The Androgel Trap

Training Bodybuilding
21

Hi guys

I have hypogonadism and have been on Depo which I didn’t like. I went in every 2 weeks for a shot and it just aint a good replacement for the real thing. I think the andro would work better as it will more closely mimic the body’s natural endocrinological cycles(well at least daily as opposed to 2 weekly!).

The thing is that I have had high prolactin and that suppresses testosterone production and release. Now that I have been on dostinex/cabergaline for many months, my prol. has come down and we are just waiting to see if my testosterone will rise naturally now. It is a wating game and it is very irritating as I have been off the test injections for about 6 months now while trying this experiment and therefore in the last 6 months my T-levels have been super low. I will go 4 a test in December to see if my T-levels have turned up (so to speak).

The irritating thing is that if it doesn’t go up, I can’t go onto androgel or a patch because in South Africa we don’t have such luxuries so for me it is the injections or total healing or low T!

Anyway, just thought I’d tell you my story. Any thoughts?

Regards,
Graham, SA.

22

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=bromocriptine+men&btnG=Search

Hyperprolactinaemia in men?response to bromocriptine therapy

Prolactinomas in men: clinical characteristics and the effect of bromocriptine treatment

http://www.scholar.google.com

“Bromocriptine men” search . .

Best of luck :slight_smile:

23

i use 10gr of testim and i just started 200mg depo shots every week feel great my test was at 888 just with testim i just told the doc ifeel shitty again after a few days she lets me use both

24

[quote]rodney n wrote:
i use 10gr of testim and i just started 200mg depo shots every week feel great my test was at 888 just with testim i just told the doc ifeel shitty again after a few days she lets me use both [/quote]

I got checked again yesterday. Seems I may have a pituitary tumor (Hey, here’s a new one for an unnamed person to make fun of me in another forum – he likes to make fun of people with disabilities). Doesn’t need surgery, but gotta have an MRI to confirm.

I also have to begin GH treatment. That’s low, due to the pituitary. Man, sucks getting old – but its better than the alternative. :slight_smile:

Glad the testim and depo is working out for you!

25

My doctor has also ordered a pituitary MRI for me as well. Seems that some of my blood levels are not where they should be and it could be pituitary.

26

[quote]sully’s wrote:
My doctor has also ordered a pituitary MRI for me as well. Seems that some of my blood levels are not where they should be and it could be pituitary.[/quote]

Yes. If the master gland (pituitary) is out, then all else will start to follow. My thyroid is off (on 100 mcg Synthroid), along with the Test and GH.

Good luck!

27

Of course my T is low as well as my LH and FSH, if I remember the abbreviations correctly. Not sure about the GH and thryoid levels are normal. My basal metabolic rate is 2727 calories per day and that was at the very high end of the scale. I am 41. 68 inches tall, 197 pounds and about 16% BF(which is way too high).

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
sully’s wrote:
My doctor has also ordered a pituitary MRI for me as well. Seems that some of my blood levels are not where they should be and it could be pituitary.

Yes. If the master gland (pituitary) is out, then all else will start to follow. My thyroid is off (on 100 mcg Synthroid), along with the Test and GH.

Good luck!

[/quote]

28

Hello All
Well after seeing the Endo. he of course wanted more blood tests,and was not happy that there were not any test for LH and FSH before taking Androgel.

Well after the tests came back,thyriod came backok and nothing else was out of place.So now he wants me to quit taking T replacement to get new tests. So now i can’t take the gel for 4or5 weeks,this is going to be one shitty ass month.I have already warned everyone,mainly my wife,after a couple of weeks without T i get real cranky and moody!

Does anyone know of anything natural to help with the crash?

               Dave
29

[quote]drimmdave wrote:
Hello All
Well after seeing the Endo. he of course wanted more blood tests,and was not happy that there were not any test for LH and FSH before taking Androgel.

Well after the tests came back,thyriod came backok and nothing else was out of place.So now he wants me to quit taking T replacement to get new tests. So now i can’t take the gel for 4or5 weeks,this is going to be one shitty ass month.I have already warned everyone,mainly my wife,after a couple of weeks without T i get real cranky and moody!

Does anyone know of anything natural to help with the crash?

