I’m new to this forum, been a long time lurker. Recently I was diagnosed with low T. Really low t. I am 28 and have been training for about 12 years, drug free. I have pretty decent genetics which I am extremely thankful for. Anyway, last summer I got pretty sick and was put on some mega doses of corticosteroids. This pretty much killed my natural T. Hair was falling out, balls were shrinking, and I though I was turning asexual as I didn’t even feel like look at porn let alone doing my wife.
Anyway, I got better (albeit my T levels) and decided to start training again. The protocol was standard heavy lifting, minimal cardio, and only a couple big meals a day. No 10 meal a day, waste time in the kitchen eating plans. Just big portions at the right times. Anyway, here is my before and after:
Left (Before): 8/16/12 @ 158 lbs
Right (After): 3/29/13 @ 192 lbs
Now, my Free Test level was 3.2 at 8am on 3/16/13. (the minimum for the lab range was 9, that being representative of an 80 year old man). So needless to say, I have virtually no free test. Not trying to boast, but I feel I added a significant amount of mass. Is test absolutely essential for muscle growth or is it just a catalyst? Are there other equally important factors that make up for naturally low t levels? I am on TRT now, I feel great but I am just wondering about my future and continue TRT inevitably.
Where has your libido been lately?
What changes to your complexion, acne etc?
Changes to hair/beard growth?
How have testes changes in terms of size, firmness and hanging?
What is going on with mood, energy and initiative?
The only lab work done so far is was for Free Testosterone. I have a follow up visit in a couple weeks where I will request more detailed lab work.
My Results:
3.2 9.3-26.5 PG/ML Low Final WARDE
REFERENCE RANGE:
AGE MALE
20-29 YRS 9.3-26.5 PG/ML
30-39 YRS 8.7-25.1 PG/ML
40-49 YRS 6.8-21.5 PG/ML
50-59 YRS 7.2-24.0 PG/ML
60 YRS AND OVER 6.6-18.1 PG/ML
REFERENCE RANGE FEMALE:
AGE FEMALE
20-59 0.2-2.2 PG/ML
60 YRS AND OVER 0.0-1.8 PG/ML
[quote]KSman wrote:
Please read the advice for new guys sticky.
post all of your lab work with lab ranges.
total T
SHBG
LH/FSH
You may be genetically not normal.
Where has your libido been lately?
What changes to your complexion, acne etc?
Changes to hair/beard growth?
How have testes changes in terms of size, firmness and hanging?
What is going on with mood, energy and initiative?
corticosteroids do some horrible things.
[/quote]
My Libido has increased, about back to normal levels- but definitely not horn-dog status.
Body hair seems to be coming back/increasing.
Testes are close to the body, but they were close before TRT. However, before corticosteroids the hung nicely.
My mood has been the most dramatic change since starting TRT. Focus, patience and overall good mood has increased tremendously.
[quote]seekonk wrote:
Was that a saliva test? Saliva tests are worthless in general, so your test could be anything.
If a blood test, it may have been just a lab error. I hope you didn’t decide go on TRT based on just that one test. [/quote]
This was a blood test. I did start AndroGel because this test result AND the overall symptoms of low T.[/quote]
One test is not sufficient reason, and I thought the symptoms were getting better, or weren’t they? The symptoms could have easily been from being sick or from the costicosteroids, and the corticostroids could have affected T, but not permanently.
When did you get off cortocosteroids, and did you give enough time for your T to recover after getting off corticosteroids? Did you stop them with a proper taper?
[quote]seekonk wrote:
Was that a saliva test? Saliva tests are worthless in general, so your test could be anything.
If a blood test, it may have been just a lab error. I hope you didn’t decide go on TRT based on just that one test. [/quote]
This was a blood test. I did start AndroGel because this test result AND the overall symptoms of low T.[/quote]
One test is not sufficient reason, and I thought the symptoms were getting better, or weren’t they? The symptoms could have easily been from being sick or from the costicosteroids, and the corticosteroids could have affected T, but not permanently.
When did you get off cortocosteroids, and did you give enough time for your T to recover after getting off corticosteroids? Did you stop them with a proper taper? [/quote]
I stopped corticosteroids around August '12. There was a taper, 5mg per week (starting at 40mg). So yes, I have been off cortico’s for a long time. However, I was looking better physically but not feeling my normal self until I started the TRT about 2 weeks ago. I guess my real question is why did I experience the symptoms of low t, test positive for low free t, but still build a decent amount of mass over the past 7 months?
I am not experienced with interpreting lab data but based on my limited knowledge of Testosteron and it’s effects on the body I have come to two possible coclusions. 1) You are a genetic freak! lol 2) Your test was faulty as I cannot fathom how anyone could make those incredible gains with virtually no free test.
[quote]Hook24 wrote:
I am not experienced with interpreting lab data but based on my limited knowledge of Testosteron and it’s effects on the body I have come to two possible coclusions. 1) You are a genetic freak! lol 2) Your test was faulty as I cannot fathom how anyone could make those incredible gains with virtually no free test. [/quote]
Thanks! Well, I think I have come to some general ideas of what could have been going. 1. I have some muscle memory going on. When I started lifting at 16, I made incredible gains. I was religiously strict with everything from sleep to diet. That coupled with natural puberty lead a physique of 160 lbs at less less 5% body fat. Probably lower, my glutes where shredded like a pro. After that phase ended around college time I kept an above average composition, but I was way more lax and hovered around 8-10% bf, while fluctuating between 170 and 180 lbs. 2. The Free T blood work was inaccurate. While I believe there may have been an issue (my dad has very-low to no t), 3.2 is close to female levels. I think I would have felt much worse than I was feeling if my t was as low as the lab results claim. 3. My growth hormone must have been through the roof! Anyway, I’ll be working with a endocrinology doctor that specializes in this crap. Hopefully we can sort this out. In the mean time, 5g of AndroGel is making me feel great! Thanks for all the insight guys.