Any guys have symptoms of testosterone deprivation from taking AEDs?

[Dignan]

Just wondering about this. I stumbled on a site about prostate cancer treatments when doing drug research online. (I dont have prostate cancer, I was researching AEDs and just reading other stuff).

Anyway, this article posted a therapy they use for prostate cancer suffers in the past called testosterone deprivation therapy. While it helped the cancer, needless to say that type of therapy had all sorts of bad side effects for men. I can post the link if anyone is interested.

But, I wondered because I have many of the same symptoms they mentioned, but obviously I'm not testosterone deprived, so I wanted to know if anyone had heard of this or had experience.

Nak, if you're out there, I'd like your take too..

Thanks.

D

 

[Nakamova]

Currently, there isn't consensus on what constitutes "normal" levels for serum and free testosterone, and there haven't been enough consistent studies done to establish fixed parameters for diagnosis and treatment, let alone to identify a specific cause such as an AED.

The difficulty stems from the fact that testosterone deprivation and/or deficiency is linked to multiple causes (including simple aging). The HPA-axis (Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis) plays a big role, so if an AED disrupts it any way, it could potentially have a downstream effect on testosterone levels. However, generalized short and long-term stress also can suppress the HPA-axis and affect testosterone, so it may not be possible at this stage to point the finger at a particular AED. For the connection to be made, the side effect would need to be dramatic, widespread, well-documented, and closely linked to the time period in which the AED was taken. Given how few studies have been conducted on long-term effects of AEDs, the data may just not be out there.

 

[Dignan]

Thanks Nak.

I wonder if there was a way to see the "downstream" effect you were talking about with the AEDs and the HPA axis if it would show itself in the liver..?


My liver blood tests (CBC) have been normal, but could the liver still be negatively affected by years of AED use so that it was not performing optimally and therefore causing some consequences for hormones? Even when standard blood tests are normal?

I realize its just speculation but was curious about your thoughts.