Testosterone in Women: Dosing, Labs & What Most Doctors Miss

Welcome to the podcast with Dr. Brendan McCarthy!

 

This episode takes you deep into the real-world practice of prescribing testosterone therapy for women.

This is not a high-level overview—this is a nuts and bolts breakdown:

✅ Who it's for

✅ How it's dosed

✅ What labs to run

✅ What delivery methods are safest

✅ Why it's often done wrong—and how to get it right

 

With over 20 years of clinical experience, Dr. McCarthy shares the insights no seminar or textbook can offer, including the emotional and psychological challenges women face when beginning testosterone therapy, and the very real fears around side effects and community stigma.

 

📌 Whether you’re a patient looking for answers, or a clinician wanting to deepen your knowledge, this episode is for you.

 

Dr. Brendan McCarthy founded Protea Medical Center in 2002. While he’s been the chief medical officer, Protea has grown and evolved into a dynamic medical center serving the Valley and Central Arizona. A nationally recognized as an expert in hormone replacement therapy, Dr McCarthy s the only instructor in the nation who teaches BioHRT on live patients. Physicians travel to Arizona to take his course and integrate it into their own practices. Besides hormone replacement therapy, Dr. McCarthy has spoken nationally and locally before physicians on topics such as weight loss, infertility, nutritional therapy and more.

 

Citations: Popma, Arne, et al. "Cortisol moderates the relationship between testosterone and aggression in delinquent male adolescents." Biological psychiatry 61.3 (2007): 405-411 Likhtik, E., Stujenske, J. M., Topiwala, M. A., Harris, A. Z. & Gordon, J. A. Prefrontal entrainment of amygdala activity signals safety in learned fear and innate anxiety. Nat. Neurosci. 17, 106–113 (2014). Brannon, Skylar M., et al. "Exogenous testosterone increases sensitivity to moral norms in moral dilemma judgements." Nature Human Behaviour 3.8 (2019): 856-866..

• M.H.M. Hutschemaekers, R.A. de Kleine, M.L. Davis, M. Kampman, J.A.J. Smits, K. Roelofs,Endogenous testosterone levels are predictive of symptom reduction with exposure therapy in social anxiety disorder,Psychoneuroendocrinology,Volume 115,2020,104612

Barel, E, Abu‐Shkara, R, Colodner, R, et al. Gonadal hormones modulate the HPA‐axis and the SNS in response to psychosocial stress. J Neuro Res. 2018; 96: 1388– 1397. https://doi.org/10.1002/jnr.24259

• Buades-Rotger, M., Engelke, C., Beyer, F. et al. Endogenous testosterone is associated with lower amygdala reactivity to angry faces and reduced aggressive behavior in healthy young women. Sci Rep 6, 38538 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep38538

Ando, Sebastiano, et al. "Breast cancer: from estrogen to androgen receptor." Molecular and cellular endocrinology193.1-2 (2002): 121-128. Somboonporn, Woraluk, and Susan R. Davis. "Testosterone effects on the breast: implications for testosterone therapy for women." Endocrine reviews 25.3 (2004): 374-388. Donovitz, Gary, and Mandy Cotten. "Breast cancer incidence reduction in women treated with subcutaneous testosterone: testosterone therapy and breast cancer incidence study." European journal of breast health 17.2 (2021): 150. Glaser, Rebecca L., Anne E. York, and Constantine Dimitrakakis. "Incidence of invasive breast cancer in women treated with testosterone implants: a prospective 10-year cohort study." BMC cancer 19.1 (2019): 1271.

 

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Check out Dr. Brendan McCarthy's Book! https://www.amazon.com/Jump-Off-Mood-...

 

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Clinic Website: www.protealife.com