25 y/o, Should I try a restart? Is TRT in my future?

[sweetnsour]

I'm concerned if my testosterone is low for my age, I am 25 years old. I'm only 140 pounds or so and have always been skinny/low body fat. I did my first cycle about a year ago and did not get blood work beforehand (stupid i know, both the cycle and no bloodwork, don't bash me I regret both as it is and know better now. A friend convinced me and i regret it). I lost all my weight I gained because I lost motivation when i got horrible acne. I also did not take an AI, but i ran a pct of clomid/nolva for 4 weeks. I decided to get blood work now because my acne won't subside. I didn't tell the doctor i took steroids because it could mess up my insurance, so he only gave me testosterone/dhea bloods. Here are the results:

DHEA-Sulfate: 110-510; mine is 350
Test Bioavailable: 110-575; mine is 184
Test Free: 46-224; mine is 85.8
Test Total: 250-1100; mine is 475

I only had about 5 hours of sleep so I'm not sure if this affects it in any way. I also haven't been working out for months now. It's been about 7 months since my cycle ended.

It seems like they are pretty low, I know its hard to tell because I didnt get bloods beforehand so I dont know a baseline and the ranges are taken from 20 year olds to 80 year olds.

Honestly I'd say I'm slightly lethargic, my libido seems fine though. I haven't had problems getting up when I need to and I get random urges to rub one out haha.

Just wanted some of your guys opinions. If they seem too low, i'd like some advice to kick things up.

Thanks!

 

[jomamma007]

A restart can always be beneficial and I'd exhaust all options before going on hrt.
If you had better sleep and were working out you could bring that up 1-200 points and that could make a huge difference.

You seem to have no symptoms so I don't know why you'd want to get on hrt just because your numbers seem low. HRT is to alleviate symptoms, not improve your test scores .

 

[Daniel_IMT_Staff]

Hello,

A restart may be possible, however you should get complete labs and have a good night's rest so that we could know what really is going on. LH, FSH and e2 is very important as well!

 

[Alpin]

Get a sleep study done

 

[jozifp103]

your levels are low for your age, but not low enough that any doc would consider trt. i'm 24 and my total T was 299 with free T 79 and noone would help me. honestly I feel it is a lot easier for a young guy like us to notice low T because we are used to running on high levels. i'd say go for a restart, i jumped right on trt because i couldnt handle being low anymore but if you can bear it for a few months give it a try.

 

[sweetnsour]

I really want LH, FSH, E2 blood tests but I don't know how to get them.

privatemdlabs.com/lab_locations.php?rto=1

i live in MD so there are no labs here I can just pay for and go to. so i need to get them from my doctor. when i went and told him my acne wasnt going away and I was concerned my hormones were messed up from an OTC supplement. he told me he didnt want to check them, just testosterone. should i reschedule an appointment and somehow try to convince him?

could my estrogen levels still be elevated from not taking an AI even though it was months ago? should i take clomid for a few weeks with an AI?

 

[Alpin]

your levels are low for your age, but not low enough that any doc would consider trt. i'm 24 and my total T was 299 with free T 79 and noone would help me. honestly I feel it is a lot easier for a young guy like us to notice low T because we are used to running on high levels. i'd say go for a restart, i jumped right on trt because i couldnt handle being low anymore but if you can bear it for a few months give it a try.

Aren't u in the U.S. ?
348 ng/dl and under is hypo. 300 ng/dl and under must be treated accordibg to AACE

 

[sweetnsour]

If I should try to reschedule a doctors appt should I tell them I talked to a family friend thats an endo and she said shes has cases like mine before, as in severe acne after taking an otc supplement for a while. And she was curious as to if i could get LH, E2, and FSH levels checked?

 

[Alpin]

If I should try to reschedule a doctors appt should I tell them I talked to a family friend thats an endo and she said shes has cases like mine before, as in severe acne after taking an otc supplement for a while. And she was curious as to if i could get LH, E2, and FSH levels checked?

What if the doc asks for the name?
Dont do it. Either way it is not going to work out well...
At the very least the doc will think u dont trust him and you are going about for different opinions.

 

[sweetnsour]

How should I go about asking for the tests without mentioning steroid use? He told me his best friend got gyno from an OTC supplement. But I also told him I didn't have itchy nipples so that's prob what turned him off from checking e2.

 

[jozifp103]

Aren't u in the U.S. ?
348 ng/dl and under is hypo. 300 ng/dl and under must be treated accordibg to AACE

second test read 346. doc assured me everthing was normal. free test was also low. 80. whatever IMT hooked me up

 

[sweetnsour]

second test read 346. doc assured me everthing was normal. free test was also low. 80. whatever IMT hooked me up

So what are your levels now? Do you feel normal at around 500 test like im at? (if thats where you are)

Should i really worry about taking clomid? Is it something you guys highly consider I do?

Total T seems slightly low if its suppose to be around 600. What is my free test suppose to be around?

Since i still have bad facial acne 7 months after cycle, could it be my E2 level causing it or the low T?

 

[jozifp103]

well the program that IMT has me on should boost my total T into the 1500's which is off the charts. I'm getting my first bloodwork done this week to see where i'm at. i'm almost 4 weeks in. I most certainly feel 199% better than I did a month ago i can tell you that. and it probably still isnt fully kicked in yet. I would not worry about taking clomid. If you do a proper restart you will be fine and your test levels should improve. Free test should really be higher than 150 for young guys like us so yours is certainly low. Acne can be caused by any fluctuation in hormones, so it could be an indication that your test is still recovering. once your levels even out the acne should subside.

 

[sweetnsour]

I called my doctors office and asked for LH, FSH, and E2 tests, hopefully my doctor will approve it.

For a restart should I try clomid only? or try clomid/nolva/hcg?

if so with the clomid/nolva/hcg, what doses do I need to take?

 

[sweetnsour]

i ordered clomid, nolvadex, and arimidex for now. going to skip on the hcg since i believe thats only needed it your testes arent working properly. which for 475 test level mine seem to be working but just need a kick from clomid i hope.

 

[jozifp103]

Ideally hcg should be run first to "prime" the testes for production. Also there is no set dose for anything because everyone responds differently an has different situations. I'd go through a professional (cough) imt

 

[sweetnsour]

damn i already placed my money gram without hcg, the whole mixing it and ui's all that was confusing me lol.

hope clomid/nolva can do the trick since my test is low but not extremely low

 

[sweetnsour]

I decided to opt out of the arimidex, i heard its not good to take when trying to restart with clomid

 

[jozifp103]

ya good call on dropping the adex. it could crash your e2.

 

[sweetnsour]

ya good call on dropping the adex. it could crash your e2.

im starting to wonder if my e2 is high though since ive had this bad facial acne for months now.

im hoping taking clomid will boost my test back up permanently so if my e2 is eleveated compared to test it will kind of balance out?