First off, a brief intro: 44 y/o; 5'-10"; 204 lb, ~11 or 12% bf; married 14 yrs to an extremely good looking, sexy and sexually enthusiastic woman who loves me (and vice versa); borderline type 2 diabetic with blood sugar level of 97 when checked by original doc; on hrt about 6 months now.
What led me to hrt was primarily erectile dysfunction. Bottom line is I couldn't get it up or keep it up reliably. This has been an ongoing and progressively worse problem for several years. I guess I don't have to tell y'all what that does to a man's ego and to a wife's as well. Other symptoms include what I was calling "chronic fatigue". Along that line I should say I was diagnosed with sleep apnea a number of years ago and had a couple of surgical procedures done which radically improved that condition, though I haven't felt rested in probably a decade or more even after that. I also developed insomnia the last couple of years, which reached a level of torture.
New in my area, went to doc selected more or less randomly who's in network, asked to be tested for low T. Level came back at ~400ng/dl, was told that's in normal range of 300-1200 and not my problem. Was also told the various "helpers" (can't name them or my post will be deleted, as i discovered after spending 30 or so minutes composing it last night) wouldn't be effective because one "has to be in the mood for them to work." He then went on to say the cause is probably psychosomatic and I should dig into that.
A few months after getting the brush off from him I went to one of the locally advertised HRT clinics and was tested again, this time total T came back at 395, same as before. But considering my symptoms I got treatment.
Initially put me on 150 mg/wk which brought the number up to the mid 500's and fantastic ED improvement, though not completely eradicated. Also continued to feel tired all the time. Dose has been increased over time and in steps to current which is 180mg/week.
Meanwhile, the ED has returned worse than ever. I now can't get it up or keep it up without some medical assistance, and that gives me heartburn something terrible! I feel pretty good most of the time, as far as fatigue goes, and I sleep like the dead most of the time.
Estrogen has been a science project. At first wasn't given anything for it but after first bloodwork at 4 weeks was given Anastrozole, 0.5 mg 2x/wk. This was supposed to solve the lingering intermittent ED issues, as estrogen level crept up (originally in mid 20's, had crept up to low 30's). Next blood test showed estrogen pretty low, low 20's, and increasing ED led to suspect maybe estrogen was too low, so suggested stop Anastrozole, which I did. E level went back up to 34, and by this time ED is so bad I'm using little blue helpers or else have no luck at all. Doc has me taking zinc, as he says it's a milder E blocker. But this F's with my stomach and hasn't helped the ED one bit.
I've thought about cycling off, then restarting since I had such good results initially but that's been advised against, and i don't want to give up the great sleep, feeling rested, or the gains I've made in the gym.
However, I also have terrible acne on chest and back.
And also, just as bad or worse is that on top of the ED, my sex drive has dropped off as well! This may be simply the result of performance anxiety more than anything, but it's a fact. And the clinic doc is stumped. He has no idea. Only total T and E have been checked, not free T; PSA levels are consistently checked, that remains at 1.0 (range 0 to 4.0).
SOOOO, from some of the reading I've done, I suspect that while my current total serum T level is around 800, I may have low Free T. Between that and the mid 30's estrogen I've been thinking of starting the Anastrozole again but at 0.5 mg/week to moderate the E in the mid to upper 20's.
Then I read 2Sox's post on Aromasin, and i think I'm gonna get some of that and try it, if I can find it. I'm also going to have doc draw blood and do a more thorough test panel including free t, SHBG and whatever else should be looked at. I'll try to dig that up from other posts, I've read it several times.
I also have an appt with a urologist, but am now thinking i should maybe see an endocrinologist instead.
I am amazed that there is more knowledge of hormones among bodybuilders than there is among docs, including hrt specialist docs!
Thanx for reading through the long post! Please give me your thoughts, if you think I'm on the right track.
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Originally Posted by bartman314
