Sheer coincidence that I came upon this piece which suggests that one is far more susceptible to infectious diseases on elevated test levels as opposed to on native levels.
I remember these flu-like symptoms of productive cough, head-congesting cold and sore throat about a week and a half into a 500mg a week test e. cycle.
The doc gave me some roxithromycin for some 10 days.
The flu was relentless.
Does the list of ancillaries to keep sides in check grow ever longer or what?
ketoconazole - bacne,
dutasteride - hair loss,
glucosamine - joints.
vitamin C may be? - immunity
Vets like bushy, P22, Ov40, FuriousG and others can chime in as well as comment on the piece.
Excerpt from “THE RED QUEEN” , Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
MATT RIDLEY
“The size and brightness of such combs may be affected by parasites, but they areeffectedby hormones. The higher the level oftestosterone in the blood of a cockerel, the bigger and brighter hiscomb and wattles will be. The problem for the cockerel is that thehigher his level of testosterone, the greater his parasite infestation.The hormone itself seems to lower his resistance to parasites:“Once again nobody knows why, but cortisol, the"stress"hormonethat is released into the bloodstream during times of emotional cri-sis, also has a marked effect on the immune system. A long studyof cortisol levels in children in the West Indies revealed that thechildren are much more likely to catch an infection shortly aftertheir cortisol levels have been high because of family tension orother stress:” Cortisol and testosterone are both steroid hormones,and they have a remarkably similar molecular structure. Of the fivebiochemical steps needed to make cholesterol into either cortisol ortestosterone, only the last two steps are different:S6There seems tobe something about steroid hormones that unavoidably depressesimmune defense. This immune effect of testosterone is the reasonthat men are more susceptible to infectious diseases than women, atrend that occurs throughout the animal kingdom. Eunuchs livelonger than other men, and male creatures generally suffer fromhigher mortality and strain. In a small Australian creature called themarsupial mouse, all the males contract fatal diseases during thefrantic breeding season and die. It is as if male animals have a finitesum of energy that they can spend on testosterone or immunity todisease, but not both at the same time.”
The implication for sexual selection is that it does not payto lie:Having sex-hormone levels that are too high increases thesize of your ornaments but makes you more vulnerable to parasites,which are revealed in the state of those ornaments. It is possible
that it works in the other direction: The immune system suppress-es the production of testosterone. In Zuk’swords,“Males are thusnecessarilymore vulnerable to disease as they acquire the accou-trements of maleness.”"
The best proof of these conjectures comes from a study ofroach, which are small fish with reddish fins, in the Lake of Biel inSwitzerland.Male roach grow little tubercules all over their bodiesduring the breeding season, which seem to stimulate females duringcourtship as the fish rub against each other. The more parasites amale has, the fewer tubercules he grows. It is possible for a zoolo-gist to judge, just from a male’s tubercules, whether he is infestedwith a roundworm or a flatworm. The implication follows: If azoologist can deduce which parasite is present, a female roachprobably can as well: This pattern results from different kinds ofsex hormones; one can be raised in concentration only at theexpense of leaving the roach vulnerable to one kind of parasite; theother can be raised only at the expense of lowering defenses againstanother kind of parasite …