Body won't respond to T

I’m 22 years old and have been diagnosed as hypogonadal with natural T levels around 350ng/dl. On Androgel, I was able to bring them up to 1290ng/dl for a period of about three months. Yet, I still had absolutely no libido, and I noticed no muscle gain.

Is it possible that there is someother hormonal imbalance in my body that is nullifying the effects of T?

i’ve posed this question many times and nobody seems to give a valid or detailed answer. one thought is this: get your estrogen levels checked,if they are too high,it could nullify the libido effects of testosterone. also check prolactin and cortisol.after you see the results you could determine if whether or not there in another problem. did you ever juice prior to your testosterone therapy;if so for how long and how long were you clean when you were recently tested? very important.
mxim

This is extremely unusual but your problem may be that you lack testosterone receptors…

Hey James,
Sorry about your problem but your T levels are pretty good. I’m curious.
Is that with 5g or 10g Androgel per day?

I would second getting estrogen, prolactin levels checked. See a good endo and ask for a comprehensive hormone profile. Also, how is your free test, the level you give is good for bound test but maybe your free test is still low…

I too was on androgel for a short time until I finally discontinued its use. Although, it brings your values up on paper it does very little for your sex drive. I’m on Depotestosterone now and couldn’t feel better physically. Use injections and you’ll notice the difference in a week.

Excellent replies, especially by E-Machine. My levles are in low 500 range and I have strange fluctuations in my Libido, low at night… strong in the morning. When my test was down to 360 I had very low libido all the time.

I focused on improving overall health and immune system but at your age come on, that is not the issue.

Androgel @ 10mg

Serum: 1290 ng/dL (normal 260 - 1000)
Free: 448.2 pg/mL (normal 50 - 210)
% Free: 3.5 %
Cortisol: 13.9 mcg/dL (normal 3 - 16)

I’m supposed to have Estradiol, AFP, and HCG levels checked on January 24th. That’s too long to wait, however, and my Endocrinologist is unwilling to switch me to injections. He also refused to let me continue the Androgel dosage that brought me to 1290. It was technically 10mg, but I began to use 15mg for a while out of frustration. His problem with it was that my LH and FSH levels where all tested and retested as “< 0.3 L”!

Androgel @ 5mg: (Endo’s demand)

Serum: 575 ng/dL (normal 300 - 950)
Free: 23.6 ng/dL (normal 9 - 30)
% Free: 4.1 % (normal 2 - 4.8)

… and without gel:

Serum: 351 ng/dL (normal 241 - 827)
Free (direct): 10.9 pg/mL (normal 9.3 - 26.5)
Prolactin: 8.9 ng/ML (normal 2.1 - 17.7)

All tests were done at different labs, hence the differing “normal” ranges.

Bump for James.

How was your E2? That may have something to do with your symptoms.