If You’re New To Recovery, Watch This Before Choosing A Provider With Dr. Ravi ChandiramaniIf You’re New To Recovery, Watch This Before Choosing A Provider With Dr. Ravi Chandiramani
I Love Being Sober
Dr. Ravi Chandiramani joins Tim Westbrook to discuss hormones, peptides, stimulants and weight-loss drugs through an addiction-aware lens. The conversation highlights how biohacking trends can endanger sobriety and stresses the need for honest, integrative, and carefully supervised medical care in recovery.
1:08:40•6 Jan 2026
Truth, Hormones and Biohacking: Choosing Safe Care in Early Recovery
Episode Overview
- Early recovery thinking often drives people toward higher doses, so controlled substances like testosterone and stimulants carry extra relapse risk.
- Overusing testosterone can lead to testicular shrinkage, infertility, mood swings, and increased oestrogen-related problems in men.
- Unapproved or foreign-made peptides may be impure or contaminated, creating immune issues and other serious side effects.
- Working with addiction-informed, ethical providers and being honest about your history is crucial when considering hormones, peptides or weight-loss drugs.
- Lifestyle changes, targeted supplements, and integrative approaches can often improve hormones, cravings and energy without creating new dependencies.
“Patients are a doctor's customer. And that customer has the right to fire that doctor and find another doctor.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol and still be tempted by “quick-fix” wellness trends? This episode of *I Love Being Sober* digs into exactly that, with a sharp focus on how new forms of biohacking can quietly undermine recovery. You’ll hear naturopathic physician Dr. Ravi Chandiramani talk with host Tim Westbrook about testosterone replacement, peptide therapy, stimulants, and GLP-1 weight-loss drugs through the lens of addiction medicine. Dr.
Ravi has treated tens of thousands of people with substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders, and his biggest concern is simple: people in early recovery still tend to think, “If 10 milligrams is good, 50 milligrams is better.” As he warns, “More is not always better, right?
That’s simply not the case.” The conversation looks at how hormone therapy and trendy treatments can become a new slippery slope if doctors don’t understand someone’s addiction history—or if the patient hides it. Tim shares his own story of shoulder surgery and being prescribed opioids without disclosing he was newly sober, and how easily that could have led to relapse. Dr.
Ravi breaks down real risks: overusing testosterone can shrink testicles and cause infertility, mood swings, and gynecomastia; unapproved peptides from overseas may be contaminated and trigger immune problems; stimulants like Adderall, Vyvanse and phentermine can reignite old patterns for those who “like stimulants and alcohol.” At the same time, he explains how integrative medicine, careful hormone testing, lifestyle changes, and safer options like NAD+ or GLP-1s can genuinely support long-term recovery when done with the right provider.
The heart of the episode is a clear message: treat your recovery and your health as a team effort, and don’t be afraid to “fire” a doctor who doesn’t listen. If you’re thinking about hormones, peptides or weight-loss meds in sobriety, what kind of provider do you want on your side?
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