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Testosterone for Women: Busting the Myths 🌀

Arnold

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TESTOSTERONE FOR WOMEN? YES.

Chew on this: Testosterone has long been characterized as the "male hormone" when, in fact, it's also the most abundant active hormone in women. Sure, men have higher circulating testosterone levels than women, but regardless, testosterone, not estrogen, is the predominant sex steroid in women throughout their entire lifespan, or so say scientists Rebecca Glaser and Constantine Dimitrakakis.

The two scientists, writing in "Maturitas," urge us to "look at how women's estrogen levels are measured – in mere picograms per milliliter, while their T levels are measured in nanograms per deciliter, a 10-fold higher unit of measurement."

Beyond estrogen, there are even higher, exponentially higher, amounts of pro-androgens circulating through their bodies, players like dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and androstenedione, each of which supply significant amounts of additional T.

Heck, even the gene for the androgen receptor that testosterone and other sex hormones latch onto is located on the X chromosome and not the Y, or male chromosome. Glaser and Dimitrakakis lamented the medical establishment's myopic stance by writing, "Despite any clear rationale, estrogen was assumed to be the hormone of 'hormone replacement therapy' in women."

They point out that this assumption occurred despite testosterone – as early as 1937 – being the treatment of choice when it came to treating female menopause.

So why is it that testosterone has been largely dismissed as a viable treatment for women facing pre- and postmenopause? Even me, a self-taught student of endocrinology, has long wondered how the hell the medical establishment freely offers women estrogen and progesterone replacement but wavers or dithers on doling out testosterone. How can you expect good results by only shoring up two of the three primary legs that support female hormonal health? It's nuts.

However, when you start to look at all the myths associated with testosterone – some of which have also hindered the acceptance of male testosterone replacement – you begin to understand WTF has been going on.

Myth 1: Testosterone Turns Women into Dudes

While some of the decidedly masculine circa 1970 female Olympic athletes from East Germany and the U.S.S.R. played a part in the origin of this myth, it was competitive female bodybuilding that did the most damage.

I personally know women that once had voices like sweet, sweet nightingales who later, after taking stupid amounts of anabolic/androgenic steroids (which are all synthetic derivatives of testosterone), ended up sounding like the guys who do voiceovers for Coors Beer and Ford trucks; women who had to start shaving their faces every day except maybe for weekends when they didn't have to go to work and could just putter around the garage.

So yeah, no wonder the medical establishment and their patients fear testosterone, but what they need to know is that all that scary stuff is dose dependent and that the doses used for T replacement in women actually "stimulate femininity" by increasing fertility and promoting ovulation. T was even used safely in the past to treat the nausea that often accompanies early pregnancy.

Still, side effects do sometimes occur, but Glaser and Dimitrakakis write that "true masculinization is not possible (with normal doses)." Even so, the benefits are often so great that some women often choose to treat the side effects rather than lower the dosage.

The authors also admit that, yes, pharmacologic and supra-pharmacologic doses of T are used to transform female-to-male transgender patients and that it may result in increased facial hair growth, hirsutism in general, and slight enlargement of the clitoris, but these effects are often largely reversible by simply lowering the dose.

Even so, an enlarged clitoris is not a medical problem, only a superficial cosmetic one that might invite embarrassment even though, in many cases, the additional length or girth can enhance sexual pleasure.

So no, when used in normal replacement doses, testosterone doesn't masculinize women; it largely does the opposite.

Myth 2: The Only Reason Women Need T is For Sex

Sure, testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) in women often cranks up a once-flagging libido, but women have androgen receptors (AR) all over the place and not just in their brain and their reproductive parts. They're found in the heart, breast, blood vessels, lung, spinal cord, bladder, peripheral nerves, bone, bone marrow, synovium (soft tissue that lines joint capsules), adipose tissue, muscle, and of course, the uterus, ovaries, and vaginal tissues.

Just as in men, the testosterone levels of women start to decline with age, bringing about anxiety, irritability, depression, physical fatigue, bone loss, muscle loss, insomnia, changes in cognition, memory loss, breast pain, urinary complaints, and yes, sexual dysfunction as well as sexual indifference.

Clearly, testosterone plays a big part in women's health that goes way beyond just feeding the urge to put on some good "doing it" music when their partner comes home.

Myth 3: Testosterone Damages the Heart

You can see how this myth started: Men have more testosterone than women, and men have more heart attacks than women. That's an example of what's called a causal fallacy.

