Viagra has been shown to be safe, effective and life changing for men suffering from ED. As Faithful Readers know, that’s not my interest in it. I’m looking at it as a testosterone boosting agent which studies have shown it does quite well.
The Testosterone and Erectile Dysfunction trial (ClinicalTrials.gov # NCT00512707) initially administered an optimized dose of sildenafil to 140 men, aged 40–70 years with erectile dysfunction, low serum total testosterone (<11.4 nmol/L; 330 ng/dL) and/or free testosterone (<173 pmol/L; 50 pg/mL) over 3–7 weeks.Â
Administration of an optimized dose of sildenafil was associated with mean increases of 3.6 nmol/L (103 ng/dL; p < 0.001) and 110 pmol/L (31.7 pg/mL; p < 0.001) in total and free testosterone levels respectively. This was accompanied by parallel increases in serum DHT (0.17 nmol/L; 4.9 ng/dL; p < 0.001) and oestradiol (14 pmol/L; 3.7 pg/mL; p < 0.001) and significant suppression of luteinizing hormone (change −1.3 units/L; p = 0.003) levels, suggesting a direct effect at the testicular level.
Pretty impressive I’d say, and presumably a lower risk option than testosterone replacement therapy. However, as I learned today, prescribing it for that reason is an off-label use of the drug, and my doc is not interested in doing that. Can’t say I blame him of course.
Since that was part of my overall hormonal plan, I can now scratch it off the list. However, the doc did agree to get my hormones tested to see where I stand. I’ve got an 8:00 AM test tomorrow morning. It’ll be interesting to see where my numbers are of course, although it’s pretty soon after my last test to know if any of the changes I’ve made have any impact. My doctor is quite conservative (he doesn’t recommend vitamins or supplements of any kind since they’re not FDA approved) so I’m guessing unless my levels are clearly, clinically hypo-gonadal, he is not going to recommend TRT.
Just for fun, I looked up what methods can be used to actually lower testosterone levels quickly for a blood test. There is a way which has been shown repeatedly to drop testosterone levels by as much as 25% almost immediately: glucose.
74 men (19–74 years, mean 51·4 ± 1·4 years) underwent a standard 75-g oral glucose tolerance test with blood sampling at 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 min.
Glucose ingestion was associated with a 25% decrease in mean T levels (delta = −4·2 ± 0·3 nm, P < 0·0001). T levels remained suppressed at 120 min compared with baseline (13·7 ± 0·6 vs 16·5 ± 0·7 nm, P < 0·0001) and did not differ across GT or BMI. Of the 66 men with normal T levels at baseline, 10 (15%) had levels that decreased to the hypogonadal range (<9·7 nm)
So an industrious man looking to get himself on TRT could consume a massive amount of glucose while driving to the blood test and likely improve his chances of producing hypo-gonadal results. For example, drinking 100G of Cranberry Juice Cocktail packs a 7G shot of glucose. That’s only 4 ounces. Imagine drinking one of these bad boys enroute to the lab:
Of course, I would never do such a thing to manipulate my healthcare provider into prescribing something that wasn’t absolutely necessary. If I want TRT badly enough, I can go to any local men’s health clinic or one of the online versions of those clinics, and likely get a prescription with the levels I have now. No, I will play it straight and see what’s what. If I had to guess, I’d say my TT will be in the low end of the normal range, and my FT will either be low normal or low. Probably not enough for my doc to prescribe a testosterone gel, which is what he normally uses vs. injectable testosterone. Since I’m not 100% sure I want to do TRT anyway, I will let the chips fall where they may and proceed from there.
Stay tuned.
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