There’s lots of online promotion of testosterone for reinvigoration, and to help achieve physical appearance and performance goals. But all those Reels and TikToks usually fail to mention the downsides — from cosmetic concerns like acne and hair loss, to reproductive problems like testicular shrinkage and infertility, neuropsychiatric problems and behavioural effects, and potentially life-threatening cardiovascular disease. Testosterone and other androgens are also easy to get hold of if you know who to ask, and advice about dosing, cycling and stacking is just a click or two away. But once that online clinic or the dealer at the gym have you on the hook, it’s hard to get off. Dependence and withdrawal can make it very difficult to stop taking steroids once you’ve started. The person you’re buying them through has an interest in keeping you using, not helping you to stop.
We get so much conflicting health advice (whether we ask for it or not) from so many places that it’s hard to know who or what to believe. Sometimes we make choices that we think are right to help us achieve our health goals, but we end up worse off. In these situations, a general practitioner is often the most appropriate person to help us get our health back on track.
Why a GP is the right person to help you stop
If you want to stop using steroids, your best bet is to talk about it with a GP. If you have a regular GP, they will have a head start when it comes to helping you because they’ll be familiar with you and your health. If you’re worried about being judged by the GP you usually see (that might be a sign that you need to find a new GP), another GP in the same practice (who can access to your records) might help you feel more comfortable. Of course, you can always consult someone entirely new.
There are no randomised controlled trials of how to help someone stop using steroids, so there are no clinical guidelines for health professionals to follow like there are for things like managing diabetes or heart disease. This means that a GP with experience in helping people to stop using steroids is probably best placed to provide the care that you might need. If your GP is not experienced or confident, they can help you find someone who is.
A GP is the right person to see because they have expertise in managing complex health conditions in coordination with other specialists. In some cases, referral to an endocrinologist, a mental health professional or a fertility specialist might be necessary, and a GP coordinates all of that. A GP can also order any tests or other investigations that are needed to understand how steroid use is affecting you specifically, and they can manage treatment of any related complications.
A GP might not be entirely familiar with the specific combination and doses of substances you’re using, but they understand the consequences of steroid use, the principles of helping someone to cease drug use, and they know where and how to access reliable sources of information and knowledge that might be needed for your specific circumstances (some of these might be online but they won’t be social media accounts).
How to prepare for your appointment
When you make an appointment with a GP to start talking about stopping testosterone use, ask for a long appointment. A standard appointment is usually around 10-15 minutes, which might not be long enough to discuss everything. A long appointment (up to 40 minutes) will give you plenty of time to talk through your situation, plan with your doctor, and organise any tests or referrals.
It’s a good idea to make a list of things you want to talk about and take it with you to your appointment (you can create a note on your phone, use pen and paper, whatever you like). That way you won’t miss something important.
You can take someone with you to your appointment. Having a second pair of ears can help to remember what was said. They can take notes, help you to clarify details that the doctor might need, and ask questions that you might not think of.
When you see your doctor, tell them that you want to talk about stopping steroid use. They’re going to have lots of questions for you; about how long you’ve been using, what and how you use, why you want to stop. At some point (the earlier the better), mention that you have a list of things you want to talk about. That will help you both to come back to it when conversations switch to different topics.
If you’re worried about being judged, feel embarrassed, have specific concerns about the health effects of steroid use, or want to stop for a specific reason, tell your doctor clearly and plainly. That will help the doctor to tailor the treatment they provide specifically to your needs. By the time you finish your appointment, you should have a clear plan for stopping your use of steroids and hopefully feel relieved to have someone helping you.
Tim Moss
Healthy Male Health Content Manager
Dr Tim Moss has PhD in physiology and more than 20 years’ experience as a biomedical research scientist. Tim stepped away from his successful academic career at the end of 2019, to apply his skills in turning complicated scientific and medical knowledge into information that all people can use to improve their health and wellbeing. Tim has written for crikey.com and Scientific American’s Observations blog, which is far more interesting than his authorship of over 150 academic publications. He has studied science communication at the Alan Alda Centre for Communicating Science in New York, and at the Department of Biological Engineering Communication Lab at MIT in Boston.
