Do Painkillers Cause Lower Testosterone Levels?
Marc Darrow, MD, JD. I see a number of patients who have advancing osteoarthritis but who are too young for joint replacement and are being managed for their joint pain until they are old enough for joint replacement. At the same time, they are losing hormones, gaining weight, and losing mobility. Typically, they have lower levels of activity, chronic pain, are becoming obese, and are on pain medications. They are, clearly, in a poor healing milieu. In our office we have seen many men who had a long history of opioid usage and display signs of low testosterone levels including,