I am 21 years old, eat healthy, and work out all the time. For the last two years or so I have had low testosterone problems. I have seen nine doctors, and have had many labs taken. I have been desperate to find a correctable problem. I accept that I will eventually have to get on trt, but I am trying to avoid it if at all possible because I want to become an officer in the air force. Needing trt automatically makes me not eligible to join the military.
In March of 2010 I had surgery for a level 3 varicocele in hopes that removing it would help my testosterone at least a bit. Before the surgery my total test. average mid 300’s now in July my total test is around the high 300’s to an all time best of 450 recently. However my free t keeps dropping. In a normal range of 9 to 26. I was at 9 and then 11, but recently only 6.
History:
- Had varicocele since at least 14 or 15 on my left testicle
- March 4th surgery for varicocele in hopes that removing the (Grade III) varicocele could boost my testosterone levels. My doctor said if my testosterone values were to increase they would increase probably within 90 days. Through ultrasound the varicocele has been confirmed gone.
- I have had testosterone tests every month since the surgery, and well there has not been an increase yet (except for that freak 11.5 free valueâ?¦then a month later went back down to 9).
- Over the last year or so I have developed near impotencyâ?¦previously (16-19 years old) I did not have problems, and frankly this is one thing I canâ??t deal with. I will do anything to fix this problem.
My urologist has high hopes with my recent LH improvement. In a normal range of 2 to 9, I also got a 2, 2.4 , 1.9 etc. But recently in June my LH came back as a 5 ( the same time as the 450 total test). He says that he thinks while I had my varicocele my LH eventually just stoped working since my testicles were so unresponsive with the varicocele. Now that they are unhampered by the varicocele the LH is going back up since the testicles are responding better. My endo says this is bull shit and my primary care is skeptical. Whos is right? My urologist (the guy who did the surgery) thinks that my testosterone is going to gradually increase over the next six months. But its already been four months since surgery almost.
Furthermore my endo shot down the LH argument saying because LH is emitted in pulses there is not much of a difference between a 2 and a 5 since it could be a trough or peak reading.
Here are some recent labs, questions below:
Summary of labs:
TIBC 310 250 - 450 ug/dL
UIBC 109 150 - 375 ug/dL
Iron 201 40 - 155 ug/dL
Iron % saturation 65 15 - 55 %
Ferritin 63 30 - 400 ng/mL
HGB 17.0 12.5 - 17.0 g/dL
Could my high iron and high iron saturation be enough to effect my test. levels. My endo isn’t sure. He said the high saturation and high iron are strange with the normal ferritin level.
Here are more labs any thoughts:
From labcore
estradiol sensitive 13 in a normal range of 3 to 70
test percent free and weakly bound 27.7 percent in range of 9 to 46 percent
testosterone free plus weakly bound 105.8 in range of 40.0 -250
Component Your Value Standard Range Units
Prolactin 16.1 4.0 - 15.2
Component Your Value Standard Range Units
T4, Free 1.20 0.82 - 1.77
Cholesterol, total 170 100 - 199 mg/dL
Triglyceride 84 0 - 149 mg/dL
HDL Cholesterol 49 >39 mg/dL
VLDL, calculated 17 5 - 40 mg/dL
LDL, calculated 104 0 - 99
Glucose 85 65 - 99 mg/dL
BUN 16 5 - 26 mg/dL
Creatinine 1.05 0.76 - 1.27 mg/dL
GFR est non-AA >59 >59 mL/min/1.73
GFR est AA >59 >59 mL/min/1.73
BUN/Creatinine ratio 15 8 - 27
Sodium 138 135 - 145 mmol/L
Potassium 4.3 3.5 - 5.2 mmol/L
Chloride 100 97 - 108 mmol/L
CO2 25 20 - 32 mmol/L
Calcium 9.2 8.7 - 10.2 mg/dL
Protein, total 6.8 6.0 - 8.5 g/dL
Albumin 4.5 3.5 - 5.5 g/dL
GLOBULIN, TOTAL 2.3 1.5 - 4.5 g/dL
A-G Ratio 2.0 1.1 - 2.5
Bilirubin, total 0.7 0.0 - 1.2 mg/dL
Alk. phosphatase 60 25 - 150 IU/L
AST 39 0 - 40 IU/L
ALT 34 0 - 55 IU/L