It's like believing that every time you turn on "The Young and the Restless," it causes the neighbor's dog to start barking. It's more likely that the mailman comes around the same time that the soap opera starts rather than the dog having some preternatural connection to Devon, Abby, Chance, Lauren, Victoria, or Billy.

Back to men and their hearts: If T is involved in their heart attacks, it's more likely to do with low T levels as that condition has been associated with an increased risk of disease and mortality from all causes. Quite the contrary to what is commonly believed, there's overwhelming evidence that T is cardioprotective, helping men and women with their glucose metabolism and lipid profiles (two factors that play a role in heart disease).

Testosterone also expands blood vessels, making it easier for the blood to surge past any plaque or partial blockages. It also has immune-modulating effects that can inhibit the formation of those same blockages.

This isn't just conjecture, either. Clinical studies have shown T to improve the functional capacity, insulin resistance, and muscle strength in men and women with congestive heart failure.

Of course, a certain amount of T does aromatize (chemically convert) to estrogen, and this excess estrogen can cause adverse side effects in both heart patients and healthy individuals. These side effects would include swelling, anxiety, and weight gain. Furthermore, other medications often used to treat heart disease can increase aromatization, indirectly leading to side effects from T therapy.

The info that you can pocket, though, is that T is largely cardioprotective, and having normal or adequate levels can decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Myth 4: Testosterone Fries Up the Liver

T doesn't cause liver damage, but it's easy to see from where this belief came. Bodybuilders, pro athletes, and pathologically vain people often take staggering doses of oral, synthetic versions of testosterone (steroids), which are then processed by the liver and, over the long run, can cause a significant amount of damage that's probably not much different from taking a slab of liver and tossing it into a frying pan.

T itself, though, isn't taken orally; it's either injected, implanted (as a pellet), or absorbed through the skin as a cream or gel. Each of these methods allows testosterone to bypass the liver. The organ avoids the "fight" and hence walks away unscathed.

Myth 5: Testosterone Will Cause Your Hair to Fall Out

As Glaser and Dimitrakakis point out, "hair loss is a complicated, multifactorial, genetically determined process that is poorly understood." There is, however, little or no evidence that T or T therapy is a cause of hair loss in women. It's true that women with polycystic ovary disease and the accompanying insulin resistance have higher T levels and experience hair loss, but that, again, doesn't prove causation, and besides, hair loss is common in women and men with insulin resistance.

What happens is that insulin resistance (and obesity) increases levels of the 5-alpha-reductase enzyme, which can result in some testosterone being "reduced" to dihydrotestosterone, or DHT, which is the androgen involved in balding.

However, this isn't the case in healthy women, many (about a third) of whom start to experience hair loss with aging, which coincides with a decline in T levels. Remarkably, and contrary to what most people believe, including doctors, two-thirds of women who undergo TRT start to experience hair regrowth. And many of those who don't are more likely to be experiencing some contributing medical problem, like having hypo or hyperparathyroidism, being deficient in iron, or being obese.

As evidence of T's innocence in causing hair loss in women, none of 285 patients treated for up to 56 months with T therapy complained of hair loss.

Myth 6: Testosterone Turns Women into Super Karens

Despite the propensity of men who commit acts of aggression to blame it on "testosterone aggression" or "roid rage" instead of their inherent emotional instability, this type of thing is either rare or nonexistent with the TRT, especially in women – the doses are just too small.

Besides, there's significant evidence "in a wide variety of species" that it's estrogen, not testosterone, that plays a major role in aggression. Of course, some testosterone does aromatize (enzymatically convert to estrogen) in both women and men, but again, the amount of estrogen resulting from conventional doses of TRT wouldn't lead to any noticeable changes in female Hulk-nicity, i.e., the "you wouldn't like me when I'm angry" factor.

Quite the contrary, studies have found that subcutaneous (under the skin) implantation of T pellets has led to decreased aggression, irritability, or anxiety in 90% of patients treated for T deficiency.

Myth 7: Testosterone May Increase the Risk of Breast Cancer

Okay, it's long been known that breast cancer is an estrogen-sensitive cancer, but clinical trials have found that T has a beneficial effect on breast tissue in that it decreases breast cancer cell proliferation and prevents breast cancer-cell stimulation.

