Insurance Won't Cover

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
1

39 y/o. Decent shape. Been lifting my entire adult life. Got T tested last year. 382. Got tested this week. 289. I have been back and forth with my doctor and insurance. Looks like BC/BS isn’t going to cover injections. Wonder what my other options are? Can’t hardly afford it out of pocket with 2 kids to raise. He might give me a prescription and let my aunt who is an RN administer. Wonder how much that would be out of pocket.

What about going the Alpha Male route? Anyone had any success with that? Any ideas or help appreciated.

2

You are only 39 years old why you are low means a lot. Read the following all of it

3

A prescription to the drugs needed. Around $500 a year and you do not need someone to give you shots.

4

Here are suggested stickies:

Before you do any form of TRT, you need to test LH/FSH so you have an idea if the testes are not working [primary hypogonadism, or pituitary output of LH/FSH is low [secondary].

Labs:
TT
FT
E2
LH/FSH
CBC
hematocrit
AST/ALT
fasting glucose
fasting cholesterol

  • post body temperatures

Many here have low-T and low thyroid function. Thyroid affects ever cell, organ and system in the body. See last paragraph in this post.

T self-injections are easy. You would be injecting 50mg T twice a week with #29 1/2" 0.5ml insulin syringes, SC/SQ not IM.

Please read the 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

Evaluate your overall thyroid function by checking oral body temperatures as per the thyroid basics sticky. Thyroid hormone fT3 is what gets the job done and it regulates mitochondrial activity, the source of ATP which is the universal currency of cellular energy. This is part of the body’s temperature control loop. This can get messed up if you are iodine deficient. In many countries, you need to be using iodized salt. Other countries add iodine to dairy or bread.

5

I bet your insurance will cover the expensive stuff, the labs. Then go out of pocket for the testosterone and HCG and AI if needed.

This is what I do.

Test costs me $40 per vial through GoodRX and that lasts 2.5 months. AI is about $10 through GoodRX and HCG I pay $50 for at a compounding pharmacy. With all of that I am under $50 a month for drugs and my insurance covers the doctor and the labs. If you didnt want the HCG, you would be at about $20 a month for drugs.

6

Thanks guys. Think I am going to try getting off of an anti depressant I have been taking and try Alpha Male. I may have to find a more progressive doctor to get all the tests run. I really don’t want to start this if I don’t have to.

7

TT=382 is really undermining your quality of life. Keep working on this. See the suggested Finding a TRT Doc sticky.

Do not get T tunnel vision. You can self-eval your thyroid function as suggested.

Many guys with low-T are put on SSRI’s which may make things a lot worse by lowering T further by increasing estrogen levels and SSRI’s can ruin what is left of a guy’s sexual function. Please see the first two stickies suggested above.