Endurance Athlete. Low test, TRT?

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
1

hi all,
im an endurance athlete, im pretty sure i’ve overtrained in my past but i’ve just come off a good break and a month or so more of little heavy endurance stuf thanks to a bulging disc, only 3 hour bike rides and below threshold.

anyway this year i’ve been creeping, i get tired really easily and i dont recover. i cant gain muscle for shit and i have less and less anaerobic capacity because of it.

i’ve had a series of blood tests and most show low test 6nmol for instance. and a lh of 2 (where ref range is 1-7) - these arent that hot for a dude in his mid 20s.

EDIT more blood results
test 6nmol
LH 2iu/l (ref 1-7)
Free t4 13.4 pmol/L
FSH 3 iu/L
prolactin 119 Miu/L
TSH 3.8 Miu/L

ive tried everything, less training, more lifting, high fat diet helps a bit, magnesium and vit d do a little bit as well.

i was working with a team doctor but the the tema pretty much folded on me. we were going through the process of getting a TUE for HRT as without one i’ll get a positive on dope tests. plus with going between europe and the US i really sont want to rely on synthetic test for the rest of my life lest i slip out of healthcare coverage.

that siad where i am right now i can get hrt otc (i live in spain) or i think i can. if it ook it with medical supervision, would i become reliant upon it? is there anything you can suggest that i could use which wouldnt have this outcome?

for reference im 190cm tall 70-72kg, 24 years old. The sticky also asked me to outline my diet; i eat LOTS of fruit and vegetables, not masses of refined carbs but not a low carb diet either, i just base my meals around veggies, lean protein and a slice or 2 of bread. lots of fruit, lots of lowfat dairy. 1 or 2 eggs for breakfast and nuts for snacks. i also do eat little marzipan/turron/roscos cookies before training so im pretty sure i get enough fat. i like liver/tripe/offal as well.

fat carriage, around the hips and oddly on my chest, but that may be my posture?
facial hair, some but it’s a bit thin and fine.

training 12-20 hours light cardio a week, 2-3 hours stretching/core 1-2 ours weights.

I’ve looked over the stickies and it seems that by and large HRT is for life, i was wonderinf if, given these results, something like HcG would be an option?

2

Hi fcbarca…

first, please read through the sticky threads as they will answer 90% of your questions and provide you with answers to questions you didn’t even know to ask.

second read through a couple of other threads to see how conversations go around here.

third, come back here and post some additional information (per the stickies) and rephrase your questions based on what you learned in the stickies.

fourth, hopefully receive some helpful advice.

welcome and good luck.

3

thank you, i tried to edit my post a bit and had a read of the stickies. they did confirm that basically HRT is for life. i saw some things about aromatose inhibtors and HcG which i didn’t fully grasp. am i still barking up the wrong tree.

sorry for not including ref ranges with the labs, i have included them where they are given on the printout.

4

Your TSH is very high and matches your symptoms so I would suggest focusing first on your thyroid.

please consider reading 18 Summaries of Things We Have Learned - Stop The Thyroid Madness

You also need more tests before jumping into HRT including free T4, Free T3, Reverse T3, 8am cortisol, ferritin, and Vit D-25-OH (others like estradiol, SHBG, B12, DHEA-S among others are also helpful).

5

thanks mate, will do as you suggest. i found a free t4 on a different page of that report 13.4 pmol/L

appreciate the advice