A bit of Bro-Science mixed with a Clinical Trial… can TRT help people with depression?
Sam Ridgeway here – owner of Viking Alternative Medicine (a TRT Clinic)
My HRT clinic has only been open since June 1st of 2019 but I’m already starting to see a pattern when it comes to testosterone and depression. In retrospect, if I think back over the course of the last two and a half years of phone calls and messages from well over 10, 20, to 30 thousand people, I probably should have recognized this correlation sooner. What I’m talking about is the link between increased testosterone levels and the drastic reduction if not entire elimination of depression from men that start testosterone replacement therapy.
I’ve had a number of people tell me they’ve drastically reduced their depression meds and just as many say they’ve been able to stop using them altogether. The question is – is there a scientific explanation for these results?
First, I am NOT a doctor. I don’t pretend to be a doctor, in fact I’m the furthest thing from a doctor there is which makes me the anti doctor. These are just my random thoughts and opinions. Nowhere in this video, no matter how hard you look , will you find medical advice. Nowhere! Consult your physician before modifying your existing prescription or consuming any new medicinal compounds. Did I mention I’m not a doctor?? Disclaimer finished.
On the surface we really don’t even need to look that hard to support this correlation between testosterone and depression. I’ve said it in countless videos testosterone is a man’s happy hormone. If you’re 40 years of age or older and like most men, you have half the testosterone you did when you’re in your 20s. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to conclude that having half of your happy hormone is going to cause a direct decrease in your ability to feel happy.
The problem is you don’t even know you’re falling into a mild state of depression because it happens so slowly. You’re methodically and unknowingly forced to accept the new normal as each year passes and then you chalk it up to having to it accept what society calls getting older. Fatigue, irritability, weight gain, reduced sex drive, loss of focus. I mean when you look at these symptoms why wouldn’t you be depressed. Do you honestly think anybody wakes up in the morning and says to themselves today I think I’d like to be fat and tired? Of course not. Nobody says that, like ever. Let’s dig even deeper. Let’s assume this same group of men maybe put on a bit of extra weight over the years you know what happens when you put on weight especially around your midsection you get a decrease in testosterone in an increase in estrogen. While men do need some estrogen for their bodies to operate efficiently, estrogen is still best categorized as your bitch hormone. Even classic roid rage isn’t due to testosterone, it’s from excess estrogen which is manufactured during the process of aromatization. The fatter you get the more estrogen you produce which makes you even fatter and it turns into a vicious cycle. That’s a different video.
Let’s recap – your happy hormone is in the tank and your bitch hormone is raging you look in the mirror and wonder how you could have let yourself get this way so is it really a shocker that you might be experiencing at least a little bit of depression. Until now I’ve just given you bro science which I actually think is more scientific than clinical studies if you listen to enough anecdotal testimonials How can you do better than a group of real people in the real world instead of a bunch of test subjects being studied in a vacuum.
Let’s throw in a clinical study just for authenticity – the study went like this 106 men between the ages of 42 and 67 the mean age of the group was 55. Half of them were giving a therapeutic dose of testosterone. Half were given a placebo. They had their cognitive abilities tested and they were assessed for depression at the beginning of the trial. At 8 months they were retested. Significant improvement was noted for those patients on testosterone that originally had cognitive impairment and/or depression at the beginning of the trial. There was no noticeable improvement for those in the placebo group. I say again significant improvement for those on trt and no noticeable improvement for those given the placebo.
Why did this work? Because there are androgen receptors in the brain suggesting that steroid hormones play a role in neuronal function. Without adequate levels of testosterone brain function is compromised. There’s even scientific data that alludes to the fact that Alzheimer’s may be prevented or at least postponed with therapeutic doses of testosterone. Again, that’s a different video.
If you’re suffering from depression, and I’m just throwing it out, there you might want to go get your testosterone levels checked out. Wouldn’t hurt – could help. The real question comes down to would you rather be proactive or reactive? Why wait until you experience the symptoms of a serious medical condition before you do something about it? Would it make more sense to stop the condition from happening in the first place? Do you think you’re going to be the only man in history whose testosterone levels don’t start to plummet once you reach the age of 40 ? Before I end this video let’s do this – if you’re over the age of 40 I want you to think about this right now and be objective do you like where you are in life mentally, physically, or sexually? If the answer is yes then, awesome. If the answer is no then let’s fix it . There is a simple solution and it’s called hormone replacement therapy. We’d love to help you out at Viking but regardless of where you go just go somewhere – somewhere reputable. In closing I want to leave you with one piece of advice regardless of how bad you’ve let things get – you can turn this around.
Research Study Testosterone and Depression
