43 years old, happily married to an amazing woman for 15 years with 3 amazing kids - I have been exhibiting what i just recently learned were low T symptoms for about 1.5 years now. I have suffered from generalized anxiety / panic attacks for most of my adult life so never really thought that low T could have been part of that issue. However, for about the last 1.5 years it had become a growing struggle.
My general Dr. happily prescribed me Xanax to take as needed to deal with my anxiety disorder. When i told him that Xanax was only a temporary solution for me (since it took too long to work when i got an attack and stopped working too soon afterwards) he happily put me on Lexapro 10mg. For about 2-3 months on lexapro i was really feeling better and thought that an SSRI was what i needed to normalize my brain chemistry and get me on track to wellness - but it didn’t last…
I started experiencing extreme lethargy , esp in early evenings, no motivation to work out AT ALL, gaining quite a bit of fat over a 6 month period in my waist and hips, brain fogginess , cloudy thinking, lack of interest/ focus on work and little interest in social activities. My wife continually complained for years that i had no interest in sex and in retrospect, she was right , although i made excuses for why the time was “never right…”
My wife , who is a pharmacist, stated that i have Low T. This is the first time the thought of having Low T entered my mind… I knew that i was not feeling well for the reasons stated above, but i chalked it up to being 43 and thought this might be how 43 “feels”.
I have worked out with weights my whole life, did experiment with Anabolic Steroids in my late teens, but not for more than 6-8 weeks once or twice and quite honestly i didnt see any great results or know if the steroids were even legitimate… i was really just a kid… needless to say i knew nothing about PCT at the time or that i even needed it, as my testicles barely shrank and everything seemed relatively normal after i stopped… i went on to father 3 children so i know that my testicles were working
So… on my last physical with my regular Dr i asked him if we should check my testosterone (when he was refilling my lexapro 10mg and telling me that we can go up to 20mg if necessary to treat my generalized anxiety disorder (great!)). His reply was that i watched too many commercials for Androgel and that there is no reason to check my testosterone. His thoughts were that Low T is a made-up disorder and he wanted no part of checking my test levels or that my symptoms were due to anything of the sort…
So… I started googling for anti-aging dr’s and made an appointment with a *********MD Dr. who started me on TRT right away after our initial consult and receipt of my bloodwork… At this point, I have self administered via injection 100mg of Test Cyp on 10/26 and i don’t know if it is placebo effect or not, but within an hour the brain fog lifted and over the next 24 hours felt incredible levels of energy - took on some projects around the house, WORKED OUT, felt GREAT!
I am 4 days post the 1st shot and feeling some anxiety/cold hands/jitters coming back but am trying to hold out realizing that my levels probably are dropping back into the 300’s…
Attached is my bloodwork and saliva test results…t
The Dr started me on the following HRT protocol:
100mg Test Cyp 1x/week (he suggested 2x/week divided dose as being better)
DHEA 25mg 2x/day
Pregnenlone 100mg 1x/day
CoQ10 - 1xday since i take Lipitor 10mg daily
SAMe - 2x/day for the depression (which may ultimately be resolved with TRT anyway)
Vitamin D 5000 ui, 2x/day (10,000 per day total) - for 3 months to start…
Thoughts on the above protocol?
He stated on my next visit in 3 months , depending on labs , etc there are things he can offer for testicle shrinkage, etc… (i’m assuming HCG )
Do any of you see anything in my bloodwork to indicate the need for a pituitary MRI? Since my levels appear in the “normal”, albeit low-normal range, does it typically mean this is purely age/stress/environmental related testosterone deficiency? Would DHEA/Preg on its own raise my test levels higher without shutting my natural production down? Should that be tried before starting TRT for Life?
I think i must feel better above 400 since this one shot reminded me how it is to feel “normal”…i had a great sense of calm and well being that i havent felt in a VERY long time… if my issue is simply age related decline of natural production, i want the best quality of life that life has to offer. If that means i need injections then so be it. I want to be able to keep up with my kids! And grow old healthfully with them! And if i can get to see my six pack for once in my life, that would be icing on the cake!
Looking forward to your thoughts… I am thoroughly impressed with the level of understanding and knowledge of this area of medicine on here…Particularly KSMan
