Are TRT Patients More Vulnerable to COVID-19?

[CROM]

Well someone had to ask.

Seems like woman do better in survival rate. I read that testosterone has an immunosuppressive effect while estrogen has an immunoenhancing effect on the immune system. Estrogen has been shown to regulate immune response.

This enhanced immune reactivity in females helps mount an effective resistance to infection and therefore females are less susceptible to viral infections.

So far I’ve only seen one person who ‘likely’ takes testosterone die from COVID, and from my understanding he died in just 4 days. 72yo Wuhan Man Dies From Coronavirus Just Months Before Competing in Bodybuilding Event

Just some things I was reading

Sex Hormones Determine Immune Response - PMC

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Effects of Hormone Therapy on the Immune Systems of Postmenopausal Women With Chronic Infections - Full Text View - ClinicalTrials.gov

 

[S1W]

CROM,

I think this is a good discussion and I doubt you're the only one that has had this thought.

I have no medical training and don't understand some of these mechanisms. However, I have read that some researchers believe that blood pressure, ACE/ACEII can have an effect on the severity of the virus. I tried to read a few articles about ACEII and testosterone and don't think I have the medical knowledge to really digest it.

I have also read that the use of certain ACE inhibitors are an additional risk factor in Covid-19 patients. However, perhaps not Losartan?

I would think that so long as TRT doses are not high to the point that they are creating a prehypertensive/hypertensive state, that TRT should not put us at any increased risk.

Anyway, take all of this with a grain of salt, as clearly I'm not a doctor.

 

[Stylo]

But lets see... a 72yr old bodybuilder who is dehydrated, and probably not well fed due to competition is going to have a compromised immune system. Testosterone had nothing to do with it. Also bodybuilders are not a great example of top notch health.

 

[Mcgiver54]

I am thinking it is the opposite, the way my body feels and responds to excercise I think my immune system should be pretty strong. I have not got one cold or flu since I started TRT.

 

[Rock H. Johnson]

So should we up the HCG as long as this goes around? ;-)

 

[sammmy]

Women are known to have a more reactive immune system (more allergies for example) and they do better with COVID-19. However children are considered having a weak immune system and most do not get complications from the virus so it doesn't seem to be a question of how "strong" the immune system is.

Patients die of COVID-19 typically from pneumonia and septic shock when the immune system overreacts and the hyper inflammation damages multiple organs. Some of the clinical trials use corticosteroids or immunosuppressive drugs (tocilizumab - drug suppressing inflammatory cytokin IL-6 against arthritus): China turns Roche arthritis drug Actemra against COVID-19 in new treatment guidelines

I personally have HIV suppressed by drugs but my immune system has not recovered fully. I have observed multiple times that every single time I increase my free testosterone (Androgel, HCG, or Anastrozole) or try an anabolic steroid (Proviron, DHEA, Ostarine, Oxandrolone) I get signs of decreased immunity: abnormally low white blood cell count and neutrophil count, slight headaches with some fever, angular cheilitis, ulcerated sore throat without stuffed nose and without coughing, and cold sores on lips.

Of course my case is more complicated because it is a 4-body interaction between the HIV virus, HIV meds, my immune system, and the androgenic compound I take and my experience may not be applicable to HIV negative men.

 

[sammmy]

Another drug that is currently in trials against COVID-19 is Chloroquine which is slightly immunosuppresive. It is a drug for malaria but is also used against arthritis because it suppresses production of inflammatory cytokines by the immune system so it may suppress an immune overreaction to COVID-19.

Chloroquine also has an antiviral activity against many viruses - interferes with their entry into cells and and one has to start taking it as soon as the infection starts for higher efficacy:
Antiviral Activity of Chloroquine against Human Coronavirus OC43 Infection in Newborn Mice

 

[Guided_by_Voices]

For those wanting a good primer on viral issues and treatments a good source IMO to start with is the discussion from Dr. Matt Cook currently on the top of the podcast list on ben greenfield's site.

I doubt that anabolics are anywhere on the list of things to worry about in comparison to dozens of other things one can be doing to be (hopefully) minimally threatened by this or other infections. The other health benefits of healthy anabolic levels likely far outweigh any extremely minor immune impacts, and as Dr. Cook explains, the body's ability to regulate and wind down the immune response can be as important as having it mount an immune response, so "immunosuppressive" can be a good thing in some contexts. Part of aging seems to be over-expression of inflammation, which is an immune response, so in that case if anabolics are "immunosuppressive" then that is likely a very good thing

 

[Nelson Vergel]

If TRT was immunosuppressive, we would have seen it in several studies done using testosterone and nandrolone in the 1990's. We did not.

In fact, I am alive because of testosterone and nandrolone.

 

[Nelson Vergel]

Can Estrogen and Other Sex Hormones Help Men Survive Covid-19? (Published 2020)

Men are more likely than women to die of the coronavirus, so scientists are treating them with something women have more of: female sex hormones.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Nelson Vergel]

New Study: Better Fitness Can Reduce COVID-19 Severity

Aerobic fitness plays a key role in coronavirus defense and lower risk of hospitalization, according to recent research.

thesource.lifetime.life

 

[M.J]

I think if anything I have a stronger immune system after TRT. Just a feeling.

as for COVID I have been a round many people/ traveled a lot and a bit taking it easy with the mask and other stuff yet I didn’t get it. Or maybe I got it at one point but didn’t get any symptoms.