More Advice On LOW T

[kochi]

I had posted about being scared about starting testosterone .
Initially my level was 289.

I had the testosterone retested last week in the morning and it was Total T 500.

Free t was t 15.6 if I am not mistake, will have to double check that number.

Only thing different I have done is eating 3 brazil nuts a day.

haven't started the therapy. So I guess the question is if I still need to.

[sirupate]

At your new levels, some doctors would say no...you don't need TRT now, as long as you are in normal ranges. OTOH, I think most here agree that being in the upper end of the normal range for free-t is a very good thing. I suppose it depends on your symptoms and how you are feeling. The risks of TRT are quite low as long as a doctor is doing some monitoring of your health. It could be that a small amount of exogenous testosterone would get you into the upper quartile of the range with very low risk. Good luck.

What's the deal with brazil nuts???

[kochi]

Thanks!

I wonder if it's normal for it to fluctuate that much? I've felt pretty good the last couple weeks too.

or can it change that much between morning and evening?

I read that Brazil nuts help with testosterone , and after eating 3 a day I do think it's helped with libido.

As far as symptoms I have been struggling for the last year..

[sirupate]

Your levels fluctuate some on a daily basis and I imagine that your levels cycle some over longer periods of time as well. My levels have never been "level" over the past year plus of TRT, though they have generally risen during that time.

[kochi]

I was hyperthyroid (too much synthroid ) for a while so don't know if that lowered the T. Also maybe the brazil nuts did make a difference.
I have read that they do fluctuate, but am curious if they can that much in a day? It was pretty clear to everyone here at 289 that I needed it, now I wonder if at 500 I need it. Or should I retest again after a while again.

[zaggahamma]

so you tested at 289 IN THE EVENING?????? who ran/ordered a testosterone level test in the evening and why?

why are you testing your testosterone anyway? symptoms? how old?

welcome to the board, btw

[kochi]

Thanks jpkman -

ok, I just checked with the lab and I got the test done at 1pm... where the result was 289.

over a year ago, I got injured, pulled trap and whatever then a visit to a crazy chiro. Have ruled out everything else. My body has never recovered.. here are my symptoms.

1. Low Libido
2.) Inability to work out - constant muscle pain and weakness
3.) Fatiuge / irribatibility
4.) Lack of sleep
5.) I will get aches and pains in my spine, traps, feet. I will be fine for a couple days, feeling quite good, then BOOM everything starts to hurt and I just crash.
They kept telling me that everything looked fine structurally and that all my issues were (muscular.) I was in the best shape of my life and after the injury everything changed, so my regular gp suggested low t and thus the 289. So I did a follow up with a urologist and the results came back at 500. I got the full deal, cortizol, LH etc so will post those later tonight.
6.) basically lost interest in everything. (this seems to be getting better too.)

I see the urologist this friday so not sure what his suggestion will be. I was doing terrible, I am much better now but still not 100%. I would like to get back to where I was and I figure a year should have been plenty to get better if there was apparantly nothing serious injury wise.

[zaggahamma]

Thanks jpkman -

ok, I just checked with the lab and I got the test done at 1pm... where the result was 289.

over a year ago, I got injured, pulled trap and whatever then a visit to a crazy chiro. Have ruled out everything else. My body has never recovered.. here are my symptoms.

1. Low Libido
2.) Inability to work out - constant muscle pain and weakness
3.) Fatiuge / irribatibility
4.) Lack of sleep
5.) I will get aches and pains in my spine, traps, feet. I will be fine for a couple days, feeling quite good, then BOOM everything starts to hurt and I just crash.
They kept telling me that everything looked fine structurally and that all my issues were (muscular.) I was in the best shape of my life and after the injury everything changed, so my regular gp suggested low t and thus the 289. So I did a follow up with a urologist and the results came back at 500. I got the full deal, cortizol, LH etc so will post those later tonight.
6.) basically lost interest in everything. (this seems to be getting better too.)

I see the urologist this friday so not sure what his suggestion will be. I was doing terrible, I am much better now but still not 100%. I would like to get back to where I was and I figure a year should have been plenty to get better if there was apparantly nothing serious injury wise.

the two bolded sections have me a little confused..

and whats your age?

you said you saw a urologist ALREADY but follow up with him/her friday...what did he say the first time?

[kochi]

sorry - 33.

The first time he (the Urologist) said I would probably benefit from doing the TRT. I already was prescribed it from the regular gp. The URO wanted to do more extensive blood work to get a better picture of whats going on. So I have not seen him about the new blood work, I just called the lab to get them, as well talked to the uro's assistant where the blood work showed the 509 t. The uro still wants to see me to go over blood work. So am not sure if he will change his mind or still have me.

SO the 6 things I mentioned are my idea of doing much better. Some are not as bad now as far as symptoms. I can't even begin to describe how awful my state was 8 months ago. So it's been very very very incremental. My initial injury was february of last year, not one doc did blood work till last november where I had vit D deficiency and that has helped. Then after that my thyroid was off alittle, so that has helped. My thyroid picked back up on it's own it seems and I don't need the meds..

