By LISA MARSHALL
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Here's a morning quiz for you for Mondays, or Tuesdays, or any given day of the week.
Do you find you are more: Grumpy? Angry? Gloomy? Impatient? Tense? Hostile? Lonely? Stressed? Annoyed? Touchy? Jealous?
If you're a woman, and it is approaching that "time of the month," you may be inclined to almost laughingly write it off as premenstrual syndrome (PMS). But if you're a man?
According to author and psychotherapist Jed Diamond, you may be suffering from "Irritable Male Syndrome (IMS)."
"There were many years when we didn't recognize PMS in women. We just said, 'She's a b**ch' and left it at that," says Diamond, who runs a men's health clinic and online support network (menalive.com) in northern California.
"In many ways, women suffered and relationships suffered. It's the same thing with IMS. If you say, he is just an irritable, grouchy old guy, you don't address the problem and it gets worse."
Yes, I know: Chances are that right now, you're either laughing, or shaking your head (particularly if you're a guy). That's just what we need, right _ another syndrome that needs to be treated?
That's precisely how many people reacted when Diamond published his first book, the bestseller "Male Menopause," (Sourcebooks) a decade ago. But today, the notion that men experience a "change of life" is gaining credibility among both researchers and men's health practitioners.
Will Diamond's latest book, "The Irritable Male Syndrome: Understanding and Managing the 4 Key Causes of Depression and Aggression," (Rodale; $14.95) have a similar impact? Apart from an occasional tongue-in-cheek mention in a sitcom, the term "IMS" has hardly become a household word since the book's 2005 debut. But it undoubtedly brings up some compelling ideas.
The term was coined in 2001 by Gerald A. Lincoln, Ph.D., a researcher with the Centre for Reproductive Biology in Edinburgh, Scotland. While doing research into male birth control, Lincoln observed that when the testosterone levels of rams dipped, they not only lost their sex drive, but also got remarkably cranky.
After reading Lincoln's paper, "The Irritable Male Syndrome," in a Scottish medical journal, Diamond flew to Scotland to interview him.
"I said, 'this is exactly what I'm seeing in humans,'" recalls Diamond.
He went on to conduct an online IMS questionnaire, which surveyed more than 10,000 men age 10 to 75. It revealed that, despite the still-prevailing "tough-guy" image, things like depression, irritability, impatience, anger, and sleeplessness are rampant _ particularly among men in their late teens and early 20s and those 40 to 55.
Research has shown that men's testosterone levels vary throughout the day, month, and even season (they tend to be higher in the fall, and lower in the spring). They also surge during adolescence and gradually begin to dip after about age 40.
Diamond points to those hormonal shifts as contributors both to teenage angst, and the proverbial "mid-life crisis."
But he stresses that not every man who experiences changes in testosterone levels will also struggle with IMS. That's because the problem is compounded by three other factors: changes in brain chemicals; increased stress levels; and a recent cultural phenomenon which has left many men feeling their roles in society diminished.
"You are seeing real shifts in the male/female balance," says Diamond, who has done one-on-one counseling with men for more than four decades. "Men feel less capable of holding and getting real jobs, more men are dropping out of college, and you are seeing more men going through these serious change-of-life issues."
So, what's the answer for a man who suspects he suffers from IMS? Some who show clinically low levels of testosterone may opt for synthetic hormone replacement therapy (which, like women's HRT comes with its own side-effects and risks).
But for many, says Diamond, a shift in lifestyle can accomplish a lot.
His advice: Get plenty of exercise (which promotes testosterone production), control your stress (which can hinder it), make sure you are getting enough good carbohydrates (which influence levels of feel-good chemicals in the brain), consider counseling.
And _ most importantly _ recognize that men too are influenced by their hormones.
"What men tell me is, just understanding that this is something real, that this is an identifiable syndrome often helps," Diamond says.
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