Will this even help?

[novaman]

First post here- hoping to get some good advice.

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.

Should I see an endocrinologist or a urologist. Should I expect to see any benefit if I were to try testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) even if I'm "normal"??

 

[Frustrated1]

Welcome NovaMan.

You sound just like me, except eventually I got tired an hr after waking up on a Sat morning.

So here's the deal, the world of HRT Docs is dismal at best. Chip/Maximus really know their stuff and can get you dialed in faster than anybody. They have seen and done everything.

FYI T and estrogen define how you feel, one or the other is only part of it. The next step is to find out why your T is low. Get a complete blood panel that includes thyroid and pitutiary hormones, like FSH LH TSH. Get an MRI if possible on your pituitary gland and or thyroid depending on your blood work. You might just as well also include all of the estrogens like e1, e2, e3, and total Estrogen, along with the other stuff that's posted in the sticky in here.

Always include a DRE from your PCP before starting HRT.

So if you just need hormone replacement save yourself time and aggravation and skip the endo Dr's as they don't usually do HRT, just T, and low doses at long intervals. Just fill out the form and get on with MaximusHRT.

Read all the great posts on here, and ask questions. There is help for you. And we are all in the same boat. The people on here are great.

 

[Tide14]

I'd guess most of the guys that post here and are on HRT tested "normal." there is a big difference between the low end and the high end of normal (assuming your Estrogen, SHBG, etc are in line as well)