Testosterone Recovery After Year of Anorexia

Hello Everyone,
I’m going to try to summarize but please read this if you’ve had experience and recovered well.

I’m 6’2’ and weigh 170 lbs today. About 16 months ago I was the healthiest I have ever been. I weighed 195 and was cut, I exercised and participated in sports and was a very strong athlete. I also had amazing sex drive and zero libido issues. Then in the Winter of 2015 something clicked in my head and I began dieting and exercising like a maniac. I would eat between 1400-1800 calories daily while running 3 miles and also lifting weights. I continued this type of lifestyle for the next year, until I weighed 155 and no longer had the energy to even get up and go to classes. This was my breaking point and it occurred in February of 2016.

At my lowest weight I suffered from severe anemia, zero ejaculate volume, mild depression, zero sex drive, dark bags under my eyes, and fatigue so great that even after 12 hours of sleep I’d still be tired.

Things slowly got better and about 4 months ago I finally realized what I’ve been doing to my body and started to change my behaviors. Today I weigh 170 lbs, and I exercise on and off.

Many of my symptoms have resolved themselves. I am no longer fatigued, and I have regained some ejaculate volume, and even my anemia is doing better, although it still persists on a daily basis. My biggest worry is whether or not I’ll ever recover my testosterone production completely? Last time I got tested was 5 months ago, and my testosterone was below 300. Although I see progress, in the last month I feel as though I’ve plateaued. I still don’t have my sex drive back, and I’m starting to consider a Clomid restart, but fear that it might screw me up even more. Is there anyone out there that had success with testosterone production recovering naturally? Or does anyone have any signs of hope for me?

Thank you!

I doubt you caused permanent damage but you need a full lab work up for anybody to give true feedback. If you eat a well balanced diet and good healthy fats you will get your building blocks back for creating sex hormones and your HPTA should recover. If not, you can try a restart. Post some labs when you take them

Which labs should I post?

  • LH and FSH

  • Total and free testosterone

  • SHBG

  • Prolactin

  • Prostatic specific antigen (PSA)

  • Estradiol

  • Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), T3, T4

  • Lipids (LDL, HDL, Triglycerides)

  • Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP)

  • Comprehensive Blood Count (CBC)

FSH-3.5
LH-3.5
Free T-10
Total T-352

Please do not create second threads for your case!

Always need ranges with lab results.

Please 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
  • finding a TRT doc

Your progress will be very individual and stories of how others have recovered really are interesting but not helpful as you are a sample of one.

Starvation can wreck hormone production and stress the adrenals, first increasing cortisol, but adrenal fatigue can lead to low cortisol and increase rT3 that blocks fT3.

To list of labs above add:
rT3
AM cortisol - at 8AM please
DHEA-S
fasting glucose
fasting cholesterol - could be too low

Action items:

  • read the stickies
  • get the labs and post with ranges
  • post oral body temperatures as per the thyroid basics sticky

Thyroid function can be low if you have not been using iodized salt long-term.

Thank you! I will get more labs posted soon. Why is it recommended that iodine be supplemented for those with low T?