First round with Low T

I've seen the ads for "Low T" symptoms and treatments for years. I just shook my head and figured it was just a bunch of BS to get people to spend money.

I work in a crazy high-stress industry, in a full commission sales job. If I don't sell, I don't eat. Our industry has been on a downturn for several years and the stress level is pretty crazy, guys are losing their jobs left and right. Those that remain are just in for more pain. On top of the work stress I've got a kid going to a very expensive college. I figured my lack of energy, lack of sex drive, declining interest in basically everything was a natural result of that stress load. I figured "Thats just how life is."

After an elbow surgery in 2013 I started keeping track of all my workouts (reps and sets) so I could track my recovery. My weights started to drop in 2015 and I couldn't get them back. I cut back to where I was only lifting two days a week, and quite frankly, sometimes I just didn't have the motivation/energy to do that. Work stress is what I blamed. When I came home from work I'd just sit at a computer doing nothing. I hardly lifted anymore, I didn't ride the mountain bike, didn't go shooting, hardly went fishing, and I was getting soft. At some point I found myself wondering "Is this depression?" I actually wondered if I was suffering from depression.

A few months ago I was sitting downstairs on a nice day wondering if I should go fishing. I couldn't decide...just couldn't talk myself into going and doing something I knew I loved and would be a great adventure. An hour later my wife came into the kitchen and announced "I need some sex."

That was the moment I realized something was wrong. I shouldn't have to struggle with a decision to go do something I love, and my wife shouldn't have to announce that she needs some sex. I always joked that she'd have the best sexual harassment claim in history based on my normal behavior...but that was a long time ago. The stress of work had killed that behavior (or so I thought).

So I pushed my ego aside, went to the doc and asked her to check my T level. It came back at 150. WTF?!?! Seriously? I knew something was wrong but man...that's bad! She checked again one morning about a week later and it came back around 250. She put me on Clomid.

Almost immediately my mood became much, much better. It was like I was released from a prison. I mean everything seemed better. I wasn't down, I didn't stress the issues at work, my outlook for the future was better, it was like magic. Sexual dreams returned, a few instances of morning wood came around. I figured it was working. I had headaches the first two weeks on Clomid, and I never have headaches. Other than that it seemed like things were going well. After 8 weeks my sex drive still hadn't returned so I went back to the doc and told her we needed to go to the next step...shots. She did another blood test and my T came back at 680. I told her the level didn't matter if my primary symptom hadn't been resolved (low sex drive).

She prescribed testosterone cypionate .5 ML of the 200mg strength stuff. Almost immediately my energy returned. It was pretty crazy how much more normal I felt. Suddenly I had the energy to work out whenever I wanted, hell I was wanting to do two-a-day workouts. I'd get done working outside in the heat for a few hours, and still found myself fired up to get to the weight pile. I also found myself fighting bad habits I had slipped into. At one point I reached for a chair to sit down, but then realized "screw that, I'm not tired why would I sit down?" It was making a difference, but still no sex drive. Around 4 days after the shot it felt like things were wearing off, but I waited until day 8 like the doc said. I gave myself another 0.5 ML shot and had the same good energy bout. This time I gave myself another 0.5 ML shot after 4 days. I continued the "every 4 day" routine for two more weeks and BAM! Sex drive came alive like a top-fuel dragster. It...was...on! Sex dreams and erections every night. It's been a while since a hard-on woke me up, but it was happening on the reg now. I don't think the wife was ready for the sudden onslaught.

In the past month my bench press has gone up to pre-2015 levels. Those were levels I thought I'd never see again. No matter how hard I hit the weights my strength just wouldn't improve. For the past three years it's like I've been working out for nothing. Now I'm seeing increased mass, and improving gains every week.

I've added 7 lbs of weight to my frame and I'm stronger in every category. My mood, sex drive, and strength, and outlook on pretty much everything are worlds better. I'm guessing my gains have been so great because I was coming from such a low level. Going from 150 to 650 or higher is a pretty big increase in T and I've been very happy I addressed the issue.

I'm absolutely shocked at how well the shots have worked. Thank God I pushed my ego aside and went to the doc. It might have cost me my marriage eventually, I was not a fun person to be around when my T level was so low, I pretty much sucked.

I thought I'd share my story in case there was anyone hanging out looking for answers.