Erectile Dysfunction

That's because we were only in our 40s and didn't need them.

And when we didn't need them, they weren't important.I just received a press release noting an alleged impending calamity in the airline industry.

We air travelers "will lose the services of an estimated 5,000 of this nation's most experienced and trusted pilots - many of them Vietnam War and Gulf War I veterans - if the Federal Aviation Administration continues to drag its feet on ending its discriminatory 'Age 60 Rule,'" it said.This sky-is-falling pronouncement was to announce a lawsuit filed by the brand-new Senior Pilots Coalition, formed just this past February, looking to throw out the Age 60 Rule.

It really tugs at the heartstrings, doesn't it?

"Most experienced and trusted" is a transparent hint that you won't be safe if these pilots are forced to retire at 60, as all others have since 1959.

And how is the fact that some of them are war veterans relevant, unless you're trying to lay on a guilt trip that if you don't support these pilots, it's as bad as not supporting the troops?

Why do you suppose we suddenly have a "fast-growing" Senior Pilots Coalition and a lawsuit challenging their mandatory retirement age?

Could it be because boomers are now turning 60 at the rate of one every eight seconds?

Why weren't the boomers pushing to end such "blatant discrimination" when we were in our 30s and 40s?

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The drug enhanced engorgement of vaginal tissue, just as it had of the penis, but that extra bit of pelvic swelling did nothing to amplify women's desire for or enjoyment of sex.

What is needed for the treatment of so-called female hypoactive sexual desire disorder, researchers decided, is a reasonably safe and effective drug that acts on the central nervous system, on the pleasure centers of the brain.

For a while, many sex therapists and doctors were optimistic about Procter & Gamble's Intrinsa, a testosterone patch that delivers small transdermal pulses of the sex hormone thought to play a crucial if poorly understood role in male and female libido alike.

But in 2005, the Food and Drug Administration refused to approve Intrinsa, declaring that its medical risks outweighed whatever benefits it might offer.

More recently, another potentially promising treatment for hypoactive desire has been making its way through clinical trials.

The compound, called bremelanotide, is a synthetic version of a hormone involved in skin pigmentation, and it was initially developed by Palatin Technologies of New Jersey as a potential tanning agent to help prevent skin cancer.

But when male college students participating in early tests began reporting that the drug sometimes gave them erections, the company began exploring bremelanotide's utility as a treatment for sexual disorders.

Studies...

Trussell, expert on male menopause at Penn State Hershey Medical Center.But complaints aren't just about sex.

Haney says he's also hearing from men who say they are "fatigued and tired and can't make it through the day."Testosterone testsMen's testosterone levels begin to drop at about age 30 at a rate of about 1 percent a year.By about age 55, about one in three men fall into the low testosterone range.Not every man experiences symptoms from this decline, just as not every woman experiences symptoms from menopause.Blood tests can determine if the man's testosterone is below 300 nanograms per deciliter of blood, which is considered below normal.But normalcy is not always the same for all individuals, so Haney and others recommend that men get their testosterone levels measured at about age 40 so they have a baseline by which to compare later measurements as they age.TreatmentTreatment, when indicated, involves testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), which takes the form of a gel, patch or injection.

Men taking hormones must be monitored closely.For one thing, testosterone can stimulate the prostate gland to grow.

It also can stimulate the growth of any existing prostate cancer or breast cancer in a man.Tests for liver or heart damage also must be done.

Testosterone raises the number of red blood cells, increasing the risk of blood clots, heart attack and stroke.There is...