The biggest challenge will be docs who are clueless. So you need to know more than them.
Read these stickies found here: About the T Replacement Category - #2 by KSman
- advice for new guys
- things that damage your hormones
- protocol for injections
- HPTA restart
- finding a TRT doc
Some guys are very vulnerable to pro-hormones, synthetic testosterones hair loss drugs etc. There are lots of similar stories that involve “my friends”.
Your testes shrinking up means that your FSH and LH levels are low, that makes this secondary hypogonadism. So we do not need FSH/LH lab work in this case to know that.
Labs: - always post labs with lab ranges
TT
FT
E2
LH/FSH
prolactin
CBC
hematocrit
TSH
DHEA-S - added with edit
fasting cholesterol
fasting glucose
AM cortisol - at 8AM please
We see a lot of low-T cases where there are also some thyroid issues. There seems to be some cause and effect. If you are going to recover T levels, you do not want to have low thyroid function holding you back. Not using iodized salt to support thyroid function can lead to low thyroid function.