22 Yr Old, Just Began TRT, All Labs included

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
1

Hi Everyone,

I’m a 22 year old white male, 190 pounds, 6’3 and I’ve been struggling with symptoms that I feel are directly correlated to low testosterone. Now there has been a lot of been through while trying to find answers to my lack of zest for life, lack of productivity, sex drive, maintaining an erection etc.

I’ve tried a few anti-depressants, zoloft, cymbalta and wellbutrin, zoloft and wellbutrin made me feel completely terrible and suicidal but helped with erections? and cymbalta made me feel good and returned erections but I opted to stop due to weight gain, price and horror withdrawal stories. I’m only going to include my most recent lab since it’s the shortest with most relevant information.

LH 4.3
FSH 1.6
Prolactin 7.8
Estradiol 21
Testosterone 533
DHEA Sulfate 342.4
Cortisol 12.3

My Albumin and Globulin from a previous lab were 4.7 and 2.7 respectively.

My endocrinologist agreed that my symptoms were most likely due to low testosterone for someone my age and decided to start me on testosterone replacement therapy, 2 ml of 100g/ml compounded testosterone every morning that should move my level to the 600-700 range.

I’ve been on the therapy for a few weeks now and initially I did feel a huge burst of energy for like the first two days then a huge crash were my memory was terrible and started working out less and less cause I couldn’t last as long cardio wise and I felt completely lethargic.

The negative side effects have improved quite a bit since then but I still can’t run as much as I used to and I feel like i’ve gained weight despite maintaining a simiar diet (perhaps due to lack of ability to run). I called the pharmacist that compounds the testosterone and he said it’s probably due to water retention making my hear work harder and that that would also be the reason for the weight gain.

Mentally however I do feel the effects of the testosterone, more assertive, hornier, focused, feel like an actual man.

I would really appreciate hearing your opinions and if you need any additional information I would be happy to provide it please ask. I"ve been struggling with this for a very long time and any advice would be helpful.

Best Regards,

Chris

2

[quote]Norubit wrote:
Hi Everyone,

I’m a 22 year old white male, 190 pounds, 6’3 and I’ve been struggling with symptoms that I feel are directly correlated to low testosterone. Now there has been a lot of been through while trying to find answers to my lack of zest for life, lack of productivity, sex drive, maintaining an erection etc.

I’ve tried a few anti-depressants, zoloft, cymbalta and wellbutrin, zoloft and wellbutrin made me feel completely terrible and suicidal but helped with erections? and cymbalta made me feel good and returned erections but I opted to stop due to weight gain, price and horror withdrawal stories. I’m only going to include my most recent lab since it’s the shortest with most relevant information.

LH 4.3
FSH 1.6
Prolactin 7.8
Estradiol 21
Testosterone 533
DHEA Sulfate 342.4
Cortisol 12.3

My Albumin and Globulin from a previous lab were 4.7 and 2.7 respectively.

My endocrinologist agreed that my symptoms were most likely due to low testosterone for someone my age and decided to start me on testosterone replacement therapy, 2 ml of 100g/ml compounded testosterone every morning that should move my level to the 600-700 range.

I’ve been on the therapy for a few weeks now and initially I did feel a huge burst of energy for like the first two days then a huge crash were my memory was terrible and started working out less and less cause I couldn’t last as long cardio wise and I felt completely lethargic.

The negative side effects have improved quite a bit since then but I still can’t run as much as I used to and I feel like i’ve gained weight despite maintaining a simiar diet (perhaps due to lack of ability to run). I called the pharmacist that compounds the testosterone and he said it’s probably due to water retention making my hear work harder and that that would also be the reason for the weight gain.

Mentally however I do feel the effects of the testosterone, more assertive, hornier, focused, feel like an actual man.

I would really appreciate hearing your opinions and if you need any additional information I would be happy to provide it please ask. I"ve been struggling with this for a very long time and any advice would be helpful.

Best Regards,

Chris[/quote]

At 22,
I would not have even recommended TRT untill all the other variables are ruled out. In these cases I have found neurotransmitter imbalances as well as altered cortisol patterns. In majority of cases once the imblaances are identifed and corrected T levels goes up. The end result person does not need TRT in the first place. In your case TRT may make you feel good, but is it really helping or masking something deeper which will surface as time goes on. Vast majority of cases I deal with are similar to yours because years down the road being on TRT people still feel like shit because the underlying issue was never address. TRT works in some, but can mask deeper issues in others.

3

What was your free testosterone level on your most recent blood work? I’m 21 years old and have just begun TRT as well after suffering from symptoms of low testosterone as far back as high school. My free testosterone levels were 8 pg/ml, when the optimal range for someone our age is around 30-40 pg/dl and was curious what someone else’s in my age group’s was.

