High Sex Drive, Low Test Level.

[averagejoetoo3]

My doctor checked my test levels a couple of years ago because of constant fatigue. That was the only symptom. My sex drive is extremely high and always has been, like twice a day or more. No erection difficulties or anything. He checked my test level level and it was like 160 something.
I started TRT with injections in the office for about 4 or 5 months. He would do blood work once a month and then increase the dosage because the test levels were not coming up but going down. Still had a high or higher sex drive. Last blood test he did showed test level in the 140's.
I changed jobs and insurance companies and just now getting to a new doctor for TRT. Told him the story about the previous doctor so he checked my levels and it was like 183. He was going to do the injections but the insurance company rejected it and will only cover the gel through their mailorder program.
Question? Why would my sex drive be high with low test levels when I keep reading that I should have a low sex drive with low test levels. Why would my test levels keep dropping lower with high doses of test? The first doctor even did a karyotype and it was normal. He suspected Androgen Insensitivity but it should have shown up as a gene abnormality on the karyotype. Any Endocrynologists with any thoughts on this?
I have tried to go see a Endo but my insurance company will not allow it with out a referral. Now I have to jump though the hoops with my doctor and his plan of trial and error before he will give a referral. I guess every visit to him is more money from me and the insurance company.

[ironaddict69]

well my man, your one out of a million. It's funny, people think test is the only thing about sex drive. Lets shoot this out for a little bit.

-Estrogen. Estrogen is proven to have a large effect on sex drive. Dont believe me? get on some letro (please don't) but youll see what i mean, look it up. Why? Estrogen not only effects the androgen receptors, (among probably 20 other things) but it amplifies the effects of neurotransmitters in our brain; IE: serotonin, dopamine, nor epinephrine and epinephrine. Dopamine is a precursor to the last two. While serotonin has a role, I believe it is mainly dopamine and its byproducts when it comes to libido. People forget and usually dont know much about these, but in reality they are JUST as important as testosterone is.

-Neurotransmitters. Need i say more than what i mentioned above?

-Some people, literally DONT need high test. Its a high possibility that your body functions fine on 180 ng/dl. My doc has ran into athletes with levels that low and had no complaints. Why? shit dont ask me, id hate to have a level of that being as i need MUCH more. You might be a rare candidate.

About the fatigue thing, tell me about it. It literally could be 1 of 1000 things.
vitamins, minerals, other brain chemistry. But is it the low test? Probably. Get a full blood workup. I had terrible fatigue for about a year and a half. It wasn't till I found the doctor i see now, who straightened me out. If your in the SOCAL area, let me know. PM me, ill give you his details. The man saved my life.

--Tell us all this, how much test was he giving you and how often?

[averagejoetoo3]

well my man, your one out of a million. It's funny, people think test is the only thing about sex drive. Lets shoot this out for a little bit.

-Estrogen. Estrogen is proven to have a large effect on sex drive. Dont believe me? get on some letro (please don't) but youll see what i mean, look it up. Why? Estrogen not only effects the androgen receptors, (among probably 20 other things) but it amplifies the effects of neurotransmitters in our brain; IE: serotonin, dopamine, nor epinephrine and epinephrine. Dopamine is a precursor to the last two. While serotonin has a role, I believe it is mainly dopamine and its byproducts when it comes to libido. People forget and usually dont know much about these, but in reality they are JUST as important as testosterone is.

-Neurotransmitters. Need i say more than what i mentioned above?

-Some people, literally DONT need high test. Its a high possibility that your body functions fine on 180 ng/dl. My doc has ran into athletes with levels that low and had no complaints. Why? shit dont ask me, id hate to have a level of that being as i need MUCH more. You might be a rare candidate.

About the fatigue thing, tell me about it. It literally could be 1 of 1000 things.
vitamins, minerals, other brain chemistry. But is it the low test? Probably. Get a full blood workup. I had terrible fatigue for about a year and a half. It wasn't till I found the doctor i see now, who straightened me out. If your in the SOCAL area, let me know. PM me, ill give you his details. The man saved my life.

--Tell us all this, how much test was he giving you and how often?

Thanks for the reply!

I believe that he started me out on 200 mg every 2 weeks. New bloodwork after a month and the test levels were lower, I think he bumped it up by 50mg. Rechecked bloodwork again after another month, and then he added tamoxifen because he thought it could be converting to estrogen. It never helped. He increased injections to 275 mg and the test levels dropped again.
My lower right leg swelled toward the end of the 6 months before I lost my insurance and has been that way every since. Just recently discovered that it is lymphedema. I researched that and apparently it can be caused by tamoxifen.
The fatigue. I never seem to get enough sleep, even if I sleep 15 hours a day. I always seem to be in a very light stage of sleep, aware of what is going on around me, and thinking about things. I have had the sleep study done, they said I quit breathing 52 times. They also said that I reached REM sleep and out of 8 hours I was in REM for for 6.5 hours. It did not seem like I had even went to sleep.
I suppose I need to find a good endo but it is difficult jumping through the hoops and the treatments General practice dr's want to put you through.
I am in the Central KY area. A couple of big universities I will try to get a referral to.
Could my test levels be low because my body is converting my test to estro?
Does test levels dropping when injecting test sound right even when on tamoxifen?
OH, My wife and I went to see a fertility specialist before I started seeing the DR about low test. The fertility specialist did a semen analysist and said that I was azioospermia. I assume no sperm because he did not give a count.
But that was making test but it was 180 ng/ml. He just scratched his head and said that it is unusal to make test but no sperm. He did blood work and said that my FSH was 30 when it should be 15. He did not have a diagnosis for me. He seemed to think that 180 ng/ml for test was alright but I went to see the other dr. and he said he wanted to get the levels up to 500-600 but never could.
Any additional input would be greatly appreciated.

