xsnapshot
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Hello all,
I've been doing so much reading my eyes hurt. My mind is kind of blown on how much I DIDNT know about low T. I was diagnosed with Low T in May after a few years of declining phyiscal strength and muscle mass. I've never used steroids, and have always been active. My peak was 190lbs @ 6ft tall, 10%$ bf. Since then it's been doing down, and this winter I hit a new low for libido. I just got married in Feb, and in the first month of marraige, had a couple times where I couldn't even get an erection. And my wife is HOT! I felt so pathetic and embarrassed
Anyway, baseline bloods were as follows (they didn't get anything else but these tests)
(T=218, 256-900; LH = 0.6, 1.1-8.6; FSH 3.2, 1.9-12.8)
The diagnosis was secondary hypogonadism. I was put on androgel @ 2 pumps/day. Felt great for two weeks, then started to feel crappy again.
I had an MRI done, and no tumor was found in the pituitary. Docs ran standard nutrition panel and everything checked out midrange normal, except slightly high cholesterol, and slightly low potassium. (been eating tons of bananas since then....so that's prob fixed haha. Now trying to do more cardio)
Retested test @ 1 month of androgel @ 2pumps/day treatment, and Test = 201 (256-900). Doc bumped dosage to 4 pumps/day where I am at now. I feel slightly better, but my libido is still nothing special. Anxiety is better though. Sleep is a bit better. However when this doc said "the androgel will, if anything, help your fertility", I realized he had no idea what he was doing, and dropped him like its hot!
I just saw an endocrinologist who specializes in reproductive health. His jaw almost hit the floor when he found out I was put on androgel. He called that borderline malpractice. He wants me to get bloods again, then start on clomid 25mg/day. We're hoping we can get my body restarted.
In the time since i've been diagnosed with low T and now, I've completely changed my diet. More plant based protein, tons of vegetables, less empty carbs, more water, balanced intake of the right fats and minerals. Added vit D3 supplement. I've given up red meat. I still don't sleep the greatest sometimes and have fought with anxiety issues for the last couple years (prob cause I had low T). I've also quit my stressful sucky job, and actually was really blessed to find a great new job with less stress, better hours, and better pay. (went from 45-50hrs/week to 39 hrs/week) Everything else health-wise is pretty good I guess. The only thing that bothers me is when I do a workout with heavy weights, I never seem to sleep well that night even if my workout is early in the morning.
As it stands now I am 6ft 172 lbs and about 13-14% bf from my best estimates. I do upper body workouts 2-3 times a week, and cardio twice a week. My strength isn't too bad. I can still do 20+ wide grip pullups in a row, and bench my body weight ten times, but still not near what I was at before.
So now some questions for those wiser than myself:
1) Is there anything else I can do to help my body be able to stand on it's own? (assuming the clomid challenge and subsequent therapy work?)
2) Also what is the best way to taper off this androgel? I'm using 4 pumps/day now, and I assume I have to stop that once I start the clomid right?
3) I've seen reports of people loosing sex drive on clomid. Mine is barely in existence but I'd hate to loose what I have, now that it's back from the dead! Is there anything I can do about this?
4) right now my balls seem to have lost a tiny bit of size, and my loads are a little smaller than I remember when I was in my early 20's. Will the clomid help with this?
5) Do i need an AI while I take the clomid? I guess I'm not sure what my E2 levels are. They tested it with the standard (Not sensitive) test, and it came back as "In range". That's all I got for that.
Thank you so much for any insight. I was in such a bad place just a few months ago, and never want to return to that hell again.
I've been doing so much reading my eyes hurt. My mind is kind of blown on how much I DIDNT know about low T. I was diagnosed with Low T in May after a few years of declining phyiscal strength and muscle mass. I've never used steroids, and have always been active. My peak was 190lbs @ 6ft tall, 10%$ bf. Since then it's been doing down, and this winter I hit a new low for libido. I just got married in Feb, and in the first month of marraige, had a couple times where I couldn't even get an erection. And my wife is HOT! I felt so pathetic and embarrassed
Anyway, baseline bloods were as follows (they didn't get anything else but these tests)
(T=218, 256-900; LH = 0.6, 1.1-8.6; FSH 3.2, 1.9-12.8)
The diagnosis was secondary hypogonadism. I was put on androgel @ 2 pumps/day. Felt great for two weeks, then started to feel crappy again.
I had an MRI done, and no tumor was found in the pituitary. Docs ran standard nutrition panel and everything checked out midrange normal, except slightly high cholesterol, and slightly low potassium. (been eating tons of bananas since then....so that's prob fixed haha. Now trying to do more cardio)
Retested test @ 1 month of androgel @ 2pumps/day treatment, and Test = 201 (256-900). Doc bumped dosage to 4 pumps/day where I am at now. I feel slightly better, but my libido is still nothing special. Anxiety is better though. Sleep is a bit better. However when this doc said "the androgel will, if anything, help your fertility", I realized he had no idea what he was doing, and dropped him like its hot!
I just saw an endocrinologist who specializes in reproductive health. His jaw almost hit the floor when he found out I was put on androgel. He called that borderline malpractice. He wants me to get bloods again, then start on clomid 25mg/day. We're hoping we can get my body restarted.
In the time since i've been diagnosed with low T and now, I've completely changed my diet. More plant based protein, tons of vegetables, less empty carbs, more water, balanced intake of the right fats and minerals. Added vit D3 supplement. I've given up red meat. I still don't sleep the greatest sometimes and have fought with anxiety issues for the last couple years (prob cause I had low T). I've also quit my stressful sucky job, and actually was really blessed to find a great new job with less stress, better hours, and better pay. (went from 45-50hrs/week to 39 hrs/week) Everything else health-wise is pretty good I guess. The only thing that bothers me is when I do a workout with heavy weights, I never seem to sleep well that night even if my workout is early in the morning.
As it stands now I am 6ft 172 lbs and about 13-14% bf from my best estimates. I do upper body workouts 2-3 times a week, and cardio twice a week. My strength isn't too bad. I can still do 20+ wide grip pullups in a row, and bench my body weight ten times, but still not near what I was at before.
So now some questions for those wiser than myself:
1) Is there anything else I can do to help my body be able to stand on it's own? (assuming the clomid challenge and subsequent therapy work?)
2) Also what is the best way to taper off this androgel? I'm using 4 pumps/day now, and I assume I have to stop that once I start the clomid right?
3) I've seen reports of people loosing sex drive on clomid. Mine is barely in existence but I'd hate to loose what I have, now that it's back from the dead! Is there anything I can do about this?
4) right now my balls seem to have lost a tiny bit of size, and my loads are a little smaller than I remember when I was in my early 20's. Will the clomid help with this?
5) Do i need an AI while I take the clomid? I guess I'm not sure what my E2 levels are. They tested it with the standard (Not sensitive) test, and it came back as "In range". That's all I got for that.
Thank you so much for any insight. I was in such a bad place just a few months ago, and never want to return to that hell again.
