Hi there,
wondering if people would be so good as to have a read of my situation and perhaps offer some advice. I'm at my wits end and would appreciate any input.
It started on Christmas day last year; I was drinking heavily and in a good natured play fight with friends which went wrong I ended up dislocating my shoulder. I went to A&E, they put it back in and I was sent home.
I woke up the next day with what I now know to be panic attacks. They were horrendous and having had no history of mental illness or psychological problems I thought I was losing my mind. I went back to work after the Christmas break, still battling the anxiety. I also began to get severe fatigue, fibromyalgia-esque pain in my hands, dry gritty vision / sensitivity to light and difficulty reading as a result on monitors / televisions.
I was unable to cope with work and was signed off by my GP. She also persuaded me to take an SSRI, Citalopram, for the anxiety. I was off work for 3 months and unable to do much of anything other than lie in bed in darkened rooms. I was told at the time I had ***8216;post-viral fatigue***8217; by my GP. I decided to discontinue the SSRI after 6 weeks as I believed it to be affecting my libido, which was causing problems with my relationship.
I successfully weaned off it and the anxiety did not return, the rest of my symptoms began to ease and I was soon back in work. The only symptom which remained was my lack of libido, which at the time I attributed to after effects of the SSRI.
Being an avid field hockey player I was desperate to regain my former high level of fitness and began exercising as I used to, at least an hour or two per day of intense running / heavy weight lifting. I had always managed with this in the past, but on top of it I decided, possibly now in my error, to start a pattern of calorie restricted dieting along with a method of eating called intermittent fasting and lots of caffeine to lose the weight I had put on. It was very successful in that regard and to be honest I felt better than I ever had done, other than the fact I still had no libido. This continued for a couple of months and in July I asked my GP to check my testosterone levels and they were very low, (4.3 nmol/l )
She prescribed me Testogel and at the time, not knowing what I do now about primary / secondary hypogonadism and the effects of exogenous testosterone on your own production, I took it gladly.
My libido started to come back but to my horror so too did the panic attack / anxiety symptoms, so I discontinued the gel after 2 weeks and got my GP to refer me to an endocrinologist.
Soon after stopping the gel I began to crash badly and the same fatigue / visual symptoms returned. I am now having to work reduced hours and am completely unable to exercise or do any of my hobbies.
Since my initial consultant an endocrinologist in September I have I have had an MRI of my pituitary, an ultrasound of my testes, a GNRH stimulation test, numerous blood tests and an ACTH stimulation test which have all come up normal.
I trialled a selective estrogen receptor modulator for 2 weeks to see if my testosterone levels would rise. They did rise to 18.3nmol/l but subjectively I felt no better at all. They have since fallen to the value in the below blood test.
My basal temperature on waking for the last 4 weeks has been both consistently below 36 degrees Celsius and unstable.
It is this which has led me to believe my low testosterone may be secondary to adrenal dysfunction.
I am currently taking: Vitamin C, Vitamin B5, Vitamin D3, Omega 3s, Zinc, Magnesium, Celtic Salt and bovine glandulars.
Blood test results below:
Total Testosterone 10.7nmol/l (8.5 - 29.0)
Prolactin 147 miu/l (0-350)
Oestradiol <37pmol/l
Prolactin 274mu/l (<350)
FSH 6.0 iu/L
LH 3.1 iu/L
AM Cortisol 267 nmol/l (140 - 700)
Sodium 142 nmol/l (133 - 146)
Potassium 3.9nmol/l (3.5 - 5.3)
Urea 6.7nmol/l (2.5 - 7.8)
Creatinine 95 umol/L (0-135)
Magnesium 0.87 nmol/L (0.7 - 1.0)
Free T3 5.0pmol/l (2.5 - 6.5)
Free T4 16.6 pmol/l (8.0 - 21.0)
TSH 1.44 mu/L (0.4 - 4.5)
25 OH Vitamin D3 83.7mol/l (<75 = adequate)
Androsterone 2.4nmol/l (1.0 ? 8.50nmol/l)
DHEAS 9.4umol/l (0.00 ? 12.00 umol/l)
Has anyone had any experiene with this kind of situation? UK health care professionals seem to have very little understanding of it and they are trying to fob me off with a diagnosis of depression.
I am awaiting the results of an Adrenal Stress Index and a further blood test to test B12, Lead, Mercury, Thyroid Antibodies, Pregnenolone.
