I've been investigating Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) and here is my story so far (sorry but part of this is a repost from my first post to give the background story).
I've gone through my whole life feeling tired and tiring easily. Once in a blue moon I will feel great, but it is a rare occurence. Mostly I go through life kind of in a fog. Peopl always comment that I look tired or "out of it". I've looked at chronic fatigue, allergies, tried SSRI's (horrible), even went the homeopathic route. Nothing worked and I just resigned myself to this being the way that I am.
I'm 48 now and recently I noticed that I was tiring even earlier in the day. It used to be that I'd be dog tired by around 5 pm but lately its been hitting me at 2. I also noticed that my recovery times from working out are getting longer and longer and my sex drive has diminished. It was this last point that prompted me to look at testosterone issues. I took some online quiz at lowT and answered "yes" to 8 out of the 10 questions they asked- yikes! SO I went and got a blood test.
The first test came back with a test level of 308 (blood drawn at 8:30 am) This raised a bit of a flag with my GP so we retested and the second test came back at 400 with a free test at 76 on a scale of 35 to 150 being normal (blood drawn at 7:30 am).
My GP says I'm normal- maybe low normal but normal. He recommended that I go see an endocrinologist if I want to pursue this any further.
I've done some research and decided to see a urologist that my chiropractor recommended. I have an appointment scheduled in a few weeks but I'm wondering if my blood tests, which appear to be incomplete when compared to the tests that Maximus Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is asking for, will be enough of a start or will the urologist simply ask me to take a more detailed blood test and push my diagnosis and treatment even further out.
I'd appreciated any thoughts.
I've gone through my whole life feeling tired and tiring easily. Once in a blue moon I will feel great, but it is a rare occurence. Mostly I go through life kind of in a fog. Peopl always comment that I look tired or "out of it". I've looked at chronic fatigue, allergies, tried SSRI's (horrible), even went the homeopathic route. Nothing worked and I just resigned myself to this being the way that I am.
I'm 48 now and recently I noticed that I was tiring even earlier in the day. It used to be that I'd be dog tired by around 5 pm but lately its been hitting me at 2. I also noticed that my recovery times from working out are getting longer and longer and my sex drive has diminished. It was this last point that prompted me to look at testosterone issues. I took some online quiz at lowT and answered "yes" to 8 out of the 10 questions they asked- yikes! SO I went and got a blood test.
The first test came back with a test level of 308 (blood drawn at 8:30 am) This raised a bit of a flag with my GP so we retested and the second test came back at 400 with a free test at 76 on a scale of 35 to 150 being normal (blood drawn at 7:30 am).
My GP says I'm normal- maybe low normal but normal. He recommended that I go see an endocrinologist if I want to pursue this any further.
I've done some research and decided to see a urologist that my chiropractor recommended. I have an appointment scheduled in a few weeks but I'm wondering if my blood tests, which appear to be incomplete when compared to the tests that Maximus Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is asking for, will be enough of a start or will the urologist simply ask me to take a more detailed blood test and push my diagnosis and treatment even further out.
I'd appreciated any thoughts.
