33y male, 90 ng/dl test - reasons? bloodwork inside

[pillowscream]

Hello everyone!
I just joined the community to get more information about my "problem".
Please look at the end of the post for bloodwork.
I would be grateful if you could help me understanding them better.

I went to an endocrinologist to check my hormones because I am missing several testosterone -related "things" like sex drive, morning wood and vitality.
The doctor gave me a single HCG dose to test my leydig cells which send me to a heaven state for 48 hours. My head came clear, strength was back, and sex drive was rebooting. Thus low test levels come from low sh levels she said.
So the leydigs work well. But after a few days with the HCG gone, this negative feedback thingi kicked in and I crashed severely. Things got even worse, now suffering from mood swings and depressions.

Despite the doctor went on and on about how important healthy testosterone levels are for physical and especially mental health, she refused to put me on medication, and want to send me to the radiology instead to check my Pituitary gland for "mutations". I live in Germany, and within the national health insurance, I have to wait several months for an appointment.

After that I talked to my GP who told me to wait up for levels coming back up by themselves. He thinks that these problems are related to my lifestyle changes which struck my hormonal balance - he said...
Last year in August I started working out and eating "clean", got down from 220 to 160 at 5'10".
Working out 7 days a week with 5 days of strength training and 2-3 times a 30min cardio, paired with a 2000cals diet.
That probably was too harsh and too fast, but I felt good and it was fun.
Since January I am on "maintenance", upped the calories to 2700.
Although the endocrinologist says that it's not possible to deplete the body from hormones that much if not in a very low body fat stage or fasting for several weeks.

Well, what do you think?

Thanks.

[hammerheart]

LH is tanked and that signals a potential issue with pituitary imo. You need to have a pituitary MRI done.

I share a similar experience, I was left stuck with no TRT and waiting months for the MRI instead. But there is no need to wait, really, and you should insist on that point. Checking other pituitary hormones would be useful also.

[hammerheart]

That "leydig cell test" is bullshit, you can't assess testicular function with a single pin of HCG lol.

Heck, SHBG is very high too. Your androgen status is very VERY poor. Get it fixed mate.

Can't you get a private endocrinologist? Last but not least, ask for nebido. It's a slow released Testosterone injected about every 12 weeks.

It takes a while to get working but it's the best treatment available. Also be sure to get prescribed a "booster" pin at six weeks mark after first injection, it will help you dial in faster. You can find this suggestion on nebido leaflet also.

[geezuschrist]

I was in the same boat. They sent me to tons of doctors, 2 mri's, even a neurologist! Yes you probably should have the mri because there's a chance you have a tumor near it causing the problems. My guess is it was from the extreme weight loss so quick your body slowed way down on testosterone . In the end I got put on trt with no tumor and it was decided from repeated head trauma. It's your call I know it sucks to wait so long for an mri, or you could search for a pro trt doc and hop on. You probably should have more hormones checked out to see if anything else is going on or possibly your thyroid. But that's just my advice it's your life!

[pillowscream]

That "leydig cell test" is bullshit, you can't assess testicular function with a single pin of HCG lol.
Heck, SHBG is very high too. Your androgen status is very VERY poor. Get it fixed mate.

hey, I've done some more research on this particular matter. things that the doctor should have told me. *lol*
in the meanwhile, I received additional bloodwork from past hcg injection.
therefore it wasn't a hcg injection, but gnrh.
the bloodwork only shows lh and fsh numbers but its not less interesting because they spiked and got measured at the upper end.
(8.4, 9.6)
doesn't that tell me that the hormonal cascade works but there is a problem with gnrh by itself?

I was in the same boat. They sent me to tons of doctors, 2 mri's, even a neurologist!

it's really a nightmare. I certainly can understand why people are helping themselves with this matter, although I would be afraid to make things worse.

My guess is it was from the extreme weight loss so quick your body slowed way down on testosterone.

I am still considering that.
I've found a study where people were put on chronic cardio and got depleted by all sexual hormons while raising shbg.
while I didn't exercised 24 weeks for 7 days like the study claimed, I had the weightloss on top and went from a terrible starting point.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19066291

[kelkel]

The GnRH injection shows that your pituitary responded to the stimulation. It doesn't necessarily mean that it can hold that level (or any higher level) without that stimulation. Think of how Clomid works by making the HT think there's no estrogen and thus it ramps up production. Similar concept.

I'd follow Biz's advice and obtain an MRI to rule out adenoma's. If the MRI comes back clear then you have a choice to make, rest a bit and see if your body ramps up production on its own or begin a TRT regimen.