Hi,
I´ve decided to start a new post mainly to clarify some symptoms i´ve been dealing with since the last 5 to 6 years and see if it matches any of you.
Currently 41, found some years ago i have “statistically” low total T and 2 times a year i´ve been monitoring my levels doing an hormone panel and hemogram, etc.
Long story short :
Family doctor, Endo, other GP told me my levels are fine.
1,82m tall / 68-72kg (always has been like this since 16 or 17).
Recent years I´ve had my ups and downs in mood, energy.
Progressively feeling more and more aged for the most simple things to do in life which I used to do with ease and happiness. Gardening, fishing, riding the bike, etc. Also, lack of willingness to do them. And I know they are things I enjoy.
Gradually feeling worse, phisically and mentally. Perhaps more phisically.
Gradually back pain is limitating me more and more. I have an herniated disk for god knows how long (proly 20 years), but I had years without pain. Lately, I deal with discomfort and limitation daily.
I go to the gym twice week to be active and try to protect my body and back and prepare for daily activies. But all I can feel is that even low to moderate intesity exercising is only punishing my body instead of making it stronger and healthier. I can´t explain… it is as if my body is not handling exercise well. I take 2-3 days to recover from general pain of last session. Next day and after my body aches all around, specially my low back on specific spots. I´ve been an athlete in track n field for years when I was younger and later on between 35 to 38. Had to quit because I was not responding well. I used to have muscle pain (the good pain) and recover, but it isn´t like that anymore.
In months, I maintained or lost about 1kg. I always was a hard gainer and I loose weight very easily if I don´t exercise or eat above the needs of a normal man. I eat normally and sometimes put on some extra calories, but I don´t know what the hell my body does with the food I take…
Sense of progressively being unable to take challenges or actively participate in discussions with assertiveness.
Outer eyebrows thinned recent years. They were full and thick before until ± 33.
Face is less “round” recently . Bones became more visible as if I had less water and muscle or lost body weight.
Sense of progressively lacking in authority.
Occasionally sense of confusion / moodiness / grumpy-ness for no reason or unable to handle frustration.
General un-happiness and “negative energy” without a reason.
Normal Libido. Used to be more. Normal sex and erections about 1-2x a week or once every 2 weeks. It depends. Life… kids, work, etc. I have periods with every morning wood boners and others completely without them. But i´d say no issue in this department that I could be worried about.
Normal blood pressure (12-8). Eventually it can be 13-8,5 if I drink coffee or get stressed. It can happen and I feel “the heat” immediatly. Resting pulse from 60 to 75 under normal conditions, depending on emotional state. I´m usually calm, but, I can also get nervous under the most stupid things without a reason.
I could continue…
Obviously, and as said, I have good moments and sometimes I just feel that I am absolutely normal for my age. But retrospectively looking back, I get the feeling that I have aged a lot between 33 to 41. Too much that I have really noticed and the “down” moments are getting more frequent with time. This is not getting better and if the aging process was linear until very early 30s, it is not linear at all after that point. Attitude wise I feel like a man in his 60s and wouldn´t be so worried if that was the case. But, I see guys with 60s doing things I can´t right now. Also, the personality changes or lack of sense of happiness are worrying me too.
People always say I look young and in shape, never really aging at all or getting a belly. But the reality is inside I don´t feel like that. I feel old, ached, and worried about how fast this is happening.
Sorry for long post. I may have been on the Low-ish normal T side all my life and I don´t know. And I need to find another doctor with good judgement.
Would like some positive and constructive thought around this to understand if it is something totally obvious, or not. Your thoughts are important too.
Thank you.
No, actually I dont take any meds daily. I may take an anti-inflamatory pill once in a while (brufen or diclofenac (once per 1 or 2 months) for headache or when back pain gets worse.
My diet consists in a white/red meat (50%), fish (30%) or vegan (20%) meals along the week. Coconut oil + low sugar cereal in the morning. Then I may have fruit and or boiled eggs mid morning and same mid afternoon. I eat fruit, vegetables and salad in good portions too.
I don´t have dairy products except a bit of cured/mature cheese at weekend.
Don´t drink during week, but may have the wine glass at weekend family lunch.
It is mid morning now and I ate cereal after waking up, and now ate 2 apples, a can of tuna, corn flakes again and honey. Lunch in one hour.
