Posted by cybercafe on August 12, 2002, at 14:59:40
In reply to thoughts on testosterone and estrogen:, posted by bubblegumchewer on August 12, 2002, at 12:01:09
> I wonder if the the bodybuilders are short-tempered for a different reason than you. From what I understand, the extra testosterone they get sets of a spiral of imbalanced hormones both male and female (we all have certain amounts of both, whether male or female) and they also get, um... shrunken organs from this imbalance. Perhaps increased estrogen goes along with increased testosterone and is responsible for the atrophy.
So you think it's a balance rather than a strict level-thing. Could be. I believe the shrunken organs and gynecomastia ("bitch tits") come from estrogen itself...
Studies seem to indicate that people naturally bad tempered seem to have high levels of testosterone, .. and testosterone also seems to have an antidepressant effect (though when levels get too high it creates problems socializing which can lead to environmental depressing factors)
>testosterone. Amongst the beneficial effects of testosterone that I supposedly enjoy (I won't go into better libido but it's there) are "increased vitality and sense of well-being," the doc said.Yeah testosterone is supposed to have an antidepressant effect .... I don't know what the mechanism is though
>has a protective effect and estrogen has a depression-worsening effect. Witness the fact that birth control pills, which maybe not coincidentally tend to wipe out most of a woman's small but functionally important amount of testosterone, are also well-known to cause or worsen depression.
hmmm... what makes you think estrogen worsens depression?
> My point is that maybe the bodybuilders are getting the worst of both worlds: while testosterone is known for causing the typically greater aggressiveness that characterizes males, EXTRA testosterone may be worsening matters while estrogen is making them all cranky like a woman with PMS. These are all simplistic guesses, of course.
... okay that really would suck :(
> My other simplistic guess is that if you have a NORMAL amount of testosterone, which most men do, reducing the amount you have by some medicinal means might not help anything.... yeah it would actually make things worse
> Just wanted to add some assorted factoids/ guess-oids to ponder.... i appreciate it... i certainly have the freetime :)
poster:cybercafe
thread:115793
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020807/msgs/116170.html