Sexual Health – Testosterone Side Effects

Transcript

In terms of testosterone, there are definitely some side effects you need to be aware of. Testosterone side effects depend on the dose and can be very mild if the dose is low, but if the dose is too high or the testosterone level, the free or bioavailable testosterone level in your blood ends up outside the female range or into the male range, some of the things that can happen include acne, hair growth on the body, anger or hostility or aggression or mood changes, can also rarely cause male pattern balding can cause clitoromegaly, which is growth of the clitoris, and can potentially cause deepening of the voice. And testosterone in women can also cause increased muscle mass. And sometimes that’s a good thing and sometimes it’s not, but again, if we keep testosterone in the female physiologic range, then we don’t have to worry so much about these adverse effects.

But if we’re not careful and testosterone gets bumped out of the female physiologic range, then some of those adverse effects can occur. And sadly, a lot of those adverse effects are not reversible when you come off of testosterone or when you reduce testosterone. So things like deepening of the voice, clitoromegaly and male pattern balding are not reversible. So if they happen to happen to you, they, they actually won’t go away. So it’s really important that you consider androgen or testosterone therapy in close conjunction with your healthcare provider and in close conjunction with a healthcare provider who has expertise in this area. And to be quite honest, this is a very confusing wellness space. And there are a lot of providers who seem to be utilizing testosterone therapy in ways that are very off label and very outside the expected market for testosterone.