Dangers Of Testosterone Replacement Therapy
Hey, this is Doctor David Boyd, and here are the top five testosterone trends for 2022 & dangers of testosterone replacement therapy.
Trend # 1:
What we see over and over again is testosterone clinics with their popups, onlines, and other options nowadays where they just start men on testosterone. So, trend number one is getting started without knowing your baseline. This is a big no.
The fact of the matter is that not every man needs to be on testosterone replacement. So many factors come into play, including what is the person’s age, how are they actually feeling, what result are they’re getting already, for instance, if they’re trying to lose weight or gain muscle, is there fatigue, etc.
There’s all these possible reasons why someone would think that they may want to be on testosterone in the first place, but numbers don’t lie. If your baseline numbers are normal, then the lack of energy, the lack of ability to lose, etc. may actually not be due to testosterone. So trend number one is not knowing your numbers. And that’s a big mistake, you have to have a baseline.
Trend # 2:
Trend number two is pellet therapy. So, there’s a lot of folks that are gravitating towards pellet. I personally don’t like pellets, and the reason why is that they’re unpredictable. Consider that pellets are made from a manufacturer and that manufacturer, it varies for each type of pellet.
They also have to be surgically implanted. So, it’s a bit of a nuisance actually having to go to a provider, which sometimes isn’t even a doctor and have pallets placed after they make a small incision, usually in the upper buttock area. So they typically will stab with a scalpel, go about a centimetre deep, put the pellet in under the skin, and then either put a stitch or glue the area closed.
This is problematic because depending on activity level, the pellet breaks down in certain people at certain different lengths of time. For example, I’m in Phoenix and it’s hot here. It’s 81 degrees here in the early morning and It’s going to be in the nineties by the end of the day. And someone who has a pellet placed in them when they’re out and about and they’re sweating that pellet is going to break down at a faster rate than someone who’s in like 55 degree weather, for example.
Depending on how the pellet was actually placed to begin with, if it wasn’t placed deep enough, and it’s if it’s closer to the surface and rubbing against the back of the seat, when they’re driving in the car, it’s going to break down into different pace. That breakdown is what’s actually releasing the testosterone and it can cost to stop estrogen levels to go up and down. So pellet therapy, that’s another top trend and I don’t recommend it.
Trend # 3:
Top trend number three is the old fashioned way of injecting testosterone is into muscle. This is not a good idea. It’s something that is tried and true. There’s a lot of testosterone clinics that still do it. There are men that have been on testosterone for decades that this is the world that they were raised in, so, that’s where they stick to.
It’s not ideal. It works okay, but it’s not ideal. The reason why is this: muscle is meat. If you think about the last time you had a piece of steak, picture that steak in your mind. It’s red before it’s cooked because of all of the blood vessels that are in there. So when you actually jab a needle into a muscle inject, you get this spike of testosterone that occurs.
The spike of testosterone occurs because there’s all of a sudden there’s the surge of testosterone that goes in to the muscle. And so it absorbed into the bloodstream. You have a spike and then a crash that comes after the spike. Instead injecting into subcutaneous tissue, or better said, injecting it into fat.
It works better because there’s less blood vessels, and the testosterone will actually hang out in the area. It almost makes like a time-release capsule in the fatty tissue and it slowly resorbs over time. This mimics what our testicles do. So guys, when you’re 18 years old and you’re getting, you know, the, the large erection in math class early in the morning, it’s because that’s when we’re having our surge of testosterone is between six and nine am.
Having the testosterone hanging around for a longer period of time in the bloodstream mimics the ability of the testicles to do what they do. So injecting into subcutaneous fat is really the better way to do it. The secret is it has to be in a formulation that is meant to go in that area in the first place.
So don’t read this and think that just because you have testosterone hanging around at home, that you can just change the way that you do it. No, it needs to be done under a doctor’s supervision, particularly an expert such as myself.
Trend # 4:
The fourth top trend that is seen here in 2022 is not following labs. There’s so many guys, there’s so many clinics, there’s so many fly by night testosterone operations out there that will just prescribe and give testosterone to men, instead of actually looking to see what is the result that you’re trying to get to.
So, the result is not high testosterone, that’s not the result. The result is a clearer mind. The result is being able to gain muscle and decrease fat. The result is a better libido and a better erections. Those are the result.
It’s not just increasing testosterone, it doesn’t necessarily just do that. So, the result is not just higher testosterone numbers, the result is getting the result. The result is fixing the problem that drove you to consider testosterone replacement in the first place. And the only way to do that is to know your numbers and you have to follow what’s going on with you, as you increase testosterone. There’s risks associated with testosterone replacement, which brings us to the final trend.
Trend # 5:
The final trend of the top five here in 2022 is ignoring the risk. With any pro there’s a con. Now the pros for testosterone replacement are really high. But one of the big cons of it is number one: blood clots. So, in some men it will increase the amount of red blood cells around and because there’s more traffic on the highway, that way, if you have more red blood cells in the bloodstream, it’s like having more cars on the highway. So, with more red blood cells around, there’s a higher risk for developing a blood clot, which could lead to heart attack or stroke. So, there’s risk associated.
Risk number two is prostate cancer. It’s not to say that testosterone causes prostate cancer, but in men who are genetically prone towards prostate cancer, it can increase the risk significantly, and those genetically prone men it’s like throwing gas on the fire.
The final things are more minor, but there’s something that you consider such as hair loss which is one of them. If you’re genetically prone towards male pattern, such as hair loss, then it will increase it. It’s going to make that happen faster. Why? Because the testosterone breakdown product DHT (Dihydrotestosterone), there’s more of that in the bloodstream.
Dihydrotestosterone affects the hair follicles that are genetically prone to be, and it can cause hair loss. Typically if it’s a man who is not genetically prone to hair loss, it’s usually doesn’t really affect them or if so, minimally, and it can be mitigated with some topical medications. But, for guys that are really trying to hang on to every strand of hair that they have maybe testosterone replacement isn’t for them.
So, those were the top five trends of 2020. Super happy to deliver that information to you. Alpha one protocol is completely VIP and it’s made in such a way that is beyond like any other testosterone replacement program that there is. This is because we actually not only increase testosterone and follow your numbers the way it should be done, but we do so in an expert manner that is completely custom precision medicine for you to make sure that every man that steps into alpha one protocol is moving towards becoming the best version of themselves. That’s all that I’ve got for you guys regarding the top five trends. Remember health as wealth, invest in yourself as Dr. Boyd.
If you are considering TRT treatment as an option, you can visit us for testosterone replacement therapy in California & Arizona. Get a consultation from me to know what’s best for you. Also, if you’re looking to take an assessment test, you can try out the online assessment test for low testosterone. See the result and take the decision accordingly.
