futbolplayer
New member
Hello All,
I am a 25 year old male now, who has had symptoms of low t since age 19, perhaps even earlier. I remember in my high school days not have much of a libido, fatigue, slightly depressed mood, and slow gains in the gym (not my concern). Anyway, at around age 21, this turned into complete impotence, treatment resistant major depression, crippling fatigue, and no sex drive. To be completely honest, it also started to affect my memory, sleep, concentration, and has quite frankly ruined the last six years of my life.
I don't have all my labs in front of me, but I am going to pass along some values to seek out opinion and hopefully help others. I consistently give lab readings in the levels of high 300's, to mid 400's for total testosterone. On occasion, with what I believe is lab error, I will give readings in the 600s, but vast majority of the time I sit right at 450 ng/dL (350 - 1200). My LH value is around 5.3 (2-8), cortisol is 18.8 (2 - 19), Estradiol is 18 (7 - 43), DHT is 25 (30 - 85), Vitamin-D is 25 (30 - 100), DHEA is normal, and Prolactin is 14 (4 - 15).
Initially, doctors treated me for multiple years with antidepressants, anti-psychotics, and eventually through in some adderall into the mix. None of these medications helped, though I can say the SSRI I was originally put on did help with the depression but no others symptoms and the positive effect always faded after a few months. It took me three doctors to finally find one who would begin treatment. Two GP's told me it was all in my head and to stop reading on the internet so much, one urologist told me it was in my head and to see a sex therapist, and finally I paid I private doctor at a t-clinic an insane premium to treat me. Later I would find out he was marking up the price of prescription by twice their price to make more money off me. This was just one of many reasons I decided to seek out a new doctor and opinion.
The hormone specialist at the t clinic started me on vitamin d3 10,000iu sublingual daily, armour thyroid 30mg daily, and HCG 500iu twice weekly. After one month of labs, my testosterone had doubled to 850 and I was feeling significant relief, albeit still had some lingering symptoms. After another month on treatment, I began to feel as I did before I started any treatment and requested some labs by the doc. Testosterone was back down to 390 and a follow up lab the next day showed testosterone of 600, though I still felt terrible. After trying varying schedules of HCG with dosages varying from 500iu a week to 3000iu a week, I decided I was not paying for a treatment that didn't work anymore. I quit the HCG and decided to find a new doctor.
While off the HCG, I found that while still depressed and fatigue, the crippling depression I had once experienced was gone. I attribute this to the vitamin d-3 at 10,000iu daily. Though, the lack of libido, impotence, and lack of energy was back. Multiple doctors have told me testosterone is not my issues and that there is a root cause of this. I do believe this to some extent, however the testosterone levels at my age are not normal, and I had a very delayed puberty in high school, didn't grow chest hair or shave until age 22, and have always felt I was hypogonadal. I also had two brains MRIs (with and without contrast) at age 20 and 21 when I began to complain of my symptoms that came back negative. I had an test for lyme disease that came back negative. I tried an elimination diet and liver detox which yielded no results. To be honest, the last thing I am trying is a sleep study in 2-4 weeks to see if there is anything causing my symptoms. Like my new endocrinologist and I discussed, it is very unlikely apnea, which I also have zero symptoms of is causing my issues. Two things that I wonder about are the relatively high cortisol and relatively high prolactin. But, from my research online and negative MRI results, it does not seem the prolactin is high enough to be signifying a potential pituitary growth. Nonetheless, I may investigate a medication with a doctor to see if trying to lower prolactin would improve my symptoms.
I was prescribed testosterone after the HCG failed and was instructed by my new doctor I could give it a try. I injected 50mg test cyp and am already feeling significantly better with improvement in sexual function as well. This will be my only test injection, as in two weeks when it is out of my system, I will head in for a sleep study. I would like to avoid TRT but I think I am textbook hypogonadism. I am looking for thoughts regarding my situation and hoping this potentially helps others. I do think testosterone in the 400s and even 500s in your twenties, will cause symptoms of hormonal deficiency and leave you feeling like hell. I certainly realize each case is unique and individualized, some men will feel fine at these levels and others won't Lots of people have told me this is a normal level but I can assure when I supplement t, all symptoms begin to abate.
