I am 37 and just diagnosed with Low-T by my GP. My T-levels came back at 207 & 221 on two blood test that were approximately two months apart respectively. I have been having the symptoms for the past 5 years, fatigue, depression, weight gain and reduced sexual intensity, which lead me to antidepressants that never seemed to work, just made me more tired.
My GP started me on Androgel 50 mg a day but I’m not sold that this is the best treatment. I am looking in to seeing an Endocronologist but I’m finding them hard to get an appointment with.
I am concerned that TRT will just kill my natural production and possibly cause other issues. Is there a treatment path that builds up the natural production?
[quote]mcvolution wrote:
I am 37 and just diagnosed with Low-T by my GP. My T-levels came back at 207 & 221 on two blood test that were approximately two months apart respectively. I have been having the symptoms for the past 5 years, fatigue, depression, weight gain and reduced sexual intensity, which lead me to antidepressants that never seemed to work, just made me more tired.
My GP started me on Androgel 50 mg a day but I’m not sold that this is the best treatment. I am looking in to seeing an Endocronologist but I’m finding them hard to get an appointment with.
I am concerned that TRT will just kill my natural production and possibly cause other issues. Is there a treatment path that builds up the natural production?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
[/quote]
50 mgs is just enough to shut you down. We usually start people out on 10 grams then retest in 10 days to see if you are absorbing then titrate it from there. If you test is that low you are already shut down in the first place and TRT is just going to help you provided the DR knowns how to look at other factors. Just make sure the dr does not stick you on androgel for 3 months and forgets about you resulting in you feeling worse and not monitor you estrodial levels. Where are you located I help I help run a clinic in North east that many men from here have gone to and have been very happy with there results.
“kill your natural production”: Forget that, your natural production is now functionally dead. All effective TRT will shut you down. Read the “protocol for injections” sticky, and other stickies. See threads that I originated -that are not yet made into stickies.
If you can ID a causative pathology and fix that, you might recover. That opens up a large number of possibilities that need labs and effort to discover. Such problems should be addressed in any case, whether these correct your hormones or not.
Your GP might be an idiot. Chances are you will find a bigger idiot who happens to be an endo. You really need to take control of you own health care and not be passive. You need more labs. You need copies of all of your labs and you need to understand the results and be aware of what other tests need to be done.
KSman - Agreed. I’ve not been on the Androgel for 4 days now. Should I stop? I have an appointment with an Endo in a month. I"ll take a look at that sticky. What kind of Dr. should I see?
I really want/need to find out the cause of the t-level drop. I’m 37 not 87…
Hardasnails - I’m in the northeast. got a website/info?
What doctor to see? The problem is that doctors who are competent with these things are quite rare. Some guys have to educate their own docs, but some docs have extreme ego problems with any info presented by a patient or other lower life form.
OK from what I’ve looked at i need a better understanding of the tests that were run and a bunch more to really see what is going on. In the mean time should I bail on the Androgel. I may be in denial here but if there is a chance that I can jump start my natural testosterone production won’t continuing on the Androgel kill any chance of that?
As I said I only started on the Gel 5 days ago. If I’ve got to commit to TRT that’s one thing but if the issue is correctable that is the path I’d take. The only thing I know about the two blood test that were done is my T-count and creatine were both low.
[quote]mcvolution wrote:
OK from what I’ve looked at i need a better understanding of the tests that were run and a bunch more to really see what is going on. In the mean time should I bail on the Androgel. I may be in denial here but if there is a chance that I can jump start my natural testosterone production won’t continuing on the Androgel kill any chance of that?
As I said I only started on the Gel 5 days ago. If I’ve got to commit to TRT that’s one thing but if the issue is correctable that is the path I’d take. The only thing I know about the two blood test that were done is my T-count and creatine were both low.
Any advice?[/quote]
Look for the cause and then support other hormone systesm such as thyroid and adrenals, keeping e2 imbalance. As too medicications can affect testosterone production. I will prepare a list of them so we can post them up as a sticky for ksman
[quote]Hardasnails wrote:
Where are you located I help I help run a clinic in North east that many men from here have gone to and have been very happy with there results. [/quote]
Without going into any details (which I don’t discuss on public forums), I can vouch for Hardasnails and the clinic and doctor he works with. If you’re within 8 hours, make the journey to meet with them. Just going through the suite of labs that they use is worth it. I started feeling better with some simple over the counter supps to start.
