Do women really have 'low testosterone'? What the signs actually mean

What did @daveymaher_fitness actually say?

The creator listed seven symptoms they claim signal low testosterone in women: no libido, weight loss resistance, poor sleep, fatigue, mood swings and depression, belly fat accumulation, and fertility issues. They promised natural fixes at the end, though the transcript cuts off before those are spelled out.

To be fair, this is a real clinical conversation. Women do produce testosterone, primarily in the ovaries and adrenal glands, and declining levels during perimenopause are documented. The creator is not inventing a problem. What they are doing is presenting a symptom list that could describe about forty other conditions and pinning it squarely on testosterone without much nuance.

The audience is clearly women over 40, which is relevant because that demographic is entering perimenopause, a period when estrogen, progesterone, and androgens are all shifting simultaneously. Attributing any single symptom on this list to testosterone alone, without that context, is where things get medically wobbly.

Does the science back this up?

Partially, but with significant caveats. The relationship between testosterone and female health is real but far messier than a clean seven-point list suggests.

Libido and testosterone have the strongest documented link. Davis et al. (2008, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism) found that women with low testosterone reported reduced sexual desire, and transdermal testosterone improved it in postmenopausal women. That one holds up.

The fatigue and mood claims are murkier. A large 2021 systematic review by Islam et al. in the Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology found that testosterone therapy in women improved sexual function consistently, but evidence for mood, energy, and cognitive outcomes was weak and inconsistent across trials. The fertility claim is also problematic. Low testosterone is not a primary driver of female infertility. Conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome, which involves elevated androgens, are a more common hormonal fertility disruptor. Blaming low testosterone for fertility issues without that distinction is sloppy.

Belly fat is associated with hormonal changes during menopause, but the primary driver in research is estrogen decline, not testosterone. Pasquali et al. (2006, Journal of Endocrinological Investigation) linked visceral fat accumulation more directly to estrogen and cortisol dynamics than to low androgens.

What did they get wrong, or right?

Credit where it is due: the libido connection is legitimate and often underdiscussed in women's health. The creator is right that testosterone in women is frequently overlooked by clinicians, and raising awareness has real value.

The fertility claim, though, is a genuine problem. Saying low testosterone causes fertility issues without context could send women down an expensive and misdirected diagnostic path. Female infertility has dozens of causes, and low testosterone is rarely the lead suspect.

The mood swings and depression entry is also doing too much work. Depression in perimenopausal women is primarily driven by estrogen volatility and, in some cases, progesterone withdrawal. Attributing it to testosterone without acknowledging that is an oversimplification that could lead someone to chase the wrong hormone.

Weight loss resistance is a real perimenopausal phenomenon, but the evidence linking it specifically to low testosterone in women is thin. Metabolic slowdown in this age group involves insulin sensitivity, cortisol, thyroid function, and estrogen. Pinning it on testosterone is a partial truth at best.

The creator also never mentions that these symptoms should be confirmed with bloodwork before anyone concludes they have low testosterone. That omission matters.

What should you actually know?

If you recognize yourself in this list, the correct first step is getting a full hormone panel, not self-diagnosing based on a TikTok. Testosterone levels in women are genuinely difficult to interpret. The Endocrine Society's 2014 clinical practice guidelines explicitly state there is no validated lower threshold for testosterone that reliably correlates with symptoms in women. That is a real limitation.

If you and your doctor do identify low testosterone as a contributing issue, treatment options exist. Testosterone therapy for women is used off-label in many countries, and the evidence for sexual dysfunction is reasonably solid. The International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health published a consensus statement in 2019 supporting its use for hypoactive sexual desire disorder specifically.

What you should not do is assume every symptom on this list points to one hormone, or that a natural supplement stack will meaningfully shift your androgen levels. The body is not that simple, and the stakes of misattributing symptoms are real. Work with a clinician who will order labs, not just match your symptoms to a social media checklist.