Hey guys,
First time poster, long time user of the site. Any advice given would be greatly appreciated as this has been hard to deal with, especially from you “@KSman”
I’m 27 years old living in Australia and have been suffering from low T symptoms since I was a teenager. Some of the symptoms include
-major fluctuations in energy
-Massive mood swing. At times I feel depressed and then other times I feel fine.
-Brain fog
-Major libido and erection problems, and have had them since I was a teenager.
In the past I have approached a few doctors but given my age they all shrugged it off as if I was being silly. Mood and energy changes day by day, but it’s my libido and erection problems that have given me the most problems. Very low libido, have problems getting it up and keeping it up. In a month I would be lucky to have 1 day where I have morning wood.
In the past I have gone through periods where it seemed like my sex drive way good and i didn’t have a problem getting it up, although I can’t remember I was getting morning wood then. But these periods are short lived.
I’m really active and into the gym, I look super fit and pretty muscular (although not huge), so I guess through my teenage years I never questioned testosterone being an issue. During my workouts I’m fine, but after I can regularly crash for the whole day.
I’m seeing a doctor right now about this, and am getting labs done, although I won’t have them for a couple of weeks. Although I’m in a tricky situation as I don’t have a lot of money and am in the public system in Aus, so seeing a specialist can mean waiting upwards of 6 months. The doctor I’m seeing right now realizes this and has been trying to help me but he’s not an expert in this area. I realise you guys can’t help me either until I get some results up on here.
I wanted to ask about body temperatures though. Since reading on here I’ve been regularly checking morning and afternoon temps and I def seem low. I’ve been checking orally with 2 different thermometers (although they’re pretty cheap ones) and the highest afternoon temp I’ve got is 36.8 degrees celcius, with the rest being more like 36.5 or 36.6. My morning temps seem super low, with readings like 35.8 and 35.9. The highest morning temp I’ve got is 36.1. Again, I know you guys are running blind until I get labs up, but those temps are def low right?? I use iodized salt regularly, but I only started when I read an article on here from TC Luoma about iodine deficiency a few years back. I was thinking I may have always had a deficiency and adding in iodized salt just wasn’t strong enough to overcome it. Any help would be great.
Is iodized salt available in all grocery stores there?
Have you read about selenium?
Was wife/GF or kids exposed to low iodine before. Their body temps are OK now?
If you do thyroid labs, they will probably all be ‘normal’ and most docs see no problem. There can also be problems with over training and other stress factors. Driving through training with low energy typically is fueled by adrenalin in younger guys, stresses the adrenals. See related in the thyroid basics sticky.
As this is long term… if labs for LH/FSH [both please] are low, follow up testing prolactin which if high lowers LH/FSH. Cause then probably prolactin secreting pituitary adinoma which then is easily managed with 0.5mg/week Dostinex/cabergoline.
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.
Yes iodized salt is available in all grocery stores, I’ve been using it at home for the past couple of years. I’m not sure if wife and kids are iodine deficient, but my partner doesn’t seem to suffer from the symptoms described. Also read about selenium in the stickies but other than occasionally eating a few brazil nuts in the mixed bag i regularly buy i’m probably not getting enough. Like i said, i’ve been regularly taking temps and they seem low, especially in the morning, eg, 35.8, 35.9, 36.1.
I am doing some labs this week, so will be able to put up ranges for TSH, LH, FSH, prolactin, as well as TT, FT and morning cortisol. Unfortunately he did not put down to test E2. The doctor i’m seeing is bulk billing me and is being pretty good about it, but it’s difficult to dictate to him what i want tested. We did some earlier labs (which i dont have with me right now) and he only wanted to test TT, CBC, TSH, Vit D, and i think a liver test. he said everything came back within normal range, but i will ask him for a print off when i see him next. The annoying part was he didn’t seem to think i needed any more testing than that. I didnt specifically see the results but he did say my TT was about in the middle. Again i will ask if i can have a print off to put up here.
Again, thanks for the help… i don’t think the doctor is going to be much help and actually said my symptoms were in line with depression, but he’s agreed to do the other tests.I’m afraid all labs will come back within normal ranges and he won’t want to do anything about it.