Thank you Nelson Vergel for building this site, I'm still getting oriented but this site is already helping me.
My story thus far:
I'm 46, almost 47....
Been feeling all the usual "vague" declining health symptoms like fatigue, loss of energy, muscle weakness, and so on. I think this slow creep has been going for several years just incrementally. Nothing I could put my finger on really. I'm busy with a wife and kid and job(s) to do, you know the drill. Pretty healthy, no issues most of my adult life.
In the last two years, though, I've had a cascade of injuries and odd conditions. Pulled muscles a lot, including shoulder, back, groin (left) and groin (right), now sciatica-like back pain that I'm in PT for that will not go away and I've battled now for 6+ months.
At one point about a year ago I was somewhat shocked at how my shoulders and arms seemed to have atrophied. So I resolved to go get back in the gym and lift weights, after mostly focusing on running/biking for several years. In my mind I just told myself that it was my lack of focus on my upper body development that was a culprit, but it really did seem like my muscles were getting weak too suddenly. I've had weird acne problems, skin redness, and basically it seems like my skin has changed character along with all these other issues
The weight lifting helped my strength, but I've also added belly fat and I have an overall smooth and flabby appearance everywhere. In the past when I hit the gym I could get in shape, now I think I look worse than before and I'm just bulky-fat.
I am growing a bit of a beer belly, but I don't drink beer, am a vegetarian, don't smoke or even drink very much. So, I finally called my doctor and said what the hell is going on.
I should mention also that my libido is way down from what it used to be even say, 12 months ago. I guess I can put up with a lot but like most men when my johnson stops wanting to work, it merits a call to the doctor! I don't have ED, but I started tracking morning erections and have had exactly one in the last 30 days.
My GP said he would run Thyroid and Testosterone tests to see what was up. His best guess was it was a Thyroid problem. Apparently these were the basic tests that just track total values:
Test 1:
Thyroid 2.040 (Ref range .465-4.68)
Testosterone Total 220.0 ng/dl (Ref range 132-813)
Test 2:
Testosterone Total 280 ng/dl
LH - 3.3
FSH - 3.2
I think the lab screwed the #2 order up (or the doc's office did) because instead of running more specific Testosterone tests (Free &; Total) they ran Thyroid again and got the same result as test #1. Annoying.
So, my doc says he suspects Secondary Hypogonadism and referred me to an endocrinologist.
Visited Dr. Endo, repeated my whole story again, and he orders me the much more specific testosterone tests, a test for prednisolone, and maybe something else I'm forgetting.
I had already discovered this website by then and asked him about estrogen testing. He said NOT NECESSARY.
Is this a red flag? Or could he just be thinking that hey, if test is low and LH and FSH are low-normal, there's nothing to convert ... so ... ??? Any opinions you guys have would be interesting to hear.
Now I am simply waiting for test results to come back. After I found this site and read around I went to Discounted Labs and ordered myself a Sensitive estrogen test. I want it for a reference for myself, even if the doc doesn't want it.
I think next Tuesday will be the earliest I will hear anything from Endo, and even longer wait for estrogen test results since I had that blood draw just today.
Now that I write my story out it sounds just like your typical cliche low-testosterone story, but I really didn't think this was happening, even while it was happening? If that makes sense at all.
Anyway it looks like I have lots of reading to do to keep me busy while I wait.
My story thus far:
I'm 46, almost 47....
Been feeling all the usual "vague" declining health symptoms like fatigue, loss of energy, muscle weakness, and so on. I think this slow creep has been going for several years just incrementally. Nothing I could put my finger on really. I'm busy with a wife and kid and job(s) to do, you know the drill. Pretty healthy, no issues most of my adult life.
In the last two years, though, I've had a cascade of injuries and odd conditions. Pulled muscles a lot, including shoulder, back, groin (left) and groin (right), now sciatica-like back pain that I'm in PT for that will not go away and I've battled now for 6+ months.
At one point about a year ago I was somewhat shocked at how my shoulders and arms seemed to have atrophied. So I resolved to go get back in the gym and lift weights, after mostly focusing on running/biking for several years. In my mind I just told myself that it was my lack of focus on my upper body development that was a culprit, but it really did seem like my muscles were getting weak too suddenly. I've had weird acne problems, skin redness, and basically it seems like my skin has changed character along with all these other issues
The weight lifting helped my strength, but I've also added belly fat and I have an overall smooth and flabby appearance everywhere. In the past when I hit the gym I could get in shape, now I think I look worse than before and I'm just bulky-fat.
I am growing a bit of a beer belly, but I don't drink beer, am a vegetarian, don't smoke or even drink very much. So, I finally called my doctor and said what the hell is going on.
I should mention also that my libido is way down from what it used to be even say, 12 months ago. I guess I can put up with a lot but like most men when my johnson stops wanting to work, it merits a call to the doctor! I don't have ED, but I started tracking morning erections and have had exactly one in the last 30 days.
My GP said he would run Thyroid and Testosterone tests to see what was up. His best guess was it was a Thyroid problem. Apparently these were the basic tests that just track total values:
Test 1:
Thyroid 2.040 (Ref range .465-4.68)
Testosterone Total 220.0 ng/dl (Ref range 132-813)
Test 2:
Testosterone Total 280 ng/dl
LH - 3.3
FSH - 3.2
I think the lab screwed the #2 order up (or the doc's office did) because instead of running more specific Testosterone tests (Free &; Total) they ran Thyroid again and got the same result as test #1. Annoying.
So, my doc says he suspects Secondary Hypogonadism and referred me to an endocrinologist.
Visited Dr. Endo, repeated my whole story again, and he orders me the much more specific testosterone tests, a test for prednisolone, and maybe something else I'm forgetting.
I had already discovered this website by then and asked him about estrogen testing. He said NOT NECESSARY.
Is this a red flag? Or could he just be thinking that hey, if test is low and LH and FSH are low-normal, there's nothing to convert ... so ... ??? Any opinions you guys have would be interesting to hear.
Now I am simply waiting for test results to come back. After I found this site and read around I went to Discounted Labs and ordered myself a Sensitive estrogen test. I want it for a reference for myself, even if the doc doesn't want it.
I think next Tuesday will be the earliest I will hear anything from Endo, and even longer wait for estrogen test results since I had that blood draw just today.
Now that I write my story out it sounds just like your typical cliche low-testosterone story, but I really didn't think this was happening, even while it was happening? If that makes sense at all.
Anyway it looks like I have lots of reading to do to keep me busy while I wait.
