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Hi, folks. I saw a TRT thread floating around here recently and was going to share my story but all the comments were out of order. I thought creating my own thread might be a good idea. If not, just dump it or wasteland it if this kind of thing is frowned upon. I'm sharing my story for a few reasons. One, to possibly give fellow young men who suffer from low T hope that they don't have to live the rest of their lives in this sorry state and two, to keep men like me from rushing to TRT.
About 12-15 months ago I began noticing things about myself. My energy level in general just kind of sucked. I was moody, sometimes even depressed (explaining to my wife that I felt "understimulated" at times for no reason). Though I felt engaged at work, nothing outside of it really felt enjoyable other than spending time with my family of course. I dropped BJJ, avoided time with friends (mostly b/c I was sleepy), and cut everything from my life that wasn't work/school and family. I just didn't have the energy. I chalked it up to a long commute, having a toddler with a predilection for not sleeping, and going to school full time.
Around 10 months ago I was experiencing some sexual problems. For one, I had no interest in sex. I would go weeks at a time without having sex with my wife and honestly didn't really notice the infrequency of sex until she brought it up. The lack of interest was to such a degree I didn't even masturbate and haven't in god knows when. Again, I chalked it up to work, school, commute, and not having any time to exercise. When I got to the point where I was experiencing ED was when I started freaking out and I realized maybe there was something more.
I saw my physician in September who did blood work. I was borderline low in testosterone (295, reference range 245 to 1005, i think), normal vitamin B and low in vitamin D. He prescribed megadoses of vitamin D and Wellbutrin (to treat my intermittent depression and focus problems) for 3 months and ordered me to get my D and testosterone re-tested in December. Between September and December my energy did improve. I dropped Wellbutrin after about 3 weeks because it didn't do anything, but I did feel a little better with vitamin D. Unfortunately the sexual issues persisted.
I was re-tested in December. Vitamin was back to within normal range but I was officially testosterone deficient (206). I didn't really care because hey TRT is the new fountain of youth medicine, right? I'll just put on some gel or take some pills and I'll be back to my usual, horny, energetic self. As my doctor explained, it's not that simple. There are risks and some consequences that I didn't want to suffer, such as infertility with some forms of treatment. Additionally cancer runs in my family, so while he admits testosterone therapy doesn't CAUSE cancer that it could accelerate a carcinoma's growth, which is obviously bad.
I'm lucky to have a doctor that wanted to know first and foremost WHY a 32 year old such as myself has low testosterone in the first place. More blood work revealed I had 600% more prolactin in my system than what is normal. I was immediately given an MRI, which showed a macroadenoma on my pituitary and pressing against my optic nerves.
Should all go well, I'll be treated with either surgery or medication and in theory my testosterone level should go back to normal naturally.
All this to say, if you're younger than 50 and low in T and just feeling crummy and not like yourself take the extra test to check your other hormones. In my research I read a few really bad stories about doctors fast tracking TRT and a few years later they could barely see and they suffered the worst headaches they've ever felt because the underlying cause of their low T, the brain tumor, was never discovered.
That's really it. Hope everyone is doing well. Carnal, if you're out there, I love you.
About 12-15 months ago I began noticing things about myself. My energy level in general just kind of sucked. I was moody, sometimes even depressed (explaining to my wife that I felt "understimulated" at times for no reason). Though I felt engaged at work, nothing outside of it really felt enjoyable other than spending time with my family of course. I dropped BJJ, avoided time with friends (mostly b/c I was sleepy), and cut everything from my life that wasn't work/school and family. I just didn't have the energy. I chalked it up to a long commute, having a toddler with a predilection for not sleeping, and going to school full time.
Around 10 months ago I was experiencing some sexual problems. For one, I had no interest in sex. I would go weeks at a time without having sex with my wife and honestly didn't really notice the infrequency of sex until she brought it up. The lack of interest was to such a degree I didn't even masturbate and haven't in god knows when. Again, I chalked it up to work, school, commute, and not having any time to exercise. When I got to the point where I was experiencing ED was when I started freaking out and I realized maybe there was something more.
I saw my physician in September who did blood work. I was borderline low in testosterone (295, reference range 245 to 1005, i think), normal vitamin B and low in vitamin D. He prescribed megadoses of vitamin D and Wellbutrin (to treat my intermittent depression and focus problems) for 3 months and ordered me to get my D and testosterone re-tested in December. Between September and December my energy did improve. I dropped Wellbutrin after about 3 weeks because it didn't do anything, but I did feel a little better with vitamin D. Unfortunately the sexual issues persisted.
I was re-tested in December. Vitamin was back to within normal range but I was officially testosterone deficient (206). I didn't really care because hey TRT is the new fountain of youth medicine, right? I'll just put on some gel or take some pills and I'll be back to my usual, horny, energetic self. As my doctor explained, it's not that simple. There are risks and some consequences that I didn't want to suffer, such as infertility with some forms of treatment. Additionally cancer runs in my family, so while he admits testosterone therapy doesn't CAUSE cancer that it could accelerate a carcinoma's growth, which is obviously bad.
I'm lucky to have a doctor that wanted to know first and foremost WHY a 32 year old such as myself has low testosterone in the first place. More blood work revealed I had 600% more prolactin in my system than what is normal. I was immediately given an MRI, which showed a macroadenoma on my pituitary and pressing against my optic nerves.
Should all go well, I'll be treated with either surgery or medication and in theory my testosterone level should go back to normal naturally.
All this to say, if you're younger than 50 and low in T and just feeling crummy and not like yourself take the extra test to check your other hormones. In my research I read a few really bad stories about doctors fast tracking TRT and a few years later they could barely see and they suffered the worst headaches they've ever felt because the underlying cause of their low T, the brain tumor, was never discovered.
That's really it. Hope everyone is doing well. Carnal, if you're out there, I love you.
