TRT Problems. Hit a Wall at 3 Months

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
1

Hello T Nation,

I am a 30 year old male on androgel 1% 5g packet. i started this after feeling very tired, weak erections, no libido and a lot of self doubt (pretty high anxiety). My doctor did a test and realized my test levels were very low (140). I started Androgel in February 2019 and felt great for the first 2.5 months.

At the 3 month mark I felt like i had hit a wall, i felt really tired again, weak erections, no libido and depression felt like it was coming back. I did some blood work at the 3 month mark and my testosterone came back at 12.2 nmol/l and my free testosterone came back at 172 pmol/l.

My family doctor admitted that he is not an expert in this field and suggested I go see a male clinic or up my dose. I took his suggestion and went to the male clinic (charged a pretty penny).

The doctor there ordered some blood work; results are listed below;
results: Normal range:
|WBC||6.0| 4.0 - 11.0|x E9/L|
|RBC||4.59| 4.50 - 6.00|x E12/L|
|Hemoglobin||146| 135 - 175|g/L|
|Hematocrit||0.408| 0.400 - 0.500|L/L|
|MCV||89| 80 - 100|fL|
|MCH||31.8| 27.5 - 33.0|pg|
|MCHC||358| 305 - 360|g/L|
|RDW||12.8| 11.5 - 14.5|%|
|Platelet Count||186| 150 - 400|x E9/L|
|Differential|
|Neutrophils||3.3| 2.0 - 7.5|x E9/L|
|Lymphocytes||2.1| 1.0 - 3.5|x E9/L|
|Monocytes||0.5| 0.2 - 1.0|x E9/L|
|Eosinophils||0.1| 0.0 - 0.5|x E9/L|
|Basophils||0.0| 0.0 - 0.2|x E9/L|
|Biochemical Investigation of Anemias|
|Ferritin||262 |22-275|ug/L|
||Colour||YELLOW|NONE/YELLOW||
|Appearance||SLIGHTLY CLOUDY|
|Specific Gravity||1.027|1.001 - 1.030||
|pH||5.0|5.0 - 8.0||
|Protein||NEGATIVE|NEGATIVE|g/L|
|Glucose||NEGATIVE|NEGATIVE|mmol/L|
|Ketones||NEGATIVE|NEGATIVE|mmol/L|
|Erythrocytes||NEGATIVE|NEGATIVE|mg/L|
|Nitrite||NEGATIVE|NEGATIVE||
|Leukocyte Esterase||NEGATIVE|NEGATIVE|WBC/uL|
|General Chemistry|
|Glucose Fasting|
|Hemoglobin A1C/Total Hemoglobin||5.1|<6.0|%|
|Bilirubin Total||5| <20|umol/L|
|Alkaline Phosphatase||74| 40-129|U/L|
|Alanine Aminotransferase||20| <50|U/L|
|Triglyceride||2.58||mmol/L|
|Cholesterol||6.69||mmol/L|
|HDL Cholesterol||1.32||mmol/L|
|Non HDL Cholesterol||5.37||mmol/L|
|LDL Cholesterol||4.20||mmol/L|
|Thyroid Function|
|Thyroid Stimulating Hormone [TSH]||2.44| 0.32-4.00|mIU/L|
|Pituitary Function|
|Follicle Stimulating Hormone [FSH]||1.4| 1.0-8.0|IU/L|
|Luteinizing Hormone [LH]||1.9 |1.0-7.0|IU/L|
|Prolactin|HI|27.9| 4.0-19.0|ug/L|
|Tumour Markers|
|Prostate Specific Antigen||0.55| <4.0|ug/L|
|Estradiol||<40|<162|pmol/L|
|Dehydroepiandrosterone [DHEA-S]||6.2| < 15.0|umol/L|
|Testosterone||19.2| 8.4 - 28.8|nmol/L|
|Testosterone Free||372| 196-636|pmol/L|

So after reading some forums on here and looking over my blood work, i noticed my bad Cholesteroll is high and my Prolactin is very high. I scheduled a follow up meeting with the male clinic and spoke to the doctor. he stated he was not concerned about my Prolactin levels because although they were higher than the normal range it was not high enough for him to be worried about it (I didn’t really understand why).After some change of words (professional) he agreed to send me for another test for my prolactin levels as well as my FSH and LH. Those results came in today:

|Follicle Stimulating Hormone [FSH]|LO|0.7|1.0-8.0|IU/L|
|Luteinizing Hormone [LH]|LO|0.3|1.0-7.0|IU/L|
|Prolactin|HI|28.1|4.0-19.0|ug/L|

These results are 6 days after (the results i posted above). so as you can see, my prolactin levels are going higher. I don’t understand what happened to my FSH and LH in 1 week and why they dropped so hard? I did some intermediate fasting (16hrs) the night before and broke my fast 30 mins before blood word on some fruit. Not sure if that would have any effect.

