Another 19 YO with Low Testosterone

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
1

Hey guys, I am sure you are sick of seeing threads like this but I could appreciate your help. I have been doing a lot of research on this topic but I think it is about time to get some advice with my specific situation in hand. First comes first, here is some basics about me.

19 year old male
5’7 150 pounds
test levels= 495
free test= 86.8
LH= 2.8 (for some reason my test didn’t cover FSH)
estradiol= 17
hematocrit= 50.2 %
RBC= 5.71
b12= 869
DHEA= 350
vitamin d= 28 L

I recently went to my doctor to get these tests done. It was just a normal appointment, another trip to the doctors with little hope they could figure out what was wrong with me, but then I thought about testosterone, and had them check.

My doctor said word for word “that is pretty low for your age, I do not really want to give you shots though because I am worried about infertility problems”. At the time I had little to no education on TRT therapy so I kind of just nodded my head and agreed with her.

Anyways right now she “prescribed” me 5000 iu/d to help with my vitamin D deficency. A DHEA supplement, and a natural testosterone booster that is just a blend of herbs.

BTW my doctor is an MD, but specializes in hollistic medicine. I was a little suprised she brought up shots right away, but that might be a good sign.

A little more on my medical background. When I was 14 I contracted lyme disease and brain mengitis. Caught it early and I believe the antibiotics took care of that, but I have read that viral infections can damage the pituitary glands, therefore causing issues with testosterone.

I have also been a mild to medium recreational drug user since I was 16. Pretty much a lot of experimenting, but no addictions or abuse. For a year and a half I was completely clean from any drugs (excluding caffeine) from age 18, up until a month ago.

During this time being clean, these symptoms were still prevelant, and I always thought they were just damage I caused from drug use, but thinking about it, shares similar symptoms to low T.

Symptoms (from worst to mild):
Brain fog (absolutly horrible, its like I am in a dream)

Recently have been much more fatigued than usual, I sleep 10-11 hours a day and still have a hard time waking up, and I am exhausted halfway throughout the day.

Strength loss/hard time gaining muscle (This has been much more prevelant the last few months. I have lost considerable strength, especially in my compound lifts)

Lack of motivation. (I used to love and enjoy the gym, now its a chore and depresses me when I do bad)

Depression (can vary from mild to medium, but never truely suicidal)

Brain fog (I had to add this again because this symptom is ruining my life)

decreased concentration (cant focus on anything for more than a few minutes. I do believe I could have ADD though)

mild mood swings

reduced sex drive (today was the first day I said “Im not in the mood” to my girlfriend)
erections are slightly harder to get and I rarely have morning wood anymore

These are most of the main symptoms and the ones I can remember right now. Anyways I decided to post this today because I had a very low and depressing day. This whole situation is incredibly frustrating to me and I feel trapped and like I have no way out. Any advice would be wonderful.

I believe the reasonable thing to do would be to attack my low T naturally at first andcease my drug use (mild albiet not good for me), which I am doing. I am tweaking up my diet and eating healthier and keeping count of my macros. I am taking fish oil, adrenal essence, multivitamin, DHEA, this natural test booster, and vitamin D as well. I would love to take the easy way out and just take a shot of testosterone once a week, believe me. But i figure I have to do my body its due diligence and try to do this the natural way first.

Thank you, I apologize if this post is a little long, and if anyone needs anymore information I will be happy to oblige

2

Here is a more detailed lab report as I didn’t know you guys suggested to add in the range.

Total cholesterol= 130 range-- 125-170mg
HDL= 70 range= 31-65
LDL= 52 range= <110 mg
triglycerides= 39 range= 38-152mg

Glucose= 84 range= 65-99
hemoglobin Alc= 5.1% range= <5.7%

TSH= 1.67 range= 0.50-4.30
T4, free = 1.4 range= 0.8-1.8
T3, free= 3.5 range= 2.3-4.2
Globulin= 19 range 10-50
WBC count= 5.8 range=3.8-10.8
RBC count= 5.71 range= 4.20-5.80
Hemoglobin= 16.5 range= 13.2-17.1
Hematocrit= 50.2 range= 38.5-50%
(If you need more from this CBC let me know)

DHEA sulfate= 350 range = 24-537
LH= 2.8 range= 1.5-9.3
Estradiol= 17 range= <or = 39
Total test= 495 Range=250-1100
Free test= 86.8 range=35.0-155.0

Thanks!

3

See these 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

Thyroid: TSH could be lower. fT4 is good, fT3 is a bit above midrange which is good. Now check your AM and PM oral body temperatures as per the thyroid basics sticky and we will see if your fT3 is working as it should.

