Preemptive thank you for anyone who has something to offer to this thread. This is an important subject for me and I believe that healing my testosterone issues is the panacea for my personal wellbeing. I will explain why.
I'm a 23 year old male and began to experience a slow decline in quality of life in early 2012. I was once a highly sociable person with a busy life. 6'1 and 83kg and mostly had a lot of energy. Began to withdraw from social activities, drinking went, took up cigarettes/pot, sex drive plummeted, ability to experience pleasure diminished and I had dropped out school and got fired for being a lousy employee.
There was a time I was a most driven student and received a scholarship to the top university in my country. In late 2012 I began to experience full-blown symptoms of depression and anxiety. The obvious answer was to seek psychological help but therapy and drugs did nothing to address my core issues. Neither did herbs/supplements I researched myself. I was becoming a shell of my former self.
I feel I have done everything within my power to completely change my lifestyle; here is a list of some major changes I have accomplished:
*Haven't touched any drugs for over 6 months
*3 months I haven't touched a cigarette (from 2 packs a day, cold turkey)
*Jumped back into a serious fitness regime, I workout 4-5 times a week including running, swimming, muay thai and powerlifting
*Dropped from 97kg to 86kg with a strict whole-food ketogenic diet (high fat, low carb)
*Haven't had alcohol in 2 months (made easier by my lack of motivation to go out and socialize)
*Changed my perspective on life
*Regulated my sleep pattern hygiene (had a sleep test done - no sleep apnea)
*Have a supplement regime including daily vitamin D, zinc, fish oil, vit-b, iodized salt etc
I cannot imagine anything else I can do to improve my wellbeing at this point. I have overcome the worst of the depression and anxiety yet I still don't feel anywhere close to the 'zest' I once had. My body temperature seems fine and I achieve morning wood however here are my main symptoms:
* Lack the 'energy' needed to get excited about things, to socialize, to want to be alive, it's like if you were getting chased by a lion but were unable to feel that adrenaline boost, that's how I feel about life in general
*Irritated easily
*Life seems like a constant struggle
*Able to improve my workout greatly for a time but I never feel good, I always feel rundown and I decline faster than previously with inconsistency
*Little interest in sex. I do it with my girlfriend once a week to maintain my relationship but I lack desire. If I see an attractive woman I can acknowledge mentally it but I lack the animalistic urges I once had.
*Can't maintain a social life anymore. Zero motivation to hang out with anybody or make new friends
*Nowhere near as confident as I once was. I feel neurotic and weak
*Tired no matter how much I sleep or maintain my health. I just feel like I get sick or injured easier than before
I did several tests to find the physiological issues and all was perfect except for male hormones, here are the lab results that seem relevant to this forum from August 2013:
Prolactin: 151 mIU/L (45-375)
Free T4: 14.3 pmol/L (10-19)
TSH: 1.63 mIU/L (0.50 - 4)
Free T3: 6.2 pmol/L (3.5-6.5)
Cholesterol: 3.8 mmol/L (0.0-5.5)
Chol/HDL ratio: 2.5 (<5.0)
FSH: 2 IU/L (1-10)
LH: 4 IU/L (1-10)
Prog: 1.8 nmol/L (1.2-4.8)
Cortisol [10AM,]: 488 nmol/L (119-618)
Cortisol [4:45PM]: 242 nmol/L (85-460)
Plasma Homocysteine: 7.4 umol/L (3.7-13.9)
Total Testosterone: 8.3nmol/L (8.3-30.2), next month 8.6nmol/L, and 9.9nmol/L
DHEA-: 8.6 umol/L (3-10.5)
SHBG: 16nmol/L (13-71)
Free Testosterone : 228pmol/L (225-725)
IGA (SE-Immunoglobulins) 4.07 g/L (0.7-4.0)
Sensitive Oestradiol: 50 pmol/L (50-150)
Ferritin 238 ng/ml (30-500)
My last result was in November 2013 with different reference ranges:
Testosterone: 12nmol/L (12-31.9)
SHBG: 21nmol/L (17-56)
Free test (VC): 299pmol/L (260-740)
Despite all my life changes my testosterone rose slightly and is bottom of the range.
I am seeing a clinical endo in 1 month and I want to be prepared to avoid wasting anymore time as these appointments are far in-between. I probably have secondary hypogonadism, I don't know what exactly caused it, could be head trauma, trying synthetic THC, personal experiences or anything else. I was advised to ask for hcg + nolvadex for a HPTA restart. I will most likely have to push for a certain treatment so I need more information about in order to be assertive. I really want to feel like 'myself' again. Thank you for any advice.