It appears that the ratio of T to estrogen (E2), or the balance of these two hormones, deserves some of the credit in making T breast-protective. Furthermore, once you activate the androgen receptor (to which estrogen and testosterone latch onto), it "exerts a pro-apoptopic (causes cancer cells to die), anti-estrogenic, growth-inhibiting effect in normal and cancerous breast tissues."

I'd be remiss, though, in failing to mention that – as explained earlier – some testosterone can be aromatized into estrogen, which risks upsetting the hormonal apple cart if not monitored. Regardless, it still appears that T lowers the risk of breast cancer in women who have been treated with estrogen therapy.

Myth 8: T Replacement For Women is New and Under-Studied

T replacement for women isn't some new fangled thing. England and Australia have been treating women with T for almost 70 years. Testosterone implants have been safely used in women since 1938. There's long-term data on the safety and tolerability of T in women using doses up to 225 mg., which is a really high amount, especially for women.

All that being said, aromatase activity (which converts T into estrogen) increases with age, obesity, alcohol intake, breast cancer, insulin resistance, medications, recreational drugs, a sedentary lifestyle, and the unfettered intake of heavily processed foods. Combine that fact with the potential for even more production of estrogen through T replacement, and the risk of a hormonal imbalance increases.

That makes it important for physicians to monitor aromatase levels in women who are being treated with T so that the T to E ratio is maintained within safe boundaries and that patients' health is assured.

And One That's Not a Myth
Unfortunately, testosterone is still regarded as a schedule 3 drug, which means the DEA, regardless of any exonerating evidence, thinks it has the potential to cause adverse effects. To be fair, it can when not administered or monitored properly, but so can cherry-flavored aspirin, Flintstones vitamins, or Tums.

While some modern-day doctors are certainly prescribing testosterone to their female patients, its schedule 3 classification likely makes other physicians understandably hinky about doing so.

The main barrier to its more widespread use, though, at least in the United States, is the mythology that's grown around the use of testosterone. Hopefully, this article and others like it can help chip away at that mythology.


Reference:
1. Rebecca Glaser et al. Testosterone Therapy in Women: Myths and Misconceptions. Maturitas. 2013;74:230-234.
 
Great article. I really wish I could get my wife on board. Thanks for this.
 
Great article. I really wish I could get my wife on board. Thanks for this.

The female fertility/sex forums for females are badass ! She would like it. They are pretty open and have a whole market for hormones & talk about EO, guiaicol, PT-141 , etc , testosterone, scream cream! . Tapatalk has some

Max
 
Mine has been on 25-30mg wk for years.
 
Mine has been on 25-30mg wk for years.
More info please! How did you talk her into it? Which ester? E or C (not that it matters that much between those 2) once per week? subq? How has she changed since starting that and how long did it take for her to notice the effects?

- - - Updated - - -

The female fertility/sex forums for females are badass ! She would like it. They are pretty open and have a whole market for hormones & talk about EO, guiaicol, PT-141 , etc , testosterone, scream cream! . Tapatalk has some

Max
whoa... ok first... where is this forum you speak of? and second... scream cream?? do tell.. all this is foreign to me...
 
So I gently approached the subject with her of what she thought about testosterone therapy... was shot down quickly with a "yeah, no thank you"
Guess I'm doomed to live out the rest of my life with only getting pity sex.
 
More info please! How did you talk her into it? Which ester? E or C (not that it matters that much between those 2) once per week? subq? How has she changed since starting that and how long did it take for her to notice the effects?

- - - Updated - - -


whoa... ok first... where is this forum you speak of? and second... scream cream?? do tell.. all this is foreign to me...

Like “the bump” “ivf underground forums” there are a lot . Scream cream is a mix of hormones to make women horny , wet, better orgasms (besides pt-141; Vyleesi) . Just type it in. If she researches IVF UG forums , a lot come up.

Max
 
So I gently approached the subject with her of what she thought about testosterone therapy... was shot down quickly with a "yeah, no thank you"
Guess I'm doomed to live out the rest of my life with only getting pity sex.


Did you remember the key words? :p Or was it more along the lines of "hey babe, sticking a needle in your ass is no big deal...practically painless".
 
Did you remember the key words? :p Or was it more along the lines of "hey babe, sticking a needle in your ass is no big deal...practically painless".

Probably like, "you know what might be nice? Lots of girls at the gym use testosterone to get in great shape. I think it would be great to try. What do you think?"

When I told my wife what I was doing and why, she immediately said, "can I do that too?"

