Man, 22, ‘mercilessly mocked for being a small kid with a woman’s voice’ grows whopping 5ins thanks to ‘miracle’ cure
A MAN who was mocked for being small and having a woman’s voice has now grown five inches and a beard thanks to testosterone shots.
Ashley Hemming, 22, from Worcester, claims he felt behind his classmates at school as they started to go through puberty and shoot past him in height.
As his friends' voices began to break in their early teens, the support worker said he was left “sounding like a girl” with a high-pitched voice and was mercilessly mocked because of it.
While working in a cafe aged 19, Ashley said customers often used to mistake him for a girl and would call him “miss”, “she” or “love”.
Ashley said he first noticed his “differences” at age 13 and always felt there was something wrong with him but was too embarrassed to go to the doctor.
It was only when he saw his GP in August 2020 with encouragement from his family that he was diagnosed with the hormonal condition male hypogonadism and started to receive help.
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Four years later, he now stands at 6ft 3in with a deep voice and facial hair thanks to hormone injections.
He said: "It was a relief to find out that something was wrong and I wasn't just thinking all of this in my head.
"I would say to other people, if you are feeling something is wrong you need to go to the doctors because I wish I had done it four years before I did.
"My confidence is a bit better but I'm still not at the stage where I feel ready to go on a date.
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"I'm never mistaken for a woman anymore. It feels good to be called 'Sir' or 'Mr' now.”
What is Hypogonadism?
Hypogonadism is a condition in which the body doesn't produce enough testosterone, which plays a vital role in growth and development during puberty.
Studies suggest around 6.3 per cent of men are likely to have the condition in the UK.
A man can either be born with the disorder or it can develop later in life often caused by injury or infection.
If it develops during puberty, it can hamper muscle development, voice deepening, growth of body and facial hair and growth of the penis and testicles.
It was a relief to find out that something was wrong and I wasn't just thinking all of this in my head
Ashley Hemming
It can also cause arms and legs to grow too long about the rest of the body and breast tissue to grow as well.
Ashley said he first noticed symptoms when he was a teenager and didn’t notice the effects of puberty as quickly as his peers.
He said: "I was about 13 when my school friends' voices started to deepen and grow taller than me and grow facial hair and I wasn't.
"I was still a small kid with a high voice.
"At first I just thought I was behind in puberty and just thought I'd give myself some time but as I got older, I felt embarrassed to speak out about it.
I would say to other people, if you are feeling something is wrong you need to go to the doctors because I wish I had done it four years before I did
Ashley Hemming
"It made me feel really down and there was nothing anyone could do. I thought I was just going to be like this my whole life.
"There were a few people that liked to make fun of my voice. It was just really high and I sounded like a girl.
"I was embarrassed to go to the doctors and I didn't feel like I could speak out about it.
"During Covid, I lost my job so I spent a lot of my time lying in bed and just thinking about my life and how it would be different if I had spoken out about how I was feeling.
"I never had the confidence to ask a girl out as I struggled with how I looked and my voice.
"I grew my hair out during Covid and I got a new job in a cafe and when I used to serve people they would say 'thank you miss' or 'thank you love'.
It made me feel really down and there was nothing anyone could do. I thought I was just going to be like this my whole life
Ashley Hemming
"This made me feel really down because I am a male and people looked at me as if I was a female. I was really down and I just didn't feel happy.
"I went to the GP and he booked me in for blood tests and this showed that I had low testosterone hormone levels.
"I also had an MRI scan, which showed that the signal in my brain that usually releases these hormones wasn't working."
HORMONE TREATMENT
Following his initial doctor's appointment, Ashley met with a hormone specialist and was prescribed fortnightly hormone injections to increase his testosterone levels.
Ashley says after two months of taking the hormone boosters in 2021, his voice began to drop and nine months later he began to develop facial hair.
He also claims he grew a whopping five inches, from 5ft 10in to 6ft 3in, and has become more confident in himself as he continues to take the hormone injections.
During Covid, I lost my job so I spent a lot of my time lying in bed and just thinking about my life and how it would be different if I had spoken out about how I was feeling
Ashley Hemming
Ashley is now advocating for other men to seek professional help if they feel their hormones are imbalanced and says he wishes he had visited a doctor years before he finally did.
Ashley said: "The reason I didn't go to the doctors is because I felt embarrassed and like I was making it up [how I was feeling].
"Also, because I was a man, I thought I shouldn't be feeling this way. Loads of men go through this and they don't speak out about it.
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"Too many men suffer without saying how they feel and they need to speak out and go to the doctor.
"Before I was diagnosed with this, I had never heard of it before but recently I have heard of more people that have gone through this."
What are the symptoms of hypogonadism?
Signs and symptoms depend on when the condition develops.
A child who experiences it during foetal development may be born with:
- Female genitals
- Genitals that are neither clearly male nor clearly female (ambiguous genitals)
- Underdeveloped male genitals
Experiencing it during puberty can hamper:
- Development of muscle mass
- Voice deepening
- Growth of body and facial hair
- Growth of the penis and testicles
It can cause:
- Excessive growth of the arms and legs around the trunk of the body
- Development of breast tissue (gynecomastia)
Early signs in adulthood can include:
- Decreased sex drive
- Decreased energy
- Depression
Over time, men with hypogonadism can develop:
- Erectile dysfunction
- Infertility
- Decrease in hair growth on the face and body
- Decrease in muscle mass
- Development of breast tissue (gynecomastia)
- Loss of bone mass (osteoporosis)
Source: Mayo Clinic