Being referred to an endo for low-T and Crohns Disease.

[Beastmagic]

Hello Everyone. I am very new to all this, so im going to give a bit of background, and hopefully someone can point me in the right direction. Ill try my best to keep it shot, otherwise I could go on forever talking about everything leading up until now.
Anyway, I am 27 years old, 6 feet tall and weigh 160lbs. (I lost a LOT of weight)

So back in Nov of last year, I ended up in the hospital for over a month and half, and almost died. Yeah, like my whole family and friends came in and said their goodbye's and ****. Lets just say it wasn't the most fun I have had in a while. I was diagnosed with crohns disease. Lost a ton of weight, including all my muscle mass. I lost my job, my gf of 5 years told me the day before our 5 year anniversary that she was cheating on me since i was in the hospital. (the day before I was going to ask her to marry me.) Awesome. We had been living together that entire time, so I dumped her, moved out of the condo, back in with my parents, and I have been laying on the couch trying to get better for the last 11 months. A few treatments have failed, Im still running the risk of surgery if this new med regiment does not work. etc etc.. so thats where im at with that.

Well. I just had a meeting with my GI up at Ceader Sini. Im seeing one of the leading specialists in the Country. During that, it was brought up about the possible use up steroids. Specifically testosterone. She is going to give me a recommendation to an endo.
The reasons for this is that I probably have low T - I need to get tested, but I am tired all the time, I have absolutely 0 sex drive. Iv messed around with steroids and PH when I was younger and had no clue what I was doing. But when its all said and done. Im really trying to get on test.
As a plus on top of fixing all the symptoms from low T. I really want to reap the anabolic affects from it and put on a good 15-20 lbs of muscle. If you know anything about crohns, nutrition and food absorption is a problem and makes gaining muscle hard. and I have a very very sever case of crohns.

So I have a few questions.
1. Could anyone recommend a less than conservative endo in the orange county, ca area? (I'm guessing this should be ok to ask because im talking about something legal) If this is agaist forum policy, please just let me know and I will edit this part out.

2. How can I get my doc to give me a high-end dose of test? or whatever he is giving me? I want to be on the high-end of the levels. and more importantly. I dont want to be stick thin anymore. I use to be 220, and I was power lifting. When I first started ****ting blood, I just thought it was from squatting so hard. haha... if I only knew.. That's besides the point.. Anyway, I have seen so many doctors, and I have a damn pharmacy in my bedroom. I have no problem walking in and kinda saying look. "This is what I want" So I want to kinda have a good idea of what I am looking for so I can try and get it.

3. If I end up just getting regular dosing trt.. what can I add on top of that to add pure lean size? I can get my hands on dbol or I could order some Hdrol online. But I really really want to try and get everything though a doc so I know its clean, because I have a low immune system due to the amino suppressants that I am on.

4. Are there any tips, recommendations etc that anyone would like to add that can help me accomplish what I am looking to do.

In the end, I want to simply cure my symptoms, have a sex drive again. and put on muscle. Like a real steroid cycle. I want that god like feeling of being on test. I dont think I could put it into words how much I want that. From losing everything, and being in the rust for almost a year. and taking over 30 pills a day, I now have an opiate addiction, xanex issues, **** tons of other drugs im throwing into my system. its all "downers" to say the least. Which my GI checked and from other patients that are taking testosterone, there are no signs of any adverse side effects from the mixture of drugs. So the way I see if, If I can throw on one more drug that will make me feel better, have a sex drive again, have more energy levels, make my workouts meaningful, and help me put some serious mass back on my body, that would also help get me out of this rut of depression. (No help from my ex fiancé, well was going to be, ****ing had to cheat on me with some buffed out guy.) I mean, I dont have anything against him, But here I am , this skinny sick guy, and im pale as **** form the loss of iron and blood. - Its very depressing.

I want to get BIG. I want to feel confident. Even if its drug induced. Im also going to go see a therapist and a nutritionist and probably get a personal trainer all at the same time while doing this.

So ill stop rambling on, and see what people have to say.

But please, dont flame me, I am openly admitting that I am new to all of this, I dont know what im doing. and Im trying to go though the proper legal channels to do it. (mostly cus im scared of getting "dirty" product from one of my friends if I run something ( like a 12 week cycle of test e @ 500mg a week. pinned 2x a week.) which was what i was literally juts getting ready to order 3 days before I got hospitalized.
I dunno. I wanna find a doc that will understand me, (if anyone could rec someone), I want to feel better, feel stronger, feel more confident (all the stories you hear from people taking test and how they say they feel like gods)... after a year of losing everything that means anything to me.. I want that god feeling.. and I want to get big. I want my arms to stretch out my armholes in my shirts again.
And unfortunately. I honestly don't think that I am going to be able to achieve that naturally. Ok, I should rephrase that to "Naturally on a reasonable timeline" It will take my 2-3 times the amount of work to get the muscle i use to have, and to get that summer body back... but heres the catch, when my next flare up hits..boom! Im going to lose everything once again. Natural is not an option. And I wont I WILL NOT just accept myself for who I am, or this is gods plan for you bull ****. Im already taking 30 different medications. if I could add on an anabolic cycle to at least feel good for once, is a priceless thing to me. I dont know what else to say.

Sorry for my little bit of venting their right at the end. It still gets back to me when I type out everything that has happened to me.

Thank you for any help that anyone an provide on any of the topics or ideas on how to achieve what im looking for.

I appreciate your time and effort to explain it. I really do.

 

[rixrix]

I have been there, and worse.

I am 37 years old. I was diagnosed at 16. I have had bowels resectioned 4 times, and am on TRT. I have been on things which are so barbaric that they are considered to be medical oddities now. It was particularly tough for me as I was an athlete.

