New poster. Getting new labs...have a few questions.

[mgmtrnr]

Male, 48 years old. Been going through 8-10 years of hell on my health side.

No health insurance so everything is out-of-pocket.

Hypothyroid...on Nature-throid (a natural desiccated thyroid med like Armour).

Had partial labs run last week because sister (who is also hypo) said her endo was concerned about her Vitamin D. While I was at it, I decided to get testosterone lab run also.

Results (2012):

Total Testosterone..........337 ng/dL.....241-827 ng/dL
Vitamin D, 25 OH, total.....18 ng/mL.....30-100 ng/mL

Have started supplementing my vit D with 50,000 IU's/week. No problem...it's OTC and pretty cheap.

I am interested in possibly starting TRT but want to get my full labs run which I am planning on doing tomorrow morning. The last time I had my Estradiol tested was in 2008:

Results (2008):

Estradiol..................19 pg/ml.....1-3 pg/ml
Progesterone...........115pg/ml.....5-95 pg/ml
Free Testosterone.....38 pg/ml.....40-70 pg/ml

Unfortunately, I didn't do anything about these because, at that time, my thyroid was really out of whack.

I plan on getting full hormone panel run tomorrow to include free test and estradiol (sensitive).

Depending on my lab results, I am researching TRT using cypionate and supplementing with anastrozole and HCG .

Questions:

Are there any non-prescription pharmacies for cypionate that accept credit cards? (I don't like wiring someone money using Western Union unless someone can give me a good recommendation/reference).

Do I need to get progesterone tested also?

Sorry for the long post but wanted to include most of the info I have right now.

Thanks...Mike

[bullshark99]

Tes is Schedule 2 (control sub) if I'm not mistaken, need to have a Rx to be legal.

[bass]

^^^^^ that and, make sure you don't self medicate, these are powerful hormones and can screw you up if not managed by a doctor. i take 10,000 iu vit. D ed and my levels are at the very top of the range, so you should be fine there. bringing your vit. D up can help increase you test as well based on new studies that were posted here recently. read all the stickies in this section before you do anything thing.

[HRTstudent]

I believe it's schedule 3, which makes a big difference, but it is still prescription only.

There is absolutely no way to get test cypionate legally without being prescribed by a doctor.

Fortunately, there are things you can do to try to raise your T in other ways. To be sure, your level is not super low, although it is probably not helping any of your health issues, especially mentally.

Quite frankly, it sounds like you have more health issues than most of us commonly deal with on this forum (where it's almost exclusively androgen related).

We can't diagnose you, and I would really advise you to find a good doctor who you can afford. They are usually willing to work with patients (lowered prices, payment plans, etc). Keep in mind, there are also free clinics in many cities, especially if it's a big city. This would give you at least SOME access to legitimate medical care. These doctors are not some scrubs either who can't get "real" work - they are the same doctors who treat everyone else but they usually do it because it's a good thing to do for the community.