Hi All,
Apologies for the lengthy post.
I found out I have low t 15 months ago after struggling to conceive our second child for roughly a year, so my wife and I went to our GP as we starting to get concerned. The GP here in Australia ordered some bloods, and my t levels came back at 185ng/dl. I have had most of the symptoms including constant fatigue, no energy, decreased mental awareness and brain fog, low motivation levels, poor short term memory, weight gain, irritability, ED and no libido. I have felt this way for years, but always put it down to a stressful job, moderately healthy eating habits, and sporadic exercise patterns.
While discovering I had legitimate reason to feeling pretty miserable for the last 5-10 years was refreshing, the process from then on has been very frustrating. After convincing my GP I had not been taking exogenous testosterone, he referred me to a local Endocrinologist. The Endo was immediately skeptical based on my bloods, body composition and body hair. He ordered some more bloods, and T levels came back at 162ng/dl which made him even more skeptical that I had used exogenous t and advised he could not assist me. I was furious.
I got a referral to a different Endo at the end of 2015 who ordered some more bloods with T levels again dropping to 87ng/dl. The Endo started me on Axiron which is a transdermal product and had further tests after 3 months and my levels dropped to 58ng/dl leaving me feeling pretty miserable all the time. The Endo started me on injections of Reandron 1000 which is a long acting product with injections every 12 weeks…the first one was 4 weeks ago, but apparently it can take up to 5 months to start noticing the effects. At this stage I feel no different.
Age: 32
Height: 173cm / 5ft 8in
Waist: 111cm / 43 in
Weight: 108kg / 238lb
Body Hair: Moderate body hair, and a decent amount of facial hair. I can grow a beard pretty easily and have to shave regularly.
Weight Distribution: I carry a lot fat around my mid section, and tend to put on weight really easily for the last 10 years or so.
Health Conditions: I have had Epstein Barr in the last 18 months, but wasn’t aware as the symptoms were masked by those of the low t.
Rx and OTC drugs, any hair loss drugs or prostate drugs ever: No
-lab results with ranges
Diet: My diet has generally not been great for the last few years and as a result I have put on quite a bit of weight. I have recently cleaned up my diet with an aim to improve my general health and wellbeing.
Describe training: Minimal training over the last 3 years…I generally don’t have the energy or motivation to train.
Testes ache, ever, with a fever? No
How have morning wood and nocturnal erections changed: They are generally non-existent. Might get one every 2 months.
Labs from November 2015 are:
FSH: 2.4 (1.0 - 12)
LH: 1.6 (0.6 - 12)
Testosterone: 6.2nmol/L (11.5 - 32.0) (179ng/dl)
SHBG: 9nmol/L (15 - 50)
Levels dropped to 2.0nmol/L while using Axiron. I will try to get a copy of my most recent labs, but they are not very extensive as the Endo is only requesting T, FSH and LH.
I also completed a saliva test for Cortisol levels which came back as follows:
Morning: 20.3nmol/L (6.0-42.0)
Midday: 2.8nmol/L (2.0-11.0)
Afternoon: 2.0nmol/L (2.0-11.0)
Evening: 1.0nmol/L (1.0-8.0)
The Endo didn’t really take the saliva test seriously as it was done by a Clinical Nutritionist, and was comfortable with my morning Cortisol level. Not sure what is means really.
Would love some feedback and insight as it is difficult to get much out of my Endo, and would be great to hear from anybody that has used Reandron?
Cheers.