Hello All,
I recently had blood work done, symptoms were extreme fatigue, unable to lose weight, sleep changes, and body hair loss. Testosterone was 11, repeat was 92. Now I'm faced with deciding to try to elevate naturally or take replacement therapy. I need advice, both medical and from those who have traveled this road already.
If your levels are that low, assuming you're saying 11 ng/dl and 92 ng/dl, it's unlikely any natural method is going to increase your levels significantly enough to bring them out of a low level state as those are extremely low numbers. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it is unlikely.
How old are you?
Have you ever used opiates/pain pills for extended periods of time or are you currently?
Are you currently or have you used anti-depressants for long periods of time?
Do you have any testicular damage or head trauma in your history?
Have you ever or are you currently using anabolic steroids?
Do you have any history or recreational drug use?
58 years oldOriginally Posted by Justin
been using opiate (fentanyl 75 microgr/hr patch) 15 years and yes still using
lexapro for about 10 years
no test/head trauma
no steroid use
no rec drug use
I began testosterone 20.25 mg/1.25 gram (1.62 %) gel treatment two days ago.
Based on those numbers and the need for those particular meds, I would say it's highly unlikely for you to recover natural testosterone production. Add age on top of that (over 40) and I'd call it completely impossible, although once in a while there are surprises with some people, they're just rare.
Now that you're taking testosterone, your natural testosterone production will be zero. You can't have both natural and exogenous being that gels, creams, injections, etc, whichever source of delivery you use shuts down natural production. It tells the body not to make it as it's getting it from somewhere else. This scares some men but if you have low levels it's not like you were making enough to begin with. And I've heard some doctors say that by prescribing testosterone you'll be adding to the testosterone you already have. If your doctor says this, please note regardless of how nice of a person he/she may be they don't know what they're talking about when it comes to testosterone.
Good luck with your new treatment. I hope it works out well for you. It takes most men an average of 12wks to really notice TRT benefits, some sooner but 12wks is average. The point being you will need to have some patience, which can be hard when you want to feel better now. Unfortunately TRT doesn't work that way. You will also want to make sure you have blood work done 6 or so weeks after starting treatment to see how things are going. You'll want to check testosterone levels to see if the dose needs to be adjusted. You'll want to check estradiol levels to see how much testosterone to estrogen conversion their is and if any anti-estrogen medication is needed. This is very important, perfect testosterone levels will be made irrelevant if the estrogen levels aren't proper. Estradiol sensitive test is the one you want as the standard test isn't accurate for men. You'll also want to keep an eye on your blood thickness, such as hematocrit. Lastly, if you find that your levels aren't going up, they won't with gel in some men, don't be discouraged. It may simply mean you need/require another type of delivery method.
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