40 Y/O Low T, Hypothyroid, Suspect AF Too

I’m going to try to be as brief as possible here but there’s kind of a lot to convey…

I just turned 40 and the last 5 years I have had a very noticeable drop in energy, mental function, and overall quality of life. I feel like a total zombie and something is definitely not right. I’ve always been motivated, driven, and prone to action. Now I just don’t have it anymore. It sucks.

Just had a physical and confirmed low T but everything else seemed OK according to the doctor. But after spending some time around here I’m not so sure… See attached.

My outer eyebrows are thinning, my lower calves loosing hair, and of course after reading the threads here I decided to check my body temps yesterday. I was 95.9 at the lowest and just broke 97 at the highest. This morning I was 96.9 upon waking. Definitely appears to be thyroid issue.

Another thing that has become a major game changer is chronic pain, and I’m talking everywhere. It’s basically like once I put my body under any kind of strain (home repair, weight lifting, cardio, etc) it just never recovers. Actually it doesn’t even recover with long breaks because I’ve tried that too.

I’ve got muscle knots everywhere and muscles and tendons are burning all the time. I have and use every type of massage tool/foam roller,I stretch, and I’ve been to countless chiropractors, physical therapists over the years. Small improvements at best and it never really lasts. I’m chronically inflamed. Can’t even come close to hitting my physique goals like this because I can’t lose the last stubborn fat and gaining much muscle is nearly impossible cuz I can’t get past a certain amount of intensity or volume in the gym. Hell, actually I can’t really do anything anymore much less training properly…

Here’s a few facts:

-Never took steroids

-Took accutane med when i was 17 or 18 because I had severe cystic acne. I suspect it may have f’d my hormones up bigtime but can’t really be sure because I know see that my hormones have probably been a mess my entire adult life.

-Bought a business when in my early 20’s that became so unbelievably stressful that I know it effected my cortisol levels chronically. I didn’t know what was going on at the time but I lost libido, had ED, exhausted all the time, moody, started to develop minor gyno (which I also didn’t recognize at the time). I was involved in that until my late 20’s. I felt some improvement in libido and the ED after I got out of that business so I know some of the problems were stress related. Still though I think all that took a heavy toll on me…

-In my 30’s I worked my ass off at physical jobs and got involved with doing home repair on my own. Very physically demanding and of course stressful for years and all the while I was lifting weights, doing cardio, and drinking and eating poorly on the weekends. I think I probably had low T the entire time and maybe thyroid and adrenal fatigue from stress and physical output. I’ve really seen a decline in my well-being during my mid to late 30’s.

-I don’t take any medications even tylenol or advil. If it turns out I need to take TRT I’ve decided I will, but I really want to improve it naturally. Is that even possible? My TT reading was 227 and free T was 6.

  • I bought the adrenal fatigue book and I’m just getting into it. I also just started taking Lugol’s iodine yesterday. I’m starting with a drop or two a day and slowly build up.

  • Interesting side note: I’ve always noticed that whenever I’m in the middle of dieting and have a cpl days of a free menu I notice a big increase in well-being, energy, and libido and morning wood. I wonder how much testosterone swings up and down with low calorie or high calorie eating plans. Thoughts on that?

-I was never big into coffee and energy drinks until about 5 or 6 years ago. Once I felt the kick of caffeine I quickly became a junkie and now I see why (hormones all out of whack).

-I’m now on a paleo eating plan that excludes dairy, wheat, grains, sugar, alcohol, processed crap. I’m also doing trace amounts of carbs for about the next 3 weeks to balance gut bacteria. After that it’s going to be moderate protein/ moderate fat/ lower carbs. I did this type of eating last year for a few months (with moderate carbs) and a lot of my pains went away. Unfortunately I went back to old eating habits and now starting over again.

OK so just a few questions:

  • Can I heal my testosterone production without meds by fixing thyroid and AF?

  • How should I be training and dieting at this time? I still would like to lean out a bit. Is moderate intensity lifting and moderate cardio OK? Or should I not be training with low T/thyroid hypo/possible adrenal fatigue?

  • What should I do about my f’d up hormones? Everything seems to be screwed up. I have an appointment with an endo in about a month, but after reading up on this I don’t have much confidence in the medical community.

