New member, couple questions

[Rowdy4life]

Hey guys!

Im 24 years old and was diagnosed with low testosterone about a year ago. First blood test I did was total testosterone 2, free testosterone was 0. Saw a couple different doctors who said there must have been a mistake on tests because of such low levels. I did 3 more tests before starting treatment and they were all very similar, Highest was total testosterone 10. I was on 4 pumps a day of Androgel and that brought levels up to about 280 and I felt great. I was switched to Fortesta because of an insurance change and with 8 pumps a day of Fortesta my levels went down to about 150. I was on 100mg a week of some injections I cant remember the name of and that dropped my levels even lower. Ive been back on Fortesta for about 3 months now and I feel almost as bad now as no testosterone with levels around 50-75 on 3 tests. I went to the doctor today and they recommended me for clinical trial of some women's fertility drug that might help low T? Chlomid or something along those lines? I was wondering if anyone had had the issues ive had or if anyone has had levels as low as mine? Also how were they corrected? They said this trial drug is supposed to help with natural testosterone production, has anyone dealt with anything like this? I just really want to have normal levels and feel good again!

[Justin]

A lot of things to cover and point out from your post, so I'll just go over them one by one.

1. Testosterone gels, regardless of the brand you are generally dealing with the same thing, just different brand names. The levels of concentration may also vary but that's easily adjusted by the number of pumps you use. Anyway...many men find gels and creams work well for a time but after some time has passed their body stops absorbing the testosterone efficiently. This is a very common problem. In such cases, the amount of gel/cream has to go up, but unfortunately this really isn't a good long term solution as you'll continue to run into the same problem. Eventually you'll need to take a bath in the stuff, and that's no good at all.

2. While a testosterone reading of 280 is much better than where you were, it's still not what any sane doctor that knows about testosterone would call a good reading. 280 is still extremely low.

3. Testosterone injections, in most cases this would be with testosterone cypionate or testosterone enanthate. In rarer cases it would be with testosterone propionate. If it was with the latter, it's not surprising that your levels were 150 based on what you said. If it were either of the former types, it could be that 100mg simply isn't enough or it could be another issue, see #4 below.

4. Have you had an MRI done on your pituitary? Have you had your cortisol levels checked and checked for adrenal fatigue? Have you had your thyroid checked? These are all things you may want to consider as they could be a large part of the problem.

5. Clomid is nothing new. From the sound of it, it sounds like your doctor is saying this is new practice but again, it's far from new. Clomid has been used successfully in TRT for a long time. The idea, in part, is to stimulate natural testosterone production. It's often referred to as an HPTA restart. HCG is also often used for this purpose. At your age a restart is possible. If successful, you would not need any TRT meds any more. But there is no guarantee that it will work. If it doesn't work, you'll simply need continual meds, but of course, you'll need a plan that works.

Advice, try to find out what's causing your problem. If you'd like to discuss things, please feel free to give me a call anytime.