Hi and thank you for having this forum. Invaluable.
Age 45
Height 6 ft.
Waist 36
Weight 230ish
Body composition: slightly muscular, thick, heavy. Thick goatee. Never been this heavy in all my life.
Carry fat in gut, love handles
Health history: Never saw/needed doc until Lyme disease 5 years ago. Took doxy and recovered fine.
About 3 years ago began gaining weight while lifestyle remained same. Mind fog became worse than basic -where did I put my keys?- Although I have always had a kind of fog going on.
Libido and erection duration began to get worse -never was superman like-
Recently could not take it anymore and started eating better and working out in gym made in basement, thinking I could correct this by not taking drugs but by doing the best I could in diet and exercise.
Got tested for low T and was diagnosed hypogonadism by doctor. See below for Tgel history. GP great woman and wants to help and listens to me but is not versed in T et. al so only got so far before endo was referred. Appointment in one month.
RX: Cialis and recently Tgel. Got liquid Anastrozole coming 12/16 and will see if E2 comes down.
Labs results: see below posts
Diet: High in protein from turkey & chicken as well as egg and whey protein shakes. Fruits like apples and bananas. Minimal vegetables unfortunately. Peanuts. No soda/energy drinks. Coffee. No traditional white sugar. Some Stevia. Glass of red wine 3-4 times a week.
Supplements/vitamins: Most of these are recent additions, about when I decided to change myself for the better. I may have gone overboard. All are 1Xday unless noted otherwise.
Glucosatrin
L-arginine (free form) 1000mg 2Xday by NOW foods
L-Citrulline (free form) 2000mg 2Xday by NOW foods
Vit D3 1000iu by Nature’s Bounty
Magnesium 500mg by Nature’s Bounty
Grape Seed 250mg by NOW foods
Icarin 50% 300 mg by Swanson Superior Herbs
Hawthorn 80mg
Fish Oil 1000EPA/500DHA by NOW foods
Multi-vitamin called Adam by NOW foods
Beet Juice Powder (taste like crap) by Activz 1 scoop
BCAA 3 pills 1Xday
Isotonics OPC-3
Isotonix resveratrol
Whey protein Shake
Egg Protein shake by Healthy-n-Fit
Training: 4 Days/wk weight lifting–progressive overload technique. Lifting for over 2 months now as of Dec 15. Have made substantial gains in lbs. lifted and slight increase in musculature, lost ~10 lbs. but none on my gut or sides really. Very difficult lifting because I have no energy/will but have not stopped doing it. Tired of this shitty life but cannott give up or all will seem lost.
Testes never ache. Never had a fever.
No morning wood.
Here begins my current bout with T. Sorry about long post.
All blood drawn by Quest Labs (although I think they send some out to other places to get results). All Gel applied as prescribed.
8/7/2015 Got Tested Asked doc to check for low T after many years of low libido, always foggy head, lost interest in hobbies and the list goes on. I knew not the slightest thing about Low T before reading about it somewhere when I was looking into supplements after I started lifting recently (around 240 ~17% BF) So I just asked my GP for total T. Total T was 283
08/13/2015 50mg generic Testim for a 2-week trial.
08/27/2015 Got Tested. Applied in morning few hours before Quest lab test (Not sure if this was a good idea)
Total T 638 ng/dL Range 250-1100 I kept going with that same 50mg/day dosage for the next month. Feeling better but not like I am a new man. Reduced fogginess, more energy, more frequent libido improvements
9/30/2015 Previous benefits appear to be gone. Crap. Ho Hum textbook gel response. Body reduced production perhaps. But still curiously going up with my weights in lifting. Tell Doc and we proceed.
10/05/2015 Got Tested. Still on 50mg generic testim (made by Prasco) This time no application before test. Applied previous morning. Total and Free T plummet. Estrogen starting to rise.
Total T 80 ng/dL Range 250-1100
Free Testosterone 18.6 pg/mL Range 35.0-155.0
Estrogen, Total, Serum 132.3 pg/mL Range 60-190
10/10/2015 Since I am clearly a buffoon and have not researched much at this point, I ask for an increase in Gel which my GP grants as my T is back down. So I double it to 100mg/day for 8 weeks as recommended by Doc and that we should test again then.
12/10/2015 Got Tested. Applied only 50mg in morning few hours before detailed Quest lab test fearing a spike #. Had been using 100mg generic Androgel (made by Perrigo which is labeled by the pharmacy on the box as generic Testim, which it is not) I swear this whole T thing is not well known by many people that otherwise should know. Pharmacies are even mislabeling, which could possibly be significant as not all Gels are absorbed equally. But what do I know. I know that doubling the dosage for 2 months I ended up losing my $$ and gaining T slightly, E and Hematocrit/Hemoglobin. But also feeling like nothing special has just transpired physically or mentally.
Total T 662 ng/dL Range 250-1100
Free Testosterone 161.1 pg/mL Range 46.0-224.0 pg/ml
Bioavailable Testosterone 331.3 Range 110.0-575.0 ng/dL
Estradiol, 49 pg/mL Range < OR = 39 pg/mL
There was a lot of stuff tested but here is what was out of range:
FSH <0.7 Range 1.6-8.0 miU/mL
LH <0.2 Range 1.5-9.3 miU/mL
T3 Uptake 41 Range 22-35 %
Hemoglobin 17.5 Range 13.2-17.1 g/dL
Hematocrit 52.4 Range 38.5-50.0 %
Estradiol 49 Range < OR = 39 pg/mL
GP lacking proper knowledge so got an appointment with and endo nearby. Kinda thinking if I had just ordered some E reducer (online research grade stuff) and gave blood which I am doing in 3 days I might be good. Not looking forward to new doc after my experiences so far. This all seems so simple until something goes wrong.
Could that E # cause this lack of decent T level response. I know high E can but is it likely this like high enough out of the range to squash my available T?
If you have a few seconds lend me any of your comments/suggestions.
Thanks so much.