               Dave[/quote]

Your doc deserves a beating with the ‘Stupid’ stick. This is the kind of stuff that drives guys to buy ‘other’ things.

Order some Alpha Male right now. Pay the overnight delivery charge. I’m serious – when your remaining T crashes, especially if you’ve been on HRT, you are going to be screwed. You’ll have so little in your system, you risk your job, wife, friends. One of my friends, age 61, got fired and later found out it was low T making him act as he did. Of course, he wasn’t re-hired.

Man, seriously, watch out . Warn everyone, even your boss, if he’s a good one.

30

[quote]Headhunter wrote:
drimmdave wrote:
Hello All
Well after seeing the Endo. he of course wanted more blood tests,and was not happy that there were not any test for LH and FSH before taking Androgel.

Well after the tests came back,thyriod came backok and nothing else was out of place.So now he wants me to quit taking T replacement to get new tests. So now i can’t take the gel for 4or5 weeks,this is going to be one shitty ass month.I have already warned everyone,mainly my wife,after a couple of weeks without T i get real cranky and moody!

Does anyone know of anything natural to help with the crash?

               Dave

Your doc deserves a beating with the ‘Stupid’ stick. This is the kind of stuff that drives guys to buy ‘other’ things.

Order some Alpha Male right now. Pay the overnight delivery charge. I’m serious – when your remaining T crashes, especially if you’ve been on HRT, you are going to be screwed. You’ll have so little in your system, you risk your job, wife, friends. One of my friends, age 61, got fired and later found out it was low T making him act as he did. Of course, he wasn’t re-hired.

Man, seriously, watch out . Warn everyone, even your boss, if he’s a good one.

[/quote]
That is the one of the most stupid things I’ve ever heard – “no-roid rage.” I can understand mood dropping and energy dragging etc., but don’t blame getting fired on the removal from HRT. He must of been on the edge of getting fired anyway. Whatever the HRT did to him just nudged him over the edge. Kind of like those roid-rage stories – the guys were assholes with or without roids.

31

I’m afraid to boost my T too much,what will Alpha Male do to my blood test in a few weeks?I,m already starting to feel the effects of stopping HRT. I just don,t want to foul things up when i get tested and continue getting blood tests to determine why i have low T to begin with. Low LH and FSH,low T(both) thyroid is ok,I have a suspicion that it is just that I had my nuts clipped about 12 years ago.
The hrt was really starting to help,but I think a higher dose of T would be better.After this blood test I am going to tell the endo. to just leave me on the gel.

32

[quote]rmetz wrote:
Headhunter wrote:
drimmdave wrote:
Hello All
Well after seeing the Endo. he of course wanted more blood tests,and was not happy that there were not any test for LH and FSH before taking Androgel.

Well after the tests came back,thyriod came backok and nothing else was out of place.So now he wants me to quit taking T replacement to get new tests. So now i can’t take the gel for 4or5 weeks,this is going to be one shitty ass month.I have already warned everyone,mainly my wife,after a couple of weeks without T i get real cranky and moody!

Does anyone know of anything natural to help with the crash?

               Dave

Your doc deserves a beating with the ‘Stupid’ stick. This is the kind of stuff that drives guys to buy ‘other’ things.

Order some Alpha Male right now. Pay the overnight delivery charge. I’m serious – when your remaining T crashes, especially if you’ve been on HRT, you are going to be screwed. You’ll have so little in your system, you risk your job, wife, friends. One of my friends, age 61, got fired and later found out it was low T making him act as he did. Of course, he wasn’t re-hired.

Man, seriously, watch out . Warn everyone, even your boss, if he’s a good one.

That is the one of the most stupid things I’ve ever heard – “no-roid rage.” I can understand mood dropping and energy dragging etc., but don’t blame getting fired on the removal from HRT. He must of been on the edge of getting fired anyway. Whatever the HRT did to him just nudged him over the edge. Kind of like those roid-rage stories – the guys were assholes with or without roids.
[/quote]

Gotta live through it to believe it. You feel like shit, you get a boatload of work dumped in your lap, and your boss decides he’s having a bad day. Guess what happens next.

Go on HRT, then stop for a week. Then we’ll talk.

