Misc Opioids weed and benzos; testosterone levels and building muscle

[LucidSDreamr]

I know that opioids and weed lowers testosterone which will lower your ability to build muscle. Not sure about benzos.

I have had my T levels tested and it is right in the middle of the normal range so not low.

Do these drugs have a detriment to building muscle (let’s say from weightlifting?) - assuming your testosterone level is still normal is there another reason any of these drugs would prevent you from building muscle (natural, no steroids).

Thanks.

 

[Pain_in_vain]

Besides biochemical changes that this 3 class of drugs cause in ones body I think the biggest problem could be in how they can modify behaviour. As I am not qualified to talk about pharmacology, I will give possible changes in behaviour that I experienced and that could negatively impact exercising (building muscle).

Opioids:

• if one has pain threshold increased while weightlifting then it can lead to overtraining and that can result in an exausted CNS or injury
• if one is injured taking more opioids will become more appealing and thus opioid use could escalate
• reinforcing negative habbit of not being in touch with ones body and signs/signals it sends that are very much needed for proper excercise/rest balance
• insulin disturbance that opioids cause is not in accordance with bodybuilding goals (if the goal is more muscle and lean physique)

Benzodiazepines:

• when lifting heavy weights being more prone to accidents, falls and injury would be my concern
• benzos are miorelaxants and being wobbly while lifting weights can lead to bad lifting technique
• they disturb most important phase of sleep and thus hinder recovery process
• they can cause behavioral disinhibition and make person more impulsive which can lead to bad judgement calls regarding excercise routine

Weed:

• in many cases can lead to significantly lessened motivation and focus
• weed induced increased apetite and eating suspect food at late hours can become a major obstacle to reaching set goals

Opioids and benzodiazepines affect most important systems in the body that successfull bodybuilding requires. Opioids are known to effect perception of pain which is crucial in bodybuilding, they mess up the intestines and slow up the methabolism. They may help to get you moving in the beginning but they are known to disrupt healthy sleep, fuck up insulin levels and tend to sedate people. Benzos mess with the most important inhibitory neurotransmitter (GABA) in the central nervous system by reducing neuronal excitability. That alone is in odds with muscle growth. It is in odds with any type of growth. Adding sleep disturbances, higher chance of injury and being impulsive while having false feeling that one is perfectly sober is big hinderance in bodybuilding. Both opioids and benzos are strong sedatives and if used long enough will make most people not excited or maybe even interested in such tasking endeavour as bodybuilding. Weed is also more often than not, especially in combination with opioids and benzos, type of drug that does not facilitate following through with types of behaviour that are based in discipline and strenuous physical activity. Combining these 3 drugs is contraproductive for bodybuilding in most people.

Having said all of the above your personal make up, possible health issues and true objectives, coupled with dosages and usage frequency can be factors that somewhat change this whole calculation. But depressants are in vast majority of cases directly oposed to goals that are needed to achieve to grow muscle without adding fat on top of them.

Sorry if my answer was not specific enough but I gave some insights based on my experience.

Nevertheless I truly hope that you will achieve your goals!

 

[LucidSDreamr]

Besides biochemical changes that this 3 class of drugs cause in ones body I think the biggest problem could be in how they can modify behaviour. As I am not qualified to talk about pharmacology, I will give possible changes in behaviour that I experienced and that could negatively impact exercising (building muscle).

Opioids:

• if one has pain threshold increased while weightlifting then it can lead to overtraining and that can result in an exausted CNS or injury
• if one is injured taking more opioids will become more appealing and thus opioid use could escalate
• reinforcing negative habbit of not being in touch with ones body and signs/signals it sends that are very much needed for proper excercise/rest balance
• insulin disturbance that opioids cause is not in accordance with bodybuilding goals (if the goal is more muscle and lean physique)

Benzodiazepines:

• when lifting heavy weights being more prone to accidents, falls and injury would be my concern
• benzos are miorelaxants and being wobbly while lifting weights can lead to bad lifting technique
• they disturb most important phase of sleep and thus hinder recovery process
• they can cause behavioral disinhibition and make person more impulsive which can lead to bad judgement calls regarding excercise routine

Weed:

• in many cases can lead to significantly lessened motivation and focus
• weed induced increased apetite and eating suspect food at late hours can become a major obstacle to reaching set goals

Opioids and benzodiazepines affect most important systems in the body that successfull bodybuilding requires. Opioids are known to effect perception of pain which is crucial in bodybuilding, they mess up the intestines and slow up the methabolism. They may help to get you moving in the beginning but they are known to disrupt healthy sleep, fuck up insulin levels and tend to sedate people. Benzos mess with the most important inhibitory neurotransmitter (GABA) in the central nervous system by reducing neuronal excitability. That alone is in odds with muscle growth. It is in odds with any type of growth. Adding sleep disturbances, higher chance of injury and being impulsive while having false feeling that one is perfectly sober is big hinderance in bodybuilding. Both opioids and benzos are strong sedatives and if used long enough will make most people not excited or maybe even interested in such tasking endeavour as bodybuilding. Weed is also more often than not, especially in combination with opioids and benzos, type of drug that does not facilitate following through with types of behaviour that are based in discipline and strenuous physical activity. Combining these 3 drugs is contraproductive for bodybuilding in most people.

Having said all of the above your personal make up, possible health issues and true objectives, coupled with dosages and usage frequency can be factors that somewhat change this whole calculation. But depressants are in vast majority of cases directly oposed to goals that are needed to achieve to grow muscle without adding fat on top of them.

