Well today I feel like I got kicked in the gut. My Endo called with my Celiac Panel results, and I ranked a 5 on what she said was a normal range that went all the way up to 18. Anything under 18 is considered normal, apparently. Argh…
My abdominal pain is pretty much gone after just trying the gluten free diet for a few days almost a month ago, even though I had to eat wheat again for my test to work – I then went on the g-free diet again about 2 weeks ago, and have had no changes in my gut the entire time. It’s like going on g-free that initial 3-4 days fixed whatever pains and weird constipation issues I was having.
My face rash hasn’t completely gone away like I theorized might happen if I stayed g-free long enough. It’s stubborn as hell, and I can’t figure out what is triggering it. Doctors don’t seem very concerned that I’ve got this persistant rash that breaks out from time to time, and always seems to have a red hue on my cheek with flakey skin…
I’m considering going back to a normal diet now… Out of theories, might as well try it and see if all of my symptoms in the gut eventually return.
I say my symptoms are gone, but I still have a very slight discomfort under my right rib (gall bladder/liver area) when I lay on my right side in bed. This is nowhere near the swelling I had at the height of my GB/Liver problems last year though. It’s just barely enough for me to notice it, and want to roll over and sleep on my other side after about half an hour.
Just updating my thread to keep track of personal results…
I’ve been really busy the past few months after starting a new job in March. I had been working from home for years, and the new job has me commuting about an hour each way and working in an actual office which is culture shock to me. haha… I noticed that I improved sexually pretty well between march and may, with good morning wood, and no ED at all.
The wife still has to initiate in order to get me in the mood, but I was doing a lot better than I had been. I’m still on Androgel 5MG/day, and although it seems to have helped with sexual performance – there isn’t much libido there at all. Also, I’ve noticed no real increase in energy. The one good thing I’ve noticed is no pain in the balls like when I was taking huge 300MG shots every other week prior to going on Androgel.
Around the end of May, I came down with a sinus infection and also missed a dose of Androgel for the first day ever in my treatment (Simply forgot to use it one day). Ever since then, I’ve been feeling pretty down sexually with no morning wood, no libido, etc.
I’m going in for my 4 month blood work next week, so I’m kind of wondering if I’m going to see my E2 levels high again, or if something else is going on. Very frustrating since last month I was feeling like I was basically on my way to being cured for life and improving slowly still, and then I’m back to square one again just a couple weeks later.
One good thing to report. Most of my right side gut pain has gone, and it seems to have improved well since last month. I went to my physical last month and the doc did some kind of weird massage under my rib cage, and ever since then it’s felt a lot better. He offered me another ultrasound of my liver and GB, but I’m holding off on doing it until (If) the pain comes back.
Did you have a 4-point saliva cortisol test, or just a midnight test (you mentioned midnight cortisol levels earlier)? If you are getting tested again, it couldn’t hurt to test TSH/FT3/FT4 as your original TSH of 2.38 is on the high side (you didn’t state in your original test if you had total t4 or free t4 - get FT4). Ferritin is low as has been mentioned by KSMan, and can lead to hypothyroid symptoms. If you are hypothyroid or have adrenal issues, you need to get those worked out. The constant sweating has me wondering about adrenals as well.
You can be gluten sensitive and test negative for Celiacs, so you might not be totally off base with your guess here. Which tests did you have done for it? If you were gluten-free long enough before the tests, my understanding is that the antibody tests may come back negative even if you have a problem.
I will second hardasnails’s suggestion to get tested for other gut infections/problems. I have GI issues myself, as well as thyroid/adrenal issues, and in my doc visit she talked about my gut about half the time (whereas I was focused 95% on adrenal/thyroid). Pay attention to your gut.
I would get as many tests as possible, as clearly there is something wrong here and you want to cast a wide net to see what you catch.
Just a quick update to my personal progress thread. I saw my doc again a couple months ago and have been feeling like a rockstar ever since. Couldn’t believe I reached a level of 800T with E2 of 22 by simply using Androgel every day, and no other meds (No AI). I have been feeling pretty good, but had a minor setback this week, and have something else weird going on.
1). About a month ago, I stopped being able to swallow pills. I was taking my daily Minocycline capsule before bed (My doc prescribed for Acne and has worked great!), and I choked in my kitchen and inhaled a mouth full of water, which had me on my hands and knees gasping for air and with my wife slapping me on the back. It scared the shit out of me, and ever since I have not been able to swallow medications. I’ve been chewing my antibiotics, which I think is OK – but I haven’t been able to get my 50,000IU Vitamin D pills down, so I’ve been chewing those also. From talking to the Pharmacist, this will cause them not to absorb as well – which I think might be screwing with me in other ways.
2). So I haven’t been feeling so hot for about a week now. No Morning Wood for the first time in months. I’m not sure if this has to do with my Vitamin D level dropping back to deficient levels, or if it has to do with the fact that I’ve started lifting weights again after about 6 months off. The weights really seem to take it out of me, and I’m wondering if anybody else experiences losing libido and sex ability when training hard? Bizarre, this obviously never used to happen to me in my 20’s, and I’ve supposedly got the T level of a 20-something now, so I’m not sure what that’s about.
I really need to get over the pill swallowing thing and have tried everything under the sun, but until then I guess I need to find another way to get the Vitamin D into my system so I can see if that is the issue. I’m going to try to find some drops or something this week, because I don’t think I am getting enough from my daily cod liver oil and the sun to keep my level at a healthy level.
Could be a lot of things - my GUESS is that you are hypothyroid, which explains that the T meds are starting to not work as well (and working out is stressing your body a bit more, so deficiencies will show more). Additionally, hypothyroid can lead to swelling of your thyroid (goiter) which may be blocking your esophagus? Really need to test to be sure.
Then again, you probably wouldn’t absorb androgel well if you were hypothyroid - some people absorb it well for a while, then it loses efficacy. Whether the cause for this is hypothyroid or something else I’m not sure, but, I would re-test total/free testosterone to see if it’s stopped absorbing, and I would test TSH/Free T3/Free T4/8am cortisol to make sure your system is working well enough to support higher T levels.
Vit D can have tangible effects but never heard of it crashing libido and morning wood.