[BigJames]

If I can through in one more comment based on my own experiences with low test. When I was tested I was found to have low test (in the 200's) AND low SHBG. The endo that I saw suggested (hypothesized really) that my low SHBG may mean that by body requires less test and free test to operate normally. I have no tests to prove it, but I would guess that my levels have always been low, but I managed to put on 70 pounds of muscle naturally before using gear so I must have enough...

I am not a doctor, but the expaination I got from the endo sounded like it made sense and explained all my levels because none of the test results made sense unless this hypthesis is correct...

[BigJames]

-Some people, literally DONT need high test. Its a high possibility that your body functions fine on 180 ng/dl. My doc has ran into athletes with levels that low and had no complaints. Why? shit dont ask me, id hate to have a level of that being as i need MUCH more. You might be a rare candidate.

Sorry, I did not read your whole post, this is exactly what I was talking about. I am one of these people. My endo suggested that low SHBG may be part of the reason that I am able to function on less Test. And like you said, tiredness can be caused by a million other things...

[averagejoetoo3]

well my man, your one out of a million. It's funny, people think test is the only thing about sex drive. Lets shoot this out for a little bit.

-Estrogen. Estrogen is proven to have a large effect on sex drive. Dont believe me? get on some letro (please don't) but youll see what i mean, look it up. Why? Estrogen not only effects the androgen receptors, (among probably 20 other things) but it amplifies the effects of neurotransmitters in our brain; IE: serotonin, dopamine, nor epinephrine and epinephrine. Dopamine is a precursor to the last two. While serotonin has a role, I believe it is mainly dopamine and its byproducts when it comes to libido. People forget and usually dont know much about these, but in reality they are JUST as important as testosterone is.

-Neurotransmitters. Need i say more than what i mentioned above?

-Some people, literally DONT need high test. Its a high possibility that your body functions fine on 180 ng/dl. My doc has ran into athletes with levels that low and had no complaints. Why? shit dont ask me, id hate to have a level of that being as i need MUCH more. You might be a rare candidate.

About the fatigue thing, tell me about it. It literally could be 1 of 1000 things.
vitamins, minerals, other brain chemistry. But is it the low test? Probably. Get a full blood workup. I had terrible fatigue for about a year and a half. It wasn't till I found the doctor i see now, who straightened me out. If your in the SOCAL area, let me know. PM me, ill give you his details. The man saved my life.

--Tell us all this, how much test was he giving you and how often?

Thanks for the reply!

I believe that he started me out on 200 mg every 2 weeks. New bloodwork after a month and the test levels were lower, I think he bumped it up by 50mg. Rechecked bloodwork again after another month, and then he added tamoxifen because he thought it could be converting to estrogen. It never helped. He increased injections to 275 mg and the test levels dropped again.
My lower right leg swelled toward the end of the 6 months before I lost my insurance and has been that way every since. Just recently discovered that it is lymphedema. I researched that and apparently it can be caused by tamoxifen.
The fatigue. I never seem to get enough sleep, even if I sleep 15 hours a day. I always seem to be in a very light stage of sleep, aware of what is going on around me, and thinking about things. I have had the sleep study done, they said I quit breathing 52 times. They also said that I reached REM sleep and out of 8 hours I was in REM for for 6.5 hours. It did not seem like I had even went to sleep.
I suppose I need to find a good endo but it is difficult jumping through the hoops and the treatments General practice dr's want to put you through.
I am in the Central KY area. A couple of big universities I will try to get a referral to.
Could my test levels be low because my body is converting my test to estro?
Does test levels dropping when injecting test sound right even when on tamoxifen?
OH, My wife and I went to see a fertility specialist before I started seeing the DR about low test. The fertility specialist did a semen analysist and said that I was azioospermia. I assume no sperm because he did not give a count.
But that was making test but it was 180 ng/ml. He just scratched his head and said that it is unusal to make test but no sperm. He did blood work and said that my FSH was 30 when it should be 15. He did not have a diagnosis for me. He seemed to think that 180 ng/ml for test was alright but I went to see the other dr. and he said he wanted to get the levels up to 500-600 but never could.
Any additional input would be greatly appreciated.