Prednisone = decreased testosterone?

[Teehk]

Hello I am new here but I'm 18 years old and i've had Wegners for about 3years and i was wondering if anyone has had decreased testosterone with using Prednisone? I am on 10mg and lately when I'm working out I just feel not..Manly I guess? My sex drive is odd..I last forever in bed which causes my partner to feel bad like shes not doing enough to please me...Has anyone had something similar? Thanks

[Alysia]

Hi,
your question about testosterone will have to wait for the men around.... I guess that the pred is not affecting it, but I am not sure.... maybe you are too stressed, that's all. it is so natural and healthy to be at your age.
From my point of view, being a man, real one, is far beyond testosterone.....(which is important too, off course)... it is about how much love you give to your girl friend, respect, support, understanding and caring.
welcome to the forum. you are invited to tell us more about you, if and when you feel like.

[Teehk]

to tell you the truth its more of a friend with benefits but shes still a friend and it sucks because she feels terrible because she can't get me off...i really hope the Pretnisone isnt effecting my testosterone which i heard happens.

[Alysia]

every girl, no matter who, needs to be respected and cared for. this is what makes you man, first of all and beyond all. and maybe when the realtionship is without love, it can't happen.

[Teehk]

I hope this isn't true...ugh im so over Love

[Alysia]

when you will be in love, you will have no limits....

[me2]

Hi Teehk.
I can share my own experience. I have been fighting a flare for the past 14 years. During that time I have been on prednisone- sometimes high doses. My doctor that I see says I am his patient who has been on prednisone the longest. Lucky me. During times of feeling very ill my libido dissappeared. About a year ago I acquired a girl friend in spite of this. I was concerned that my testosterone was low due to my advanced age (56) so I had my levels checked. They were indeed slightly outside of the norm - but on the HIGH side. Surprise to me. As my health got better my libido returned to normal.
My experience of making love did not return to normal over night. I experienced some of what you describe.

[Teehk]

i have been in love before, im just jaded by it now. Rather just live with my disease and live my life

[Alysia]

then pred makes the testosterone higher ? now I should be worried..... ??

[Teehk]

Hi Teehk.
I can share my own experience. I have been fighting a flare for the past 14 years. During that time I have been on prednisone- sometimes high doses. My doctor that I see says I am his patient who has been on prednisone the longest. Lucky me. During times of feeling very ill my libido dissappeared. About a year ago I acquired a girl friend in spite of this. I was concerned that my testosterone was low due to my advanced age (56) so I had my levels checked. They were indeed slightly outside of the norm - but on the HIGH side. Surprise to me. As my health got better my libido returned to normal.
My experience of making love did not return to normal over night. I experienced some of what you describe.


Any tips to deal with this? I am quite young and scared this will keep occurring

[Alysia]

i have been in love before, im just jaded by it now. Rather just live with my disease and live my life
you are young. all life and love are still waiting for you.... don't worry...

[Teehk]

you are young. all life and love are still waiting for you.... don't worry...
thanks, i just am getting worried. My doctor said i am the youngest he has every seen with this disease and im worried after 3 long years with ups and downs that some of these meds will effect me even worse

[Alysia]

we already saw around younger then you with wg. and the good news are that yougers are overcoming it better and sooner.

[me2]

I don't know that there is any relationship between prednisone and testosterone- I haven't heard of it so I just don't know. I got checked for testosterone because I asked for it. I don't know the answer to the relationship to illness and libido except that definately being sick causes problems. I was blessed with WG when I was 19 (I'm now 57- I think) . I don't want to bore you with thirty some years of history (LOL) so I will just say that for most of my life my libido has been normal.

Of course there are other things that can affect it besides disease and drugs. Mental and emotional states have an effect too.
My tip would be something along the lines of what Alysia is talking about. The love is more important than the physical.
I do understand you may not want to hear that right now from feeling jaded. I have been deeply hurt in love myself and given up at times. I think we have to give things some time and be open to change when it is ready to happen. I wish I had better advice in this department- then I could help myself .LOL
Hang in there and hang out here too.
Being young is very much in your favor. I almost died at 19 and went on to have some wonderful drug free years. You can too.

[Teehk]

i hope i can thank you for the support

[mishb]

Hi Teehk and welcome to the forum.

