Sorry for how long this is but I thought my background would help.
I am 55, 6’2" and weigh 280lbs.
I have been an athlete my whole life having Wrestled and played Defensive Tackle in college. I took up Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in 2005 at 38 and after a 20 year lay off from wrestling in my first BJJ match I wrestled the current Judo national champion who competed in the Olympics the year before. I lost as would be expected but the score was 4-2 in double overtime. I won my age group Pan No Gi in 2009 and 7 months later I had a widow maker heart attack with a 100% blockage of my LAD artery.
From that time I have had most of the symptoms of low T. I never had ED until the the heart attack, I have brain fog, lack of drive with anything even things I love to do and gained weight. In 2015 I was 245lbs and then had a construction accident and fell through steps about 3/4 the way to next floor. That caused 6 bulging discs. Three in my neck and 3 in my lumbar. I went from 245 to 286lbs because i couldn’t bike and hike. I nearly cried just walking the dogs around the block for a year even with10 months of PT. Once I had an epidural I was able to start working out again and was able to get into good enough shape to go to Colorado and do a backpack hunt with my son in 2019. We climbed up and down a mountain with heights between 7,500 feet and 10,000 feet. One area we had almost 1000 feet vertical change in 1/3 of a mile. Climbing that my HR peaked at 196 bpm! I hadn’t been that high since my heart attack.
When we went into the pandemic lockdown I aggravated the disc in my neck and wasn’t able to lift my left arm for 2 months from doing just 25 push ups. Between my injury and the pandemic I got no exercise and went from 270lbs and the best shape I had been since before the heart attack to the heaviest I had ever been at 296lbs. I had a cardiologist check up and he included my test level and it came back 209 total. That prompted him to refer me to a urologist. Once the arm was working again I did a basic kettlebell workout and a peloton spin class of 30-45 minutes 3-5 days a week. By doing this workout and watching what I ate i was able to go from 296 down to 268lbs the day I had the Moderna vaccine. Unfortunately I had every side effect on steroids( no pun intended). I had vertigo for 12 hours, the sweats, chills and fever for 3 days, lost all of my cardio fitness, extreme fatigue to the point that if I sit and am not doing something I am likely to fall asleep. This is how I have felt since March. Overall my fitness and psyche has gone to s–t since the vaccine. My cardiologist thinks I had the virus but was asymptomatic when I got the vaccine and it did a number on me.
I met with a urologist in May after the low T result from the blood test my cardiologist had run. My T level came in at 209 on a blood test my cardiologist did.
The urologist sent me for 2 blood tests and my first dropped to 164 and the second was 245. He felt with the big jump from 164 to 245 and with my other blood levels going from low into the normal ranges he wanted to see if I kept working out and losing weight my T would get into the normal range. So he had me come back in 2 months and my levels all fell.
He said I needed TRT and prescribed Jatenzo which my insurance promptly denied. I asked what it would cost out of pocket and CVS said almost $1100 a month. That’s insane for something that is only going to make me feel better and not save my life!
I finally had my first injection Friday after the fiasco I went through with my doctor last month. . He prescribed the 75mg injector of Xyosted which is testosterone enanthate. Which I read is essentially the same as Test Cypionate but gets into the blood faster and 1 day less half life. It’s a weekly injection.
I still don’t know what it’s going to cost but the most it will be is $150 a month and could be free depending on what insurance covers. I was given my first month free while they go through the insurance preapproval.
A few questions, what was your levels before and after TRT, what are you guys paying for your T a month and how long before you see any results and what were they?
Thanks in advance!