Testosterone Booster Pills & Aging: Benefits? Risks?

Hi @abelmarcelo, I thought I would jump into your conversation with @colleenyoung and share some natural methods I found to increase testosterone on the Veteran's Administrations Whole Health Library (https://www.va.gov/WHOLEHEALTHLIBRARY/).

-- IMPROVING LOW TESTOSTERONE NATURALLY:
https://www.va.gov/WHOLEHEALTHLIBRARY/docs/Improving-Low-Testosterone-Naturally.pdf

@cfbauer @abelmarcelo @johnbishop, I merged your discussion with this existing discussion with @rckleinsmith @glenner075 and @lwood58 who were also asking about the potential benefits and risks of taking testerone therapy. See all posts here:

- Testosterone Booster Pills & Aging: Benefits? Risks?https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/testosterone-booster-pills/

This article from Mayo Clinic helps answer your questions.
- Testosterone therapy: Potential benefits and risks as you age https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/sexual-health/in-depth/testosterone-therapy/art-20045728

Here's an excerpt:
"Testosterone therapy has various risks, including:

- Worsening sleep apnea — a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts.
- Causing acne or other skin reactions.
- Stimulating noncancerous growth of the prostate (benign prostatic hyperplasia) and growth of existing prostate cancer.
- Enlarging breasts.
- Limiting sperm production or causing testicles to shrink.
- Stimulating too much red blood cell production, which contributes to the increased risk of forming a blood clot. A clot could break loose, travel through your bloodstream and lodge in your lungs, blocking blood flow (pulmonary embolism).

Also, some research shows that testosterone therapy can increase your risk of heart disease. More research is needed.

Should you talk to your doctor about testosterone therapy?
If you wonder whether testosterone therapy might be right for you, talk with your doctor about the risks and benefits. Your doctor will likely measure your testosterone levels at least twice before recommending testosterone therapy.

Treating normal aging with testosterone therapy is not advisable. If you don't have a medical condition that's contributing to your decline in testosterone levels, your doctor might suggest natural ways to boost testosterone, such as losing weight and increasing muscle mass through resistance exercise."

Hi @abelmarcelo, I thought I would jump into your conversation with @colleenyoung and share some natural methods I found to increase testosterone on the Veteran's Administrations Whole Health Library (https://www.va.gov/WHOLEHEALTHLIBRARY/).

-- IMPROVING LOW TESTOSTERONE NATURALLY:
https://www.va.gov/WHOLEHEALTHLIBRARY/docs/Improving-Low-Testosterone-Naturally.pdf

I'm not a doctor. I'm a professional actor, therefore I'm unemployed, LOL. But, I hope the following opinions will be helpful to you. I understand your frustration, perhaps the longing to repair what is broken, or get a grip on things, and have it done by LAST WEEK! It's cool that you have a doubt and want to reach out, it shows you care about yourself. Societal-shaming, self-shaming, it's a comparison thing. That's the first thing to go. Compassion, is the first thing to help see the whole picture, in my opinion, it has worth only to me.

Unfortunately, the information on the internet is ambiguous. Many of the studies are equally ambiguous, especially those paid for by pharmaceutical companies and doctors selling TRT treatments. The only semi-reliable data, "semi" because it is from the NIH (also funded largely by pharmaceutical companies), shows not only elevated risks of prostate cancer, but arterial and deep vein thrombosis. Well, if we presume this to be true then do we accept that risk, or ignore it? There are herbal extracts that are precursors to testosterone, or so they say, i.e., Tribulus Terrestris, epimedium AKA Horny Goat Weed, but these are spurious claims at best and horny goat weed is said to increase estrogen levels. Yet both aggravate prostate enlargement, if this is a pre-existing condition.

What you are describing regarding anxiety and depression is a normal response to the rotten stimuli in the world today, and it's personal impact as well as it's impact in the family unit dynamic is profound. The depression, to put a complex thing simply, is the suppression of the affect the stress is having- putting on the happy, toxic positivity mask to make others happy. Stress will without a doubt cause an increase in cortisol, a hormone released to regulate adrenaline, but also a cascade of other conditions: elevation in blood sugar, high blood pressure, changes in renal function, immune system, gut bacteria and thyroid. Thyroid controls body temperature: are you intolerant to cold / heat? Kidney: What is your eGFR and serum creatinine level? eGFR should be over between 60 & 90, with 90 at optimum. Creatinine below 1.16, the less the better.
What are your liver enzymes, your ALT and AST levels? These should be at or below 20. Alcohol, fatty liver and stress will elevate them. Did they do a thyroid panel, or TSH? Also, did they do "free testosterone" or serum testosterone? I don't know what the difference between these are, but I know the difference is important; I believe "free testosterone is what is left over AFTER it is converted into DHT? The liver is responsible for this action. Usually, they measure the free T, what I have read during the years is that they measure the free T and not the other, and this may be inaccurate. I would ask. Maybe you'll get a straight answer, but many doctors aren't very familiar on the subject and would rather give you the what the "normals" are. Well, is that low normal, mid-normal, or high normal?

As for dieting, you mentioned gaining it back. Are you familiar with Intermittent Fasting, or I.F? This is a lifestyle not a fad diet. Although you can combine KETO, PALEO, VEGAN, VEGETARIAN, ATKINS, ZONE, with this lifestyle of I.F., they only work with I.F. if you swap out your carb sources, vegetable carbs and whole wheat, as opposed to white flour starch carbs and potatoes and maintain your protein whether vegetable protein from peas, or lean meats and keep your good fats, olive oil mainly, avocado and try to stay away from sugar. The goal is to go 16 hours without food, with an eight hour window of eating. Workouts while in a fasting state. Eight of these 16 hours without food will be time sleeping. So eight of these 16 hours will be conscious awake hours. I've been practicing I.F. for the last five years. I'm 59 years old and weigh 180 Lbs. 81Kg, give, or take.

Keep alcohol at arms-length, alcohol will bring your testosterone down. Lack of sleep will bring it down, stress will bring it down. What has been shown to bring it up is exercise, especially the legs. Sexual arousal will elevate testosterone. Weight loss will bring it up.

About supplements, a majority of the population is deficient in magnesium, coffee and alcohol, fatty foods and fatty liver are culprits. Magnesium Malate at 400 to 600mg will calm you down, relax soft muscle tissue, dilate your vascular system (important for erections) and help stimulate bowel movement. L-Carnitine, has been shown to accelerate burning fat, it's one of many amino acids in the "chain," I'm sure you've heard about branch-chain amino acids that bodybuilders use. Kind of "spendy" if you ask me, when you only need a few, the rest you can get from some decent food after a workout.

My two cents on this is a risk/benefit, and a conservative approach to TRT as a "last resort" if the other practices are not working. If you are wondering if I have tried testosterone, the answer is yes. I used a topical gel, sparingly. I had to stop because of some concerns about my 99cc prostate size and the risk of thrombosis. I will need surgery. So thrombosis was a concern for me. A doppler ultrasound on my legs indicated no thrombus. Since I don't take the "dizzy pills" for relaxing the bladder, or shrinking the prostate to pee better. I rely on Saw Palmetto and Pygeum, high-potency. I recently started the "saw" again, a few years without taking it caught up with me.

Anyway, some things to consider, a few perspectives. I hope they are of use to you, and that you reach your goal safely.

@delmar418
That was a lot to digest! My take on this is.
(take everything you read and hear with a grain of salt).
So many snake oil and false claims out there.