34 and May Need TRT?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Over 35 Lifter
1

Hey everyone. I’m new to the forum and would like to say I have learned alot in the past few weeks I have been lurking on this site. First, a little bit about me:

I’m 34, 195 lbs and 13% BF. Been lifting for about two years. I eat healthy, rarely drink and have never used steroids. Over the last year or so I seem to have become over emotional. The type of emotional where I damn near want to cry when I see something sad on TV. About six months ago I noticed that one of my nipples became swollen and was very sensitive. That has since gone away but I am still feeling very over emotional.

I recently went to see the doctor since I have had a lack of energy and my libido has become very low. He did a blood test to check my test. level, thyroid and liver. He called me back in a few days later saying that my testosterone level was on the low side but I didn’t get any numbers. I’m not even sure the he checked my E2 level. He said that alot of people feel fine with my levels but he thought I should start TRT. I now realize that I was nieve in saying OK so quickly without fully understanding what TRT truely was.

The nurse gave me a shot of test and told me to come back in a month. She said if I begin to feel a crash, to come back in three weeks. Well, I felt good for about five days. Better energy and I got wood if my GF even winked at me. Then I began to feel worse than before. I feel like curling up in a ball and crying like a little girl.

I upped my dr. appointment by two weeks and going to talk this over with him and try to get all the numbers from my blood work and to see if he even checked my estrogen levels. Thanks to this thread, I am armed with a bit more knowledge and have printed some info off for the dr. to look at.

Is it possible to have test levels on the low side and have high E2 levels and feel this way? I am wondering if my estrogen is way high and causing me to feel like an eight year old girl. Sorry for the long post but I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed and scared by the thought of having to go through TRT the rest of my life. Does anyone know a good dr. around Spokane Washington? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

2

Well don’t be scared I’m 35 and after two years of screwing around with supplements, Androgel, solo Adex, etc… I finally realized that I’m just going to have to go on TRT. I’m still dealing with E2 issues but everyone does at the start.

  1. Google this, study it, and follow it. Anything else is reinventing the wheel. I just saved you about 9 months of Dr hell. “MY CURRENT BEST THOUGHTS ON HOW TO ADMINISTER TRT FOR MEN”
  2. Endos suck as does your current Dr. What he’s doing to you is crazy. Once a month is just nuts. How much did he shoot you with? 400mg? I bet you were walking wood for a while. Everyone goes through that before you shut down and start making excess E2.
  3. Spokane is a tough market. (I’m in Portland and there are options here) Do you need insurance to cover it? If not you have options.

Overall just relax and realize that this is something that will make your life a lot better when you square it away. I wouldn’t waste time looking for a magic bullet that will fix this because there isn’t one. Plus TRT is something that you’ll spend a total of about 20 minutes a week dealing with.

3

[quote]ta406 wrote:
Hey everyone. I’m new to the forum and would like to say I have learned alot in the past few weeks I have been lurking on this site. First, a little bit about me:

I’m 34, 195 lbs and 13% BF. Been lifting for about two years. I eat healthy, rarely drink and have never used steroids. Over the last year or so I seem to have become over emotional. The type of emotional where I damn near want to cry when I see something sad on TV. About six months ago I noticed that one of my nipples became swollen and was very sensitive. That has since gone away but I am still feeling very over emotional.

I recently went to see the doctor since I have had a lack of energy and my libido has become very low. He did a blood test to check my test. level, thyroid and liver. He called me back in a few days later saying that my testosterone level was on the low side but I didn’t get any numbers. I’m not even sure the he checked my E2 level. He said that alot of people feel fine with my levels but he thought I should start TRT. I now realize that I was nieve in saying OK so quickly without fully understanding what TRT truely was.

The nurse gave me a shot of test and told me to come back in a month. She said if I begin to feel a crash, to come back in three weeks. Well, I felt good for about five days. Better energy and I got wood if my GF even winked at me. Then I began to feel worse than before. I feel like curling up in a ball and crying like a little girl.

I upped my dr. appointment by two weeks and going to talk this over with him and try to get all the numbers from my blood work and to see if he even checked my estrogen levels. Thanks to this thread, I am armed with a bit more knowledge and have printed some info off for the dr. to look at.

