testicular atrophy from varicocele

[v4lu3s]

I have been dreading this forum off and on for several years, and more recently reading about TRT.
I am 36 years old and have recently discovered that the "wormy" mass above my left testicle is varicocele. I have had it for over 20 years, dealing with the frequent pain and never realizing it was a fixable problem.
In the past 5 years my sex drive has dropped a lot and my testosterone sits at around 410-420 with every other value on blood tests coming back in healthy ranges. Basically I seem to have low normal range total testosterone. It is not low enough to go onto TRT, and I am not really willing to go that far yet.

I have a referral for a urologist, and will likely schedule the varicocelectomy as soon as possible, most likely a laparascopy.

I am wondering about others who have gone through this or know someone....with ~20 years of atrophy will my left nut ever be close in size to my right? Currently it is about 50-60% of the size of my right, and with proper blood flow being returned am I likely to get anything besides pain relief by the surgery? I mean in a perfect world lefty would grow back and get my test back up some (my brother has hepatitis, fairly advanced and still sits at 660+ total test), and that would be it....but thats not a real world....

 

[The Matrix]

I have been dreading this forum off and on for several years, and more recently reading about TRT.
I am 36 years old and have recently discovered that the "wormy" mass above my left testicle is varicocele. I have had it for over 20 years, dealing with the frequent pain and never realizing it was a fixable problem.
In the past 5 years my sex drive has dropped a lot and my testosterone sits at around 410-420 with every other value on blood tests coming back in healthy ranges. Basically I seem to have low normal range total testosterone. It is not low enough to go onto TRT, and I am not really willing to go that far yet.

I have a referral for a urologist, and will likely schedule the varicocelectomy as soon as possible, most likely a laparascopy.

I am wondering about others who have gone through this or know someone....with ~20 years of atrophy will my left nut ever be close in size to my right? Currently it is about 50-60% of the size of my right, and with proper blood flow being returned am I likely to get anything besides pain relief by the surgery? I mean in a perfect world lefty would grow back and get my test back up some (my brother has hepatitis, fairly advanced and still sits at 660+ total test), and that would be it....but thats not a real world....

We have seen in clincal cases that once this issue was addressed some men return to a higher level of testoterone. It is also not a guarrantee. Despite numbers most pro athletes are in the 400-600 range. Since there body uses testosterone optimal they are fine. Your numbers would be a concern if you were having symptoms. If you are having T related symptoms then you may want to look at thyroid and adrenals before TRT.

 

[v4lu3s]

the last blood panel did have some thyroid stuff on it. This is about a month old:
TSH 2.120 uIU/mL 0.450-4.50
T4, Free (DIRECT) 1.25 ng/dL 0.82-1.77

From about 18 months ago (before my sex drive belly flopped and energy levels declined, also at the end of 8 months of super high stress):
TSH 3.37 0.40-4.50 uIU/L

not sure if those say anything as I do not understand thyroid levels unless they are way out of range.

i do not know for sure if i am symptomatic. my sex drive is low enough it is causing problems in my marriage. it has always been low, but its reached new depths. I know I am fertile, I have a 7 month old daughter to prove that. I can say that my wife and I have sex less often than once a month. I have always been prone to depression as an adult, and went through a year of counseling (and efforts for them to put me on medications) about a decade ago, and have refused to go back since then. I have always had a soft edged look to my physique. My family tends towards tall and lean, my dad was 155lbs and 6'3" most of his life. I have been over 200lbs most of my adult life. In the past 5 years I have made a lot of effort to be in shape, with overall good results as far as fitness, but very minimal results as far as physique change. Waist size has gone down, chest size up, but there is a nice layer of fat that just wont go away even with strict adherence to a nutritionist designed managed diet and workout routine. Basically a friend of mine with 3 months in the gym made more visible changes than i had in near 5 years. Also my father at 62 has testosterone of 550+, brother at 33 with Hepatitis B (for near a decade now) has levels of 670+.

The urologist tells me that I am perfectly normal and without doing a single test states I must have psychological problems, that it is physically impossible to have the issues I describe based on total testosterone. In addition he tells me that I will not regain any function of my left testicle, nor see any hormone changes. If it wasn't for the HMO thing I would shop around.

 

[HondaV65]

I'm not sure you need both nuts?

I dunno ... aren't they redundant? I mean - one of mine is noticeably smaller than the other and it's been like that for years. It's not painful ... feels fine to the touch and it retracts up and down just fine.

My brother had one of his nuts swell up to the size of a large grapefruit - so they removed it and he seems to be fine. Didn't Lance Armstrong have one removed?

 

[v4lu3s]

I'm not sure you need both nuts?

I dunno ... aren't they redundant? I mean - one of mine is noticeably smaller than the other and it's been like that for years. It's not painful ... feels fine to the touch and it retracts up and down just fine.

My brother had one of his nuts swell up to the size of a large grapefruit - so they removed it and he seems to be fine. Didn't Lance Armstrong have one removed?

Do you have issues with always feeling tired, no sex drive, a hard time getting it up, a hard time gaining muscle mass, and a hard time losing fat without losing a lot of muscle mass? A good buddy of mine had one blown off in Iraq, but he is making near 700 on his testosterone levels...


I am probably going to see about a full blood panel at my own expense as I am suspicious that the varicocele is possibly causing some issues with prolactin, progestin, estrogen or cortisol...as in a balance issue rather than an actual number issue.