Fwiw,
You’re 68 years old, not 27. Ffs, just try TRT. If you can improve your quality of life, that’s great!
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Do you know what the R in TRT stands for?
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Do you know what his T levels were when he was younger, and didn’t have Low T symptoms?
Seriously, he’s 68. What harm is TRT going to do at this point?
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You are arguing facts not in evidence. Other than OP’s bald declaration to this effect, nothing has been presented to suggest he has symptomatic low T. And a great deal has been presented to suggest the opposite.
Neither you nor OP is talking about TRT–about ‘replacing’ missing testosterone–at this juncture. Rather, y’all are talking about him doing a permablast in which he’ll ramp his dose until he feels he’s achieved some ill-defined and subjective endpoint.
But hey, he’s 68, right? I mean, what could go wrong, permablasting at that age?
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You have no idea what you’re talking about. Do any of us on trt know what our T levels used to be, 30 years ago when we were healthy? And since we don’t know, we’re not actually replacing what we don’t make anymore. We take T to get back to feeling how we did before we had low t symptoms. Again, he’s 68. If taking testosterone can help improve someone’s quality of life, then who the hell are you to say he shouldn’t. What’s the worst that can happen? He takes test for a while, finds out it doesn’t help, and he stops. And the upside is that there’s a good chance he improves his quality of life.
To the contrary: In men whose labs values are below range, one can make a strong argument that exogenous T is a ‘replacement’ therapy. But it is frankly absurd to claim one is ‘replacing T’ in someone whose levels are at the upper end of the range.
It is well known that exogenous T can produce feelings of well-being or euphoria, and can increase libido. It is simply erroneous to interpret such effects as proof of a T deficiency. (By that logic, the improvement in mood associated with cocaine use is proof that one needs ‘cocaine replacement therapy.’)
You keep referencing this as if either 1) excess T levels can have no negative effects at this age, or 2) 68 is so close to dead one needn’t worry about side effects. Both are absurd on their face, and it is irresponsible for you to be this cavalier re excess test usage–further evidence of your inability to provide appropriate advice on this subject.
OP, I hope you are beginning to realize that the people encouraging you to do this have little to no idea what they’re talking about. Caveat emptor.
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The OP Free T isn’t in the upper end of the ranges, his Total T (inactive T) is which is elevated do to his high SHBG.
His Free T percentage is low at 1.26%, below the normal 2-3 percent.
After all the OP has done to correct his symptoms by adjusting his lifestyle, it’s not unreasonable to give TRT a trial run to see if it resolves his symptoms.
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^This
His free T level is very near midrange; his SHBG is within range. Thus, the only thing making his free T %age low is his crazy high total T. Not exactly a compelling argument that this represents a low-T scenario.
Again, giving this person supplemental T cannot reasonably be called TRT, because there’s no evidence it’s replacing anything. What you are suggesting is a blast, not a replacement. Is blasting really a good idea in a 68 y.o.?
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To increase his Free T closer to or at the top end of the ranges isn’t a blast. You’re putting too much thought into his Total T.
The Free T is where the rubber meets the road.
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Perhaps not. But neither is it TRT.
So if you agree that is not a blast to put his Free T at the top end of the ranges and it’s no longer considered TRT, what is it then?
Irresponsible.
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Will it still be irresponsible if increasing his Free T resolves all of his symptoms increasing his quality of life?
Recreational use. I kind of contradicted myself from first to second post. I agree that this is NOT TRT. His use would be recreational at best for anti aging feeling. Whether that’s acceptable is up to each individual.
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So was mine 10 weeks ago, 397 ng/dL (SHBG 12) Free T slighly below midrange and I asked my doctor to increase my dosage because of low energy, ED and just not feelings the benefits of TRT.
It didn’t take but a couple of weeks after the dosing increase to resolve my symptoms.
Depends. If he has been misled into believing he has low T and is thus treating a medical condition, then yes–it will be irresponsible (on the part of those who misled him). This is because the T effects would be masking his true medical condition, and thus would delay diagnosis and treatment thereof.
OTOH, if he realizes he doesn’t have low T but decides ‘YOLO, let’s see what happens when my T levels are cranked up,’ then the responsibility is all on him, and it’s no more (but no less) irresponsible than any other recreational drug use.
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So, 11.5 is in the upper end of the range, when the lab ranges from 3.4-24.6?
I never claimed in the op’s case that it was proof of a T deficiency. He’s tried multiple things which didn’t work. Upping his free T to see if it relieves his symptoms sounds like a no lose option.
Nope. Neither 1 nor 2. Bringing up his free T to the top of the range, or slightly above, isn’t an excess T level. There are some men who simply need free T to be around 30, to get symptom relief.
And I’m not saying that 68 is so close to dead. My point with the age, is that if he were say 30 with the same issues, I’d tell him that he should exhaust every other option before going on trt for life. But since he’s tried multiple things without getting relief, then trying TRT seems like the obvious choice.
You know what they say: When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Do you have any LH and FSH labs?
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