I was wondering if I can get some help with lab results. I asked my Dr if I could have my testosterone levels check and he agreed.
A couple of the reasons I wanted it tested is because I’ve always had bad anxiety and depression that don’t respond to medications or therapy.
I’ve already had a major lack of motivation and energy levels and lack of libido. I haven’t woken up with an erection since I was about 18 years old, I am currently 38.
Another reason being all the males on
Father’s side seem to have feminine characteristics as far as body shapes,(wide hips), (gynecomastia) lack of muscle tone but carry fat almost closer to how a woman would.
So this test says my testosterone is low
But is it severely low?
Is it low enough that you think my Dr should run further tests?
Yes, these free testosterone results are very low. Even if they were in range, but in the bottom 25% percentile, this is bad! During Covid, men with lower end range testosterone were the ones dying the most and the men with higher testosterone were surviving.
People with high testosterone recover from surgeries, physical therapy, and emergency situations much more quickly and have a higher survival rate than those with lower testosterone.
Now all you need to do is find out if your secondary or primary hypogonadism. It doesn’t matter which, the treatment is the same.
If you go into your doctors office with a laundry list of tests to run, you must not have much faith in your doctor, and you shouldn’t. You’re lucky to get a fraction of those tests by an insurance based doctor.
A lot of mainstream doctors are ignorant in replacing a men’s hormone levels, out of date treatment protocols (injections every two weeks) and guidelines for the management of testosterone deficiency. The majority of successful cases are those that seek treatment privately, cash only.
First off thank you very much for your response. Secondly I really don’t have any faith in my doctor, that test was done 6 months ago and he never brought it up and I have seen him twice since then so I had to call just to get the results. I assume he never looked at the result or doesn’t see a problem with the levels.
Do you think it would make sense to request to be seen by an endocrinologist?
No. They are generally poor practitioners for hormone replacement. Do you have any good cash pay HRT clinics around? Defy Medical does telemedicine and they are great.
Yes your results are low and you should seek retesting with the full panel. What you pasted above is solid.
Are you in the USA? Some countries are more difficult than others to get assistance. You DO have an issue. Testosterone is important for many factors involving our health and longevity. That’s not new, what is new and has a variety of methods is treatment. You’re about to start a journey that may be difficult and take time, but this site offers a lot of advice on how to go about it. Everyone is different, so what works for some won’t work for others. Many factors involved. I suggest you read the forum here for a few days. Make notes. Get some ideas from others and put together a plan of action. Mainly, finding a doctor interested in treating your symptoms and that is current on the protocols that are known to have the highest level of success. It may take some trial and error before you find what works, but usually it doesn’t take more than a few months. Again, read the conversations on here and then ask questions if you still have any. Most of these guys here want to help others suffering from this. We all know what it’s like. Good luck.
Yes I live in Western New York between Buffalo and Rochester. I’m going back to my doctor soon. If he doesn’t set up a plan for me I found a hormone replacement clinic about a 45 minute drive away from me.
You really need to find someone else. Even if he does come up with a “plan”, how confident will you be moving forward? I bet you’ll be on this forum immediately following your consult getting opinions from strangers on the internet. That’s not horrible, however these are guys with varying levels of experience with TRT and knowledge putting out good and bad advice. I think those posting above suggesting you find a TRT clinic are correct, that’s good advice.
If you browse this forum you’ll see plenty of posts from guys who essentially use their doctor as a source of testosterone and then go to the internet for advice on how to take it.
That is unforgivable. Why order a test if you are not going to look at it? Yes, because you asked for it, he didn’t think you needed it. He did not discuss the results with you because he is not interested in treating it. Or, he simply forgot.
I wouldn’t waste my time with this doctor. Good luck.
I live in Lockport. I use OWM in Buffalo. Dr. Caplan is awesome. He is cash based but the labs are all covered by insurance. He is extremely thorough and you can def tell that he cares about your health. Test is about $150 for 10 weeks. They work with a compounding pharmacy and it is mailed to you directly.
You have been given good advice by people here. I was always boderline low (didn’t know it) and a psychiatrist discovered my low test over 10 years ago but my doctor wouldn’t treat because I was just in range but my free was half of the minimum. I never responded very well to an medications for anixety as well. I have zero anxiety once I found levels that worked for me. My doctor even asked me who I was since I feel much better and put on a good 20 pounds. Unlike many here I cannot tolerate high test levels but I am 4 to 5 times higher than when I started. It may not be without trial and error and adjustments over time.
I think once you get your levels even to the middle range you will feel much better. You sound very similiar to myself but I wasn’t treated until almost 58. Get your levels to a decent level but tread lightly when you start. You need to give it time to work. For me, every change took 6 to 8 weeks to get to where I know where I was at. Hormone adjustments take time. Remember Test is used for so many processes not just for libido which a lot of people think. I am on 53 mg/wk only and feel so much better. No anxiety, great workouts and a good libido.
Good luck and have some patience. I really do think you will see nice improvement in all functions. Imagine having the energy to work out? That will have a great affect on your mental outlook as well. Get to the gym or at least starting walking a good deal a day to start.
Thanks everybody. I’m going to set up an appointment and do a bunch of reading in the meantime. If they confirm for a second time I’m low in t hopefully with more testing they can find out the exact reason as to why. Then we will obviously go from there.
So he seems to offer a better price compared to anyone else in the area, even compared to what I can find offered through online consultations.
I do have a question about what he offers though. Because you said he works with a compounding pharmacy does that mean he only offers topical gels or do they compound injectable t?
I believe if he agrees it’s worth a shot on trying hormone replacement therapy I would prefer an injectable form.
The majority of men (83%) that have a diagnosis of hypogonadism do not have a reason why. The ones that actually have a diagnosis are those with testicular failure, inadequate blood flow to the testicles and testicular cancer.
I am EOD. I don’t take anything else. I don’t foresee me ever taking an AI. I have thought about some HCG in the future but would have to lower my test cyp dose I assume. I am almost 60 so don’t want to rock the boat since I am doing very well. Nuts are a little smaller but so what I am not trying to have children.
I haven’t been able to run for years because it was too fatiguing (before TRT). A week ago I decided to try some jogging and it felt great (except for the muscles not used to running, lol). My endurance feels better than ever. I most likely had low levels from a young age due low LH but was just not diagnosed. I am supposed to get some blood levels this week or so. It will be interesting to see where I am at. I assume middle of the range or a little lower.
Thanks for replying, it’s great you’re doing well on such a low dose, I’m definitely going to try at some point dropping significantly.
How’s your cognition relative to pre-TRT? For me that’s always been one of the biggest issues on TRT if I don’t add hCG or Pregnenolone (which come with their own estrogenic side effects), I feel as if I have dementia. Memory is gone, I look for words all the time, problem solving ability degrades to the point I can’t solve problems I easily could when I was a kid, etc…
I had labs today and my hemocrit is back down to 48.5 which is good. Haven’t gotten my free and total Test results yet but will post later. All parameters in my CBC are within range and 4 were out when I was on a higher Tests dose so I feel good about that.
Cognition is very good. It was ok prior to trt and had some ups and downs based on dose after starting trt. Was worse at 80 mg/wk as I had little energy after a year due to lowered shbg and higher free T. I see a good corelation between mental and physcial aspects on trt. Improvements or degredation seems to be in all areas. I sometimes search for words but I don’t think that is trt just that I am 60. I speak another language and have been able to put more work into that the last year or so and have seen improvements.
