What effects, if any, does TRT have on neurotransmitters, particularly on serotonin?
I know that in the initial stages of TRT, there is a pronounced effect on dopamine - I have been told that this is what causes the "honeymoon" that many guys experience.
Are there neurotransmitter imbalances that can be caused by long-term TRT and HPTA shutdown?
A lot of what I take now days is an attempt to change neurotransmitter levels, mostly to enhance sleep, but also mood.
What has had a noticeable effect? ( lot of supplements/hormones don't seem to have an effect).
GABA, usually strong effect within 6-10 min. Face feels very flushed blood preasure drops a lot, like 130> 95, and rises gradually over 2 hours. It did seem to vary recently.
Progesterone cream. Seems like more relaxed, sleep better. BUT I kept increasing dose from 0.35 mg a level "pinch", to a teaspoon, must be 10 times more.
Weirdly, I started to get dizzy, sometimes very dizzy, during the middle of the day. So I know it does something.
Another reason I took progesterone, my potassium is usually on the high side, this is connected to Aldosterone, which i also did a blood sample for, which measured very low but 0-30 is the range for Aldosterone, so you can't be lower than zero, I measured 6.4, all of which operates to control blood pressure.
I get a huge range in blood pressure, from 95/73 to 153/94, which seems to drift either up or down during the course of months. I am assuming it had something to do with testosterone / E2 or related hormones. But not at all sure what causes that.
So I wanted to get better control over BP and keep the range more consistently on the normal/low side, thus experimenting with progesterone for both sleep and BP.
Finally, kratom sure has an effect, more sociable, greater energy, motivation and stamina. I am taking the kratom with dopa mucuna. I have to think one it's affecting neurotransmitters.
Side effects have been dry month when I sleep, more constipation and after 8-9 hours a real slow down, more tired, sleepy. So I time it 8-9 to when I want to go to sleep. The slow down seems like an expected result, though it feels natural, it comes on fairly fast.
One positive side effect, when I get high from cannabis I get very unsteady on my feet, like a drunk walk, but taking Kratom shortly before cannabis, I am noticeably more steady and balanced when walking.
You can measure your neurotransmitter levels, it's about $100 from life extension, BUT I get the feeling that neurotransmitter levels vary quite a bit during the day and week to week, so not sure what an isolated point in time will tell me, and I don't want pay to do enough measurements to get some sort of trend line. Also, depending oh WHERE in the brain you look, various neurotransmitters will be at different levels,and it's all in a state of flux.
It's probably useful to measure levels if they are way out of linne with what expected, like you might get from a tumor, but outside of that, I think there is a lot of fluctuation going on.
I don't think TRT by itself affected neurotransmitter levels for me, but IMO it's a very complicated subject and many things seem to effect these balances, and getting older is one big influencer.
