Smoking and Drinking on Testosterone
Almost everything about taking testosterone warns against smoking, but usually a reason isn’t given. It is just accepted, as smoking is known to be dangerous for you health so it just seems to make sense than it would be even worse while taking HRT. While, as many have pointed out, you don’t drop dead if you light up while on T, there are some health complications that can arise if you are a regular smoker on testosterone:
-Risk for sleep apnea rises for FtMs on testosterone who smoke. This has nothing to do with the interaction between testosterone and smoking and everything to do with the fact that smoking and “being male” are already risk factors for sleep apnea, but it is still something those on testosterone that smoke should be concerned about.
-Increased risk of cardiovascular disease and other heart problems. Smoking already increases these risks, but this has a compounding affect with testosterone, which increases red blood cell count, triglycerides, and blood pressure. According to the wikipedia page on hormone replacement therapy (yes, I know, not the most reliable source, but hey…), “Cardiovascular risk factors are more than additive. (If high blood pressure is worth 10 and smoking is worth 10, together they are worth more than 20.) So for transgendered men, the addition of risk with androgen therapy makes improving modifiable risk factors [like smoking] more important."
-Increased risk for secondary polycythemia ”…defined as an absolute increase in RBCs caused by an increase in the RBC stimulating hormone, erythropoietin (EPO). Potential causes include low blood oxygen caused by heart disease, prolonged carbon monoxide exposure caused by smoking, hereditary disorders producing an abnormal hemoglobin or an overproduction of EPO, or kidney disease.“ according to ftmguide.org.
These complications take years and even sometimes decades to develop, so while smoking may not affect the changes you get on T or your immediate health, it may be worse for you in the long run combined with HRT than it would’ve been otherwise. In order words, smoking on T is not recommended, though it won’t kill you instantly, because it raises your risks for many health problems in the future.
Drinking on testosterone is simply dangerous because testosterone is hard on the liver (because as an artificial hormone it has to be processed through the liver), as is alcohol. Your doctor should monitor your lipid panels as part of your HRT, and if they are in the normal range it should be fine for you to drink as long as you do so responsibly (avoid getting black out drunk, drinking too much on a regular basis, etc). Listen to your doctor about drinking if he warns you about your lipid panels, because liver problems are very serious.
annaxmalina
discoholicmusic
pixelskylines
tangentwithtanner
janainaart
prguitarman