Here is my changes from feeling normal to gaining weight. Currently I am almost like the second picture where I had symptoms of low T already
imgur.com/a/MOxez#0
I'm a 23 year old male and began to experience a slow decline in quality of life in early 2012. I was once a highly sociable person with a busy life. 6'1 and 83kg and mostly had a lot of energy. Began to withdraw from social activities, drinking went, took up cigarettes/pot, sex drive plummeted, ability to experience pleasure diminished and I had dropped out school and got fired for being a lousy employee.
There was a time I was a most driven student and received a scholarship to the top university in my country. In late 2012 I began to experience full-blown symptoms of depression and anxiety. The obvious answer was to seek psychological help but therapy and drugs did nothing to address my core issues. Neither did herbs/supplements I researched myself. I was becoming a shell of my former self.
I feel I have done everything within my power to completely change my lifestyle; here is a list of some major changes I have accomplished:
*Haven't touched any drugs for over 6 months
*3 months I haven't touched a cigarette (from 2 packs a day, cold turkey)
*Jumped back into a serious fitness regime, I workout 4-5 times a week including running, swimming, muay thai and powerlifting
*Dropped from 97kg to 86kg with a strict whole-food ketogenic diet (high fat, low carb)
*Haven't had alcohol in 2 months (made easier by my lack of motivation to go out and socialize)
*Changed my perspective on life
*Regulated my sleep pattern hygiene (had a sleep test done - no sleep apnea)
*Have a supplement regime including daily vitamin D, zinc, fish oil, vit-b, iodized salt etc
I cannot imagine anything else I can do to improve my wellbeing at this point. I have overcome the worst of the depression and anxiety yet I still don't feel anywhere close to the 'zest' I once had. My body temperature seems fine and I achieve morning wood however here are my main symptoms:
* Lack the 'energy' needed to get excited about things, to socialize, to want to be alive, it's like if you were getting chased by a lion but were unable to feel that adrenaline boost, that's how I feel about life in general
*Irritated easily
*Life seems like a constant struggle
*Able to improve my workout greatly for a time but I never feel good, I always feel rundown and I decline faster than previously with inconsistency
*Little interest in sex. I do it with my girlfriend once a week to maintain my relationship but I lack desire. If I see an attractive woman I can acknowledge mentally it but I lack the animalistic urges I once had.
*Can't maintain a social life anymore. Zero motivation to hang out with anybody or make new friends
*Nowhere near as confident as I once was. I feel neurotic and weak
*Tired no matter how much I sleep or maintain my health. I just feel like I get sick or injured easier than before
I did several tests to find the physiological issues and all was perfect except for male hormones, here are the lab results that seem relevant to this forum from August 2013:
Prolactin: 151 mIU/L (45-375)
Free T4: 14.3 pmol/L (10-19)
TSH: 1.63 mIU/L (0.50 - 4)
Free T3: 6.2 pmol/L (3.5-6.5)
Cholesterol: 3.8 mmol/L (0.0-5.5)
Chol/HDL ratio: 2.5 (<5.0)
FSH: 2 IU/L (1-10)
LH: 4 IU/L (1-10)
Prog: 1.8 nmol/L (1.2-4.8)
Cortisol [10AM,]: 488 nmol/L (119-618)
Cortisol [4:45PM]: 242 nmol/L (85-460)
Plasma Homocysteine: 7.4 umol/L (3.7-13.9)
Total Testosterone: 8.3nmol/L (8.3-30.2), next month 8.6nmol/L, and 9.9nmol/L
DHEA-: 8.6 umol/L (3-10.5)
SHBG: 16nmol/L (13-71)
Free Testosterone : 228pmol/L (225-725)
IGA (SE-Immunoglobulins) 4.07 g/L (0.7-4.0)
Sensitive Oestradiol: 50 pmol/L (50-150)
Ferritin 238 ng/ml (30-500)
My last result was in November 2013 with different reference ranges:
Testosterone: 12nmol/L (12-31.9)
SHBG: 21nmol/L (17-56)
Free test (VC): 299pmol/L (260-740)
Despite all my life changes my testosterone rose slightly and is bottom of the range.
I am seeing a clinical endo in 1 month and I want to be prepared to avoid wasting anymore time as these appointments are far in-between. I probably have secondary hypogonadism, I don't know what exactly caused it, could be head trauma, trying synthetic THC, personal experiences or anything else. I was advised to ask for hcg + nolvadex for a HPTA restart. I will most likely have to push for a certain treatment so I need more information about in order to be assertive. I really want to feel like 'myself' again. Thank you for any advice.
Here is my changes from feeling normal to gaining weight. Currently I am almost like the second picture where I had symptoms of low T already
imgur.com/a/MOxez#0
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