Just a little background here. I’m a 22-year-old male, 5’11", ~200 lbs, I’m currently a nursing student. Quite a loner. Virtually zero real friends, etc. I was on SSRIs for years when I was young but been off of them for years now. I take Adderall ~30 mg daily for ADD-PI
I’ve always been able to get aroused quite easily (In fact, a couple of years ago I would’ve considered myself hypersexual. Got aroused quite frequently and had very little refractory period after orgasms.
Lately, say, within the last 6 or so months, I had noticed a profound decline in my sex drive. Not only that, but I had begun to have just a general sense of decreased focus and attention, melancholy/low energy, radical mood swings, headaches, among other things. Coming from a medical background, when I thought about all the symptoms together, I thought they were pretty characteristic of low testosterone. I had my doctor order the test.
My results just came back:
Testosterone: 201 ng/dL (Reference range: 241-827)
Free Testosterone: 55.8 (Reference range: 47-250)
Sex Hormone Binding Globulin: 15.1 nmol/L (Reference range: 16.5-55.9)[/b]
He just ordered follow-up tests for prolactin, LH, and FSH. Still waiting for the results (I’ll update this later when they’re in). Pending those results, I’ll likely be sent to an endocrinologist.
So, being a bit of a hypochondriac and always the worrier, I’m all afraid I have high prolactin levels caused by a prolactinoma. I just can’t think of anything else that would suddenly lead to such a low testosterone level in a 22-year-old with generally good health. I know the prognosis is extremely good and that most of them don’t grow and can be treated, but it would still be the fact that I have a tumor in my head that would freak me the hell out.
An important aside: I’ve experimented with several nootropic supplements in the past (citicoline and l-theanine are the only two I have ever used over a clinically significant period of time; I used citicoline for quite a while), but have never even drank alcohol, smoked anything, or abused any substances.
Can you guys offer me any advice here? Any others here that were diagnosed with low T in their 20s, or even earlier (teens)? What was the cause, and how was it treated? Pros and cons of HRT with testosterone at my age? All of this is a lot to take in at the moment and it’s making me really anxious. My first concern is whether this can cause any sort of cognitive deficits in the long term? Most of my hobbies involve intellectual pursuits and my grandma has alzheimer’s with dementia and it’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen. I don’t want to lose who I am.
Halp 