I agree with the others, you are still only 18 and have lots of years to get better and get things under control.
.......and not to sound too crude here, but gosh, why would this girl or any girl, want you to end so quickly :blushing:

Sorry, back on track. I would make sure that WG is well under control then you can get off the pred, however, I have never read that it decreases testosterone.
Maybe it is just stressing about it, that is causing the issues.

[Teehk]

no idea rofl

[me2]

Actually I can answer this one. This is someone that cares about you and wants you to have the full experience just as a man does ideally for the woman he is with.
She is worried that she is not pleasing you. She thinks your difficulty MAY be about the relationship even if you tell her it is about your health. This is about relationship not libido issues.

[Wegetarian]

I haven't noticed that my sexlife would have changed due to pred. The bad news about the gym part is that when you think about doing steroids and going to the gym its anabolic steroids that will get you looking like Arnold. Pred on the other hand is a catabolic steroid and destroys muscles.

Like I was taking this test to test our muscle strenghts (doing different muscle excercises) last fall when I was recovering, then this spring I took the test again and had exercised and gone to the gym a few times and thought my results would be much better. I was quite surprised when I noticed my results had stayed the same, or gone a bit worse. The doc said that its not that much of a surprise since I've been eating catabolic steroids the whole time.

Here is some info on those two kinds of steroids, was just the first article I found when googling..
Anabolic steroids versus catabolic steroids - Hartford health | Examiner.com (http://www.examiner.com/article/anabolic-steroids-versus-catabolic-steroids)

[acker]

Hi Teehk, Welcome to the site, I can speak from the older end of living, I'm 69 and didn't get Weggies untill a few years ago and had it not been for the fantastic care I received, I wouldn't be here now. I know it's hard when you get something as bad as this, at such an early age. It sounds to me like you are fighting it really well, keep it going, you will get a load of support from everyone on here. :thumbsup: You see I have a problem as well, from the other side of things. I would just like to have someone in my life to love, care for, and to love me in return. I like you have been jaded about love, many times in my life. I'm very active sexualy, but what makes me so frustrated, is that I can't find a woman that wants to be active with me !! I have a young outlook on life, ride a motorbike and have long hair (yes still ) but because of my illness (that they don't understand ) they think they will "catch something" from me. So we both have problems from both ends of the scale I'm afraid. Well I wish you a the best, I KNOW you'll get through it in the end. :thumbsup: Acker

[annekat]

Thanks for that link, Wedgie. I'd been needing some clarification on the differences between anabolic and catabolic steroids. Too many people in everyday conversation don't know the difference and are alarmed at me being on "steroids".... not that either is great to be on.

Acker, I like guys with long hair, and I don't think I'm the only one. I'll be 62 this year and since I'm a Weggie, too, that would not be a problem. Too bad we live so far apart. But be patient, I think you are bound to run into a good woman who will like you for who you are and not for what medical condition you have or don't have. If you ride motorbikes and have a young outlook on life, and don't "look sick" most of the time, I don't think it should be a problem.

And teehk, others have said the right things.... From a woman's point of view, I was in a "friends with benefits" relationship for several years with a very attractive guy and could not understand why I could not feel as satisfied as I had with partners in the past, since there was nothing anatomically wrong anywhere, and here was this hunky guy I was with...... Perhaps the chemistry just wasn't right, perhaps I'd grown up to where I needed more than something casual... at some point I just had to say I can't do this anymore; it wasn't doing a thing for me emotionally or physically and it was time to move on. Not saying it's the same for you... you are much younger and women your age may be more able to enjoy the casual stuff than someone like me.... do keep in mind that women reach their peak of sexual energy at a later age than men... so it could be her as much as you that is the issue, or maybe the chemistry just isn't right between you. I'd say, relax, you have time, and you are bound to find out some day how much better it is in a real love relationship. In the meantime, keep going to the gym, but go easy on yourself, and concentrate on getting well and being able to stop the prednisone some day.

[acker]

Hi thank you for your words of wisdom, and compliments, I haven't given up on a good woman yet :biggrin1: well I still don't know what I'm going to do when I grow up. Tee Hee :hug3: Acker

[annekat]

Hi thank you for your words of wisdom, and compliments, I haven't given up on a good woman yet :biggrin1: well I still don't know what I'm going to do when I grow up. Tee Hee :hug3: Acker I don't know about wisdom.... glad you haven't given up; me either, but it isn't always easy at our ages when people get so set in their ways. There are some interesting people out there, though... I feel the same way you do about growing up...