33

I went off of it for two weeks last year,I was a real bastard to deal with,and felt like shit. The lucky thing is I am self employed.If it gets too bad i will call the doc and rip his head off! Maybe.depends on my mood at the time.

34

My doctor just switched me from 5g Androgel to 10g. The pharmacy just gave me twice as many packets, rather than special order the 10g version.

Anyone on the 10g version? I’m just wondering if it’s more concentrated or just double the amount of gel in a bigger packet. It costs the same to me, either way, but I don’t have to order it a week in advance if I keep using two 5g packets per day.

Thanks,

Lost Dog

35

45…t level 250
went from androderm patch…on for 6 mos…feeling better…patch falling of and leaving marks on skin.
went off for 2 weeks…felt awful.
went on androgel 5g in the past week.
mild steady headache and small increase in breast.
libido not as strong with gel as with patch.
anyone know if this is normal…will it subside / get better with time…how long?
is there a diference between the 5mg androderm patch and the 5g androgel?
anyone have experience with both?
any additional supplements that would help?
thanks

36

[quote]lotinpa wrote:
45…t level 250
went from androderm patch…on for 6 mos…feeling better…patch falling of and leaving marks on skin.
went off for 2 weeks…felt awful.
went on androgel 5g in the past week.
mild steady headache and small increase in breast.
libido not as strong with gel as with patch.
anyone know if this is normal…will it subside / get better with time…how long?
is there a diference between the 5mg androderm patch and the 5g androgel?
anyone have experience with both?
any additional supplements that would help?
thanks[/quote]

Sorry, never tried the patch. I sympathize with what you’re going through. If you’re getting breast increases, the gel is aromatizing to estrogen. Tell your doc at once. Might put you on a low dose of Nolva.

Testim gel is better, in my experience. It smells, and the tubes are sometimes annoying, but worked better for me. My mood got much better, libido better.

37

I have been on testim 10 grams 2 months now i have been off for 4 days now i have bloodwork in 2 days was wondering how long does it take for numbers to go back to norm they were 220

38

[quote]brklyn b wrote:
I have been on testim 10 grams 2 months now i have been off for 4 days now i have bloodwork in 2 days was wondering how long does it take for numbers to go back to norm they were 220[/quote]

You should have higher T in your bloodwork, along with a higher % of free T. You should be feeling better by now and T-levels much higher. About 95% of guys really benefit from Androgel/Testim.
(Testim was better for me.)

39

Well I had my appt. with the Endo. today.Whaddaya know my T is low 225
total,but about middle of the range
for free T.I don’t remember LH or FSH,but they were on the low side.So now he wants me to go three more weeks with out my HRT,he said that my brain should be doing something to make more T but for some reason it is not upset about the low T. He wants one more set of numbers to try to determine if it’s in my balls or pituitary.If it’s in my balls,no problem back on HRT,if it,s in the pit. then off to MRI my head.
So any way I have three more weeks of Hell and feeling like shit.

40

Please if anyone can help with this question do so, I am very worried.

In the beginning of February I somehow convinced myself that I had low-t. It was because I heard someone on the radio talking about some issues that sounded like mine and so the doctor on the radio recommended that he look into Androgel.

Well, I went to my doctor on the 9th and “told him” I though I had low-t and to give me an Androgel 5mg Rx. He has known me for 7 years and I am usually right when I tell him what is wrong, so he wrote me the prescription.

He did take some blood and sent it off for testing my levels before I started taking it.

I took the gel for about a week and then my results came back.

T-Level: 457
Free T-Level: 81.4
Free T-%: 1.78
PSA: 0.90

That’s the results from my test which was done around 11am in the morning.

I continued taking the Androgel for 18 days. As of yesterday I stopped taking it.

My questions are:

For 32 years old are the levels I listed above good, or what?

After taking the gel for 18 days am I going to feel really bad and if so, will it get better?

What non prescription supplements can I take to increase my levels without any bad side effects?

Should I not stop taking Androgel cold turkey and use just a smaller amount for a few days and then smaller, etc.?

Please help because Androgel is too expensive and I don’t have insurance.

BTW, I am in pretty decent health and such, thanks to boxing, in case that matters with any answers.