33 years old with Low Testosterone - What next?
Hi everyone,
The past few years I've been feeling all around shitty. My biggest complaints are depression, low energy, fatigue, constantly feeling tired, zero motivation, difficulty concentrating or making decisions. What really knocked me on my ass was about 4 years ago I started suffering from anxiety and panic attacks, which I have never felt before in my life. Ever since then every day is somewhat of a battle to get through. I'm mentally and physically exhausted.
So after feeling like I hit rock bottom, I made my rounds to psychiatrists trying to get to the bottom of the problem. Tried a couple of different antidepressants, none which have really helped at all. I'm still currently taking Paxil 20 mg/day which has definitely had a negative impact on my sex drive, very rare to get morning wood, softer erections, takes much longer to reach orgasm, etc.
Anyways, after more and more research I kept thinking low testosterone might be a possible cause. I have all of the symptoms, and in the past, even when I was extremely strict with my diet and had a great workout routine, it was really difficult to put on muscle or lose weight around my chest, stomach and love handles.
So I asked the doctor if I could be tested, he basically blew me off and said that there was no way I had low T, how it's difficult to practice medicine nowadays, etc. But he agreed to test anyways. Sure enough, it came back as 279 total Test (ng/dl) (Normal 300-1000). As we were looking over my bloodwork he was very surprised and said "yea we need to look into this". He ordered me back in for additional bloodwork (because I had eaten a handful of cashews before the last blood test), but this time checking also for free test and FSH? I asked if they can also check for Estradiol, but the clinician said he may not approve, but they would check with the doc.
One other thing I would like to mention. About 8 years ago I noticed some lumpiness on my left testicle. Went to the urologist and I'm pretty sure he said it was a varicocele, but after a sperm test was fine he said not to worry about it. I'm starting to worry that maybe this had an effect on my testosterone production? That doctor never tested my testosterone, only my sperm.
So as I wait to hear back about my second Blood test, I have made an appointment with a urologist, to check out the varicocele issue and obviously also discuss the low T.
Since I really appreciate the knowledge of this forum, I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions about a possible plan of action.
Thanks everyone for the help!