A
female
age
30-35,
*onnieblueeyes
writes:Women: Have any of you ever been prescribed a drug, or known someone who has, that is meant to lower testosterone to help with acne?My dermatologist forced it onto me only recently(I can't remember the name of the medicine.) I was alright with it until I started looking up side effects of low testosterone in women (if you're too lazy to google, they consist of depression, decrease in sex drive, insensitivity to sexual stimulation, hair loss, dry skin, weaker muscles...)I was curious as to how your experiences were with a medication like this, if you have any. Needless to say I'm pretty put out with what might be in store for me...
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acne, muscle, sex drive Reply to this Question
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male
reader, DKW  +, writes (10 December 2010):
Its commonly thought that men only need testosterone and women only need estrogen. The truth is that while one will dominate, we do need an amount of the opposite hormone too for good sexual function. But - everyone is different! Try it and see...you probably will feel no side effects at all, but even if you do, they are not permanent, you can stop the medication at any time.
A
female
reader, k_c100 +, writes (10 December 2010):
 Now I have never been prescribed a drug to lower testosterone to treat acne, but I did use this drug to treat my acne when I was younger: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxytetracycline
If you are not happy with your current medication then I suggest you see another doctor and ask to look into some different options, the one above is a good drug to take to treat acne (it worked really well for me). Or possibly to go onto the contraceptive pill - I am currently on one (I forget the name) that has helped my skin quite a lot (Oxytetracycline cannot be taken at the same time as the pill as it stops it from working, so there are some contraceptive pills that have been developed to treat acne as well as the obvious birth control side of it).
You are more than entitled to a second opinion, so maybe visit a doctor this time rather than a dermatologist, as they will be able to give a different viewpoint and have more options for you.
But keep this in mind - ALL medicine has negative side effects, and you can google any drug and the list of side effects will be very scary. However what you need to know is that drug companies HAVE to list ALL side effects EVER experienced by any of their users (even if just one person for example had dry skin). This is due to legal reasons, they need to print a list of ALL of the side effects experienced by anyone that has ever used it to cover them in case someone tries to sue them for lack of information on side effects.
So chances are all of those side effects you read about regarding the drugs that lower testosterone will never happen to you, but the drug manufacturers issue these side effects as a 'just in case' to cover their backs. So maybe it is worth just trying these drugs and seeing how you feel on them, if you dont get any side effects then great, but if you start to feel weird on them and are not happy then go back to your doctor and explain that the drugs do not suit your body.
Everyone is different therefore drugs will work differently on each person that takes them. So dont get yourself worked up about something that might not even happen to you - just take them, wait and see how your body reacts to them and then take it from there.
I hope this helps and good luck!
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