The appeal of over-the-counter (OTC) testosterone pills is obvious: after all, you can take them at home, they are generally inexpensive, and you don’t have to go through a doctor to get them. If you are experiencing symptoms of low testosterone, you may be tempted to simply order testosterone supplements online instead of coming into your physician’s office for testosterone replacement therapy. However, OTC testosterone pills are a bad idea for two major reasons: not only are they ineffective, they are also dangerous to your health. In this blog, we will take an in-depth look into why it is imperative that you avoid OTC testosterone pills.
They’re Dangerous
First off, and most importantly, taking testosterone pills without medical supervision is dangerous. Even if testosterone pills were highly effective and safe to take (which they are not), taking them without medical supervision means that you have no idea where your testosterone levels are. Without a medical professional to monitor your testosterone levels through a blood test, you could be reaching dangerous levels of testosterone, which could lead to symptoms such as hair loss, shrinking testes, mood swings, high blood pressure, infertility, acne, and estrogen overproduction. This could lead to serious health concerns, such as a heart attack or severe liver damage. For testosterone replacement therapy to work, it requires precision and knowledge; if you are taking testosterone pills on your own, you are not getting the right amounts of testosterone, which could have negative consequences for you. Even if you try to monitor your testosterone levels yourself, you would have to do it with an at-home test, which are more often than not inaccurate. Not only do you not truly know your testosterone levels from the start, you don’t know how much they have increased, and you don’t truly know where they should be.
Additionally, you don’t know what is actually in these pills. The FDA does not regulate these supplements, so the ingredients are often not listed on the bottle, or worse yet, they are listed but completely untrue. Whatever actually is in these pills does not seem to be safe; research shows that these testosterone pills could be incredibly detrimental to your liver. Even if testosterone pills weren’t unhealthy for your liver, because you cannot accurately monitor yourself at home and you don’t even know what is really in them, taking these testosterone pills is asking for health problems.
They’re Ineffective
Not only are these pills dangerous, they are ineffective. Ingesting testosterone orally is pointless because this hormone is not absorbed through the stomach and cannot be ingested directly. Even foods that technically boost testosterone (like we covered in a previous blog) are not actually boosting testosterone levels in the body themselves; they are boosting your body’s ability to make testosterone. The same is true for these OTC testosterone pills. Because they are ingested orally, they won’t raise your testosterone levels; at best, they might raise your ability to make testosterone. This leaves the actual production of testosterone up to your body, so if you suffer from low testosterone, you will still be out of luck. Don’t waste your time with testosterone supplements. There is a far more effective way to raise your testosterone that is safe when performed under medical supervision: testosterone replacement therapy.
If you are concerned about your testosterone levels, Men’s Vitality Center in Tucson is here to help. You don’t need to rely on dangerous and ineffective OTC pills to fix your low testosterone; we have an experienced, knowledgeable, and compassionate medical staff who can give you the treatment you need in a safe and effective manner. If you are looking for testosterone replacement therapy in Tucson, contact us today!