Please help me understand what’s available to me, thanks in advance.

Please read the stickies found here: About the T Replacement Category - #2 by KSman

  • advice for new guys
  • things that damage your hormones
  • protocol for injections
  • finding a TRT doc
  • thyroid basics

You were not using any iodized salt?

Endos are not typically very good.

TSH is oddly nice
fT4 is lower than midrange
fT3 is the active hormone and not tested
rT3 may be elevated and blocking some fT3 action

T seems to be low because of poor testicular function.
Any aches in your testes?
Have a doc check for vascular abnormalities.

Aches and pains:

Do you get leg or foot cramps? That is a magnesium deficiency, see Bio-Test ZMA sold here.

Dehydration?

Inflammation: CRP says not.

Low thyroid affects every cell, organ and system in the body. But thyroid fix fixing T is a long shot.

Hey KS thanks for quick response.

No was not. Only using sea salt.

I recently have had a few instances over the last 5 years or so where there was some pain. I forgot to mention I had a vasectomy in 2011 and soon after that I felt a pain in one. Went back to Doc to examine and he said all is how it should be. Honestly though it seems like tightness in my hip and abdomen kind of ‘tug’ a little on my groin. Not all the time though. That goes back to everything being tight and inflamed. Since chronic pain I’ve had a hell of a time with right side hip/groin/lower back/abdominal pain.

I’ve been supplementing with mag for years now. I don’t really get cramps (like a cramp spontaneously happening out of nowhere) but basically every muscle has a spasm’d section somewhere and muscle knots. Not imagining it either because I’ve had multiple chiropractors/PT’s comment on the golf ball in my trap or how the muscle feels like metal cable. I hurt pretty much head to toe. Also muscles ‘flutter’ sometimes out of nowhere. Like a small part of my leg or lat muscle will just start spasm-ing randomly. Doesn’t hurt though…

Definitely not - been getting about a gallon a day for years. Off days might be a half gallon here and there.[quote=“KSman, post:2, topic:225888”]
Inflammation: CRP says not.
[/quote]
I know that was a very big surprise to me. I specifically asked her to run that because everything hurts. I don’t get it. My doc that did the physical suggested that low T could be the cause of everything hurting and recommended seeing the endocrinologist. I’ve searched online and found a few stories of peoples pains going away once taking TRT. Have you heard of TRT healing chronic aches?

Oh I see. What if thyroid and adrenal fatigue both are corrected? Would that have any more of an impact? I guess I’m just hoping - but I can see I’m probably going to need the HRT. If that’s the case I’ll do it.

Have you been using a multi-vit that lists iodine+selenium?
History of that?

You may be iodine deficient and oddly enough, one can go hypo then progress to hyper with thyroid nodules transitioning from high TSH to low. So we do not have a complete picture.

Please see the thyroid basics sticky re iodine replenishment and note that selenium is critical.

Your muscle tension could be problem with nerves.
TRT improve muscle tone, allowing muscles to relax and let go and this can result in lower blood pressure as muscle tone in arteries improves and makes them more supple and compliant.

corrected above:
tT3 may be elevated and blocking some fT3 action
to read
rT3 may be elevated and blocking some fT3 action

Please set the sea salt aside or throw it out, or give it to someone you do not like.

How many people in your home are affected by the sea salt? Check body temps.

I’ve always taken a multi but I’ve changed brands over the years. I’m glad you asked because I see that the multi has 200 mcg of selenium, but I’ve always used a seperate selenium supp @ 200mcg. So lately I’ve been taking double I guess! I hope that’s not another problem. There’s no iodine in this multi. Been taking selenium for about 4 or 5 years. Iodine drops just started yesterday.

That makes sense about the nerves concept but how would I know if that’s it? And what could that mean - some kind of disease of the nervous system? I asked the doctor to check for any signs of MS or autoimmune and she didn’t think there was any indication in the bloodwork. How could I rule that in or out, any ideas?

I have other questions but I’m going to see what’s in the other threads around here and the stickies before asking anymore. Thank you for giving input though it’s much appreciated.

Muscles simply have better muscle tone with good T levels VS low.

Muscle cramps or ability to force a leg or foot cramp is a sign of magnesium deficiency and yes that can affect arterial muscle tome as well.