Low thyroid function, balance of many factors, has most of the same symptoms of low T, and it also seems to be a cause/contributor to low T. With low thyroid function, every cell and organ does not work well.

Total cholesterol is pathologically low. <160 is associated with increased all-cause mortality. Cholesterol is the foundation for all of the steroid hormone cascade and Vit-D3. Please eat more junk food :slight_smile:

4

LOL what KSman said. Your numbers are not really bad. I wouldn’t fret. Eat!

5

Hello guys! First of all I just wanted to thank both of you for taking time out of your day to respond to my thread! KSman, I have been lurking on these forums for a while and much of your advice has been very educational and I thank you for replying to me.

As for the stickies, I read through them a bit last night, but I will finish when I get home and update this thread with more of the information you need to help me better.

As for my thyroid, I will check my temperature tonight and I’ll follow the advice in regards to the sticky to help me figure out if I have a thyroid issue.

I was wondering if you could provide a little more information on my cholesterol? My doctor actually said that my cholesterol is perfect, but you said it is pathologically low. Is this something I should worry about and try to fix? I do eat a little junk food almost everyday and I do eat a lot of food, my diet isn’t perfect right now. This kind of cholesterol runs in my family. Is there anything I should do about it?

Any other information you can provide me would be wonderful. Also my friend said my estradiol level is low (17). Is that something I should worry about?

Thanks!

6

Very small update to my case so I can measure how I feel.

I feel absolutely miserable. Everyday im weaker and more tired in the gym. I can barely get through half my workout and my strength has dropped a lot. Im getting desperate. I try to keep a positive outlook on it but once I get to the gym and do bad I get so low. If my doctor prescribes me TRT should I just do that? Or not give up naturally and try to fix my problems with vitamins and such.

DIET:
I don’t eat the same things everyday, but I know for a fact I eat between 2000-2500 calories everyday, as I count on myfitness pal. About 150 grams of protein a day, consisting of chicken and eggs mostly. No soy products and I try to eat healthy complex carbs and fruit. Eat every 2-3 hours most days.

I hold my fat pretty even but it’s probably most note able around my stomach

WOW my waist is much bigger then I expected. 32.5 inches!

Overall, my body and facial hair is normal, I am a lot hairier than most people, my beard grows in pretty fast but it’s not full. Hair on my chest, stomach, back, legs, pretty much everywhere but it is not super hairy

My gym training has been very messed up lately as I haven’t had the energy to finish. But I usually do each muscle 2x a week with at least 2 days rest inbetween, OR each muscle once a week. I like to mix it up every few months, right now im doing each muscle group once a week:
Sunday: back/biceps/abs
Monday:shoulders and traps if I don’t do them on Sunday
Tuesday: rest
Weds:legs
Thursday; rest
Friday: chest and triceps
Saturday rest

My testicles have been having a dull ache/pain to them and today it’s more noticable.

7

Your testicles shouldn’t be achy. You should see a urologist if that’s the case. I don’t think your labs show TRT as the necessity. If you just want to be on it, be honest with us all. Some people seem to fish on here for reassurance that they need it when they don’t. You numbers are not bad enough that I would expect a 180 result from TRT. Thyroid makes more sense. And, a 32.5" waist is great. If you are taping correctly below the belly button. Pant size does not correlate to waist size.

8

I shall be honest. I like the easy way out, im not going to lie about that. Taking a shot once a week sounds great to me because it is the easy way out, but there’s a little guilt inside me that’s telling me I should attempt to do it naturally. I have mood swings, when I first made that update I was really upset and feeling like shit and was ready to take anything to fix it. Im a little calmed down now, and will try to get through this naturally.

Im just getting so much conflicted information from so many different sources that im very frustrated and overwhelmed.

Have you had any experience with this natural test booster I am on right now? Testoplex.
Proprietary blend:
Mungbean Powder, Green Oat Extract, Oat Bran Fiber, Stinging Nettle Extraxt, sea buckthorn.

This adrenal essence thing for my adrenals has:
Vitamin b6 25mg
Pantothenic Acid 50mg
Cordyceps extract
Rhiodiola extract
PABA
Asian ginseng extract

These are both from Xymogen.

I also take 5000 of vitamin D a day, a multivitamin and mineral vitamin with basically everything like zinc, boron, basically the normal you’d find.

And a DHEA supplement.