Ok. I got some of my blood test results in the mail to day and I don’t understand most of it but I think I see some things that are in line with what I’ve been reading on the forum.
Not all the tests had a result listed many of them read Pending but the above stood out in my mind. We’ll see what the doc says. Even supplementing Vitamin D with 2000 iu/day is still only yielding a total vitamin D of 32 which is just above the low end of normal on the Quest paperwork.
Any thoughts?
P.S. KSman I hope you are feeling better and my prayers are with you and your family.
it will be easier once you have all of your results, but it doesn’t look good based on what you posted.
You need a doctor who knows about adrenal fatigue - maybe get a referral from a local compounding pharmacy.
I would think that you need to double or triple your Vit D supplement (I am on 15,000iu which gives me mid-80 results), you also probably need to be on 50mg DHEA, and I would toss in 60mg Pregnenelone (to help support the natural production of cortisol and DHEA). I would expect a doctor to put you on hydrocortison (5mg to 20mg depending on the doctors approach) to take some of the pressure off of your system so that it can regroup, and to then wean you back off. Your Estradiol is also too high and needs some sort of control. 50mg Zinc can help (in my experience), but you will probably also need Arimidex.
with your low LH (caused by pituitary malfunction) did you get an MRI to rule out a pituitary tumor?
Hardasnails has me hooked up but I won’t be back at the clinic until the 30th and there is some much knowledge here It is always good to get feedback. I’ve got a file started and am compiling information and test results to take the advice I was first given here on the forum and take control of my own health.
I have not had a MRI.
Thanks all for the inf.o I am really glad to be finally moving in the right direction.
as test trickle in I will be complying the data. This is probably the only forum that I am in agreement with >95% of the information is given. Plus there is no bull shit here.
The Update:
Below are the Lab results after 4 weeks on 50mg of Androgel.
Hemoglobin A1c = 5.8
Vitamin D Total = 32 ng/mL
T3 Reverse = 31 ng/dL
Total Testosterone = 271 ng/dL
Free Testosterone = 52.1 pg/mL
SHBG = 17 nmol/L
Albumin, Serum = 5.1 g/dL
Cortisol, Total = 5.0 mcg/dL
Cortisol Free = 0.09 mcg/dL
White BC Count = 4.2 Thousand /uL
C-Peptide = 3.3 ng/mL
DHEA Sulfate = 85 mcg/dL
Progesterone = <0.5 ng/mL
Estradiol = 40 pg/mL
Cortisol A.M. = 7.3 mcg/dL
Triglycerides �¢?? Direct = 157 mg/dL
Real- LDL-C = 140 mg/dL
Sum Total LDL-C = 122 mg/dL
Real-LDL Size Pattern = A/B
Hardasnails has started me on the below Supplement regimen and we are going to try to jumpstart my natural Testosterone production by stopping the Androgel for 10 days followed by 7 days of Clomid then retest. I am also doing an Adrenocortex Stress Profile Salivary Hormone Test
o Discontinue supplementation of Androgel for a minimum of 10 days
o Arrange with Dr. Overbeck and Sean to start 7 day cycle of Clomid
o Eight days after starting the Clomid cycle test for total testosterone
o Evaluate total testosterone for minimum level of 380 ng/dL
I felt like real shit after stopping the Androgel. I re-tested after 7 days of Clomid for the items below but have not gotten the results. I haven’t gotten the results from the Adrenocortex Stress Profile Salivary Hormone Test yet either.
o lh
o total testosterone
o hypogonadism
o testicular dysfunction
Basically I’ve been taking supplements and have tried to get my testosterone production jumpstarted and even though the test results have not come back yet I already know what they will be because i feel like shit.
Any thoughts? Better suplement Regimine? I am getting concerned with the cost of these as well
[quote]mcvolution wrote:
Right! If it is recommended that I stay on it long term I can get it filled three months at a time for $18 out of pocket. [/quote]
So your insurance pays for a concentrated fish oil. This is what is wrong with our health care. That also pays for the adverts on TV.