Any help would be great.
wondering if people would be so good as to have a read of my situation and perhaps offer some advice. I'm at my wits end and would appreciate any input.
It started on Christmas day last year; I was drinking heavily and in a good natured play fight with friends which went wrong I ended up dislocating my shoulder. I went to A&E, they put it back in and I was sent home.
I woke up the next day with what I now know to be panic attacks. They were horrendous and having had no history of mental illness or psychological problems I thought I was losing my mind. I went back to work after the Christmas break, still battling the anxiety. I also began to get severe fatigue, fibromyalgia-esque pain in my hands, dry gritty vision / sensitivity to light and difficulty reading as a result on monitors / televisions.
I was unable to cope with work and was signed off by my GP. She also persuaded me to take an SSRI, Citalopram, for the anxiety. I was off work for 3 months and unable to do much of anything other than lie in bed in darkened rooms. I was told at the time I had ***8216;post-viral fatigue***8217; by my GP. I decided to discontinue the SSRI after 6 weeks as I believed it to be affecting my libido, which was causing problems with my relationship.
I successfully weaned off it and the anxiety did not return, the rest of my symptoms began to ease and I was soon back in work. The only symptom which remained was my lack of libido, which at the time I attributed to after effects of the SSRI.
Being an avid field hockey player I was desperate to regain my former high level of fitness and began exercising as I used to, at least an hour or two per day of intense running / heavy weight lifting. I had always managed with this in the past, but on top of it I decided, possibly now in my error, to start a pattern of calorie restricted dieting along with a method of eating called intermittent fasting and lots of caffeine to lose the weight I had put on. It was very successful in that regard and to be honest I felt better than I ever had done, other than the fact I still had no libido. This continued for a couple of months and in July I asked my GP to check my testosterone levels and they were very low, (4.3 nmol/l )
She prescribed me Testogel and at the time, not knowing what I do now about primary / secondary hypogonadism and the effects of exogenous testosterone on your own production, I took it gladly.
My libido started to come back but to my horror so too did the panic attack / anxiety symptoms, so I discontinued the gel after 2 weeks and got my GP to refer me to an endocrinologist.
Soon after stopping the gel I began to crash badly and the same fatigue / visual symptoms returned. I am now having to work reduced hours and am completely unable to exercise or do any of my hobbies.
Since my initial consultant an endocrinologist in September I have I have had an MRI of my pituitary, an ultrasound of my testes, a GNRH stimulation test, numerous blood tests and an ACTH stimulation test which have all come up normal.
I trialled a selective estrogen receptor modulator for 2 weeks to see if my testosterone levels would rise. They did rise to 18.3nmol/l but subjectively I felt no better at all. They have since fallen to the value in the below blood test.
My basal temperature on waking for the last 4 weeks has been both consistently below 36 degrees Celsius and unstable.
It is this which has led me to believe my low testosterone may be secondary to adrenal dysfunction.
I am currently taking: Vitamin C, Vitamin B5, Vitamin D3, Omega 3s, Zinc, Magnesium, Celtic Salt and bovine glandulars.
Blood test results below:
Total Testosterone 10.7nmol/l (8.5 - 29.0)
Prolactin 147 miu/l (0-350)
Oestradiol <37pmol/l
Prolactin 274mu/l (<350)
FSH 6.0 iu/L
LH 3.1 iu/L
AM Cortisol 267 nmol/l (140 - 700)
Sodium 142 nmol/l (133 - 146)
Potassium 3.9nmol/l (3.5 - 5.3)
Urea 6.7nmol/l (2.5 - 7.8)
Creatinine 95 umol/L (0-135)
Magnesium 0.87 nmol/L (0.7 - 1.0)
Free T3 5.0pmol/l (2.5 - 6.5)
Free T4 16.6 pmol/l (8.0 - 21.0)
TSH 1.44 mu/L (0.4 - 4.5)
25 OH Vitamin D3 83.7mol/l (<75 = adequate)
Androsterone 2.4nmol/l (1.0 ? 8.50nmol/l)
DHEAS 9.4umol/l (0.00 ? 12.00 umol/l)
Has anyone had any experiene with this kind of situation? UK health care professionals seem to have very little understanding of it and they are trying to fob me off with a diagnosis of depression.
I am awaiting the results of an Adrenal Stress Index and a further blood test to test B12, Lead, Mercury, Thyroid Antibodies, Pregnenolone.
Any help would be great.
