Hello,
I read the stickies but I still don’t have complete lab works, so I will post them eventually in the near future. Mine is more of a general question to understand what ‘road’ to take to solve my problems.
I am 41 and I have been suffering of anxiety/ocd and depression since I was 17. In the last years I noticed an increase in my ‘dark’ mood, fatigue and all the nice stuff that you get when you have low-t. Something that was not much affected was my sex drive, always at a good level for a guy my age. What was happening is that sometimes during intercourse I was from one moment to the other, losing all arousal and erection as I was not interested anymore. Excitement was all gone in a matter of seconds. I was also suffering of ‘numb’ penis and erections not hard as in the past. I thought that all of this was a side effect of my antidepressants (Anafranil - Clomipramine 150 mgs daily) that were not working anymore and causing only side effects. This was a little strange as side effects usually decrease with use and I have been using Anafranil for 8/9 years and having these problems only in the last years. My libido, intended in thoughts and arousal about sexual activities was always decent.
I went to my psychiatrist and he gave me 15 mgs of mirtazapine that it’s known to not cause sexual side effects. It’s helping much in dealing with my insomnia. At the same time I asked to be checked for low-t. Only a simple test was done and the value was indeed very low (6,2 nmol/l on a range of 9 and 35).
The problem is that since I started mirtazapine my sex drive is ZERO and my penis looks smaller and shrinked. It feels really strange to now have NO sexual thoughts and erections and this has been lasting for one month.
Practically starting to use Remeron and understanding to have low-t happened at the same time so my question is: Did remeron increased the effects of low-t? Or would be possible that my testicles just stopped producing test all together? I am planning to have a visit in a specialised clinic in a couple of days for more tests.
Can low-t really create a total loss of sexual arousal? Thanks a lot for everyone that would like to share his point of view. To be honest I am a little freaked out, living in Europe and reading all these stories of people not getting the right treatment/checks.
Low T can absolutely cause a loss in arousal, sensitivity and lack sexual thoughts and these medications only worsen the situation. Being Europe you will have to battle through the stupid doctors in you country who are decades behind with regards to male hormones which isn’t taught at all in medical school.
Nebido is garbage as Nebido injections are too far apart to manage stable levels, Sustanon is a little better, but Ethanate and Cypionate are prefered. The mixture of these medications damage hormone production over time, depression cause stress on your adrenal glands.
The penis requires good testosterone levels to stay healthy, so low T will cause damage not only to your penis, but also your cardiovascular system and heart health. Low T is shown to cause dementia and alzheimer’s diseases and those in the beginning stages of alzheimer’s who go on TRT show improvement.
If thyroid function is low, depression and anxiety are a guarantee and most are scripted depression medications instead of thyroid treatment. You mention depression to a doctor, they will script you SSRIs instead of checking your thyroid hormones.
Evaluate your overall thyroid function by checking oral body temperatures as per the thyroid basics sticky. Thyroid hormone fT3 is what gets the job done and it regulates mitochondrial activity, the source of ATP which is the universal currency of cellular energy. This is part of the body’s temperature control loop. This can get messed up if you are iodine deficient. In many countries, you need to be using iodized salt. Other countries add iodine to dairy or bread.
KSman is simply a regular member on this site. Nothing more other than highly active.
I can be a bit abrupt in my replies and recommendations. I have a lot of ground to cover as this forum has become much more active in the last two years. I can’t follow threads that go deep over time. You need to respond to all of my points and requests as soon as possible before you fall off of my radar. The worse problems are guys who ignore issues re thyroid, body temperatures, history of iodized salt. Please do not piss people off saying that lab results are normal, we need lab number and ranges.
The value that you get out of this process and forum depends on your effort and performance. The bulk of your learning is reading/studying the suggested stickies.
First off, sorry to hear about your symptoms. I’ve dealt with anxiety & depression for about six years now, so I definitely understand what you’re going through.
Can low-t really create a total loss of sexual arousal
Absolutely it can. In fact, that’s one of the most common symptoms of low testosterone. For me, it definitely has. Tough, I know.
Did remeron increased the effects of low-t? Or would be possible that my testicles just stopped producing test all together?
That I’m not sure of. I was on 20mg of Prozac for a year and a half and got off in March, and my symptoms of low t haven’t changed. However, some people find that the medications they take impact their testosterone. If you’re willing to, you could take time off of the medication to check this. Since I’ve been off the meds, nothing changed, and it’s been a trying nearly three months.
The problem is that since I started mirtazapine my sex drive is ZERO and my penis looks smaller and shrinked. It feels really strange to now have NO sexual thoughts and erections and this has been lasting for one month.
I took about a year and a half off of Prozac, but when I was at my highest dose about 3 years ago, I was the same way. At a maximum erection, my member looked halved to what it really was. I’ve read that a lot of doctors prescribe AD’s because a lot of the symptoms of low testosterone and depression are synonymous with each other. I’ve taken Trazodone PRN, and while that does cause morning erections, this isn’t indicative of your t problem being solved… it’s a side effect of the medication.