Is Testosterone Therapy the Same as Taking Steroids? Separating Myths from Facts

Testosterone vs Steroids HSMD

To learn more about testosterone therapy and how it can help you feel like yourself again, we recommend partnering with a highly qualified doctor in your area who specializes in hormone health. This practitioner will thoroughly discuss your symptoms and perform a variety of tests to assess your hormone levels before prescribing a testosterone medication that works for you. If you are struggling with low-T and are considering testosterone therapy to help alleviate your symptoms, you don’t need to worry about your medication being confused with performance-enhancing drugs. By consulting with a licensed medical practitioner, you’ll be obtaining or using testosterone or other androgens safely, legally, and within the guidelines of a medical prescription.

Testosterone therapy does not appear to increase the risk of prostate cancer, but it can stimulate the growth of prostate cancer cells. Because prostate cancer is so common, doctors tend to be leery of prescribing testosterone to men who may be at higher than average risk of having undiagnosed prostate cancer. Testosterone therapy is approved for the treatment of delayed male puberty and abnormally low production of testosterone secondary to malfunction of the testes, pituitary or hypothalamus. Women may have a testosterone deficiency due to diseases of the pituitary, hypothalamus or adrenal glands, in addition to removal of the ovaries. Estrogen therapy increases sex hormone binding globulin and, like aging men, this reduces the amount of free, active testosterone in the body. Testosterone may stimulate the prostate gland and prostate cancer to grow.

An increase in these products has helped guys struggling with things such as poor body composition, low sexual drive, and decreased energy. Synthetic anabolic steroids will work without training, but the effects will be much weaker. Weight lifting will get you far better results, and if you are doing this already, it makes no sense to go for a longer-term solution as it will damage your body more. Don’t do it, though — synthetic steroids can severely damage your health. For men with low blood testosterone levels and symptoms most likely caused by a low level, the benefits of hormone replacement therapy usually outweigh potential risks. Testosterone therapy may make sense for women who have low testosterone levels and symptoms that might be due to testosterone deficiency. However, the wisdom and effectiveness of testosterone treatment to improve sexual function or cognitive function among postmenopausal women is unclear.

The findings indicate that total testosterone levels transiently increase immediately after exercise but decline below baseline within 24 h during recovery. These results are consistent with previous studies56, which reported that testosterone levels peak in the early recovery period following exhaustive endurance exercise but significantly decrease after 24 h. Additionally, Baydil57 reported that exhausting exercise affects the total testosterone profile in females, further supporting the observed fluctuations in our study. In males aged 19 to 39 years, the harmonized normal range of total testosterone is 264 to 916 ng/dL47, with age-specific median levels ranging from 409 to 478 ng/dL in those aged 20 to 44 years48.

This avoids developing tolerance in the body and reduces side effects. In bodybuilding, this ensures constant improvement and upkeep of your hormonal health. What most people actually think of when they hear the word “steroid” is a class of substances known as “anabolic-androgenic steroids” or simply “anabolic steroids,” a synthetic version of testosterone.

Please consult your health care provider for advice about a specific medical condition. Steroids are misused by men and some women who want to increase the size of their muscles. Men with a form of male body dysmorphic disorder called muscle dysmorphia often misuse AASs. These men are typically in their twenties and thirties and are preoccupied with what they perceive is their inadequate muscle size. Those who use AASs to gain strength are usually athletes who participate in weightlifting, shot-put throwing, and football. Beginner steroid stacks include a variety of anabolic steroids to achieve maximum effects. Injectable steroids such as testosterone enanthate provide smooth levels of hormone and are liver-damaging less.

They are a part of the cell membrane creating fluidity in the barrier, and they are signaling molecules that travel through the body exchanging messages. The fitness and health industry pushes around a lot of facts to market its products. Due to that, the terminology the industry uses isn’t all that consistent. Often, people get confused by some terminology that is used interchangeably and inconsistently by, well, marketers in the majority of cases. Get helpful tips and guidance for everything from fighting inflammation to finding the best diets for weight loss…from exercises to build a stronger core to advice on treating cataracts. PLUS, the latest news on medical advances and breakthroughs from Harvard Medical School experts.

Another study found that men who were obese and overweight saw the greatest improvements in testosterone levels after diet and exercise. Male hypogonadism is a condition where the testes don’t produce enough testosterone. This can develop in a number of different stages in a man’s life and can bring with a number of symptoms such as muscle loss, loss of sex drive, and erectile dysfunction. To summarize the answers to our original question, testosterone is a steroid, but the term steroid, as used in colloquial speech, means synthetic anabolic steroids, which are bad for our health. The synthetic variant is basically artificial testosterone meant to do taller guys have more testosterone the same thing as testosterone, but our bodies react badly to it. There is a general confusion that includes the terms testosterone, steroids, and synthetic anabolic steroids, and there’s a connection here, but it’s not very clear. We’re going to try to explain these terms, how they relate to each other, and why it is important to know them.