Either they have a natural curiosity and desire or they don't. IMO
 
IML Gear Cream!
Probably like, "you know what might be nice? Lots of girls at the gym use testosterone to get in great shape. I think it would be great to try. What do you think?"

Oof...that's taking the express short bus to "No Pussyville". Surely any guy that's been married more than a minute knows better than that?!
 
So I gently approached the subject with her of what she thought about testosterone therapy... was shot down quickly with a "yeah, no thank you"
Guess I'm doomed to live out the rest of my life with only getting pity sex.

Bro, I hope you are seriously kidding about the pity sex part...we have tackled this topic a lot in this forum before about this type of shit.

Bottom line, you don't fucking ask. It's your time to bond together. It isn't just for YOU or HER....it's for both of you. If the compatibility isn't there (meaning you both want the same thing) then it's time to fucking run.

And trust me, once you meet someone who wants it as much as you do? You will thank me.

Never ever beg. Women try this shit all the time. They try you. And if you fail? They will tell you when to expect pussy, which will be once a week if you are lucky. Fuck that shit.
 
I approached it nicely. Used the key words... she's just... weird about putting anything into her body, any drugs, medications, etc..

We've been married for 16 years and we're best friends... the only issue at all is my libido is through the roof and hers is in the basement.. running isn't in the cards...
 
I approached it nicely. Used the key words... she's just... weird about putting anything into her body, any drugs, medications, etc..

We've been married for 16 years and we're best friends... the only issue at all is my libido is through the roof and hers is in the basement.. running isn't in the cards...

A bff would at least give you a handjob. Joking/not joking. It *is* a hormone issue 90% of the time. Assuming the romance and all that other fru fru stuff is on point. Hormone deficiency happens to everyone with age...the only question is how much. Tell her you want to go with her to her next gyno appt. Embarrassing or not. You can leave the room if she wants when she is getting spread. Tell her *you* want to talk to the doctor about *her* health. And again, she can use a cream...most women LOVE creams and have at least two dozen bottles of some type of cream laying around. 90% of the time, THIS issue CAN be fixed. She just needs to be willing to try. Reverse psychology that shit on her if you have to. You would at least try if she asked. I guarantee she has gotten you to do hundreds of things over the years that you did NOT want to do. Period.

If your relationship is worth improving, she should at least be willing to try. If she isn't willing to try, then you've got other underlying relationship issues. Be honest with yourself. Are you giving her enough attention? And I don't mean working towards getting laid 24x7. I could easily go for weeks without saying more than 20 words a day to the wife. I could go for weeks without taking her out on a "date". That's on me and my personality. So I have to work to communicate. Part of the game. Ask yourself this. Was she giving you enough sex when you first met? If the answer is no, then she's got an underlying problem that has always been there. Otherwise, it is just the normal things that cause marriages to stagnate coupled with age and hormone deficiency. "Fixing" one of those things will often fix the other (hormones vs relationship).
 
I approached it nicely. Used the key words... she's just... weird about putting anything into her body, any drugs, medications, etc..

We've been married for 16 years and we're best friends... the only issue at all is my libido is through the roof and hers is in the basement.. running isn't in the cards...


I get you are best friends. My and wife are best friends too. It's great.

But you didn't marry her to be friends or a roommate.

Being 51 years old, I can tell you I know many ppl both men and women who left their marriages with plus 20 years into it. It isn't a time thing.

Do you really want to go another 16 years in a sexless marriage.

I agree with Multislacking. Try to fix it if you can.

Fuck being weird about medications etc. She doesn't want to lose you right??

And trust me, if you left her?? She would be out there trying to find someone else eventually and her sex drive would be all "fixed" bc that's how that shit goes...seen it many times.

Hate to say it, but your compatiblity sucks right now. Your unhappiness right now in the bedroom is what makes a lot of guys stray. And it's "how could you do this to us?" When all you have done is tell her how unhappy you are with the amount of intimacy you aren't getting.

Remember, it's for both of you. It's your time to bond.

Wish you luck bro. Bc honestly, I don't think she gives a fuck about changing. She is happy with things just the way they are...how do I know? Bc if she wasn't she would have changed by now. There is no desire to change. And in part, you have enabled it.
 
And trust me, if you left her?? She would be out there trying to find someone else eventually and her sex drive would be all "fixed" bc that's how that shit goes...seen it many times.

That pussy will be open wide just long enough to trap another dick.
 

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