Is it possible to have test levels on the low side and have high E2 levels and feel this way? I am wondering if my estrogen is way high and causing me to feel like an eight year old girl. Sorry for the long post but I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed and scared by the thought of having to go through TRT the rest of my life. Does anyone know a good dr. around Spokane Washington? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[/quote]

Starting HRT at your age isn’t the end of the world… I have ranted on before on how much better your life will be for many more years than most of your friends. (see previous posts)

I also was crying at T.V. commercials and found out my E2 was high, and my T was low. Your body fat percentage isn’t bad technically unless you’re less than 5’8 tall and carrying it in your gut. (just a guess)
The less T we have, the more E2 we generate. It’s a cruel trick of being a man and starting to “age”

You either need a new doctor, or need to carry a printout of Dr. Criser’s HRT protocols to your doctors office and don’t take “no” for an answer.
One T shot a week at the bare minimum, not one a month, not one every two weeks, but at least one a week. Twice if you really twist the doctor’s arm…
Of course, the best plan is do your own shots and pick your own schedule. Hopefully soon your doctor will allow you to do that.
If you have any more questions, feel free to PM me.

KNB

5

Thank you guys very much for the replys and the encouragement. I think the shot I received was 300mg. And thankfully I have good insurance that will hopefully cover everything. I’m 5’9 and most of my BF is carried around my gut.

I did read and make a copy of Dr. Criser’s HRT protocols along with some great posts I have found on this forum to give to my doc. I currently don’t have children but want to some day so shutting down my testes is not an option. Should I consider getting my sperm count checked during TRT?

I was reading that HCG will prevent the testes from shutting down so I guess this may not be the end of the world but hopefully the start of a new and improved life.

I go back to the doc tomorrow and I am going to discuss some options with him and try to get my blood work readings to post. Hopefully you guys could take a look at them and tell me what you think. I also think that I will try to fine another doc that deals with TRT to get another opinion.

Thanks again!

6

My advice at your age would be to stop everything, and check your E2 level. You can order the test from Lef.org for about $30.00
Get your E2 in the low 20’s and see how you feel.
If you still feel bad, than explote Test therapy.

Most important ( and hardest part) is to find a good doc. Get your total and free 'T" #'s and post them. That will give everybosy a better idea of your situation.

7

I agree about getting your E2 in the mid to low 20’s, but don’t mess with your blood levels yourself unless your current doctor won’t budge for an AI like adex.

Yes, high E2 will make you feel crappy, but make the doctor do his job before you start doing it for him.

You can potentially raise your T levels by adding an AI yourself, but then you skew the results of the blood tests.

Please don’t misunderstand me, if you have to self medicate, you have to self medicate. But, make your doctor earn his money first whenever possible.

8

I agree with you guys 100%. I’m not getting another needle stuck in my a@# till I get the blood tests I need. If my current dr wont work with me (I think he will) I will find another.

I would rather not self medicate but as I’ve been reading in some of these threads, sometimes doctors leave people no choice which is sad. I am going to explore all my options before I start TRT. I will post my test results as soon as I get them.

Another thing I would like to ask is has anyone ever heard of Lunesta causing or accelerating these types of problems? I just read a clinical study that showed that (although uncommon) it has shown to cause decreased libido. Maybe I’m one of the unlucky ones. I’m going to talk this over with my dr. too.

I have been suffereing from shift work related insomnia for close to two years. I have been taking Lunesta for the past six to eight months. I take a week or so break from the Lunesta every now and then take OTC sleep aids. I have recently switched to Ambian.

I am hoping to get off of shift work in the next couple of months which I’m sure will help my situation. I’ve tried supplements like ZMA, melatonin, Z-12 which help a little but don’t quit do the trick.

I appreciate everyones input. Suddenly things don’t seem so bad.

9

If you want to try Adex as a solo treatment you may be able to make it work for you. I tried it and found the sweet spot was just to hard to hit. I would take .5mg every three days with these results.

(This after a month) Day of dose nothing, second day felt like total crap, around noon the day before my next dose I would start to feel pretty good. I tried dropping it to 1/4mg every three days but it didn’t work at all. I think if you raise your T the sweet spot becomes larger and easier to hit.

10

[quote]ta406 wrote:
I agree with you guys 100%. I’m not getting another needle stuck in my a@# till I get the blood tests I need. If my current dr wont work with me (I think he will) I will find another.