I will defiently do my body it’s due diligence and not hop on TRT right away without checking out thyroid or pituitary problems, sorry if I have been a little antsy
I have had a dull ache in my testes for a while, and I feel small little balls around my epididymal, I saw a doctor and he said they are probably bengn cysts. At the time I didn’t tell him that it hurt because back then it didn’t, now it’s a dull ache. I haven’t had the chance to see a urologist yet because I don’t have insurance. Will taking that test be incredibly expensive?

Also I’ve tried to add everything I saw on the stickies information wise. Is there anything else you suggest me adding or going into more detail about?

9

Please move on. My numbers were very similar to yours and initially my symptoms were like yours. Don’t get too involved with this, I did and symptoms got worse as I was obsessing over it. TRT didn’t help much with mood and maybe indirectly I got way worse in depression and mood issues. I have seen what actual depression during this time. I am going off it and now reclaim my life. Whatever you do, do it when you’re in a routine and detach this issue with your identity or life.

Your Ft is low, but that is not determinable by a direct free T test. You need to test albumin , SHBG and TT at the same time and calculate your free T.

10

At the top of my head I remember my albumin was high. About 5.2 I believe, just above the range. I’ll have to check about those other things too. And you’re right, I am obsessing over it. I am trying not too but right now im in the middle of quitting recreational drug use to see if that helps get my test levels back up. So im depressed from that (I started to develop a crutch) and doing bad in the gym is making me miserable. Thanks for your reply. Im definitely going to go down the natural route at this time

EDIT:
Here’s the info you asked for
Albumin= 5.2 range= 3.6-5.1
SHGB= 19 range= 10-50
TT= 495---- 270-1100 range

11

If body temps are low when fT3 is good, rT3 and adrenal fatigue are suspected. So what stresses you? Some times is it over-training. When young guys drive trough training with adrenalin when something is wrong, that is very stressful.

Doctors were told by drug reps that cholesterol is evil and more statin drugs should be used. But low cholesterol is quite harmful. Docs drank the cool-aid.

12

I don’t believe overtraining is the issue. I have been leaving my workouts halfway because I don’t have the energy. And im only working out 4x a week if that.

The only thing I can think of is my recent indulgence into recreational drugs. I was sober 2 years but the last two months I have been taking drugs to kind of self medicate all these symptoms. Not many hard drugs, the biggest contender would be Kratom, a legal opioid. Im sure it affected my levels a little but I doubt it was drastic? I used it maybe 20-25 times in the last two months. I had all these symptoms the two years I was sober too. Is Kratom something I should cut out completey? It’s helped me with my social life a lot as I use it as an alcohol substitute.

I eat healthy and get plenty of rest (8-11 hours a night) I take a ton of vitamins and was careful not to overdo my drug use this time, but I guess maybe when it comes to drugs, even legal things like Kratom and alcohol, it has to be cut out completey?

Also I feel like I can never get enough water. I feel Naseous a lot and usually thirsty most of the day. Told the doctor this but nothing really happened

I will take my temperature tonight and tomorrow morning

13

Opiods can affect hormones for sure. Especially since you are really within normalcy. As Equalo said, I doubt this will improve your quality of life.

14

I’ve been using them sparingly for a very short time. When I was sober for two years (of any drugs, I never used opioids back then) I’ve still had these symptoms

I guess only time will tell. Thanks for the help guys. Im going to check for thyroid issues, and see what’s caysing my balls to hurt.

Completely quitting any drug for a few months, and fixing my diet. Im getting tested in like a month, I’ll keep this thread updated every now and again. I’ve dealt with these symptoms for so long, I guess I can manage a little longer

15

If you have continued symptoms, there isn’t a great deal of harm in trying TRT if you get a doc to go along. Just make sure you follow the protocols on here with your supportive meds. With some HCG you should be able to maintain fertility if you want to get off of it in the short term (assuming it doesn’t fix your issues).

16

I’ve decided to give my body a little time to try and fix it naturally. 6-12 months before I make any decisions. I’d like to stay off any type of hormones until im at least in my late 20s, but if I just naturally have low T then that may just not happen. For now I am going to attack other ideas such as thyroid issues, GI tract (my GI track is really weird), diet and my drug use (which i hope to be non existent). If none of this helps me get to the levels where I want to be, I will talk to my doctor about TRT. I would really prefer to do all of that legally and through the supervision of a doctor, but you know how it goes sometimes. Anyways I want to thank everyone who posted on this thread. Blshaw, thanks for your input! I would like to get my T levels to around 800-900 naturally if possible. At my age I would hope its attainable. If not, I’ll take it from there.