corticosteroid: can also affect sex hormones and lead to catabolic state with collagen loss, collagen forms the matrix of bones. Connective tissue can fail, reports of some having Achilles tendon snap. Sometimes T is co-administered with corticosteroids to maintain a anabolic state - if doctors understand or care.
We need lots of lab data, you have provided very little.
Labs:
TT
FT
E2
LH/FSH
prolactin
CBC
hematocrit
SHBG - made in liver
CoQ10 - made in liver
fasting glucose - liver in the script
fasting cholesterol - made in the liver
TSH
fT3
fT4
rT3
See below re oral body temperatures to evaluate overall thyroid function.
Your PCP has no idea what he is doing. Note that LH/FSH can only be tested now before TRT is started. You do not even know if the problem is pituitary or testes. TRT never restarts natural production.
You need to understand your situation better. Perhaps there are lots of lab data that you can access. Sometimes TRT makes someone feel worse as the increased/restored metabolic demands of youthful T levels is more than other systems in the body can support. The most common situation is low thyroid function, but you may have multiple weak points.
"I do have low Vitamin D. " please post data and ranges!
Take 5000iu Vit-D3 per day, 25,000iu first 5 days.
Please read the stickies found here: About the T Replacement Category - #2 by KSman
- advice for new guys - need more info about you
- things that damage your hormones
- protocol for injections
- finding a TRT doc
Evaluate your overall thyroid function by checking oral body temperatures as per the thyroid basics sticky. Thyroid hormone fT3 is what gets the job done and it regulates mitochondrial activity, the source of ATP which is the universal currency of cellular energy. This is part of the body’s temperature control loop. This can get messed up if you are iodine deficient. In many countries, you need to be using iodized salt. Other countries add iodine to dairy or bread.
KSman is simply a regular member on this site. Nothing more other than highly active.
I can be a bit abrupt in my replies and recommendations. I have a lot of ground to cover as this forum has become much more active in the last two years. I can’t follow threads that go deep over time. You need to respond to all of my points and requests as soon as possible before you fall off of my radar. The worse problems are guys who ignore issues re thyroid, body temperatures, history of iodized salt. Please do not piss people off saying that lab results are normal, we need lab number and ranges.
The value that you get out of this process and forum depends on your effort and performance. The bulk of your learning is reading/studying the suggested stickies.