Testosterone Dosages for Treatment of MS

Multiple sclerosis causes the body's immune system to attack the nerves, eventually leading to neurological symptoms like memory impairment and coordination loss. MS affects twice as many women as men, leading to speculation regarding the role of sex hormones in the disease.

Sex Hormones and MS

• Women with MS tend to display less severe symptoms when pregnant. The female sex hormones progesterone and estrogen may cause this recession.

  Testosterone and the pregnancy hormone estriol proved effective in laboratory treatments of an animal model of MS called experimental allergic encephalomyelitis.

Testosterone Research Study

• In 2007, researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA conducted a study of testosterone treatment for 10 men with a common form of MS called relapsing-remitting.

Dosage

• Each of the 10 men received a topical gel daily that contained 100 mg of testosterone. Dosage lasted for a year.

Results

• Brain atrophy in the studied men had slowed by 67 percent at the end of the trial. Cognitive tests improved by 5 percent. The men gained an average 1.7 kg of muscle mass during the year.

  Despite these positive results, more clinical testing needs to happen to determine the efficacy of testosterone on MS.

Treatment in Women

• Testosterone has not been tested on women with MS. Women may not want to pursue testosterone treatment because of its masculinizing side effects such as facial hair growth.

  A clinical study currently underway may prove that estriol treatments have a similarly beneficial reaction in women with MS.