You need to watch that your weight doesn't drop too low. Six pack abs are not a good idea, you get one Crohns flare up and you're toast if you don't have a little bit of a spare tire. The last time I had my bowels resected, I lost so much weight my wedding ring fell off my finger and bounced on the floor. When your guts go really bad, you can drink ensure straight for a week. Powerlifter look is better than bodybuilder for a Crohns patient.

2. You need a bone density test if you have been on prednisone or the related medicines.

3. There are lots of things you should be looking at before you are on TRT. TRT is a last resort. It is injections and creams FOR LIFE. You will be 80 years old and injecting every week. It is also a major expense, if you don't have great insurance.

4. Most major medical center guys will generally prescribe cream or IM test. Standard treatment guidelines are for 100mg a week of test. If you want more, or different, you need to go a bit off the beaten path. This generally means a specialist anti aging clinic and paying cash as they don't take insurance. Endo's who specialize in AIDS patients tend to be very liberal with the dosages. They prescribe things like Deca, which even most anti-aging clinics won't touch (nobody has a nandrolone deficiency). You might get HCG from a standard endo if you tell them you want to have kids soon and you might get Adex if you feel like crap and you can show them your E2 has gone up.

Of course, there is off the beaten path and then there is the back alley or locker room where treatment might be...cheaper... but purity might suffer. And most of the really good Crohns medicines will cause you to be really susceptible to abscess. When I was on Humira, I had an ingrown hair on my groin turn into a carbuncle turn into an emergency room visit with buckets of pus running down my legs. So don't risk UGL when you are on immune suppressants, I can tell you from experience.

5. Look into getting IV iron injections. Low ferritin and iron levels can mimic the effect of low testosterone. You may be able to feel 100% better with a couple of dextran sessions.You need to remember that this disease makes you tired and kills your libido. It will also cause you to put on central fat around your organs (behind your abs). B12 and K injections might also be worthwhile.

 

[rixrix]

Might also try some GH. I have not tried this but I try to keep an eye on the TRT science out there for Crohns.

Effects of growth hormone secretion on body composition in patients with Crohn's disease.
Katznelson L, Fairfield WP, Zeizafoun N, Sands BE, Peppercorn MA, Rosenthal DI, Klibanski A.
Source
Neuroendocrine Unit and General Clinical Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.
Abstract
Crohn's disease is a multisystem disorder characterized by chronic intestinal inflammation. Accumulation of mesenteric fat occurs in patients with Crohn's disease, although the mechanisms underlying site-specific changes in adipose deposition are unclear. To investigate whether there are alterations in site-specific adipose deposition in patients with Crohn's disease and to determine hormonal influences that may underlie such changes, we investigated body composition and serum hormone levels in 20 men with Crohn's disease (mean age, 45 +/- 2 yr) and 20 age-, gender-, and body mass index-matched normal controls (mean age, 43 +/- 3 yr). None of the Crohn's patients was receiving glucocorticoid therapy. Subjects underwent hourly GH sampling for 12 h beginning at 2000 h and fasting serum IGF-I and testosterone measurements. Body composition was assessed by quantitative computed tomography of the abdomen and bioelectrical impedance analysis. In the Crohn's disease and control subjects, mean serum GH levels were 1.07 +/- 0.2 and 1.7 +/- 0.2 ng/ml (P = 0.06), serum IGF-I levels were 162.7 +/- 10.5 and 194.8 +/- 15.7 ng/ml (P = 0.1), and serum testosterone levels were 489 +/- 33 and 514 +/- 38 ng/ml (P = NS), respectively. Percentage body fat was significantly higher in the Crohn's patients (21 +/- 0.8% vs. 17.7 +/- 0.9%, respectively; P = 0.013). Intraabdominal fat (IAF) was significantly higher in the Crohn's subjects vs. controls (115 +/- 11 vs. 69 +/- 7 cm(2), respectively; P = 0.001). The ratio of intraabdominal to total body fat was higher in the Crohn's subjects than in the controls (0.4 +/- 0.1 vs. 0.3 +/- 0.1, respectively; P = 0.025). Subcutaneous fat area was similar in the two groups. IAF was higher in Crohn's patients even when controlling for testosterone and mean serum GH. Mean serum GH contributed independently to the differences in IAF (P = 0.001). The ratio of IAF to total body fat remained higher in the Crohn's subjects when controlling for serum testosterone, but was no longer significant in a model that also included IGF-I and mean serum GH. GH levels contributed independently to the differences in the intraabdominal to total body fat ratio (P = 0.02). In the Crohn's patients, serum GH correlated negatively with intraabdominal and total body fat and the ratio of intraabdominal to total body fat. Crohn's disease is associated with an increase in central fat accumulation, with more IAF and a higher ratio of intraabdominal to total body fat compared with controls. Although serum GH levels were similar in the two groups, GH contributed significantly to the abdominal fat measurements. These data show that GH has an important role in modulating visceral fat distribution in patients with Crohn's disease.

 

[rixrix]

One other item: I recommend springing for some expensive heme polypeptide iron pills ( I use ProFerrin ES brand). You need to take these with B-complex vitamins and a megadose of Folic acid, but not at the same time you take calcium. You also need to be taking large amounts of calcium, particularly if you are on prednisone/budoneside etc. but not at the same time you take the iron.

 

[bioman]

You guys are troopers and I respect your drive to train when dealing with the specter of another flare up..my wife went through UC and now has no colon (has a J-pouch).

I second the addition of HGH and perhaps transdermal DHEA. There's been some interesting research on high doses of DHEA for inflammatory conditions. I had my wife on it to offset the Pred sides and it helped a lot though the androgenic sides were no fun (hirsutism).

Large doses of fish oil have also been shown to lower inflammatory/immune response.