Military veteran Chad Robichaux was home from Afghanistan, eating well and training hard enough to compete as a professional athlete.Still, something felt wrong.Some days, the force recon Marine vet was irritable and agitated.
Other days, he was deeply depressed.He was tired, struggled to focus and felt what he described as "a real sense of doom."VA doctors prescribed antidepressants, he said.
Only after seeking blood testing elsewhere did he learn his hormones were severely out of balance."Once I got my hormones in check, I didn’t need to be on SSRIs anymore," he said, referring to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor medication."I felt like I knocked 10 to 15 years off the way I felt."LOW TESTOSTERONE? HEGSETH SPARKS CONVERSATION AS DOCTORS REVEAL WARNING SIGNS EVERY MAN SHOULD KNOWNow, the Pentagon is requiring every active-duty and reserve service member age 30 and older, man and woman, to be screened for testosterone deficiency each year — a sweeping new mandate shaped in part by veterans like Robichaux who say hormonal problems have gone undetected for years.Close up of handheld needle and syringe with Testosterone Vial ( )Service members younger than 30 will be permitted to request the screening as part of their annual periodic health assessment .Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recently ordered the new protocol, saying it would establish a comprehensive baseline across the force and allow military doctors to offer "targeted testosterone therapy" when medically appropriate.The order is expected to reach hundreds of thousands of troops, although the Pentagon has not said exactly how many people will be subject to mandatory screening.More than 451,000 active-duty service members were age 31 or older in 2023, according to the department’s demographic data.
That figure excludes 30-year-olds and members of the reserve components.Roughly 82% of the active-duty force is male, but the directive also applies to women.The Pentagon did not immediately provide ...