[laser]

I have read that pred causes reduced testicular size, which in turn I would think would result in less testosterone. I at the age of 60 am having trouble also but
hope the reduction of pred will help. I am still doing the 6 month regiment of pred and cytox,,, one month left, numbers look good at this time.

[Dirty Don]

I have read that pred causes reduced testicular size

I checked, no problems here...mumble mumble, scratch scratch...takes large gulp of coffee...RU kidding me?!?!?!

[Widthofacircle]

Checked :glare: . Everything in perfect working order. Haven't heard of that problem before!!

[drz]

Prednisone does create suppression of DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) synthesis as it is not mitigated by prednisone. DHEA is an important sex hormone precursor, neurosteroid, and endocrine and immune modulator; therefore, DHEA depletion may have significant adverse consequences in terms of sex hormone production, bone health, endocrine and immune system function, and neuropsychiatric status. Studies of DHEA replacement in patients taking prednisone for lupus demonstrate amelioration of some of these adverse effects.

see study abstract: Suppression of adrenal function by low-dose p... [Altern Med Rev. 2006] - PubMed - NCBI (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16597193)

or full study report: http://www.altmedrev.com/publications/11/1/40.pdf

[acker]

Prednisone does create suppression of DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) synthesis as it is not mitigated by prednisone. DHEA is an important sex hormone precursor, neurosteroid, and endocrine and immune modulator; therefore, DHEA depletion may have significant adverse consequences in terms of sex hormone production, bone health, endocrine and immune system function, and neuropsychiatric status. Studies of DHEA replacement in patients taking prednisone for lupus demonstrate amelioration of some of these adverse effects.

see study abstract: Suppression of adrenal function by low-dose p... [Altern Med Rev. 2006] - PubMed - NCBI (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16597193)

or full study report: http://www.altmedrev.com/publications/11/1/40.pdf

Well as a guy of 69 with no lady partner, I can't know if it has effected me or not :unsure: Acker

[drz]

Has anyone taken the DHEA replacement therapy? I wonder if it would be an alternative to taking a generic Fosomax for bone health.

[Wegetarian]

I wonder if it would be an alternative to taking a generic Fosomax for bone health.
Guess Fosomax is a biphosphonate (or however its spelled). Someone I know with wegs had taken those bone drugs and was going to some dental surgery. The side effects of those can be fairly gruesome. I was on biphosponates for over 6 months, but was finally allowed to stop taking them. I did ask many times if I really need them, as I'm a fairly young male and never had that xray about my bone densities so not sure if I'd even need them. Guess its common hear to prescribe them when taking high cortisone doses.

[PJ2010]

This subject shaw has created some interest.
A few years before being diagnosed with WG, the doctors found I had very low levels of testosterone and was promptly put on HRT. So, only six months after being put on steroids, I was diagnosed with wegener's.
My sex life at this stage was normal.
After I went on cyclophosphamide, Prednisolone, Bactrim and a number of other meds, I found I had a partial erection all the time.
I complained to the doctor about this. What I found out is that predisolone increases the blood pressure and so this condition was regarded as normal.
Low testosterone I think is more an issue not related to meds but to your own bodies inability to produce the hormone.
I was told not to continue HRT (steroids) as it increases blood pressure and causes a big increase in red blood cells.
This condition together with the constriction of small and medium blood vessels put me at high risk of stroke or heart attack.
For about 12 months they were performing venesections every 3 months to help reduce the number of red blood cells.
About 6 months ago I stopped HRT and even though my sex drive has all but disappeared, my blood pressure has reduced and I don't feel so flushed.
This is a major problem as I have a beautiful lady in my life. At some stage I'm going to have to make a decision maybe to go back on HRT and risk stroke or heart attack etc etc. ???????
.

[mishb]

Hey PJ, why didn't I realise before that you were from Victoria :thumbsup:

If you are on facebook, we have an Aussie and New Zealand Group that we would love you to join. The link is below.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/516643745050360/


I never even realised that males could also go on HRT......doh, I'm sure if I thought about it properly I would have :razz: