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Comment by mise_en_place | Hacker News Reader

Anecdotal but a decade's worth of recreational cannabis use destroyed my body's ability to produce testosterone. If you are going to use any substance for long periods of time, make sure to get frequent labs.

TRT has mostly reversed the damage but I will need to take this for the rest of my life. My levels were always upper 500s/low 600s (590 ng - 610 ng). Then recently, two years back or so, my total testosterone dropped to below 200 ng/dl, as low as 190 ng/dl. Estradiol was very high (triple digits) as was prolactin. My point in sharing all this is that your body WILL maintain homeostasis at any cost, even if it means grossly adjusting your hormone ratios.

Be cautious with anything you put in your body.

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Have you considered that you just became "old" or it's some other genetic predisposition you're not simply aware of?

Having that happen abruptly, imo its sign of something else.

Also, You're implying you were doing these tests through all the years.. why? No "normal" person does that, are you having other "preexisting conditions" as well?

Body can tolerate something until it can’t. The event doesn’t have always to be connected to “just getting old, d’uh”.

I have seen drugs destroy people’s bodies and lives. Were there other factors? Yes. Did drug use amplified the other factors? Yes. Does it mean it’s same for everyone? No.

But, the sentiment remains. Putting a mood altering substance in your body can change it in profound ways; be careful.

> The event doesn’t have always to be connected to “just getting old, d’uh”.

Maybe, but if you are describing something that naturally happens as you get older, its a reasonable question.

Why do you believe your loss of testosterone production is related to cannabis?

I mean, maybe you have more background knowledge than what you're posting, but it doesn't seem to me that there's necessarily an especially strong link between your recreational cannabis usage and your testosterone levels. Particularly if you've been doing something for 8 years without any side-effects and then suddenly something drastic happens - it seems to me there are plenty of other potential explanations.

Correlation != causation, you/life probably did 10,000 other things to your body on top of simple aging, and absolutely nobody has any sort of idea what caused what.

There was a post on HN from a (otherwise seemingly smart) user who blamed cosmic ray(s) for heart condition his daughter developed. Even otherwise rational smart folks do tend to end up in weird mental bubbles/tunnels for lack of better words.

I bet this has a lot to do with being able to tolerate uncertainty and the unknown. Rather than accept that you don't know, you pick something that seems reasonable to you, and cannot be disproven.

How do you know it's related?

Do you consider low-testo a problem in itself or did you find it to be the cause of a symptom you experienced?

THC is damaging mitochondria and damaged mitochondria creates negative loop with testosterone production… So this is to be expected from smoking…

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