I had a blood reading of just 7 nmol/L which is equivalent to 200 ng/dL.
A bit of background:
- 36 year old male
- Been training on and off for years
- Weighing 105kg with around 30% body fat, so not super fat but not lean either. I keep decent muscle mass.
- 2 years ago I started a 500mg/week cycle that I stopped 2 weeks in as I got an infection in the injection site. I consider that I haven’t really done a cycle yet.
- I have been on SSRIs for 10 years to treat panic disorder (7 years on sertraline, 3 and currently on 10mg/day paroxetine). Currently managed and in a good space.
- I experience mild ED and average libido. I can certainly have erections but I felt like they are not as hard as they could be (perhaps 7/10). I have always attributed this to SSRIs but top up with Cialis 5mg as needed, usually once a month or when the occasion demands it lol.
I used to be quite in shape 10 years ago and ever since I slowly got out of shape due to laziness and lack of discipline. During this time I became a dad and also started having panic disorder issues, however I have trained intermittently these years.
I was planning on starting a test cycle and did bloodwork to confirm baseline figures, however I returned a test reading of just 200 ng/dL. My Doctor, who is open minded about steroid use and whose role would be to keep me as healthy as possible during cycle, called me to suggest I don’t go ahead with the test cycle because if low T diagnosis is confirmed (doing bloodwork again next week), this would mean that I can get HRT through an endocrinologist.
As reference, 2 years ago I had a reading of 441 ng/dL, I did this bloodwork with the same doctor.
Given that I put on body fat overtime, mild ED and certainly have lost muscle mass, I kind of feel that I have had low T for a while and I haven’t even realised it. I have read that long-term use of SSRIs can contribute to low T levels in men.
My goal with all of this is recomp body. I want to keep my weight around 100kg but with a much leaner frame, 15% or so. Helping the mild ED and increase libido would be a bonus.
I’ll continue to document this thread as I’m keen to learn more of those undertaking HRT and what may mean for me.
Thanks all!