4

[quote]Kevk010 wrote:
What was your free testosterone level on your most recent blood work? I’m 21 years old and have just begun TRT as well after suffering from symptoms of low testosterone as far back as high school. My free testosterone levels were 8 pg/ml, when the optimal range for someone our age is around 30-40 pg/dl and was curious what someone else’s in my age group’s was.[/quote]

My endo never even looked at it, I asked my compounding pharmacist about that and he said at my age free testosterone wasn’t really necessary to check which confused me since it seems like everyone on forums focuses on free test more than anything else.

5

[quote]Norubit wrote:

[quote]Kevk010 wrote:
What was your free testosterone level on your most recent blood work? I’m 21 years old and have just begun TRT as well after suffering from symptoms of low testosterone as far back as high school. My free testosterone levels were 8 pg/ml, when the optimal range for someone our age is around 30-40 pg/dl and was curious what someone else’s in my age group’s was.[/quote]

My endo never even looked at it, I asked my compounding pharmacist about that and he said at my age free testosterone wasn’t really necessary to check which confused me since it seems like everyone on forums focuses on free test more than anything else. [/quote]

Drs are looking for easy way out by giving TRT because they are too lazy to look for other factors which may be less obvious. I see it all the time.
In some cases it makes matter worse because the problem may be totally masked not being revealed till years down the road.

6

[quote]Hardasnails wrote:

[quote]Norubit wrote:
Hi Everyone,

I’m a 22 year old white male, 190 pounds, 6’3 and I’ve been struggling with symptoms that I feel are directly correlated to low testosterone. Now there has been a lot of been through while trying to find answers to my lack of zest for life, lack of productivity, sex drive, maintaining an erection etc.

I’ve tried a few anti-depressants, zoloft, cymbalta and wellbutrin, zoloft and wellbutrin made me feel completely terrible and suicidal but helped with erections? and cymbalta made me feel good and returned erections but I opted to stop due to weight gain, price and horror withdrawal stories. I’m only going to include my most recent lab since it’s the shortest with most relevant information.

LH 4.3
FSH 1.6
Prolactin 7.8
Estradiol 21
Testosterone 533
DHEA Sulfate 342.4
Cortisol 12.3

My Albumin and Globulin from a previous lab were 4.7 and 2.7 respectively.

My endocrinologist agreed that my symptoms were most likely due to low testosterone for someone my age and decided to start me on testosterone replacement therapy, 2 ml of 100g/ml compounded testosterone every morning that should move my level to the 600-700 range.

I’ve been on the therapy for a few weeks now and initially I did feel a huge burst of energy for like the first two days then a huge crash were my memory was terrible and started working out less and less cause I couldn’t last as long cardio wise and I felt completely lethargic.

The negative side effects have improved quite a bit since then but I still can’t run as much as I used to and I feel like i’ve gained weight despite maintaining a simiar diet (perhaps due to lack of ability to run). I called the pharmacist that compounds the testosterone and he said it’s probably due to water retention making my hear work harder and that that would also be the reason for the weight gain.

Mentally however I do feel the effects of the testosterone, more assertive, hornier, focused, feel like an actual man.

I would really appreciate hearing your opinions and if you need any additional information I would be happy to provide it please ask. I"ve been struggling with this for a very long time and any advice would be helpful.

Best Regards,

Chris[/quote]

At 22,
I would not have even recommended TRT untill all the other variables are ruled out. In these cases I have found neurotransmitter imbalances as well as altered cortisol patterns. In majority of cases once the imblaances are identifed and corrected T levels goes up. The end result person does not need TRT in the first place. In your case TRT may make you feel good, but is it really helping or masking something deeper which will surface as time goes on. Vast majority of cases I deal with are similar to yours because years down the road being on TRT people still feel like shit because the underlying issue was never address. TRT works in some, but can mask deeper issues in others.
[/quote]

I agree that TRT might not haven been the best course of action but I really didn’t know what other course of action to take… every treatment option takes forever and scheduling appointments usually takes a month between every appointment and I’m at a point where I absolutely need to find out what’s wrong with me. I don’t want to continue with a lackluster sex drive throughout my 20’s when I have an absolutely gorgeous girlfriend and I have a great opportunity to do well at a good university. The only other conditions I could think would be causing this for me would be a lack of dopamine (but would this decrease testosterone? I know the’re related but i"m not sure which would influence with if high test brings up dopa or if high dopa bring up test) or perhaps sleep apnea which my older brother has but regardless he’s never had sexual difficulties even with the condition.