So in other words these are the lingering symptoms I can't get past, and like I said some are not as sever as before. For example, my libido was non-existant. Like I don't think I had a boner for 60months....
and no sexual drive at all. Now atleast I can play the game. My muscle weakness is still there but not as bad as before, I literall could not do ONE pushush without terrible pain till about a month ago. No I can do about 5.

I did basic yard work this last weekend and it was a real chore. I mean simple stuff and I was still achy, and any time I put my muscles under any kind of tension they would start to twictch real good.

[zaggahamma]

sorry - 33.

The first time he (the Urologist) said I would probably benefit from doing the TRT. I already was prescribed it from the regular gp. The URO wanted to do more extensive blood work to get a better picture of whats going on. So I have not seen him about the new blood work, I just called the lab to get them, as well talked to the uro's assistant where the blood work showed the 509 t. The uro still wants to see me to go over blood work. So am not sure if he will change his mind or still have me.

SO the 6 things I mentioned are my idea of doing much better. Some are not as bad now as far as symptoms. I can't even begin to describe how awful my state was 8 months ago. So it's been very very very incremental. My initial injury was february of last year, not one doc did blood work till last november where I had vit D deficiency and that has helped. Then after that my thyroid was off alittle, so that has helped. My thyroid picked back up on it's own it seems and I don't need the meds..

So in other words these are the lingering symptoms I can't get past, and like I said some are not as sever as before. For example, my libido was non-existant. Like I don't think I had a boner for 60months....
and no sexual drive at all. Now atleast I can play the game. My muscle weakness is still there but not as bad as before, I literall could not do ONE pushush without terrible pain till about a month ago. No I can do about 5.

I did basic yard work this last weekend and it was a real chore. I mean simple stuff and I was still achy, and any time I put my muscles under any kind of tension they would start to twictch real good.

still confused...not sure if its me or you or a little of both....

so you are on ZERO meds currently? no thyroid meds and you still havent taken the prescribed(by your GP) trt meds?..

AND

explain the bold...being vitamin D deficient HAS HELPED? and your thyroid being off HELPED??? AM I LOSING MY MIND???

[kochi]

haha, it's probably me. Thanks for the patience.


Yes, I stopped all meds, that being only thyroid. Haven't started the TRT.

I will give you the time line of how I ended up here.


Octoberish - After trying months of PT and getting nowhere, finally found an internist that did blood work and found low Vit D and and a tsh level of 8. Said this probably explains all my symptoms.
Checked in with GP, he agrees and says to go ahead. I NEVER got my testosterone tested at this point. The regular GP asked me if I had and recommended, but I figured if it was important the internist probably would have said something.

N0V- Dec Start to improve, have alittle bit more energy etc. So I start to feel like maybe I am on the road to recovery. In my estimation I go from feeling terrible to bad/ok.
Thinking I am on the road to recovery.


Jan - feb I become hyperactive on a starter dose of Levo, symptoms still kinda there, but not as bad. I get the hyperactive symptoms go to the urgent care and my tsh is very low (.01), both t3 and t4 are above range. Check back in with the regular doc and it's recommended that I don't need to do the Levo. Then HE (GP) checks the Testosterone and it comes up at 289 and prescribes the TRT. Check in with Internsit and he says 289 is fine (dropped him.)

mar - apr Since the GP and the Internist don't agree that 289 is an issue I go see a urologist. Explain it. retests, T, Free T, Cortisol, Lh etc. Initially says that I would probably benefit from TRT, but the question is, how long? should it be temp, or permanent etc. Wants a better picture so he can decide how to proceed. Total T comes back at 500, which is apparently pretty good right? So that leads to my current post.

SO currently, from the list of symptoms I describe there seems to be a fluctuating pattern. The last two weeks I have felt pretty good, so not sure if that has a parallel to T. But lately it seems I will do good for a couple days, feeling like I am starting to get stronger, then BOOOOOm, my whole body crashes and all my symptoms come back with a vengence, then two days later, like nothing happened, the 4 days later back to misery.

When I say pretty good, I mean, it feels like I am starting to heal, and on my way to feeling better then, the switch is flipped.

It also seems like I take a small step then plateau for a long time.

My initial post on this board was if 289 was an issue, and that seemed to draw a resounding yes. Now, having not taken ANY TRT, am wondering where the 500 comes from. Seems for my age I still need to be at 800, I think is where the GP says I need to be. So will see what the Urologist says, wonder if he thinks I need the meds.

Hope this clears it up.

