Originally Posted by
Trific
Nate, this following article is from another chatroom....I thought it might be something you should read:
1) It could be adrenal stress, and this could be made worse with TRT unless you take some very simple and inexpensive precautions. In fact, in some cases, adrenal stress can be the cause of low T in the first place. When you are under stress, your adrenals steal pregnenolone and to a lesser extent DHEA away from other hormonal pathways to make cortisol. That is why excessive exercise and/or stress can decrease T. You need pregnenolone to make DHEA and DHEA to make testosterone.
Can TRT cause adrenal fatigue? I ask because when I had my cortisol tested prior to TRT it was 21 mg/dL at 8 AM. I have done thorough research, and I have learned that cortisol can be high right before dropping into adrenal fatigue. I doubt that starting TRT could affect my cortisol that much, right? I am just on two pumps of Androgel 1.62% a day aka the starter dose.
You may want to consider adding 30 mg of oral pregnenolone and 25 mg of oral DHEA to your supllement schedule. It's best to take these in the evening. If your are really stressed, and really deficient in preg or DHEA, then doubling the dose for a week or so may be helpful but don't go higher than that without supervision and hormonal tests as high DHEA can also drive up E and that can cause other issues.
I have considered doing that. I did have my DHEA tested with my cortisol and I have normal DHEA. Mid-ranged according to the reference scale.
2) It could be that your are also have some thyroid issues going on. Thryoid problems can mimic low T in many symptoms (ED, low energy, brain fog, inability to lose abdominal fat, etc.). You may want to have a complete thyroid panel done which absolutlely must include free T3 and rT3. Your ratio should be at least 20:1 of T3 to rT3. A lot of docs (especially endos) do not believe in T3 and somehow think that supplementing with T4 will fix the problem. I highly recommend not listening to that advice (if you do indeed have thyroid issues) and supplement with Armour or some other biological product that contains all four of the thyroid hormones.
Do you know your TSH? If it is consistently above 2 or so, it may indicate a problem. So TSH is often the first round of testing. Oh, ignore the "normal ranges", anything consistently about 1.5 to 2 should be further evaluated.
Again, watch out for docs that want to give you synthetic T4, yes it will bring down the TSH but it will not fix an rT3 problem and may make it worse.
I do not have thyroid issues anymore. I take Synthroid and and my thyroid levels fall in the normal range. Please read the initial post.
I have just added test additions to this post in another thread, but I decided to post it in a new thread as well in hope that more people will respond to it. I have an appointment with a doctor Friday whom may prescribe me testosterone, so I would like to be as knowledgeable as possible on my situation. I do not know for certain what the following tests indicate.
It looks like my problems will not be remedied by treating my hypothyroidism. As noted at the bottom of the page, I take 50mcgs of Synthroid and I do not feel relief from my symptoms; and from the results it would appear my T3 levels are okay. Does it appear that I have primary or secondary hypogonadism and does it appear I will need testosterone? What do these tests suggest is the issue? Briefly: since I was 12 years old I experienced a poor quality of life. I have been misdiagnosed for a number of years; and finally, I was able to convince my primary physician to test my testosterone at the age of 20. I have had a series of tests over the past 6 months with various doctors; which are all posted below. I don't have a definite diagnosis yet; but at this point, it is confirmed that something must be done to relieve my symptoms and better my life. If there are any questions in regards to my situation, symptoms, etc. please consult my past posts; they have a more extensive history. If the question is not addressed, please post it here and I would be happy to answer.
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. Let me first begin by saying I am on TRT. Androgel 1.62% for about one week. I have read up on some things, but apparently not enough. I will read the stickies. And I will keep in mind that my testosterone is low because I have been in the mindset that it is borderline.
. I haven't had much luck in finding a doctor. Most are similar to the two I am seeing now. 
