Dr. Khera is direct about the risks of super physiologic dosing and unmonitored compounding, while making the case that properly dosed testosterone can meaningfully improve libido, mood, cognition, muscle mass, and bone density during perimenopause and menopause.

They also discuss the couple's dimension of hormonal health, the so-called hormonally dangerous decade between 50 and 60 when both partners' hormones can decline at once, and why Dr. Khera insists on evaluating partners together. Dr. Khera closes with practical advice for women: ask your doctor to test your testosterone levels, know what the normal ranges are, and don't accept dismissal if your concerns aren't taken seriously.

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In this episode of unPAUSED, Dr. Mary Claire Haver sits down with Dr. Mohit Khera, a board certified urologist and professor at Baylor College of Medicine, where he directs the Laboratory for Andrology Research at the McNair Medical Institute. Dr. Khera specializes in sexual dysfunction and has spent nearly two decades researching testosterone therapy, focusing much of his career on closing the gap in research, training, and treatment access for women.

Dr. Khera lays out the biology behind the episode title: testosterone is not a male hormone. Women actually produce more testosterone than estrogen, with receptors for it throughout the brain, heart, bone, and muscle, yet not a single FDA approved testosterone product exists for women in the United States. He walks through the history of three failed attempts to bring one to market, the funding gap between men's and women's sexual health research, and why testosterone deficiency in women is so often dismissed, misdiagnosed as depression, or treated with antidepressants that make the underlying problem worse.

The conversation covers the practical details women and clinicians both need around hormone therapy: how to test testosterone levels correctly, why timing and fasting matter, what SHBG is and how oral contraceptives can permanently elevate it, and the real differences between creams, injections, and pellets for dosing. Dr. Khera is direct about the risks of super physiologic dosing and unmonitored compounding, while making the case that properly dosed testosterone can meaningfully improve libido, mood, cognition, muscle mass, and bone density during perimenopause and menopause.

They also discuss the couple's dimension of hormonal health, the so-called hormonally dangerous decade between 50 and 60 when both partners' hormones can decline at once, and why Dr. Khera insists on evaluating partners together. Dr. Khera closes with practical advice for women: ask your doctor to test your testosterone levels, know what the normal ranges are, and don't accept dismissal if your concerns aren't taken seriously.

Guest links:

Recommended Books:

Articles:

Other Resources:

2026-09-01
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