I have low testosterone, but I'm not starting TRT.

Thanks for the advice, I have been experiencing a lot of symptoms myself and I have been trying to figure out what's wrong. I have borderline low T but my doctor says it's fine since it fits within the "normal" ranges. Though at 27 it seems very low to me, especially since I exercise and eat healthy.

I'm curious did you see an endocrinologist? What sort of tests did you have done to discover this issue?

Thanks and good luck, I hope everything goes smoothly for you.
 
Amazing story TS. Thanks for sharing and hope all goes well.
 
Thanks for the advice, I have been experiencing a lot of symptoms myself and I have been trying to figure out what's wrong. I have borderline low T but my doctor says it's fine since it fits within the "normal" ranges. Though at 27 it seems very low to me, especially since I exercise and eat healthy.

I'm curious did you see an endocrinologist? What sort of tests did you have done to discover this issue?

Thanks and good luck, I hope everything goes smoothly for you.

Hi, Nintey - after my prolactin and testosterone was discovered to be low I was referred to an endocrinologist (and a neurosurgeon and an ENT and an ophthalmologist). I see the endo on Friday but more on that later.

Diagnostic tests included blood work and MRI/CT Scan. Blood work was odd, so to rule out a pituitary tumor an MRI was performed which showed a mass 2cm pressing up against the pituitary gland which was making the gland press up against the optic chiasm. Seriously, to put your mind at ease and/or get a jump start on the inevitable order an MRI if you can afford it. It will show with 100% certainty if there is a tumor. If just your T is borderline low and the rest of your blood work looks fine (prolactin is normal, cortisol is normal, etc) then you might just be one of the unlucky ones with lower testosterone, but do what you can to rule out a health issue.

Update ****
I'm back home and have been since March 21st. I went home on the third day; just really couldn't handle being on the hospital any longer. It was the most uncomfortable experience of my life. The first memory I have is in the recovery room where I spent 7 hours waiting for an ICU bed. Once in ICU I was subjected to some not-so-good bedside manner from the nurses to the ICU doctors to even the neurosurgeon who performed the procedure. I felt like I was being kept out of the loop of my own treatment. For example, they were pumping me full of a steroid that escapes me right now, but it causes thirst and dry mouth. I had no idea, so I thought something was really wrong with me. When I complained to the nurse about the dry mouth she still didn't tell me that was a common side effect of the med I was on. In fact, they would just inject stuff into my IV without telling me very much about it.

I saw the neurosurgeon a total of 4 minutes in 3 days. Each time he'd come in and go "ok, so looks like you might have diabetes insipidus but it's too early to tell. We're going to keep you another day to monitor you. Ok bye." The night after surgery I had a panic attack; never had one in my life so I thought I was going to suffocate to death. I called the nurse in and she went "Ok, what would you like me to do?" I ended up requesting a bunch of percocets to make me comfortable.

A couple days after I got home I noticed the vision in my right eye is blurred. I read my discharge paperwork and some stuff online, all of which said if you have blurred vision call your doctor. I did and his office manager got back to me 4 days later with a very unhelpful response. "It's not normal, but it's not abnormal either. There is a lot of swelling." Great, so either I'm going blind or I'm not. I have an eye exam scheduled with an ophthalmologist on the 18th, but I'm worried about what has happened to my eye sight. My left eye seems ok, but my right one is definitely blurred.

As far as my current state, other than the eye sight, I do feel better. As of a few days after surgery my body totally stopped making cortisol which is bad, but it is a common side effect when the pituitary is manipulated. It basically freaks out and shuts down for a period. My cortisol could come back in a month or I could be on meds the rest of my life. Right now I'm on prednisone which is a corticosteroid that helps with all the inflammation around my pituitary and my cortisol level. I see the endo on Friday who will likely re-test my blood. I'm confident that she'll find my testosterone is back up and my prolactin down. That has been the one miraculous thing - my energy is great and my libido is definitely back. The neurosurgeon said it would likely come back down the line, maybe a few months or so, and there was significant chance that I'd need to be on TRT. It doesn't look like that's the case, so I'm thrilled.

The bottom line is, I was so unprepared for recovery. Not only was the neurosurgeon and ENT sort of casual about it and glossed over many things that would later scare me to death in recovery but there is all sorts of misinformation online. I'm thinking about putting up a simple little website that discusses my experience with the hope that it might help one other person like me.

I'll keep you guys posted down the line. Thanks for the support thus far.
 
That is a crazy story, I'm always amazed at how impersonal doctors can be. I get that they sort of have to be but it just feels unprofessional to not tell you what you may experience or they may give you. I've at least had ok luck with good nurses, really sucks that you got bad of both.

My father has a prostatectomy and the doctors/staff didn't tell him anything. When he got home he was writhing in agony from gas pains since they had to inflate him for the surgery. No one warned him about that so I got him some gas-X that helped but still.

Thanks for the reply, I hope everything turns out good for you, and you get at least one doctor who isn't an ass to help you feel at ease.
 
Hi, Nintey - after my prolactin and testosterone was discovered to be low I was referred to an endocrinologist (and a neurosurgeon and an ENT and an ophthalmologist). I see the endo on Friday but more on that later.

Diagnostic tests included blood work and MRI/CT Scan. Blood work was odd, so to rule out a pituitary tumor an MRI was performed which showed a mass 2cm pressing up against the pituitary gland which was making the gland press up against the optic chiasm. Seriously, to put your mind at ease and/or get a jump start on the inevitable order an MRI if you can afford it. It will show with 100% certainty if there is a tumor. If just your T is borderline low and the rest of your blood work looks fine (prolactin is normal, cortisol is normal, etc) then you might just be one of the unlucky ones with lower testosterone, but do what you can to rule out a health issue.