Also, I just wanted to add that this male clinic was more interested in selling me dick pills than anything else. when the doctor asked how many times i had sex in the last week i told him 3 times, he started stating that there is a likelihood that there is nothing wrong with me and that it is in my head.

Could the Prolactin be the reason why I am feeling this way? I am feeling better than the 3rd month mark but i have noticed rapid weight gain. May 1 2019 weighed in around 165, currently sitting around 173 and it seems like it is all around the belly (bloated feeling).

Thank you in advance for any knowledge that can be shared!

2

Dont start multiple threads

3

It’s pointless to check LH when you are on exogynous test, your body shouldn’t be making much if any of it. The low number means you are shut down, which is what happens. Your dose is too low as well, it’s not making up for the test that you just stopped making. Up the dose, or switch to something less useless than gel.

4

I’m confused when you created a second thread, people will soon start ignoring you if you are constantly creating new threads because information gets scattered around the forum and context is lost.

5

I hit submit on the last one by accident before uploading all my info. Sorry about that.

6

should I be worried about my prolcatin levels?

7

Help please?

8

I don’t think prolactin is a problem, keep an eye on it though. An MRI is usually done to rule out a tumor. There are medications to lower prolactin if it ever does get out of hand, There are some medications than increase prolactin, those being medications to control depression and/or anxiety

9

If it’s not prolactin, I’m not sure what it is. All other levels are with in normal ranges.

10

Sure your levels are within normal range, these levels may not be normal for you. These normal ranges do not include 2% of the population, the normal ranges are being lowered every decade, so are you going to lower your Test dosage every decade to match all the other sick, obese people’s hormone levels as we become infertile?

Your Free T levels are no good, if I had those levels I would feel unwell. You do not really have enough thyroid testing, no thyroid hormone were tested.

It’s common for doctors to screw this up, only testing TSH and believing TSH in range means the thyroid is fine. There is another member who recently started TRT and his TSH is 2.7 which is normal and his Free T3 is abnormally low and has all the classic symptoms of hypothyroidism.

It would be no different if your doctor was checking T status by only ordering LH and didn’t bother testing Total T or Free T, most doctors are doing things wrong because they were taught wrong.

TSH is known to be unreliable maker for thyroid status, Free T3 show hormone levels in the cells.

11

Your T levels suck for someone that is actually on TRT. That is at least part of your problem. Go see someone that will actually prescribe something other than gwl.

12

Thanks Systemlord,I am going to see my family doctor next week and i will ask him to send me for a T3 blood work. I was given the option from him to start injections. I felt very uncomfortable with this option (fear of the unknown). I also would like to have children, I am assuming asking for HCG with the injections will help. having test level at 372 is the highest its been for me in years. I wonder what 5 or 600 would feel like.

13

Would HCG be the best option to consider with TRT?

14

It causes problems for some, others it does nothing and there are fewer who need it to make TRT work.

Mostly HCG degrades TRT benefits by adding in more estrogen which if in excess can really ruin your life.

15

So what would you suggest? I would like to be able to have children…

16

More than likely yes, I stopped TRT 5 weeks ago and my natural production is already firing back up again, LH and FSH are increasing again which were both suppressed on TRT. FSH being the one hormone responsible for sperm production.

It’s not uncommon for guys to stop TRT and use a restart protocol using clomid in order to impregnate the wife and once that is accomplished, restart TRT. You can also add HCG and FSH while on TRT in order to have children.

17

Just look up “PCT”. Normal restart is Nolvadex 40/40/20/20/20. That would be per day for each week, 5 weeks.

18

I’ve been on TRT about a year and decided against adding HCG based on physiolojik’s (knowledgeable endo on this forum) advice. He said once you decide to start trying for children is when you start HCG (or others). That using it constantly for years it becomes less effective (I’m not sure I’m communicating that correctly). The boy genius @unreal24278 will likely be better able to explain why not to use it until you are ready to start having kids.

I also saw how hard it was for people to dial in their TRT when having to account for HCG dose & T dose together and which one to adjust etc.

19

leydig cell damage and/or down regulation can occur from long term HCG use.

Furthermore side effects from HCG can be irritating. Hence the smarter option is to avoid HCG use until necessary.