Does testosterone increase cortisol's effects on the brain?

treehouse

I read in Dr. Ivy's book* that testosterone blocks the effects of cortisol and causes cortisol levels to rise in response to this cortisol resistance but has a net pro-anabolic effect (I guess in part because it blocks cortisol's catabolic effects and the body will not totally normalize the effects of cortisol on the body in response to testosterone-induced cortisol resistance). What I'm wondering is, "Does testosterone make the brain resistant as well, or does it suffer all the usual effects of elevated cortisol?"

Note that such 'cortisol resistance' is not equivalent to the medical diagnosis; in this context, it refers only to a directional sensitivity to cortisol.

*http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-0...es-leg-up.html

Moonbear

You're going to need to explain a lot more context here. The link you provided wasn't to a book, or anything about steroids. It was a news report about a study on milk vs. energy drinks following exercise. Looking at that author's publication history in PubMed, that seems to be the extent of his expertise, quite a lot of studies focusing on proteins vs. carbohydrates on different parameters of muscle function, development and injury under various exercise conditions. I see nothing that has anything to do with any role of steroids in his publications.

So, what conditions is he saying have to do with this testosterone-induced cortisol resistance? That's not a "normal" condition, so what are the experimental conditions cited? (Does he provide a reference in his book?) Without knowing more, I can't even begin to answer your question about whether this is a global effect, an effect at the hypothalamic level, pituitary level, or adrenal level.

Galteeth

It is not testosterone per ce, but 5-Dehydroepiandrosteron (DHEA).