I've been HIVpos for 12 yrs currently not on treament regime. I took videx,zerit and viracept for a very long time. About three yrs ago I noticed taht my left breast was growing and recntly the right. VERY EMBARASSING. Two yrs ago I started having these intense hot flashes and a yr a go I notice that I was no longer interested in sex and was not producing semen. In December 2007 my docyor gave me a shot testosterone was senta sharp pain to my nipples and now I use androderm they ae still modrately painful. The hot flashes has reduced and I am having a hard on again....is this andropause male menopause ora drug side effect. I'm 46

Good questions. The proper use of hormone replacement in women is a complicated and still controversial subject despite scores of studies and decades of data involving thousands of women. Similar data does not exist for men so it is not possible to provide firm evidence based answers to your questions. Male hormone levels (testosterone ) fall with aging and their is modest data suggesting that replacement may improve some quality of life measures but the safety data is very incomplete with many theoretical concerns (prostate cancer, heart disease risk and many others). The rates of low testosterone levels seems higher in HIV infected persons usually independent of their HIV treatment regimen. I haven't observed nor have I seen data that effective HIV treatment reproducably reverses or increases low testosterone levels. KH