3 ms·

This is promising. However... I'm not a doctor, nor even particularly knowledgable. But isn't one of the risks of testosterone supplementation a risk that one'

This is promising. However... I'm not a doctor, nor even particularly knowledgable. But isn't one of the risks of testosterone supplementation a risk that one's own testes will reduce their testosterone production if there's a bunch of exogenous testosterone making its way into the body? Not that anybody's claiming otherwise, but as promising as this is my best layperson's understanding is that it's not as simple as giving people some testosterone along with their other treatments.

gscott 8y ago
As long as you a producing a normal amount of testosterone then I don't think you need any treatments of it. It wouldn't do you any good. But if you are already producing to little or you are in old age...
- JohnBooty 8y ago
  > As long as you a producing a normal amount of testosterone That's something I'm curious about. I can't access the full article, but the abstract simply mentions "testosterone treatment." I'm not sure if that means your typical testosterone treatment, where testosterone is given to those who have low testosterone... or if they were administering testosterone to people in this trial regardless of their existing testosterone levels, even if they weren't low. I suspect it's the latter! Which would be interesting. If it's the former, this barely qualifies as news. We've known for ages that low testosterone is associated with depression. It would be almost hard to believe that anybody would bother to run a study on it in 2018. The latter possibility is interesting though. It suggests that supplementing testosterone could be an effective way to treat depression even in those who do not have low testosterone. (We already know that exercise boosts testosterone, and that exercise is an effective treatment for depression, so this is not completely surprising. And yes, I realize that exercise is not a cure-all, nor an option available to everybody)
mobilejdral 8y ago
Yes, in fact I exploit this feedback loop mechanic to keep my testosterone production at female levels as a transwoman. It isn't just a lot of testosterone, but high levels of total sex hormones will cause production to decrease. So I simply make sure my E2 levels are high enough to keep result in my T levels exactly where I want them (cis female range). I keep my T production (and thus levels) low 24/7 so long term there would be testicular atrophy issues that I don't care about, but guys would. As long as your doctor and you understand what is going on you can usually obtain what you want and avoid what you don't. My brain clearly runs on e2 and not T and having the right amount of e2 present has been life changing as far as my mood is concerned so for guys that run on T, but have low T levels I absolutely get how much of an improvement it could be once they raise their T levels.

gscott 8y ago

As long as you a producing a normal amount of testosterone then I don't think you need any treatments of it. It wouldn't do you any good. But if you are already producing to little or you are in old age...

JohnBooty 8y ago
> As long as you a producing a normal amount of testosterone That's something I'm curious about. I can't access the full article, but the abstract simply mentions "testosterone treatment." I'm not sure if that means your typical testosterone treatment, where testosterone is given to those who have low testosterone... or if they were administering testosterone to people in this trial regardless of their existing testosterone levels, even if they weren't low. I suspect it's the latter! Which would be interesting. If it's the former, this barely qualifies as news. We've known for ages that low testosterone is associated with depression. It would be almost hard to believe that anybody would bother to run a study on it in 2018. The latter possibility is interesting though. It suggests that supplementing testosterone could be an effective way to treat depression even in those who do not have low testosterone. (We already know that exercise boosts testosterone, and that exercise is an effective treatment for depression, so this is not completely surprising. And yes, I realize that exercise is not a cure-all, nor an option available to everybody)

mobilejdral 8y ago

Yes, in fact I exploit this feedback loop mechanic to keep my testosterone production at female levels as a transwoman. It isn't just a lot of testosterone, but high levels of total sex hormones will cause production to decrease. So I simply make sure my E2 levels are high enough to keep result in my T levels exactly where I want them (cis female range). I keep my T production (and thus levels) low 24/7 so long term there would be testicular atrophy issues that I don't care about, but guys would. As long as your doctor and you understand what is going on you can usually obtain what you want and avoid what you don't. My brain clearly runs on e2 and not T and having the right amount of e2 present has been life changing as far as my mood is concerned so for guys that run on T, but have low T levels I absolutely get how much of an improvement it could be once they raise their T levels.