GringoRico
New Member
I hope someone can help give me advise.. I just turned 35 last month and have been HIV+ for 18 years now. I was a lucky one that would go on and off medications as I could afford them and never became resistant to them in 2011 when my viral load was in the billions and my CD4 as close to under 100 I was able to get assistance with all my medical and am doing better with my HIV control then ever before the problem is...
The Virus is undetectable has been since early 2012 my CD4 has been sitting in the 300's up until I recently changed from Atripla as it made me feel so drugged up I couldn't function for hours after waking up I just felt "stoned". After changing to Complera It's now in the 500's but I still feel like crap. All of the symptoms of low t are there I have had my testosterone tested multiple times along with my thyroid because of how I feel my testosterone keeps coming back in the low range of normal with the exception of one time it was slightly higher I copied and pasted my labs below...
In August I asked for a referral to a specialist because of how I felt and my doctor did the last test and I was given a trial prescription of Cialas which wasn't really needed my partner can get it hard when he wants it. The cialas did make it harder then before. I have since tried tons of over the counter options to try and get things UP for me including herbal supplements inlcuding one that contains Tribulus, yohimbe, L-arginine and other things the packaging allows a dose of 1 capsule every every 60+ hours. I try not to take them as it makes me feel weird in the head and I can only take 1 every 2-3 weeks to avoid really bad heartburn/gastritis issues but it does help for at least 3-4 days after taking it.
My question is could I BEG my Doctor to try at least one injection of testosterone to see how it makes me feel? could this make things worse? Should I look for another Dr. that could refer my to a specialist... My partner thinks if I really feel that its my testosterone that we could pick up some gel or testosterone when visting family in Mexico in a few months... is there anything to be worried about with self medicating like this?
[TABLE="width: 754"]
[TR="class: header bottomheader, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]
[TH="class: name fixed, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]NameStandard Range
[/TH]
[TH="class: scroll, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]3/6/12[/TH]
[TH="class: scroll, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]7/31/13[/TH]
[TH="class: scroll, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]8/14/14[/TH]
[TH="class: buffer scroll, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"][/TH]
[/TR]
[TR="class: odd, bgcolor: #F9F9F9"]
[TD="class: name fixed"]FREE TESTOSTERONE35.0 - 155.0 pg/mL
[/TD]
[TD="class: scroll"]92.0[/TD]
[TD="class: scroll"]100.7[/TD]
[TD="class: scroll"]80.6[/TD]
[TD="class: buffer scroll"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]
[TD="class: name fixed"]TESTOSTERONE, TOTAL, LC/MS/MS250 - 1100 ng/dL
[/TD]
[TD="class: scroll"]368[/TD]
[TD="class: scroll"]439[/TD]
[TD="class: scroll"]360[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
The Virus is undetectable has been since early 2012 my CD4 has been sitting in the 300's up until I recently changed from Atripla as it made me feel so drugged up I couldn't function for hours after waking up I just felt "stoned". After changing to Complera It's now in the 500's but I still feel like crap. All of the symptoms of low t are there I have had my testosterone tested multiple times along with my thyroid because of how I feel my testosterone keeps coming back in the low range of normal with the exception of one time it was slightly higher I copied and pasted my labs below...
In August I asked for a referral to a specialist because of how I felt and my doctor did the last test and I was given a trial prescription of Cialas which wasn't really needed my partner can get it hard when he wants it. The cialas did make it harder then before. I have since tried tons of over the counter options to try and get things UP for me including herbal supplements inlcuding one that contains Tribulus, yohimbe, L-arginine and other things the packaging allows a dose of 1 capsule every every 60+ hours. I try not to take them as it makes me feel weird in the head and I can only take 1 every 2-3 weeks to avoid really bad heartburn/gastritis issues but it does help for at least 3-4 days after taking it.
My question is could I BEG my Doctor to try at least one injection of testosterone to see how it makes me feel? could this make things worse? Should I look for another Dr. that could refer my to a specialist... My partner thinks if I really feel that its my testosterone that we could pick up some gel or testosterone when visting family in Mexico in a few months... is there anything to be worried about with self medicating like this?
[TABLE="width: 754"]
[TR="class: header bottomheader, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]
[TH="class: name fixed, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]NameStandard Range
[/TH]
[TH="class: scroll, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]3/6/12[/TH]
[TH="class: scroll, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]7/31/13[/TH]
[TH="class: scroll, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]8/14/14[/TH]
[TH="class: buffer scroll, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"][/TH]
[/TR]
[TR="class: odd, bgcolor: #F9F9F9"]
[TD="class: name fixed"]FREE TESTOSTERONE35.0 - 155.0 pg/mL
[/TD]
[TD="class: scroll"]92.0[/TD]
[TD="class: scroll"]100.7[/TD]
[TD="class: scroll"]80.6[/TD]
[TD="class: buffer scroll"][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR="bgcolor: #FFFFFF"]
[TD="class: name fixed"]TESTOSTERONE, TOTAL, LC/MS/MS250 - 1100 ng/dL
[/TD]
[TD="class: scroll"]368[/TD]
[TD="class: scroll"]439[/TD]
[TD="class: scroll"]360[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