Update ****
I'm back home and have been since March 21st. I went home on the third day; just really couldn't handle being on the hospital any longer. It was the most uncomfortable experience of my life. The first memory I have is in the recovery room where I spent 7 hours waiting for an ICU bed. Once in ICU I was subjected to some not-so-good bedside manner from the nurses to the ICU doctors to even the neurosurgeon who performed the procedure. I felt like I was being kept out of the loop of my own treatment. For example, they were pumping me full of a steroid that escapes me right now, but it causes thirst and dry mouth. I had no idea, so I thought something was really wrong with me. When I complained to the nurse about the dry mouth she still didn't tell me that was a common side effect of the med I was on. In fact, they would just inject stuff into my IV without telling me very much about it.

I saw the neurosurgeon a total of 4 minutes in 3 days. Each time he'd come in and go "ok, so looks like you might have diabetes insipidus but it's too early to tell. We're going to keep you another day to monitor you. Ok bye." The night after surgery I had a panic attack; never had one in my life so I thought I was going to suffocate to death. I called the nurse in and she went "Ok, what would you like me to do?" I ended up requesting a bunch of percocets to make me comfortable.

A couple days after I got home I noticed the vision in my right eye is blurred. I read my discharge paperwork and some stuff online, all of which said if you have blurred vision call your doctor. I did and his office manager got back to me 4 days later with a very unhelpful response. "It's not normal, but it's not abnormal either. There is a lot of swelling." Great, so either I'm going blind or I'm not. I have an eye exam scheduled with an ophthalmologist on the 18th, but I'm worried about what has happened to my eye sight. My left eye seems ok, but my right one is definitely blurred.

As far as my current state, other than the eye sight, I do feel better. As of a few days after surgery my body totally stopped making cortisol which is bad, but it is a common side effect when the pituitary is manipulated. It basically freaks out and shuts down for a period. My cortisol could come back in a month or I could be on meds the rest of my life. Right now I'm on prednisone which is a corticosteroid that helps with all the inflammation around my pituitary and my cortisol level. I see the endo on Friday who will likely re-test my blood. I'm confident that she'll find my testosterone is back up and my prolactin down. That has been the one miraculous thing - my energy is great and my libido is definitely back. The neurosurgeon said it would likely come back down the line, maybe a few months or so, and there was significant chance that I'd need to be on TRT. It doesn't look like that's the case, so I'm thrilled.

The bottom line is, I was so unprepared for recovery. Not only was the neurosurgeon and ENT sort of casual about it and glossed over many things that would later scare me to death in recovery but there is all sorts of misinformation online. I'm thinking about putting up a simple little website that discusses my experience with the hope that it might help one other person like me.

I'll keep you guys posted down the line. Thanks for the support thus far.

Update***

I received the blood work results a few days ago and it confirmed that my prolactin is back down where it should be and my testosterone has more than doubled. Additionally, my body is producing cortisol so all in all I'm very pleased with my recovery from a hormone perspective. My growth hormone was 90% lower than it was pre-surgery but still within normal range; the endocrinologist said this is normal 6 weeks post-op.

My vision is slowly but surely coming back, but I'm wearing glasses to help with farsightedness. They don't help with the double vision I'm experiencing in my right eye, though.

Side-note: the great thing about having this procedure and all the diagnostics that go along with it early in the year is I've met my out-of-pocket maximum already so for the rest of the year I don't have to pay a thing!

Hope you all are doing well.
 
Good to hear that Goat Meal! I wish all the best to you!
 
Hopefully everything goes well, TS.
 
Good read and I'm glad you are doing and feeling much better man. I have very similar symptoms to you and I had blood work for my thyroid, T, and other stuff done last month and everything else was normal but my T was low(which I expected). I turn 34 next friday and I've been eating healthy the last few months and exercising yet I've had such low energy levels for a few years and it hasn't changed much. I thought it was because I used to drink alot, but it's still the same now that I sobered up. I will be having more blood work in a week to see if my T is still low, then go from there. I was thinking about TRT but I'm worried with all the unknown side effects from it. This gives me more insight on what to ask my Dr. and what to look for.

I appreciate you taking the time to document this Goat Meal. All the best in your recovery friend.
 
Good luck for the surgery, glad to see you respect the need for bloodwork and not bro-science, hope you have a speedy recovery
 
That is a crazy story, I'm always amazed at how impersonal doctors can be. I get that they sort of have to be but it just feels unprofessional to not tell you what you may experience or they may give you. I've at least had ok luck with good nurses, really sucks that you got bad of both.

My father has a prostatectomy and the doctors/staff didn't tell him anything. When he got home he was writhing in agony from gas pains since they had to inflate him for the surgery. No one warned him about that so I got him some gas-X that helped but still.

Thanks for the reply, I hope everything turns out good for you, and you get at least one doctor who isn't an ass to help you feel at ease.
Surgeons are not generally going to be your best source for anything other thane procedure they did. I've worked with some great ones don't get me wrong, but at the risk of oversimplifying they're more like a mechanic. They're probably in surgery because you're quiet when they work on you. Having said that, when I need to work on someone accept no substitutes. They just let me do what I want as long as I don't mess up their work. Medical side they can be a pain here and there.
 
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