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If you find yourself with these symptoms (and even if you don't - see below for why), whatever your gender, get your testosterone level checked. We've known for
by omnicognate 2y ago
If you find yourself with these symptoms (and even if you don't - see below for why), whatever your gender, get your testosterone level checked. We've known for decades that low testosterone causes fatigue and brain fog and the treatment for it has been approved for medical use for over 80 years, but you can go to doctor for "long COVID" and they'll do a blood test for a huge list of things and ignore testosterone, as does this article. If you want it checked you'll probably need to push for it and/or pay extra. There's a stigma around it and it's a controlled substance, but some people simply need it and will not feel normal without it.
There's a persistent myth that testosterone production in men falls as a natural part of aging. The truth of what happens to "normal" levels with age is more complex [1] but what is known is that in some people testosterone production falls dramatically and permanently at some point at some point in their life, sometimes after an injury or infection, sometimes for no discernible reason, and it can cause exactly the symptoms described here. When that happens it's not a "male menopause". It's not normal aging. It's pathological and it's treatable. The reason to get your level checked even if you don't have symptoms is so you know your personal baseline and can tell if a sudden change happens later.
The situation in women is more complex, and testosterone treatment carries different risks, but androgens are very much part of healthy female hormone production.
It's early days but there's been some interesting research about a possible mechanism for permanent changes in androgen production after COVID [2].
I'm not saying this is the only cause of long COVID. There's certainly more than one mechanism, and what helps one person can harm another (as with the graded exercise program mentioned in the article, which was entirely counterproductive for me). But it is one of the possibilities and if it were routinely checked for in people reporting these symptoms it would have spared me a few years of hell.
1. https://europepmc.org/article/pmc/pmc4190174 https://europepmc.org/article/pmc/pmc4190174
2. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10507138/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10507138/
- omnicognate 2y ago[flagged]
- meiraleal 2y agoHN has a tendency to frame issues like fatigue as external or systemic problems, not individual factors like lifestyle or health
- omnicognate 2y agoYou're suggesting my fatigue would have been better treated by lifestyle changes? Thing is, I tried that. I tried graded exercise as prescribed by a consultant. I saw a psychiatrist. I worked on diet and stress management. I tried supplements and probiotics. For 4 years I tried, in good faith, everything suggested. Then, at my own instigation, I was tested, diagnosed hypogonadic and prescribed testosterone, and now I am fully cured. Some things are systemic.
- sabbaticaldev 2y agolower testosterone is a lifestyle issue that can be fixed easier with prescribed testosterone but that’s a shortcut that has its own perils
- snikeris 2y agoLike infertility.
- omnicognate 2y agoYes, this is absolutely a risk. Not one that matters to me, but something anybody considering it should be aware of.
- Retric 2y agoInfertility shows up with both low and high levels of testosterone. So for some people taking testosterone actually increases sperm production while it harms others. The issue with these kinds of discussions is people talk about “low T” without defining a specific number as low and normal.
- thecupisblue 2y agoIt's not just testosterone. Viral infections and stress can cause multiple hormonal issues, from testosterone to insulin to thyroid, out of which a lot will be skipped or only a partial picture will be given during average blood test (i.e. just total test or TSH). Unfortunately, most docs will just skimp over the results or tests to be done, so the things like "I'm tired a lot" just get handwaved away. (Un)Fortunately, a lot of friends brought their blood tests results to me since I've spent quite a long time biohacking, and nearly always it was the same: the doctor didnt do a full panel but just a partial one, said something is okay or mid, when it turned out that a full panel indicated a much bigger issue. Hell, one of them would even fall unconscious nearly once a month and multiple doctors said "it's just stress" when it turned out the person was hypoglycemic and their sugar and blood pressure would crash.
- RaoulP 2y agoWould you mind sharing the full list of tests that you personally consider important (for men, in my case), or which you think constitute a "full panel"? I would like to be explicit about it when I get one. I assume the "defaults" vary from country to country, and as you say, from clinic to clinic.