The invention relates to a method of reducing chronic inflammatory pain in a human subject with androgen deficiency symptoms, as defined in the instant invention, comprising transdermally administering a pain-reducing amount of a composition comprising a bioactive androgen to a human subject on a daily basis. The invention further relates to a method of increasing the pain threshold of a human subject having symptoms of androgen deficiency comprising transdermally administering a composition comprising a pain threshold-increasing amount of a bioactive androgen to a human subject with androgen deficiency symptoms on a daily basis. The invention may be used to treat both a female subject and a male subject in order to either alleviate chronic inflammatory pain or to raise the subject's pain threshold. In addition, the invention also relates to increasing the levels of endogenous opioid peptides in a human subject by administering an androgen composition to the subject. The invention also encompasses administration of a composition consisting essentially of an androgen for the treatment of chronic inflammatory pain, and for increasing the pain-threshold in a subject. Chronic inflammatory pain has at least two factors that can predispose a subject to such pain. A subject can have low testosterone, be borderline testosterone-deficient, or be testosterone deficient. If this subject enters a stressor state, chronic inflammatory pain can occur. A subject with normal androgen levels can also enter a stressor state, and chronic inflammatory pain can occur.