7

[quote]Norubit wrote:

[quote]Hardasnails wrote:

[quote]Norubit wrote:
Hi Everyone,

I’m a 22 year old white male, 190 pounds, 6’3 and I’ve been struggling with symptoms that I feel are directly correlated to low testosterone. Now there has been a lot of been through while trying to find answers to my lack of zest for life, lack of productivity, sex drive, maintaining an erection etc.

I’ve tried a few anti-depressants, zoloft, cymbalta and wellbutrin, zoloft and wellbutrin made me feel completely terrible and suicidal but helped with erections? and cymbalta made me feel good and returned erections but I opted to stop due to weight gain, price and horror withdrawal stories. I’m only going to include my most recent lab since it’s the shortest with most relevant information.

LH 4.3
FSH 1.6
Prolactin 7.8
Estradiol 21
Testosterone 533
DHEA Sulfate 342.4
Cortisol 12.3

My Albumin and Globulin from a previous lab were 4.7 and 2.7 respectively.

My endocrinologist agreed that my symptoms were most likely due to low testosterone for someone my age and decided to start me on testosterone replacement therapy, 2 ml of 100g/ml compounded testosterone every morning that should move my level to the 600-700 range.

I’ve been on the therapy for a few weeks now and initially I did feel a huge burst of energy for like the first two days then a huge crash were my memory was terrible and started working out less and less cause I couldn’t last as long cardio wise and I felt completely lethargic.

The negative side effects have improved quite a bit since then but I still can’t run as much as I used to and I feel like i’ve gained weight despite maintaining a simiar diet (perhaps due to lack of ability to run). I called the pharmacist that compounds the testosterone and he said it’s probably due to water retention making my hear work harder and that that would also be the reason for the weight gain.

Mentally however I do feel the effects of the testosterone, more assertive, hornier, focused, feel like an actual man.

I would really appreciate hearing your opinions and if you need any additional information I would be happy to provide it please ask. I"ve been struggling with this for a very long time and any advice would be helpful.

Best Regards,

Chris[/quote]

At 22,
I would not have even recommended TRT untill all the other variables are ruled out. In these cases I have found neurotransmitter imbalances as well as altered cortisol patterns. In majority of cases once the imblaances are identifed and corrected T levels goes up. The end result person does not need TRT in the first place. In your case TRT may make you feel good, but is it really helping or masking something deeper which will surface as time goes on. Vast majority of cases I deal with are similar to yours because years down the road being on TRT people still feel like shit because the underlying issue was never address. TRT works in some, but can mask deeper issues in others.
[/quote]

I agree that TRT might not haven been the best course of action but I really didn’t know what other course of action to take… every treatment option takes forever and scheduling appointments usually takes a month between every appointment and I’m at a point where I absolutely need to find out what’s wrong with me. I don’t want to continue with a lackluster sex drive throughout my 20’s when I have an absolutely gorgeous girlfriend and I have a great opportunity to do well at a good university. The only other conditions I could think would be causing this for me would be a lack of dopamine (but would this decrease testosterone? I know the’re related but i"m not sure which would influence with if high test brings up dopa or if high dopa bring up test) or perhaps sleep apnea which my older brother has but regardless he’s never had sexual difficulties even with the condition.
[/quote]

You are seeking short term gratification not long term satisifaction. Problem with modern medicine they do not look down stream to see if there are potential complications.

8

[quote]Hardasnails wrote:

[quote]Norubit wrote:

[quote]Hardasnails wrote:

[quote]Norubit wrote:
Hi Everyone,

I’m a 22 year old white male, 190 pounds, 6’3 and I’ve been struggling with symptoms that I feel are directly correlated to low testosterone. Now there has been a lot of been through while trying to find answers to my lack of zest for life, lack of productivity, sex drive, maintaining an erection etc.

I’ve tried a few anti-depressants, zoloft, cymbalta and wellbutrin, zoloft and wellbutrin made me feel completely terrible and suicidal but helped with erections? and cymbalta made me feel good and returned erections but I opted to stop due to weight gain, price and horror withdrawal stories. I’m only going to include my most recent lab since it’s the shortest with most relevant information.

LH 4.3
FSH 1.6
Prolactin 7.8
Estradiol 21
Testosterone 533
DHEA Sulfate 342.4
Cortisol 12.3

My Albumin and Globulin from a previous lab were 4.7 and 2.7 respectively.

My endocrinologist agreed that my symptoms were most likely due to low testosterone for someone my age and decided to start me on testosterone replacement therapy, 2 ml of 100g/ml compounded testosterone every morning that should move my level to the 600-700 range.