I don´t really “count” the proteins, carbs, fat, etc that I eat, but I don´t believe there´s any significant deficit, if any when I look at my lifestyle or compare with other peers.
I used to take Multi vit, Vit D4000ui, VitC, Omega3, ZMA, Magnesium or aspartic acid once per year, but lately, just Omega3 here and there. Nothing has really changed much lab-wise while taking and any eventual benefit was short-term lived. I´ve done a few experiments during the last years and nothing was really worth it. Sometimes, I´ve been felt better OFF of any supplements.
Interesting comment : “In seeking treatment with incidental elevated SHBG, the main problem is having doctors who either don’t know that free testosterone is the most important parameter, or who think that total testosterone is always an acceptable proxy. I encountered this firsthand, initially seeing a urologist who insisted that my total testosterone in the 300s ng/dL was normal. I then saw an endocrinologist who found that calculated free testosterone was low and initiated treatment.”
How can my freeT is in the middle of the range for 20-50yr old men (8pg/ml to 54pg/ml) when my Total T is in the very low of the normal range ? And by the way 24pg/ml is 2,4ng/dl which is considered very low in other countries? Moreover, Tru-T calculator gives back freeT of around 8ng/dl. Still low. My FSH and LH shows that my HPTA seems to “accept” my eventual lowT just fine. They´ve been higher before (around 4 or 5) with no materialy relevant change to Total T or freeT.
Am I right ?
Reason I don´t know if my labs tell me something obvious or not. It would be important to be sure if " this is just me ", or not.
I just put the ranges in front of each parameter. Sorry, should have known that already !
If you really want to understand this you’ll have to dig into this thread and really spend some time with especially the last few posts I did there. It is quite arcane but very liberating once you understand the state of things and the fact we don’t know really what the correct reference range for free T is until the CDC standardizes it like they have done for TT and E2. I went into the goriest detail I could possibly go to explain the issues.
I was once offered the Gel. Don´t know which brand. I explained the reasons i´d prefer, eventually, the injections and provided some info about how to micro-dose (once to twice a week) but didn´t get much attention because it was not a bio-identical hormone. I know, I know… let´s not enter that discussion.
Anyway, the purpose of this post is to understand if there is a correlation between my levels and my described symptoms. Up to a point I am concerned about the professional and family impact this may bring. I´m not that OK recently. What was “once in a while occurences” is becoming something more frequent.
I don´t see a reduction in my levels in recent years, so, eventually, I had the same levels before since mid to late 20s. Probably. I seemed to deal well with it, but is it possible that up to a point I can´t handle them anymore?
Why could it be underperforming? Genetic code? Lifestyle? Stress?
Whatever as happened in the last years, my levels just dont change for the better or worse (talking about significant deviations).
I was told so by one of the doctors. He said I could perform a million tests and still don´t find a cause or that nothing is really wrong, except for the amount of hormone being produced.
In cases like mine, I wonder if stimulating HPTA with Clomid could work ? Only read bad things about this clomid monotherapy…
I´m feeling more like a sterilized cat as time goes by…as if I´m loosing my confidence and “fist” to embrace things and be heard. My “presence/flame/edge/vibe” are really off. Even when i´m not depressed, i never seem to be there.
It´s confusing to acknowledge and abstract to describe and I always think of this as a bad phase and things will improve like they did before. But the reality is it´s happening more frequently and getting back on track is progressively harder.
As usual, even if not on TRT, I do blood work twice a year (more or less).
Like since 5 years ago, my total T remains steady at 300ng/dl (pardon…305!) but my E2 which was progressively increasing since 11/2020 from 28 to 34pg/ml, was now recorded at only 15pg/ml.
Also, my Ferritin which was fluctuating between 260 and 310 ng/ml, is now at 196.
I didn´t do any drastic changes to my lifestyle or nutrition. As supplements, recently, i´ve been taking more or less (daily) Vit-D 2000iu, Low dose Magnesium + B6, Omega-3, Vit-C, Collagen (10g daly), and a multi-vit here and there without much frequency.
I don´t have Free-T tested, neither SHBG. I know, don´t ask.
Is there a reason for such a drastic drop in E2 and Ferritin in a hormonal profile like mine ? Just never happened in years.
Great. Now i have 2 deficiencies to deal with. Also, Prolactin is 5, on the low side.
I with my low T, i should expect a change with this significant E2 variation in some deoartments, but i didnt. I need to get it up.
