Since 1995, Shaun Michaeel, an American golfer, has been under medication because he was diagnosed to have low testosterone. It was in the year 1992 when he joined the PGA tour but a decade after, he began losing his energy. According to his doctor, the extremely low level of Micheel’s testosterone is comparable to a 70-year old man. “It’s funny, I lost a total lack of energy,” he said. “That’s really why I went to the doctor. I had lost my drive to play.” “If a doctor says that the normal range is between 300 and 800, I was below 300 without medication. Even on medication, I’m only 400, maybe 425,” he added.

To improve his condition, Micheel needed steroids but the PGA started the random drug test last July. “I remember it coming out on the golf channel that they were going to start testing for steroid,” eh said. Micheel was able to get the therapeutic use exemption from the PGA Tour to use steroids but the process was not easy. He fought his way for PGA’s approval until they finally allowed him to use steroids for a two-year period. He also said that his doctors could not explain his low testosterone level condition. “There is something screwy up here. Everybody knows golfers, we’re screwed up anyway. It was a tough process. I knew in order to continue my job, you know, I had to follow the rules.”

In 2003, Micheel won the PGA championship and this was before he used steroids. He also said the he gets no competitive advantage. Meanwhile, Dr. Henry Prost, an endocrinologist at Baylor Grapevine said that “it certainly would be my impression that if you had a low testosterone level and you were on testosterone replacement and it puts you in the normal range, I certainly don’t think that it would give him at an advantage over the field.” “Nor in my opinion would the field be at a disadvantaged,” he added.

Micheel will be again reevaluated in 2010 because the PGA Tour wants to make sure that he is not playing with an unfair advantage. “I’m thankful to have it,” he said. “I don’t think without that I would be able to continue to compete.”

Also Dr. Abraham Morgentaler, Assodicate Clinical Professor of Urology at Harvard Medical School, said that “testosterone is necessary for development of male genitalia. In adolescence an increase in testosterone produces facial and body hair, enlargement of the larynx and an increase in muscle tissue. It’s a normal process. The athletes we hear and read about are trying to increase their muscle development with massive doses of anabolic steroids often not even meant for human use.” Morgentaler has been studying the health effects of low testosterone in men. In his book entitle Testosterone for Life, he estimates that low T levels may affect about 20% of men with the age of 50. Some of low testosterone level symptoms include general irritability, lack of sex drive and low energy. This kind of condition is usually treated with a testosterone gel that is applied to the arms or shoulder to normalize the levels. Micheel is using transdermal gel.

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