[kochi]

Here are the Lab results.
I have no idea what some of these are.
PROCEDURE UNITS REF RANGE

WBC 6.3 K/M3 4.0-11

RBC 5.67 M/MM3 4.30-6.00

HGB 16.6 G.DL 13.5-17

HCT 48 % 40-53

MCV 85 FL 78-100

MCH 29 PG 27-34

MCHC 34 % 31-37

RDW 11.9 % 11.5-14.5

PLATELET 180 K/MM3 140-440

DIFF TYPE AUTO DIFF PERF

SEGS 56 % 40-85

LYMPHS 33 % 22-44

MONOS 8 % 3-15

E0S 3 % 0-7

BASOS 0 % 0-2

ABSOLUTE
NUTROPHIL
CONT 3. K/UL >=1.00

ESTRADITOL 37 PG/ML

FREE T, S 15.6 NG.DL 9-30
TOTAL T S 502 NG/DL 240-950
LH 7.38 MIU/ML
FSH 5.6 MIU/ML 1-10




PROLACTIN 6.72 NG/ML
CORTISOL 11.62 UG/DL

[Ratt]

ESTRADITOL 37 PG/ML

Your estro levels are on the high side and can present the similar symptoms as low T. From what I understand levels of 15-25 are ideal.

[zaggahamma]

haha, it's probably me. Thanks for the patience.


Yes, I stopped all meds, that being only thyroid. Haven't started the TRT.

I will give you the time line of how I ended up here.


Octoberish - After trying months of PT and getting nowhere, finally found an internist that did blood work and found low Vit D and and a tsh level of 8. Said this probably explains all my symptoms.
Checked in with GP, he agrees and says to go ahead. I NEVER got my testosterone tested at this point. The regular GP asked me if I had and recommended, but I figured if it was important the internist probably would have said something.

N0V- Dec Start to improve, have alittle bit more energy etc. So I start to feel like maybe I am on the road to recovery. In my estimation I go from feeling terrible to bad/ok.
Thinking I am on the road to recovery.


Jan - feb I become hyperactive on a starter dose of Levo, symptoms still kinda there, but not as bad. I get the hyperactive symptoms go to the urgent care and my tsh is very low (.01), both t3 and t4 are above range. Check back in with the regular doc and it's recommended that I don't need to do the Levo. Then HE (GP) checks the Testosterone and it comes up at 289 and prescribes the TRT. Check in with Internsit and he says 289 is fine (dropped him.)

mar - apr Since the GP and the Internist don't agree that 289 is an issue I go see a urologist. Explain it. retests, T, Free T, Cortisol, Lh etc. Initially says that I would probably benefit from TRT, but the question is, how long? should it be temp, or permanent etc. Wants a better picture so he can decide how to proceed. Total T comes back at 500, which is apparently pretty good right? So that leads to my current post.

SO currently, from the list of symptoms I describe there seems to be a fluctuating pattern. The last two weeks I have felt pretty good, so not sure if that has a parallel to T. But lately it seems I will do good for a couple days, feeling like I am starting to get stronger, then BOOOOOm, my whole body crashes and all my symptoms come back with a vengence, then two days later, like nothing happened, the 4 days later back to misery.

When I say pretty good, I mean, it feels like I am starting to heal, and on my way to feeling better then, the switch is flipped.

It also seems like I take a small step then plateau for a long time.

My initial post on this board was if 289 was an issue, and that seemed to draw a resounding yes. Now, having not taken ANY TRT, am wondering where the 500 comes from. Seems for my age I still need to be at 800, I think is where the GP says I need to be. So will see what the Urologist says, wonder if he thinks I need the meds.

Hope this clears it up.

ok......i'm stopping at the bold...maybe others can follow your "timelines" because where i bolded I'M ALREADY CONFUSED AGAIN.....levo???? when did u start taking that...you mention int under dec./jan but you say you had started to feel better, etc....

see what i'm saying...maybe the other guys can advise you and/or your next uro appt will yield some answers...because reading your posts is making me think i need to redo my meds

[kochi]

Thanks Ratt, there was no reference range other than saying that it was open to interpretation.

jpkman - I started the levo and the vitamin D at the same time - they both made me feel better, ie, I went from terrible to feeling bad/ok. So when I say feeling better, meaning I started to feel better but then plateaued.

With the thyroid, I become hyperactive so it was not helping, it could have been that it was the VIt D that helped and not the thyroid. So since I stopped taking the levo I have started too feel better in terms of not having any Hyperthyroid symptoms.

To summarize - I still have lingering symptoms that fluctuate between ok and bad and this is where I have stayed put. So my next stop on the "try to figure out what's wrong with me" trail is the testosterone , because apparantly it too can cover what is wrong.

Having tried thyroid medication and vitamin d supplements, they helped, but not all the way, I still have issues. With the thyroid it became counter productive.

[kochi]

Met with the urologist and looked over all my blood work and he said it looks all fine.... that I really don't need the TRT.

so am back to square one with trying to figure out where my symptoms are coming from.

[flatscat]

vit d - another check mark for the importance...

[kochi]

Latest Vit D was 31 ish.