[Heat Miser]

Finding a trustworthy competent male hormone doctor is probably the most important step toward treating hypogonadism. Do take the time and effort to find a good one. You will not be saving time by merely going with someone your doc refers, unless you qualify him/her as being competent and experienced. Many group members have spent years with bad treatment, and finding a doc is probably the single biggest reason people come to this group.

IMO you want a doc who treats male hormone issues as a regular part of his/her practice. Your doc will probably suggest an endocrinologist or urologist, but many don't know male hormone therapy, or are even philosophically opposed to it. I suggest you research & find a specialist yourself. Here are some tips:

For compiling a list of "SUSPECTS" near you, try:

Back trace docs from pharmacies that sell them male hormone products:

College Pharmacy (Colorado Springs, CO)
College Pharmacy - Home
click 'Find a Health Care Provider'. There's a form to fill out. Submit the form & they'll e-mail a list of docs nearest you. In the 'I would like to find a provider who specializes in:' I suggest choosing 'Pellet Implants'; you might not want them but those docs know most other therapies too.

Bartor Pharmical (Rye NY) They manufacture testosterone pellets (docs who do pellets also know most other therapies). Call 914-967-4219 and ask if they can recommend three docs near you.

Women's International Pharmacy (Madison, Wisconsin)
Women's International Pharmacy - Request Doctor Referral

Kronos Compounding Pharmacy (Las Vegas, NV) has a list of docs:
http://www.kronospharmacy.com/Conte..._physician.aspx

ApotheCure (Dallas, TX)
ApotheCure - Web Form

DOCTOR SEARCH. NOTE: THERE MAY BE PLENTY OF 'OLD SCHOOL' OR OTHERWISE INCOMPETENT DOCS ON THESE LISTS. SCREENING PRIOR TO THE FIRST APPOINTMENT IS STILL ESSENTIAL.

Docs who have shown an interest in treating male hypogonadism can be found at:
National Testosterone Tune-Up


Life Extension Foundation, List of Innovative Doctors:
Life Extension Foundation: Directory Of Innovative Doctors

American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM). Look for docs with 'HRT' listed in their practice codes.
ACAM: Find A Doctor

There's an AACE docs search page at:
http://www.aace.com/memsearch.php
In theory they would use the AACE Hypogonadisn Guidelines,
but are still too 'old school'.Confirm they treat hypogonadism prior to a visit.

To pre-qualify and select the right doc, call him or his staff and ask: how many men he/she treats for hypogonadism, if he/she offers hCG therapy in addition to TRT, if he/she uses Arimidex to keep E2 down, and checks for Primary or Secondary Hypogonadism.

You have time to ask the doc some pre-screening questions (probably through his/her staff). Like: What does he think about the AACE hypogonadism guidelines? (American Association Of Clinical Endocrinologists Medical Guidelines For Clinical Practice For The Evaluation And Treatment Of Hypogonadism In Adult Male Patients' 2002 Update, available in the Files section here. How many hypogonadism patients does he treat? Does he ever use hCG treatment? Does he regularly test for estrogens, specifically estradiol? Does he ever prescribed anything to keep estradiol down? Does he use a stimulation test to determine hypogonandism is primary or secondary? Does he ever use hormone pellet implants?

Did your doc mention that TRT like Androgel can make you sterile? I'm assuming your marriage plans might include having children. If so, a different treatment than testosterone supplementation would be needed. It would involve taking a hormone that stimulates the body's ability to make testosterone.

IMO, a complete range of initial tests should be done, way above and beyond the total testosterone levels you had tested. An hCG stimulation test (or similar) should be done to see if your body can respond to stimulation.

(This was made by Bruce at the Yahoo Hypogonadism2 group.)

[ItsHectic]

Best way to find a new doctor I have found is to call your directory assistance line asking for an anti aging clinic, or do a google search such as:
urcity "anti aging" +clinic
urcity +hypogonadism +clinic
urcity "mens health" +clinic
urcity "low testosterone" +clinic

And go though all the 50 or so pages of results which come up.


When you find a clinic, contact them prefebly via email and after very briefly explaining your hypogonadism, straight up ask them if there willing to prescribe arimidex and HCG, and if there ethics are of question you can ask what there basic protocol is.

[DoctorJohn]

Anyone near ------------------


(no problem....sorry about the post. I didn't see that this wasn't just an anti-aging website and did not read all the rules of the board)



MOD EDIT: Thank you very much.

[colorado]

Doctor John,

Does most labs have the capabilities to run the extensive test? Or do you have to get a script from your doc to have more extensive test ran?