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A young man with very low testosterone due to pain medication

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Posted 3/21/2013 5:26 AM (GMT 0)
Hello guys,

Im new to the forum and looking for answer that i hope to understand. Im a 28 year old with a 80% level of testosterone who suffers from chronic pain, and to have you guys understand better i have broken my neck and my back in 5 vertebrates. This happen in in 05, where i have been battling with pain until i finally got health insurance in 2012, When i was able to get the right medication for the pain at the moment. Since last summer i began going to a pain specialist who started me on MS cotting and oxicodom for brake trough pain, but i was never told or at least i don't remember that this medication will lower my sex drive ad lower my testosterone to a level that I've have been. I no longer see that Dr. and the Dr. now has only given me to take Andro gel 5mm a day even though im 80% which i believe i have Hypogonadism and it sucks not trusting my Dr. I hate the way i feel and the answer to this that my Dr said was to get of the pain med and that then my body will go back to normal and produce T again, but what about my agonizing pain i said, so guys i have run out options on what to do here, I hope i can hear from you all who have gone trough similar situations.

look forward to reply's

sad
Posted 3/21/2013 7:43 AM (GMT 0)
A possible link between opiods and changes in hormone levels is relatively new and many if not all of the same symptoms that happen in males with reduced testosterone levels are also quite common for people who suffer from moderate to severe chronic pain and/or take opiods for treating that pain.

Further more there has not, to the best of my knowledge, ever been a real study done to determine the likelihood of males having low T when taking opiods for an extended period of time. All I can tell you is that it does not happen to everyone.

One thing that I find confusing is why it seems to have to be one or another as far as your treatment goes. Unless I misunderstood something it seems either you or your doctor is of the opinion that you have to either treat the pain or the low T. As far as I know there is no reason why both can not be treated at the same time.

If this is coming from your doctor then your best bet would be to find another doctor, ideally one who specializes in pain management. A lot of people who suffer from chronic pain see both a pain specialist and also have a general practitioner who handles their day to day health needs.
Posted 3/21/2013 8:10 AM (GMT 0)
Hello aamp and welcome to the forum. I'm not a male but have been a Cper for 12 yrs and a nurse for for 25 prior to that. I don't work any longer,however I do try to keep up with every changing med reactions and effects.

As Jim stated I don't recall any studies on the effects of opiates on T levels. The fact that many times they lower the "drive" doesn't necessarily mean low T levels.

I'm assuming you have a reason to think you have hypogonadism? That certainly does have a direct effect on the testosterone levels.

You mentioned having insurance now so your best bet is to contact an endocrinologist or urologist at the very least.

Low T levels are not hard to remedy and can be given orally,patches,even,injections,treatment usually only takes a few weeks as long as there is not an underlying cause such as disease.

We certainly understand your pain and the fact your doctor would even suggest something as ludicrous as stopping your pain meds as an answer tells me you maybe should look into a different Dr.

Your age should put you at the height of testerone levels and if it's in the 80's that's exceedingly way to low and I would be finding someone who would find out why and not pass it off as a side effect of opiates.


That's just not been proven to my knowledge and obviously others.

Good luck and welcome again.

Vickie
Posted 3/21/2013 1:32 PM (GMT 0)
Among my other issues is borderline low T. Doc's been on me about that, but I've already got some psych issues going on, bipolar disorder being one of them. I don't know what my T level was 20 years ago (I'm 45 now), so I could have been hovering in that low normal stage for years. I didn't really have that puberty growth spurt until I was 17 (a little bit late) but I grew over a foot in about 8 or 9 months. I'm 6'2" now.

Who knows, that could have been part of the source of my back problems now, a very rapid growth spurt as a teenager. But I was without anything but OTC NSAIDS for over 2 years, and have only started back on the bottom rung of some kind of pain management, and that was far more miserable.

I'm a bit afraid of adding testosterone in light of the psych things. That's all pretty balanced right now. My psych doctor is advising me to wait. I've got more important things to worry about.

And the idea that many doctors unfortunately have is that young people don't have chronic pain. That's complete hogwash, but try to convince a doctor otherwise. Get a second opinion.
Posted 3/22/2013 1:26 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you guys for the help, I'm going to be going to a pain specialist tomorrow and i hope that from there i can get this fix. thank you again for all the help.
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