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Comment by jimmyswimmy | Hacker News Reader

Having read half the paper, the treatment group took 600mg ibuprofen daily for 14 to 44 days to induce the reported effect of compensated hypogonadism, though the 12 and 24 hour effects on testosterone were apparently easily detectable on ex vivo testicle samples. So, maybe if you need your testosterone, keep off the OTC pain medications. And probably don't donate samples of your testicle either.

Interesting paper though.

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Did the effect go away when they stopped the treatment? I can’t read it at the moment due to slow WiFi.

What was the effect in the first place?

Hypogonadism. Which is basically "Your testosterone levels drop"

> the treatment group took 600mg ibuprofen daily for 14 to 44 days to induce the reported effect of compensated hypogonadism

That phrasing is misleading. We don't know if it takes 600 mg for 14 days "to induce" hypogonadism. The study didn't test for that. It only tested if there would be an effect, and as with most pilot experiments, it did so cheaply and quickly.

That's the idea of small sample size experiments such as this. Try a big dose as see if you get an effect at all. If so, that's a jumping off point for more rigorous, expensive studies later on.

600mg is not a large dose. Ibuprofen over the counter recommends 400mg (two tablets) every 4-6 hours with up to 6 tablets (1200mg) per day.

and doctors will commonly suggest taking 4 tablets 4 times a day

600mg per day is the recommended normal adult dosage where doctor's recommend 200mg 3 times a day, although can also be recommended 1200mg. It's not a big dosage.

Doctors can also recommend an even higher dosage of 600mg 4 times a day to about 2400mg a day if needed.

Source: Https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/ibuprofen-for-adults/

Everything in moderation... Ibuprofen is probably okay for the occasional headache or pain, but avoid taking it daily... That is at least my MO.

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