I just stopped TRT and had surgery this last Thursday to repair a varicocele that I’ve had since my early 20s. I’m now 42 and my testosterone has been hanging around 363 and never sure why since I eat excellent, lift weights and do all the right steps to be healthy as can be. The only thing I thought may be effecting my testosterone is the varicocele which is a grade 3. The microsurgery went well and I will get re tested for my hormones in 3 months to see if it has improved anything. My FSH has always been elevated which is a sign that there is something going on with my testicles, probably the varicocele. I will update everyone with my labs after I hit the 3 month mark. I haven’t seen anyone post success stories about increased testosterone from this repair other than fertility. However this is plenty of studies stating it can increase testosterone. Luckily my urologist was willing to try this. I figured I’d do this before 100% committing to lifelong testosterone injections.
If you had a varicocele for an extended period of time, damage to tissue can occur due to a lack of blood flow/oxygen. Generally, if you have a higher-grade varicocele, and delay getting surgery, it can permanently damage your testicles.
Pray for a miracle but I wouldn’t get my hopes up.
I have to agree, unfortunately. I’m on TRT because I had varicocele. Had 2 surgeries/interventions. Was able to make babies, my sperm count increased dramatically after surgeries, but my Testsosterone never recovered.
Hopefully that’s not the case. There is a few surgical techniques. I had the microsurgery which is supposed to be the most successful. I don’t expect a dramatic difference in testosterone but my doctor said it could increase by 100 points. Which may be enough to feel a difference. If it doesn’t work I have the option to get back on trt.
A 100 ng/dL increase is nice, but Free T is what matters most, since this is the hormone that interacts with your tissues and causes all the positive changes.
Exactly! Most people don’t understand that the total testosterone number isn’t that significant. It’s the free testosterone that the body is actually utilizing. So yeah there isn’t any studies on how it effects free testosterone, they only specify total testosterone numbers.
When I was taking testosterone I was feeling great with a total testosterone of 560 and my free testosterone was at 14-15. Without testosterone I was at 363 and my free was 7
That’s trough, or your lowest point. So your hormones are higher the day after your shot. Above 550 is ideal for most men, reducing risk of heart attack, stroke by 24% and dying by 30%.
First I had a varicocele ligation, which obviously didn’t really work. 10 years later, embolisation, that worked. Never knew then that my testosterone levels could be low, obviously the doctors too, so I didn’t have blood tests then.
Yeah most doctors will only treat a varicocele for fertility or bad pain. I pressed my doctor and he actually agreed. There is many studies showing it can increase testosterone if you Google it. It’s just not usually something they fix for low testosterone which I don’t fully understand.
Optimizing your hormones can help make you a healthier version of yourself, needing less treatments and surgeries down the road. Medicine is big business.
TRT and insurance companies don’t mix well, which is one reason why these cash only clinics are so popular. This is where most people get their TRT, not in the traditional healthcare system.
If all a doctor is going to do is prescribe TRT, and optimize hormones, all day, every day, it doesn’t make sense to do that in the traditional healthcare setting, because insurance is a huge the barrier and approval for coverage can take months.
It is for this reason most people get their TRT privately, cash only. If you think about it, TRT is a preventative measure and our healthcare is anything but preventative, it’s a sick care model.