For a lot of men, the thought of testosterone levels declining with age is a scary thing. Testosterone defines masculinity and gives you those manly qualities that everyone loves, but if you don’t have sufficient amounts, what happens?

Hair loss, muscle loss, increased fat mass, poor bone health, and everything else that comes along with low testosterone aren’t the most enticing things out there, which is why a lot of men turn to testosterone boosters to keep their levels high—regardless of age.

Testosterone pills and boosters are touted as being the ultimate solution for men dealing with low sex drive, low endurance, and low muscle mass, but many OTC testosterone supplements come with a hefty list of side effects that can result in serious and permanent harm to your body.

And although scientific evidence suggests that most testosterone pills don’t actually work all that well at boosting testosterone, consumers unknowingly invest in them, hoping to reclaim their manhood.

So, because not all testosterone boosters are created equal, and some come with more risks than anything else, what actually happens when you stop taking them? We’re digging into the research for you and letting you in on the potentially dark side of testosterone boosters.

What Is Testosterone And Why Do You Need It?

Testosterone is the primary male sex hormone that we all know as being responsible for making a man, well, a man.

It’s responsible for the development of male sexual characteristics and is the main hormone-producing what most people associate with ‘masculinity’—muscle mass, facial hair, libido, and sperm production 1.

Aside from being the epitome of all things man, testosterone has other significant physiological, as well as psychological effects on men.

But the thing with testosterone, like most other hormones, is that levels decline from the age of 30, meaning that once men reach their 50s and 60s, levels aren’t anywhere near where they used to be 1.

Because of this, men start to experience physiological and psychological symptoms associated with low testosterone, including decreased sex drive, erectile dysfunction, acute depression, fatigue, low energy, hair loss, and insomnia 3.

Apart from contributing to the development of male sexual characteristics, testosterone is also needed for:

  • Mood and behavior
  • Muscle growth
  • Body fat distribution
  • Bone health
  • Glucose metabolism
  • Heart health
  • Cholesterol metabolism
  • Red blood cell production
  • Sperm production

What Are Testosterone Boosters And Why Take Them?

Because of the environment we live in, testosterone levels are dropping in men of all ages, causing a notable increase in people looking for ways to boost testosterone levels without injections. It’s caused a drastic increase in sales of testosterone boosting supplements designed specifically for men struggling with low hormone levels.

Hormones are complex chemicals, and determining what affects them and why imbalances happen can be a big challenge, but there are a few reasons why testosterone levels could be declining faster than they should be. It’s called hypogonadism, and it’s classified into two types 4:

  • Primary hypogonadism: Results from underactive testes causing low testosterone production. Primary hypogonadism usually results from an inherited genetic trait or physical injury to the testes.
  • Secondary hypogonadism: Caused by damage to the pituitary gland or hypothalamus that regulates testosterone production. This type can also result from an inherited condition or disease, along with aging, obesity, medications, or concurrent illnesses.

For anyone struggling with hypogonadism, a testosterone booster is usually the go-to. If you’re going the natural route, testosterone boosters usually combine herbal compounds that support your body’s natural ability to produce testosterone; they tend to include vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals like zinc, which all play a key role in testosterone production.

However, we also have the androgenic steroid route that’s common for a lot of athletes looking to bulk up fast. They are synthetic derivatives of testosterone but have had many reports of numerous toxic and hormonal effects from long-term use 5.

But despite their typical muscle-boosting rep, testosterone boosters aren’t just designed to maximize muscle growth and strength.

For aging men, testosterone boosters can be a saving grace for age-related declines in androgen levels that result in low sex drive and poor sexual performance, along with hair loss, bone loss, and more.

And what you can find on the market now is far better than anything that was available 20 years ago. Generally speaking, they’re designed to:

  • Reduce cortisol levels that interfere with testosterone production
  • Restore missing nutrients required for testosterone synthesis
  • Enhance muscle growth and exercise performance
  • Elevate training intensity
  • Kill factors that increase estrogen levels

All of these work together to elevate your testosterone levels like you’ve never seen before.

What Happens When You Stop Taking Testosterone Boosters?

But like any other supplements on the market, the effects can’t last forever, so what happens when you stop taking them?

For most men, stopping testosterone boosters will revert them back to the state they were in before starting them.

Because most T boosters on the market are providing specific things needed to boost testosterone, removing them from the body means that it no longer has those precursors and thus cannot synthesize testosterone in sufficient amounts.

These supplements aren’t designed to raise or maintain testosterone levels permanently, so it’s only natural that things return to baseline when you stop taking them.

While the effects will differ between men, some symptoms that may reappear include:

  • More difficulty building muscle
  • Fatigue and low energy
  • Hair loss
  • Body fat accumulation
  • Impaired fertility
  • Mood swings

What To Do About It

Like we mentioned earlier, low testosterone can result from several factors. Primary hypogonadism may result from underactive testes, in which supplementation likely isn’t going to be all that beneficial, and speaking with your healthcare professional about a solution is recommended.

Secondary hypogonadism, on the other hand, that is caused by damage to the pituitary gland or hypothalamus that regulates testosterone production, as well as aging, obesity, medications, or concurrent illnesses, may be easier to treat through supplementation.

A lot of men who find themselves dealing with low testosterone don’t realize that their diet and lifestyle choices are drastically affecting their body’s ability to produce testosterone.

Things like lack of physical activity, a diet full of testosterone-killing foods, and poor stress management practices are all working against them to kill their hormones.

But there’s an easy fix.

Supplying your body with everything it needs to build testosterone—in addition to getting into a regular fitness program and managing your stress levels to support your body’s ability to actually produce it—can do wonders for boosting testosterone naturally without dealing with any of the nasty side effects.

That’s exactly what Testo Lab Pro® does. When combined with a good resistance training program, Testo Lab Pro® uses five powerful T-boosting ingredients to boost things that naturally increase testosterone and fight things that kill it.

Testo Lab Pro® unleashes a synergistic 2X surge in testosterone and masculinity by restoring missing vitamins and minerals required for testosterone synthesis and fighting feminizing factors that can deplete it. It contains ingredients proven to improve fat loss, muscle gain, and exercise performance across several different pathways.

The ingredients in Testo Lab Pro® team up on the same pathways to amplify the formula’s ↓ fat + ↑ muscle for better fat loss, training intensity, and muscle gain.

And if that’s not enough, Testo Lab Pro® boosts exercise capacity, and exercise itself boosts many of the same pathways that Testo Lab Pro® enhances for ultimate fat loss and muscle gain.

References

  1. AA Effect of testosterone boosters on body functions: Case report.Int J Health Sci (Qassim). 2018;12(2):86-90.
  2. SM Harman, EJ Metter, JD Tobin, J Pearson, MR Blackman. Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Longitudinal effects of aging on serum total and free testosterone levels in healthy men. Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2001;86(2):724-731.
  3. GR Cunningham, AJ Stephens-Shields, RC Rosen, et al. Testosterone Treatment and Sexual Function in Older Men With Low Testosterone Levels. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2016;101(8):3096-3104.
  4. P Kumar, N Kumar, DS Thakur, A Patidar. Male hypogonadism: Symptoms and treatment.J Adv Pharm Technol Res. 2010;1(3):297-301.
  5. L Fanton, D Belhani, F Vaillant, et al. Heart lesions associated with anabolic steroid abuse: comparison of post-mortem findings in athletes and norethandrolone-induced lesions in rabbits. Exp Toxicol Pathol. 2009;61(4):317-323.