testosterone therapy

What is your rationale for using testosterone? Just to gain weight?

I'm confused. If you are in remission using Azathioprine why do you want to rock the boat and use even more dangerous drugs? You say you have a history of flareups. Do you have a history of flareups while using Azathioprine? You also say that you want to do testosterone go gain weight and limit fatigue but then you say you want to give it a shot first, before doing humira or remicade. That hints that you want to try testosterone in connection with your UC. I'm guessing that testosterone doesn't actually make you gain weight by itself, it just makes you hungrier so you eat more and probably helps produce more muscle than fat. I'm guessing your doctor isn't going to be gung-ho about this strategy. If you are wanting to merely gain weight and limit fatigue and not have it have anything to do with UC then why don't you just eat more and skip the middle man?

"Azathioprine why do you want to rock the boat and use even more dangerous drugs"

Your body does not make Azathioprine as far as I know. Your body does make testosterone - so why is testosterone more dangerous than Azathioprine ? I do not believe testosterone is dangerous.

garylouisville said...
Actually I was referring to Remicade or Humira, not the testosterone.

Remicade or Humira = dangerous in my book too.

If you need to correct a serious testosterone deficiency then I will not question taking it. But if you are not deficient then I do not recommend messing with your hormones. Testosterone is powerful stuff.

First of all I hope you have a girlfriend. Think of what happens to adolescent boys when they reach puberty, and multiply that by a hundred if you are taking extra testosterone. And when your body senses all this overflowing high test in your blood:

1. It eventually stops producing your natural testosterone. If you are on artificial hormones long enough then your body may permanently have lower capacity to produce it naturally.

2. Your body may try to balance the high levels of test by producing high levels of estrogen to even things out. This is one of the unintended consequences for many body builders who have used steroids and testosterone to build muscle. The increased estrogen can develop mammary glands in men. Very common in body building circles and is referred to as "b*tch t*ts". You don't want that.

garylouisville said...
I'm confused. If you are in remission using Azathioprine why do you want to rock the boat and use even more dangerous drugs? You say you have a history of flareups. Do you have a history of flareups while using Azathioprine? You also say that you want to do testosterone go gain weight and limit fatigue but then you say you want to give it a shot first, before doing humira or remicade. That hints that you want to try testosterone in connection with your UC. I'm guessing that testosterone doesn't actually make you gain weight by itself, it just makes you hungrier so you eat more and probably helps produce more muscle than fat. I'm guessing your doctor isn't going to be gung-ho about this strategy. If you are wanting to merely gain weight and limit fatigue and not have it have anything to do with UC then why don't you just eat more and skip the middle man?

I was on 100 MG for Azathioprine, and with flare ups the doc boosted it to 150 MG. Some times I do not have apatite to eat so I do not know what to do.

i_love_coffee said...
you need to get bloodwork first to see if you have a testosterone deficiency, then you can talk to your doctor about testosterone shots.

My 16 yo son (who does not have UC) got 6 months of testosterone shots when he was 15 . It was one shot a month. He sees an endocrinologist because he has an idopathic growth disorder and is on growth hormone for the past 1 1/2 years. he has had lots and lots of bloodwork and tests done and one of the things that it showed was his testosterone was at a prepub level and he wasnt yet hitting puberty at 15. his dr did a wait and see, but at 15 decided to do 6 months of shots.

when i think of someone who needs to gain weight and is always tired i dont think of test. shots. my son also needed to gain weight. when he was 14 he hadnt gained weight or grown in 1 year. the dr said he needed to gain weight by eating anything he can. so i looked up the most fattening foods, milkshakes, ribs, etc. we would buy the carnation instant breakfast and mix it with milk and icecream and make him milkshakes at home. unfortnuately he loves fast food so we indulged him a couple times a week with stuff like huge burgers fries and milkshakes etc.



yeah long story, sorry, definitely have bloodwork first to check on everything. good luck

My growth stopped when I was maybe 19 or 20ish and my weight kept going up and down depending on my flare ups. Hope your son is doing fine
Yeah I will probably schedule an appointment with endocrinologist tomorrow to see if I need it.
Last week I test my CBC and the Htc was low.

BabeintheWoods said...

1. It eventually stops producing your natural testosterone. If you are on artificial hormones long enough then your body may permanently have lower capacity to produce it naturally.

2. Your body may try to balance the high levels of test by producing high levels of estrogen to even things out. This is one of the unintended consequences for many body builders who have used steroids and testosterone to build muscle. The increased estrogen can develop mammary glands in men. Very common in body building circles and is referred to as "b*tch t*ts". You don't want that.

1a-That's called 'shutdown' and to get the testes going again there is something for that too called PCT - post cycle therapy. In fact the current trend is to take HCG while on hormone replacement therapy, which prevents them from atrophy and keeps them producing. If your on HRT then you do not have a Post cycle therapy because it never ends. Many males over 50 have more estrogen circulating than their wives, T drops every year you get older.

2-"try to balance the high levels of test by producing high levels of estrogen". That is not what happens. Testosterone is broken down in males into estradiol. Adding exognous testosterone will obviously result in more being broken down into more Estradiol than before. There are mitigations for that too.

"Estradiol is also present in males, being produced as an active metabolic product of testosterone"

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estradiol

Hormone Replacement Therapy - HRT should not be confused with abusing anabolic steroids. One is like a glass of wine with dinner while the other is more akin to full blown binge drinking.

aguywithuc said...

garylouisville said...
Actually I was referring to Remicade or Humira, not the testosterone.

Remicade or Humira = dangerous in my book too.

I strongly disagree with the above, remicade and humira aren't dangerous drugs at all. They have helped me, and many others who were non-responsive to other uc drugs.