Just turned 19, very low testosterone! PLEASE HELP ME!
Hello, I am 19 years old, and my testosterone levels are hovering around 2.0 (on a scale of 10-30, sorry I do not know the units). My endocrinologist figures I am secondary hypogonadic since I did the GNRH test, and I did produce LH/FSH. My levels of these hormones have also been relatively low.
Now in terms of the reasons for these numbers, I can't help but think I have always been low on testosterone. I had very little interest in sexual activity as a teenager, and in fact the thought of being intimate with a girl seems a bit scary to me. Sex was never something I aspired to take part in, but I was able to masturbate to porn. I also had very little muscle growth (basically none) even though I started working out around 13. I also have very little body hair and almost no facial hair. If I do grow hair on my face it is patchy and thin. However, the kicker is that I started eating a low calorie diet with very little carbs and exercising excessively last summer and dropped about 10 lbs. I am 6 foot and I went from around 148 lbs to around 136 lbs (I was not at this weight for very long) This continued on until about November when I started to eat A LOT more food. I still exercised a lot though. During this period, and up to today I have had NO sex drive, I feel tired a lot, and I have fallen into a state of really bad depression. Lots of this depression is due to the fact that my favorite activity of bodybuilding has been taken from me (or rather I took it from myself), and I know that any efforts in the gym are basically useless. Lately I haven't been exercising lots, just swimming and biking about 4 times a week.
My endocrinologist put me on 25 mg/day of clomid for 6 weeks starting in February. No effect. We then tried 50 mg/day for 6 weeks. No effect. He said since clomid can act as either an agonist or antagonist in some cases, my levels might come back to normal when I come off. I have been off for about 3 weeks now and I still don't believe I am producing test. I go to his clinic in about 2 weeks to run a test were they measure levels of LH/FSH continuously for 4 hours and see if there is variability. I don't quite understand this test, but he says it's the next step, so I'm just doing what the professional says. Anyways, he says that after this test, and depending on the results he will give me a prescription for testosterone. I really want to take it, even though I know it's for life. I will be able to get back to the life that I have put on hold ever since my levels dropped. I have felt like shit for a year already, and to me it just doesn't seem like taking one minute out of my day to slap on some gel, or taking a shot once a week is such an inconvenience. It sure is not such an inconvenience that I am going to go through another year like this. At the moment all I think about is my low testosterone, and it has weighed down on every aspect of my life like you wouldn't believe. I break down at least twice a week simply because I do not know what the hell to do. I've seen so many forums where people on TRT say "exhaust all of your options", "wait it out", "you're too young for this", but at the same time I question why the individuals offering this advice are on TRT themselves. Surely their lives must be better with it than when they had low testosterone, or else they wouldn't be taking it. Furthermore, a large portion of the people on TRT had levels just below the normal range when they started. I am so far from normal that I can't help but think getting me on the higher end of that suggested range would drastically increase my quality of life!
Could I maybe run a trial period for 4 months and see what it does for me? If I do not feel any better and come off, my body will just begin producing the minimal levels that I already have once again as far as I understand.
If anyone could offer me opinions/experiences related to treatment I would really appreciate it, especially young guys. Should I begin treatment and get on with my life? If so, what would you recommend for doseage/type of testosterone (gel, shots, etc.)?
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