My doctor recently put me on Testim to combat a very low testosterone level. Was diagnosed in 1990. (1) How can I slowly come off the Testim without going through "withdrawals"? (2) Should I stop taking it? (3) Does the Testim lead to panic attacks? I have had quite a few P.A.'s in the past 2-3 weeks and it is interferring with my life. I have also been on B-12 for low energy and am getting back to the gym so the Testim and B-12 have considerably made a noticable difference in my muscular appearance (although not steroidal in comparison).

Good question. One problem with the widespread use of testosterone replacement therapy is that the underlying deficiency still exists when the testosterone supplement is stopped and the deficiency may be worse due to suppression by the supplement. Good data is lacking in this area despite the widespread use of testosterone. Data is also lacking on risks for heart disease and prostate cancer when used long term in large populations of patients. For patients deciding to stop testosterone I have had many who stopped cold turkey who did fine but I often taper the dose over 2-4 weeks. KH