I would rather not self medicate but as I’ve been reading in some of these threads, sometimes doctors leave people no choice which is sad. I am going to explore all my options before I start TRT. I will post my test results as soon as I get them.

Another thing I would like to ask is has anyone ever heard of Lunesta causing or accelerating these types of problems? I just read a clinical study that showed that (although uncommon) it has shown to cause decreased libido. Maybe I’m one of the unlucky ones. I’m going to talk this over with my dr. too.

I have been suffereing from shift work related insomnia for close to two years. I have been taking Lunesta for the past six to eight months. I take a week or so break from the Lunesta every now and then take OTC sleep aids. I have recently switched to Ambian.

I am hoping to get off of shift work in the next couple of months which I’m sure will help my situation. I’ve tried supplements like ZMA, melatonin, Z-12 which help a little but don’t quit do the trick.

I appreciate everyones input. Suddenly things don’t seem so bad.

Have you tried 5-HTP? aka tryptophan? It makes a lot of sleepy and compliments melatonin. It’s cheap too. PM for source.
[/quote]

11

Thanks for the 5-HTP tip. Tried it with melatonin and kava kava and it worked pretty well. I would love to get off perscription and OTC sleep aids for good.

Just got back from the doctor. He didn’t check my estrogen level with the first blood test. So with todays test their checking total and free test., estrogen, LH and something else but don’t recall off hand. I asked the doc what my test. level was from the first test and he said 615. Not sure how it was measured. When they call back with the latest lab tests I will try to get all the levels from both tests and post them.

Thanks for the replys.

12

If your TT was 615 you really need to see your full labs. I seriously doubt you are going to need full blown TRT. You must have an E2 issue, low DHT, high bSHBG, or something strange going on. What were the ref ranges on the labs? I started to have issues when my TT was 525 and free 74 so I suppose it’s possible.

13

Also when did you get your 300mg T shot? If you’re trying to figure out where you are naturally your going to have to wait quite a while. At least a month or more. If I were you I’d go clean for two months, run the labs Crisler recommends, and for labs run a blood lab and a Rhein 24 hour urine to compare apples to apples.

14

The T shot was given to me two days after the blood test was taken. The lab said the my test. level of 615 was using a range of 400 to 1080. That range is what they consider normal.

I will post my complete results when I get them but I hope that helps.

15

The T shot was given to me two days after the blood test was taken. The lab said the my test. level of 615 was using a range of 400 to 1080. That range is what they consider normal.

I will post my complete results when I get them but I hope that helps.

16

Ah ok. That’s the same range as the last set of labs I got. Quest is 250-1200? I guess you are low then.

17

Well I finally got a phone call with my lab results. They are also going to send me a copy but here are the numbers I got over the phone.

LH- .4 (1.7 to 8.6)
FSH- .6 (1.4 to 11.2)
Esterone- 63 (80 or less)
Estrodial- 33 (56 or less)
Total Estrogen- 96 (136 or less)
Free Test.- 16.9 (5 to 40)

This test was taken two weeks after the 300 mg shot of test so I’m not sure how relevent they will be. I think that may be the reason that LH ans FSH are low? And maybe why estrogens are high?

I requested E2 but for some reason it wasn’t tested for. I still have the same old symptoms, ED/no libido, moodiness, brain fog, can’t concentrate.

What can you guys make of this? I think I am going to give myself a month or so then order the test from lef.org and get retested. I have been sleeping better, and have flushed to Lunesta down the toilet so hopefully this will help also.

18

300mg of T will take a month to clear and then you need to wait at least another month for your body to go back to baseline LH and FSH.

They did test your E2. It’s the 56 or less one. 33 isn’t horrible but it’s not great either. I believe KSman had E2 issues at 37.

All you’ve done with one 300mg T shot is jack yourself up. If you’d like good baseline labs I’d wait 2.5 months. If you just want to move forward then use the typical protocol that’s working for others and be patient.

Patients is key. I can tell you from my own lack of patients you need to make a plan and stick to it. I think your initial response to TRT was promising so you’re probably on the right path.

Remember to that some people take months to see full results.

19

Im on 100mg of test a week…switching to 200…do I just jump right to 200… ?? next injection ?