Posted by LostboyinNC34 on November 22, 2003, at 19:08:52
In reply to Re: Most psychiatric drugs lower testosterone leve » LostBoyinNC34, posted by zenclearer on November 22, 2003, at 18:12:48
> Have you found any clinical literature citing this association? I know that there is considerable speculation these days that there may be a causal link with antidepressants and T levels, but I am aware of only one study reporting this conclusion.
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> There are indeed data on neuroletpics, but I am not aware of data on antidepressants.Benzos and other sedating type drugs will lower testosterone as well, not just neuroleptics.
> Have you found any clinical literature citing this association? I know that there is considerable speculation these days that there may be a causal link with antidepressants and T levels, but I am aware of only one study reporting this conclusion.
Yeah man, plenty of literature is out there associating SSRIs and lowered testosterone levels. Its well known that SSRIs mildly increase prolactin and anytime you do that, you are indirectly decreasing testosterone. Also, in a book I read by a MD named Eugene Shippen titled "The Testosterone Syndrome" in the appendix he lists the SSRIs as medications that increase estrogen. If you will educate yourself, anytime estrogen is increased in males it has negative effects on testosterone. The higher estrogen levels are, the lower testosterone levels are as a general rule. I would HIGHLY recommend this book for a basic understanding of this relationship between estrogen and testosterone.
On the Mayo Clinic website it says many psychiatric drugs lower testosterone levels
http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?objectid=E97FDCB5-E617-4C36-859B911C1A0E9257&dsection=3
And finally in a recent semi-ground breaking clinical trial at Mclean hospital, a biological psychiatrist researcher named Harrison Pope discovered some refractory male depressives may benefit from testosterone replacement. Duh...theyve known that since the forties. The full description of the trial can be found in the January 2003 issue of the "American Journal of Psychiatry." In this article summarizing testosterone for refractory male depression, the researchers say "These observations suggest that low testosterone levels may be unexpectedly common in middle aged men with treatment-resistant major depressive disorder, perhaps because chronic depressive symptoms lead to blunting of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis (4) or, possibly, because of effects of the antidepressant medications themselves."
If you want to read about SSRI induced prolactin elevations and subsequent decreases in testosterone and elevations in estrogen, I suggest you consult the following source. "Breast enlargement during chronic antidepressant therapy" Journal of Affective Disorders November 1997, J. Amsterdam
Also, even if antidepressants do not DIRECTLY decrease testosterone, they DO increase estrogen. Thats a hard fact. And like I said, anytime you increase estrogen in a male, thats bad news and leads to decreased testosterone levels.
If you believe SSRIs do not cause lowered testosterone levels, you are in denial.
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> There are indeed data on neuroletpics, but I am not aware of data on antidepressants.
>
> Please enlighten me. Thanks.
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>No problem...SSRIs will turn you into a girl.
Eric
poster:LostboyinNC34
thread:282575
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031121/msgs/282614.html