Sorry if my answer was not specific enough but I gave some insights based on my experience.

Nevertheless I truly hope that you will achieve your goals!

This was a great answer and gave me plenty to think about.

When you refer to the effect on insulin; is that only affecting weight loss or also muscle growth? If muscle growth too…I’d like to look into the mechanism behind that.

 

[Pain_in_vain]

When you refer to the effect on insulin; is that only affecting weight loss or also muscle growth?

I was thinking mainly about weight loss (or maintaining same amount of fat while increasing muscle mass). But that can also be very different from opioid to opioid. As an example, on methadone I always get more fat and eating patterns become erratic...almost impossible to control. But when on morphine (pill form, oral only) I have much less problems with food cravings and can loose weight actually. But that is me and my experience. Although I have seen the same phenomenon in other people. But keep in mind that I speak only from experience and observstion. I have no scientific background to back things up. At least not very deeply.

 

[LucidSDreamr]

I was thinking mainly about weight loss (or maintaining same amount of fat while increasing muscle mass). But that can also be very different from opioid to opioid. As an example, on methadone I always get more fat and eating patterns become erratic...almost impossible to control. But when on morphine (pill form, oral only) I have much less problems with food cravings and can loose weight actually. But that is me and my experience. Although I have seen the same phenomenon in other people. But keep in mind that I speak only from experience and observstion. I have no scientific background to back things up. At least not very deeply.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Weight never have issues with because I’m skinny clean or not; diet is basically all salad/fish; and also do a lot of cardio training either way. I wouldn’t call what I’ve been doing the past 8 years abuse of any of these drugs…just keeping minimal doses to either deal with a non musculoskeletal related chronic pain condition or warding off withdrawl when I’m dependent. That describes my opioid history. Benzos are more sporadic but have become more common since I quit opioids completely a month ago or so.

Weed is sort of either all or nothing when I’m on or off it. But weed I’ve been using my whole life and never had it interfere with my motivation to do sports, work or studies; but it may very well interfere with my performance at doing those things.

Strength I have nothing though in that department.

 

[Pain_in_vain]

With the info you gave it seems that you are someone who can use substances as tools. I am sure you know this but it is always best to write it cause there are lots of young people reading BL and are actively trying to find threads/posts that will give an answer they are already seeking.

Here goes for lurkers and people in self denial - if you don't have very legitimate health issue for which they are truly life savers - keep away from benzodiazepines. I don't like how people are nowadays being aggressively tapered off or plain cut off but benzodiazepines are very dangerous substances if they are used for the wrong reasons. Give me several years of high dose of opioids or several years of therapeutic dosages of benzodiazepines - and I will take opioid withdrawal every time. I kicked morphine, buprenorphine and methadone but horror of kicking 3mg of clonazepam (and other time 30mg of diazepam) after few years of use was so horrifying that I couldn't! But got PTSD from trying anyway. And those is in the case of a year long tapering. GABA system is not something you ever want to disturb.This goes especially for young people under age of 25 cause disturbance that 2 years of benzo intake, even in therapeutic dose range, will be hard to fix cause brain is developing long after person is able to vote. And if one wires his/hers/"pronoun of choice" the developing nervous system with daily benzodiazepines flowing through the body reversing things could become life long mission and almost a guarantee for developing polysubstance addiction. If ones life is not in danger and benzodiazepines are a must - stay far far away. 4 weeks with tapering period included is upper limit for taking benzos to combat anxiety, insomnia, panic dusorder and other disorders that csn be treated with something else. I would rather give pharmaceutical grade opioid (morphine, oxycodone and methadone) for anxiolisis or sedative-hypnotic effects to an 20 years old person than a benzo script. Reader please be warned.

Now back to you... After a month of opioid free life this is the perfect moment to start excercising. Sporadic benzo or opioid use will not hinder your progress. On the contrary excercising is the most beneficial thing you could do to hasten recovery process and hinder relapse or benzodiazepine dependence. Make an excercise plann that will be most beneficial to your muscular system and go for stable functional strength - not looks. Consult an physician and hire a trainer for first few months if you can. Focus on the long term and make your health the only priority. Go for functional strength and looks will follow. If you are not a type of person that gets mass easily incorporate 5 grams daily of good old creatine. I firmly believe that if you put discipline and effort need for benzos (for psychological reasons) will fall away quickly. I would avoids opioids cause after long use 3 days in a row could put you in an dependent state. That is most obvious potential pitfall. But if you create training scheme that prioritises strengthening your known weak spots you could get great results. Modify your training according to your body response every few months and put balance and functional strength at the top of your pyramid. Other will follow...

Do your future self the biggest favour you can and start training as soon as practically possible. I will be cheering for you!

 

[brokedownpalace10]

Weed makes you lazy and gives you the munchies. I get more fit more easily when not smoking it.
However, if you focus on having it all, having the best of both worlds, it's doable. Every other drug ends with me not working out if I do it habitually.

 

[Pissed_and_messed]

What I have followed the studies, THC decreases testosterone for the duration of effects; but it bounces back immediately.

Lately I have also thought about relation of anti-inflammatory effects of cannabis to muscle building; If you want bigger muscles, you are supposed to tear em and cause inflammation. This is also why athletics have largely abandoned cold water treatment, even if it did enhance their recovery; it was not beneficial for muscle gains.