Hey guys, I’m 18 yrs old and have quite a few hormone problems. 1 Year ago I got diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency, I had a growth hormone stimulation test and it said I wasn’t making much, if any. I also got an MRI of my head and found out I have a very small pituitary gland. I was put on Nutropin and have been on it for the past year.
2 Years ago I got my testosterone checked and it was ~220, I figured that was fine because I was 16, I just got my levels tested again and I was still ~220. My LH was 3.7 which is also fairly low. Estradiol was normal. My doctor wrote me a prescription for testosterone cypionate 75mg/week but I’m undecided on whether or not I need it.
My current symptoms are occasional depression, no assertiveness, fatigue, not nearly as strong as I look in the gym, no motivation, low libido (thats the main one). The thing is, I look very masculine, I have facial and body hair, very muscular (from the growth hormone probably), and I do get morning wood occasionally (not every day).
So my question to you guys is whether or not I should go on TRT at my age. It seems very intimidating being on something my entire life, having to use HCG to regain fertility, and controlling estrogen with AI’s.
Has then been any effort to understand why your pituitary is smaller then average? On this forum we strive to understand as best we can the problem causing the hormonal in balances. Having this knowledge provides us the direction that should be taken in order to best rectify the problem. I am 19 years of age and I suspect I have had low T throughout my development, so I can relate to some extent the situation you are in. You should read all the stickies addressed at the top of the message board for T replacement.
Learn about the key hormones involved in the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis and the thyroid, and how feedback systems work accordance to levels of these hormones. There is plenty to learn, but it is vital to understand what is going on in order to receive proper treatment. At 18 years of age, there are other options then just injecting testosterone. You can try to restart your HPA axis by taking a SERM such as nolvadex, which can help your body to start producing my testosterone by itself. With the aid of an aromatase inhibitor, it can be successful in fully restarting your system so that you can live your life drug free.
Of course if this does not work, there are other options such as HCG monotherapy and then lastly TRT.
I got my thyroid checked and it was perfectly fine. My estradiol and prolactin are also fine. I got an MRI to rule out pituitary tumor, I guess my pituitary is just small due to genetics. Two days ago I got a GnRH stim test and ACTH stim test to see how my pituitary responds to LHRH and ACTHRH and to see if i have primary or secondary gonadism. I guess that’ll see if the problem is in the hypothalamus, pituitary, or testes. I tried a clomid restart, I took it for 3 weeks and stopped because it made me horribly depressed, it got my T level to 400.
I don’t want to take nolvadex due to it’s carcinogenicity and taking carcinogens on HGH is probably a terrible idea. Also I was under the impression that HCG alone isn’t very effective because it doesn’t raise T enough, it raises estrogen too much, and it desensitizes the leydig cells to LH. I guess my question is do you guys think I need TRT or am I just a very late bloomer, that thought keeps crossing my head.