I am a 25 year old male now, who has had symptoms of low t since age 19, perhaps even earlier. I remember in my high school days not have much of a libido, fatigue, slightly depressed mood, and slow gains in the gym (not my concern). Anyway, at around age 21, this turned into complete impotence, treatment resistant major depression, crippling fatigue, and no sex drive. To be completely honest, it also started to affect my memory, sleep, concentration, and has quite frankly ruined the last six years of my life.
I don't have all my labs in front of me, but I am going to pass along some values to seek out opinion and hopefully help others. I consistently give lab readings in the levels of high 300's, to mid 400's for total testosterone. On occasion, with what I believe is lab error, I will give readings in the 600s, but vast majority of the time I sit right at 450 ng/dL (350 - 1200). My LH value is around 5.3 (2-8), cortisol is 18.8 (2 - 19), Estradiol is 18 (7 - 43), DHT is 25 (30 - 85), Vitamin-D is 25 (30 - 100), DHEA is normal, and Prolactin is 14 (4 - 15).
Initially, doctors treated me for multiple years with antidepressants, anti-psychotics, and eventually through in some adderall into the mix. None of these medications helped, though I can say the SSRI I was originally put on did help with the depression but no others symptoms and the positive effect always faded after a few months. It took me three doctors to finally find one who would begin treatment. Two GP's told me it was all in my head and to stop reading on the internet so much, one urologist told me it was in my head and to see a sex therapist, and finally I paid I private doctor at a t-clinic an insane premium to treat me. Later I would find out he was marking up the price of prescription by twice their price to make more money off me. This was just one of many reasons I decided to seek out a new doctor and opinion.
The hormone specialist at the t clinic started me on vitamin d3 10,000iu sublingual daily, armour thyroid 30mg daily, and HCG 500iu twice weekly. After one month of labs, my testosterone had doubled to 850 and I was feeling significant relief, albeit still had some lingering symptoms. After another month on treatment, I began to feel as I did before I started any treatment and requested some labs by the doc. Testosterone was back down to 390 and a follow up lab the next day showed testosterone of 600, though I still felt terrible. After trying varying schedules of HCG with dosages varying from 500iu a week to 3000iu a week, I decided I was not paying for a treatment that didn't work anymore. I quit the HCG and decided to find a new doctor.
While off the HCG, I found that while still depressed and fatigue, the crippling depression I had once experienced was gone. I attribute this to the vitamin d-3 at 10,000iu daily. Though, the lack of libido, impotence, and lack of energy was back. Multiple doctors have told me testosterone is not my issues and that there is a root cause of this. I do believe this to some extent, however the testosterone levels at my age are not normal, and I had a very delayed puberty in high school, didn't grow chest hair or shave until age 22, and have always felt I was hypogonadal. I also had two brains MRIs (with and without contrast) at age 20 and 21 when I began to complain of my symptoms that came back negative. I had an test for lyme disease that came back negative. I tried an elimination diet and liver detox which yielded no results. To be honest, the last thing I am trying is a sleep study in 2-4 weeks to see if there is anything causing my symptoms. Like my new endocrinologist and I discussed, it is very unlikely apnea, which I also have zero symptoms of is causing my issues. Two things that I wonder about are the relatively high cortisol and relatively high prolactin. But, from my research online and negative MRI results, it does not seem the prolactin is high enough to be signifying a potential pituitary growth. Nonetheless, I may investigate a medication with a doctor to see if trying to lower prolactin would improve my symptoms.
I was prescribed testosterone after the HCG failed and was instructed by my new doctor I could give it a try. I injected 50mg test cyp and am already feeling significantly better with improvement in sexual function as well. This will be my only test injection, as in two weeks when it is out of my system, I will head in for a sleep study. I would like to avoid TRT but I think I am textbook hypogonadism. I am looking for thoughts regarding my situation and hoping this potentially helps others. I do think testosterone in the 400s and even 500s in your twenties, will cause symptoms of hormonal deficiency and leave you feeling like hell. I certainly realize each case is unique and individualized, some men will feel fine at these levels and others won't Lots of people have told me this is a normal level but I can assure when I supplement t, all symptoms begin to abate.
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