Long Term Opiate use causes low testosterone

[Elizabeth (imported)]

In November of 2002 I started taking opiate pain killers for my Fibromyalgia. There is really no other alternative for those of us with chronic pain. Two years later I came out of the closet and started living my life as a woman. High blood pressure and heart disease mean no one in their right mind is going to give me female hormones, and in fact my medicare will not pay for such treatment, or at least it didn't before the changes that have been made, because they won't pay for anything to do with being transsexual.

When I turned fifty two years ago, my doctor did a testosterone screening and found my testosterone to be just barely above what one would expect to find for a woman. Keep in mind, I have suffered no sexual dysfunction and have never taken or needed to take Viagra. My doctor asked me is I was taking female hormones from the internet of other doctors and I told him no. He didn't believe me, and tested for it, as well he should and found I was not taking female hormones.

A little research later, and I found that long term opiate use is known to dramatically lower testosterone levels. I was surprised that I had never heard that mentioned here. Now, I am not promoting the use of opiates and in fact there are many consequences besides low testosterone, that make long term use undesirable, unless one has no other choice.

Having said that, I must report that my body as feminized quite nicely, but not nearly as quickly as one might expect if they were taking female hormones. For me, it was a happy coincidence that I ended up with female levels of testosterone, have seen noticeable changes to my body that I want, but could not get through normal means of lowering testosterone.

And I want to close with this. When I first started taking opiates I was very concerned about addiction and discussed this at great length with my doctor. What I learned was that if one never abuses the drug by taking more than they should, there is no "high" effect, there is no tolerance increase, and there is no addiction. I take the same opiate I have always taken, at exactly the same dosage for twelve years. I go off it several times a year with no side effects whatsoever, when it seems to not be working as well. And that is the key. Instead of taking more when it does not work, I take less. Then when I go back to my normal dosage, it works great again.

Pain meds are not meant to alleviate all pain, but to make the pain manageable. So, there it is. I ended up getting what I wanted and had to do nothing extra to get it.

Elizabeth

[butterflyjack (imported)]

Thank you, Elizabeth...This got me thinking that many junkies (opiate addicts) must be feminized...Is that possible? A close member of my family was a junkie (and ODed and died several years ago)..I didn't think he had any problems with feminization..He, at least looked, male...Any comments? Interesting subject....Thanks again Jackie

[Elizabeth (imported)]

Thank you, Elizabeth...This got me thinking that many junkies (opiate addicts) must be feminized...Is that possible? A close member of my family was a junkie (and ODed and died several years ago)..I didn't think he had any problems with feminization..He, at least looked, male...Any comments? Interesting subject....Thanks again Jackie

Well, having only learned about it recently, I don't really know that much yet. A junkie might believe that the symptoms they have are from the drug rather than low testosterone. Most people who do opiates long term do not do them the way I do. I have never felt "high" and that is because I don't take more than the dose I am prescribed. Even so, I have had a significant reduction in testosterone. I also know it's not uncommon for opiate addicts to lose interest in sex, but I always assumed it was because the drugs were so much better or they were consumed by the desire to get more drugs. Most of the drug addicts I have known have been addicted to either cocaine or meth. While I have known a few people addicted to opiate pain killers, most were also addicted to either cocaine or meth too. In any event, I have never discussed low testosterone as a consequence of drug addiction until recently when I learned about it.

Elizabeth