5 ms·

Women already get to play with their hormones without a prescription, but for some reason we make it really difficult for men to safely adjust their hormone lev

Women already get to play with their hormones without a prescription, but for some reason we make it really difficult for men to safely adjust their hormone levels. There's a lot of misconceptions about testosterone and how it can be used to benefit lots of men. If you go into any doctor and they have tour testosterone tested, they probably won't give you TRT unless your T is below the low-bound of "normal", but being on the low-bound means you're not at your optimal. There's also lots of scare material about TRT out there for people who don't want to body build; supposedly you're guaranteed to have cardiovascular issues, shrunken testicles, 'roid rage, and so forth. If you keep your T at its optimal level but not going significantly past that, the chances of serious issues are minimal. TRT aside, young people need to get their vitamin D, get exercise, eat little to no refined sugar, filter their water, and be allowed to co-mingle; when males and females are separated for long periods of time, testosterone decreases even more.

mrweasel 6y ago
> Women already get to play with their hormones without a prescription I don’t think that’s true. Even birthcontrol requires a prescription.
- scohesc 6y ago
  In some places you can ask your pharmacist to write up a prescription for birth control without even consulting your doctor. I know this because I live somewhere where this is the case.
The_rationalist 6y ago
when males and females are separated for long periods of time, testosterone decreases even more. Source? BTW you're totally right and this misinformation and dumb overregulation is criminal to men happiness
- nxc18 6y ago
  I’m skeptical re: point about keeping men and women separated. As a gay man does being around women increase or have no effect on my testosterone levels? For straight men, can it be any woman (your mom, your aunt, your daughter, the unattractive neighbor)? Or is it about a sexually-relevant female? Do they have to be attractive?
Gibbon1 6y ago
> but for some reason we make it really difficult for men to safely adjust their hormone levels Because in men you can't.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
tsdlts 6y ago
Even at replacement levels you'll shut down your natural production and risk never being able to naturally produce your own T. Needing to do intramuscular injections for the rest of your entire life is usually not a consolation prize people want to sign up for. Plus, in the U.S., should someone lose their health insurance and not be able to afford exogenous testosterone anymore they'd be in a pretty awful situation. Also you'll likely end up infertile.
- PragmaticPulp 6y ago
  Yes, the downsides of TRT are numerous, but rarely discussed online. It's not as simple as "experimenting" with TRT. Exogenous testosterone will begin diminishing your natural testosterone production immediately. In theory there are ways to counteract this, but in practice it's not guaranteed that someone can ever discontinue TRT once they've started. Even those who rebound may not return to their original, pre-TRT levels. Testosterone is also interconnected with other hormone systems, which will also be disrupted by TRT. For many, TRT turns into a game of adjusting various medications up or down to try to get back to how they felt pre-TRT.
  - heyoni 6y ago
    Generally speaking, if your testicles don’t shrink, your production stays the same right? That’s what I’ve seen people do; inject testosterone until they notice shrinkage, then stop.
    - qes 6y ago
      > Generally speaking, if your testicles don’t shrink, your production stays the same right? No, absolutely not. The size of your testicles is in no way indicative of your testosterone production. While a shorter period of use generally has a higher chance of your natural production restarting after ceasing exogenous testosterone, your natural production of testosterone shuts down immediately with the introduction of exogenous testosterone.
      - 6y ago
dqpb 6y ago
What are the optimal testosterone levels?
- perardi 6y ago
  I’m not sure about optimal, but normal depends on age. 600 ng/dL would be a reasonable average for a normal level. https://www.mayocliniclabs.com/test-catalog/Clinical+and+Interpretive/83686 https://www.mayocliniclabs.com/test-catalog/Clinical+and+Int...
andrekandre 6y ago
> filter their water what kind of filtering?
- sebmellen 6y ago
  Reverse osmosis and carbon filtration: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis#Drinking_water_purification https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis#Drinking_wat...
klmadfejno 6y ago
I'd note that hormones for women in birth control often come with some pretty heavy side effects that a lot of women aren't effectively prepared for or warned of in the mental health space. Just adjusting one's hormone profile to hit some level you have in mind is not as easy as you imply.

mrweasel 6y ago

> Women already get to play with their hormones without a prescription I don’t think that’s true. Even birthcontrol requires a prescription.

scohesc 6y ago
In some places you can ask your pharmacist to write up a prescription for birth control without even consulting your doctor. I know this because I live somewhere where this is the case.

The_rationalist 6y ago

when males and females are separated for long periods of time, testosterone decreases even more. Source? BTW you're totally right and this misinformation and dumb overregulation is criminal to men happiness

nxc18 6y ago
I’m skeptical re: point about keeping men and women separated. As a gay man does being around women increase or have no effect on my testosterone levels? For straight men, can it be any woman (your mom, your aunt, your daughter, the unattractive neighbor)? Or is it about a sexually-relevant female? Do they have to be attractive?

Gibbon1 6y ago

> but for some reason we make it really difficult for men to safely adjust their hormone levels Because in men you can't.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

tsdlts 6y ago

Even at replacement levels you'll shut down your natural production and risk never being able to naturally produce your own T. Needing to do intramuscular injections for the rest of your entire life is usually not a consolation prize people want to sign up for. Plus, in the U.S., should someone lose their health insurance and not be able to afford exogenous testosterone anymore they'd be in a pretty awful situation. Also you'll likely end up infertile.

PragmaticPulp 6y ago
Yes, the downsides of TRT are numerous, but rarely discussed online. It's not as simple as "experimenting" with TRT. Exogenous testosterone will begin diminishing your natural testosterone production immediately. In theory there are ways to counteract this, but in practice it's not guaranteed that someone can ever discontinue TRT once they've started. Even those who rebound may not return to their original, pre-TRT levels. Testosterone is also interconnected with other hormone systems, which will also be disrupted by TRT. For many, TRT turns into a game of adjusting various medications up or down to try to get back to how they felt pre-TRT.
- heyoni 6y ago
  Generally speaking, if your testicles don’t shrink, your production stays the same right? That’s what I’ve seen people do; inject testosterone until they notice shrinkage, then stop.
  - qes 6y ago
    > Generally speaking, if your testicles don’t shrink, your production stays the same right? No, absolutely not. The size of your testicles is in no way indicative of your testosterone production. While a shorter period of use generally has a higher chance of your natural production restarting after ceasing exogenous testosterone, your natural production of testosterone shuts down immediately with the introduction of exogenous testosterone.
    - 6y ago

dqpb 6y ago

What are the optimal testosterone levels?

perardi 6y ago
I’m not sure about optimal, but normal depends on age. 600 ng/dL would be a reasonable average for a normal level. https://www.mayocliniclabs.com/test-catalog/Clinical+and+Interpretive/83686 https://www.mayocliniclabs.com/test-catalog/Clinical+and+Int...

andrekandre 6y ago

> filter their water what kind of filtering?

sebmellen 6y ago
Reverse osmosis and carbon filtration: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis#Drinking_water_purification https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis#Drinking_wat...

klmadfejno 6y ago

I'd note that hormones for women in birth control often come with some pretty heavy side effects that a lot of women aren't effectively prepared for or warned of in the mental health space. Just adjusting one's hormone profile to hit some level you have in mind is not as easy as you imply.