I’ll keep this brief as possible. Went to a recommended naturopathic doctor to investigate the possibility of adrenal fatigue or some other problem that would mimic the symptoms. Onset of symptoms roughly two years ago.
General symptoms were:
Afternoon â??lowâ?? (feelings of sleepiness or clouded thinking) from 2 to 4 p.m.
A burst of energy at 6 p.m. when you finally feel better from your afternoon lull
Sleepiness around 9p.m. to 10 p.m. However, you resist going to sleep
Cravings for foods high in salt and fats
Sensitivity to cold and feeling chilled
Mild depression
Mood swings
Mental fog
Memory problems
Lack of energy and feeling rundown
A decreased ability to handle stress
A decreased ability to recover from illness
Muscular weakness
Increased food allergies
Lightheadedness when getting up from a sitting or lying down position
Decreased sex drive
Frequent sighing
Inability to handle foods high in potassium or carbohydrates unless theyâ??re combined with fats and protein
You crave sugar
In addition:
- Weight loss, inability to maintain or build muscle mass and weight gain around the abdomen. (I’ve lost roughly 10 pounds over the last few years and gained noticeable belly fat). No significant changes in diet, exercise or lifestyle.
- My joints ache regularly
- it’s up, now it’s gone…very frustrating.
- Nocturnal and morning wood…there but hit or miss.
A little about me:
I’ve been a firefighter for the past 5 years. The job has many advantages, but also leaves one vulnerable to both acute and chronic stress. This is both in the form of the very nature of the job, but also in that your baseline recovery and sleep cycles change dramatically.
I consider my diet to be well in order (Grass fed beef, organics, complex carbohydrates and lots of veggies) and like most here have followed T-Nation workouts for some time with what I would consider moderate success (I’d consider myself an intermediate).
36 y.o., 6’0 ft tall, no kids, new girlfriend.
At 31 y.o. I was roughly 185, 9% body fat (this was done at sports medicine clinic)
At 36 y.o. I’m at roughly 178, 12% body fat ( this is a guess…)
SO,
Labs from Labcorp gave the following numbers (after reading the stickies I realize they are somewhat incomplete and I will post those numbers when I get them).
RESULTS (reference interval in parentheses)
Thyroid
TSH 0.871 uIU/mL (0.450-4.500)
FT3 2.6 pg/mL (2.0-4.4)
Cortisol 12.7 ug/dL (2.3-19.4 (AM 6.2 -19.4, PM 2.3 - 11.9) Test taken at 5:00 p.m.)
FT 7.2 pg/mL (8.7-25.1)
DHEA-S 300.3 ug/dL (88.9-427.0)
SHBG 43.2 nmol/L (16.5-55.9)
Insulin 11.3 uIU/mL (2.6-24.9)
Vit. D 28.4 ng/mL (32.00-100.0)
General health labs â?¨
-CBC: Complete Blood Counts â?¨
-Hematocrit
-Lipids â?¨
-Glucose â?¨
All the above within normal ranges…
OK, so…
Given the above labs, my doc wanted to put my on a compounded prescription of Test/Chrysin 75mg/ML Versa-CRM, 2 mL per day. In addition he prescribed DHEA, 25 mg daily and Vit D. 10,000 iu daily (two months), then 5,000 iu daily.
Given that I didn’t know anything about TRT and neither expected to have low T nor to be given such a prescription, I am REALLY concerned about starting this up. Before doing any research, I was unaware that TRT meant shut down of endogenous T. Knowing this gives me great pause.
The doc basically said my FT is in the range of what he normally sees for men in their 60’s. I’ve read some of what has been posted on this forum and there are some very frank and honest opinions about diving into the murky waters of TRT.
My interest in posting was to:
-reach out to a community of folks with similar experiences
-get some possible advice/ help interpreting my labs
- Find resources to get more information
- Specifically, information in regards to chronic and acute stress, and how this may be effecting my Test. levels.
- What could other causes be and how can I rectify those without exogenous testosterone?
- SHOULD I BE DOING MORE LABS BEFORE CONSIDERING TRT? Maybe the 24 hour urine test? Is the doc being overzealous?
- Any other advice??
Thanks to anyone willing to read this and comment. I’ll be doing my best to put Google to work as well.