I have recently been sick for about 6 weeks and finally submited and went to the Dr. Also, for about the last year or so, I’ve just felt “off”. Extreme fatigue, lethargic, low sex drive, loss of strength and focus (especially during training).
I requested that a huge array of tests be done. Long story short, my liver came back with one marker high and also my total testosterone came back at 190. Now from what I can determine, for a 30 year old male, this is extremely low. To my dismay, my Dr generally “poo poo’d” it and while I also want to pursue the high marker in my liver, at the moment he’s taking no steps to even investigate my testosterone being so low. That being said, I would like to get the ball rolling on seeking better health.
Any advice from anyone who’s gone down this path before me? Should I seek out an endocrinologist or a “men’s health specialist”? Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Liver markers can be skewed by training or muscle soreness or bruising.
Read the advice for new guys sticky and come back with requested info. That means lab results with ranges. In the sticky, pay attention to problems that cause or are associated with low T.
Endos and uros are useless. See the finding a TRT doc sticky.
But do not rush to TRT. Many/most docs are useless and will do nothing. Others with prescribe TRT without looking for the cause. see the finding a TRT doc sticky
Read Read Read… best advice I can give… i had a high ast and top of range alt… my doc sent me for a ultrasound and they found a fatty liver and pancreas… Research TRT ALOT… its as simple as the doctors will tell you and they dont even test the things they need to test nor do most of them know what to test…
I fell into trt by not being educated and i wish i spent more time researching befor i did anything cause i believe i have underlying problem and the body works as one complex unit… Ksman knows his stuff read the stickies and really pay attention. alot to be learned… and by the way goodluck getting a doctor to work with you on the injection protocols listed here…
next to impossible and not enough testing done on hcg for most docs to use it… believe me trt can also cause some issues for you… Goodluck
Thank you for your replies and I’ve begun reading through the various threads here and unfortunately find the state of all of this quite depressing. I don’t yet have access to the requested labs as it was like pulling teeth to simply get them to test my thyroid, vit d, free testosterone etc.
TSH (Thyroid): 0.350 -5.0 mcUnits/ml: 0.545 tested as normal
vid D 25 hydroxy: 30 - 100 ng/L: 38.9 tested as normal
ALT/SGPT: <79 units/L: 119 (H) abnormal
Testerone Male: 280.0 - 1100.0 ng/dL: 193.2 (L)
Everything else on the lab panel I don’t understand and some examples of measurements were glucose, sodium, potassium and some tests for lyme disease and HIV etc, all which came back as “norma”.
I suppose moving forward, should I press him to refer me to a TRT Doc? I’m obviously worried about my liver and need to make sure that’s not a factor either. I’m just at a bit of a loss of what to do moving forward. Should I ask my current physician to test my blood for what’s indicated in the thread:
T - testosterone
E - estrogens in general
E1 -estrONE
E2 -estraDIol - our main interest, you can basically ignore E1, E3
E3 - esTRIol
aromatase - enzyme that converts T–>E2
aromatization - action of aromatase
AI - aromatase inhibitor, reduces/modulates T–>E2 aromatization
anastrozole - AI
You’ve got to keep reading. You might find a MD who can help, but most seem to have a very limited view. You probably don’t want TRT at 30.
By the time you were sick enough to “submit” and go to the doctor, something is very wrong with your body. Adding TRT might relieve symptoms but is likely just a bandaid on that problem. You want to figure out what drove you down into this hole - that’s why KSMan has such a great list of things you need to post up. Any Endo/TRT doc is going to have you fill out the same list.
The liver marker might help tell what the root of the problem is.
[quote]nomadic wrote:
You’ve got to keep reading. You might find a MD who can help, but most seem to have a very limited view. You probably don’t want TRT at 30.
By the time you were sick enough to “submit” and go to the doctor, something is very wrong with your body. Adding TRT might relieve symptoms but is likely just a bandaid on that problem. You want to figure out what drove you down into this hole - that’s why KSMan has such a great list of things you need to post up. Any Endo/TRT doc is going to have you fill out the same list.
The liver marker might help tell what the root of the problem is.[/quote]
Understood and thank you. A very stupid question following; Do I simply go back to my physician and request another round of tests be done for the following:
-LH and FSH [LH/FSH]
-TT
-FT or bio-T
-E2
-Prolactin [optional in most cases]
-DHT [sort of a waist of time and blood if your testosterone levels are low]
-PSA
-DRE: the dreaded digital rectal exam, doc gives you the finger.