I’ve been on the therapy for a few weeks now and initially I did feel a huge burst of energy for like the first two days then a huge crash were my memory was terrible and started working out less and less cause I couldn’t last as long cardio wise and I felt completely lethargic.

The negative side effects have improved quite a bit since then but I still can’t run as much as I used to and I feel like i’ve gained weight despite maintaining a simiar diet (perhaps due to lack of ability to run). I called the pharmacist that compounds the testosterone and he said it’s probably due to water retention making my hear work harder and that that would also be the reason for the weight gain.

Mentally however I do feel the effects of the testosterone, more assertive, hornier, focused, feel like an actual man.

I would really appreciate hearing your opinions and if you need any additional information I would be happy to provide it please ask. I"ve been struggling with this for a very long time and any advice would be helpful.

Best Regards,

Chris[/quote]

At 22,
I would not have even recommended TRT untill all the other variables are ruled out. In these cases I have found neurotransmitter imbalances as well as altered cortisol patterns. In majority of cases once the imblaances are identifed and corrected T levels goes up. The end result person does not need TRT in the first place. In your case TRT may make you feel good, but is it really helping or masking something deeper which will surface as time goes on. Vast majority of cases I deal with are similar to yours because years down the road being on TRT people still feel like shit because the underlying issue was never address. TRT works in some, but can mask deeper issues in others.
[/quote]

I agree that TRT might not haven been the best course of action but I really didn’t know what other course of action to take… every treatment option takes forever and scheduling appointments usually takes a month between every appointment and I’m at a point where I absolutely need to find out what’s wrong with me. I don’t want to continue with a lackluster sex drive throughout my 20’s when I have an absolutely gorgeous girlfriend and I have a great opportunity to do well at a good university. The only other conditions I could think would be causing this for me would be a lack of dopamine (but would this decrease testosterone? I know the’re related but i"m not sure which would influence with if high test brings up dopa or if high dopa bring up test) or perhaps sleep apnea which my older brother has but regardless he’s never had sexual difficulties even with the condition.
[/quote]

You are seeking short term gratification not long term satisifaction. Problem with modern medicine they do not look down stream to see if there are potential complications. [/quote]

All I want is to be able to function like a normal human being i want to be able to have strong erections, I want to be able to focus in class, I want to be able to have the enrgy to do the things I love to do… That’s all…

9

I agree with Hardasnails, but if you are going to go down this road…I think the amount of test you are
taking is going to cause you to be lethargic. I do not know what medium your compounding pharmacy uses for the test base you are taking, but its probably some type of soy orange gel. Absorption varies widely from person to person, but if I am reading correctly, you are taking 200mg per day. If you absorb just 25% you are getting 50mg of test per day, that is 350mg per week and is way the hell over a trt does. I have seen some reports of people absorbing up to 50% with some compounding mediums which would put you into 700+mg/wk which is a cycle dosage.
If you search the word “lethargic” in the search box I guarantee you will pull up thread after thread of guys taking huge does of test complaining about lethergy.
At doses like yours, your E2 will spike, and you will feel like shit with out an AI probably still feel tired with an Ai and your E2 in range.
Hate to sound like a broken record, but have you read the stickies ? Do yourself a favor and one, get your blood tested asap and see what your T and E2 levels are. And, read the Estradial sticky Estradiol: Why You Should Care - Testosterone Replacement - Forums - T Nation

Good Luck

10

200mg a day? Typo??

(2xml of 100mg/ml a day)

11

[quote]PKNY wrote:
I agree with Hardasnails, but if you are going to go down this road…I think the amount of test you are
taking is going to cause you to be lethargic. I do not know what medium your compounding pharmacy uses for the test base you are taking, but its probably some type of soy orange gel. Absorption varies widely from person to person, but if I am reading correctly, you are taking 200mg per day. If you absorb just 25% you are getting 50mg of test per day, that is 350mg per week and is way the hell over a trt does. I have seen some reports of people absorbing up to 50% with some compounding mediums which would put you into 700+mg/wk which is a cycle dosage.
If you search the word “lethargic” in the search box I guarantee you will pull up thread after thread of guys taking huge does of test complaining about lethergy.
At doses like yours, your E2 will spike, and you will feel like shit with out an AI probably still feel tired with an Ai and your E2 in range.
Hate to sound like a broken record, but have you read the stickies ? Do yourself a favor and one, get your blood tested asap and see what your T and E2 levels are. And, read the Estradial sticky Estradiol: Why You Should Care - Testosterone Replacement - Forums - T Nation

Good Luck[/quote]

good advice, thank you very much. My next appointment is on the August, I’ll update everyone with bloodwork

12

I am very interested to hear more about the neurotransmitter imbalances as I’m a 21 year old with low free Test and high E2.