What caused you to need TRT?

I know there are many many variable and most probably don't have definitive answer but what event do you believe caused you to need TRT.

For me, I was a fairly elite hockey player. Made national teams, played on elite all star teams etc etc. Hockey was a much more violent sport than the nanny hockey you watch on TV in the NHL back then.


I recall 3 instances where I delivered a bone crushing hit, not only knocking my opponent silly but also myself. Once, I had a ear splitting headache and puked on and off for 2 days. Never saw a doctor for it but im sure it was a pretty good concussion.

2nd was when I delivered an open ice hit at my own blue line and really cleaned my own clock. When I came to, I was standing in front of the opposing goalie, while the puck was behind my goalie on the opposite end.

3rd, was an instance where I was lining a guy up behind the net, I ended up catching an edge and going head first into the boards. I woke up 20 min later in the back of an ambulance on the way to the hospital.


There were many other instances as a kid where I run by bell pretty dang good but never really thought must of it. Not the mention some of explosions and pressure changes from those explosions I experienced in the Army.

I find it hard to believe that these blows the head didn't contribute in some way. '


Anyone have any of their own experiences? or comments on mine?

Losing one testicle.

Vince said:

Losing one testicle.

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Interesting you say that as I have a friend who we call "wrecking ball" He has T levels in the 700's consistently with 1 nut.

Weasel said:

Interesting you say that as I have a friend who we call "wrecking ball" He has T levels in the 700's consistently with 1 nut.

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Yep I had good levels for most of my life too. I even made 7 babies. Then at age 60 I needed something to get rid of my brain fog and I decided on trt. At times I do Wonder though if I could have did the same thing with getting my thyroid levels into a proper range. I could never find a doctor who would help me with my thyroid and eventually gave up. Now for the first time in my life I believe I may be able to optimize my thyroid levels.

Vince said:

Yep I had good levels for most of my life too. I even made 7 babies. Then at age 60 I needed something to get rid of my brain fog and I decided on trt. At times I do Wonder though if I could have did the same thing with getting my thyroid levels into a proper range. I could never find a doctor who would help me with my thyroid and eventually gave up. Now for the first time in my life I believe I may be able to optimize my thyroid levels.

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I've also wondered about thyroid.

Low libido. Low interest in life. Brain fog. Poor sleep. Fat gain.

Nashtide said:

Low libido. Low interest in life. Brain fog. Poor sleep. Fat gain.

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^^^what Nashtide said

Dr looked at my numbers and suggested it.

Total T 282
Free T 3.1

Klonopin withdrawal cause damaged to my pituitary gland, was fine before withdrawal.

1st labs Total T 225 - free T 7.2
2nd labs Total T 120 - free T 7.7

I would just say life/genetics. I've played sports my whole life, taken a few dings here and there, but hard to say whether or not any of that really affected my current state. I was a late bloomer, always "looked young for my age", was always fit but struggled to put on muscle, etc. I had long suspected that my T levels might be low, well before I even knew about TRT, but any doc I brought it up with would say something like "well you have facial hair so you can't be low T" or "you seem too athletic to be low T" or "you're too young to be worried about low T", etc.

In my late 30s, I noticed a general decline in interest in most things that I used to enjoy. Had occasional ED (that progressed to frequent ED), general moodiness that was not characteristic of me, brain fog, and just a general listlessness. I was far from some of the more extreme cases I've read about here where people don't want to get out of bed, etc - but I felt like something was off.

My doc agreed to run a test for T and it came back near the bottom of the range of normal. He said "see, you're fine." I said that based on my symptoms and what I had read about T levels and "normal ranges", that I would like to dig into it deeper. He was OK with that, and referred me to an endo, who ran a few more labs and started me on TRT.

I noticed the big change when I was about 42, started to sleep a lot in the afternoon was the main thing. Went to several doctors trying to figure out if there was anything physically wrong. Gained weight, but I thought that was all on me, lost interest in sex, but my wife at the time wasn't that keen on sex anyway, so I thought it was mostly because of that.

I tested for testosterone when I was 43 back in 1995, but they told me 376 ng/dl was in the normal range, and I accepted that.

Eventually I adapted to the slow down.

In 2009 at age 57 I was in Thailand traveling with a female neighbor and an acquaintance of her's that was a 23 year old male that wanted to get a sex change to female. He had a hormone doctor in Thailand he was thinking could help him. As it turned out, he didn't have much of a plan, he thought the doctor would give him a bag of drugs and send him on his way and that would be it. The doc explained to him he would need to be monitored, treated, etc, etc, etc.

But I asked him for the Doc's name, that doc was a specialist that referred to me to a doctor that treated common TRT.

That doctor recommended Nebido, he did a couple of tests, PSA and an electrocardiogram, and then injected Nebido based on my verbal symptoms.


After experiencing the huge change TRT brought about, I was sold. I would get a written prescription from the doctor in Thailand when I visited Thailand and import Nebido usually from the UK to the USA. I did that for about 5 years.

I would guess my TT had been between 330 - 430 when when I was off TRT, and 600-900 ng/dl when on.

I don't know any reason my TT should have declined other than the aging process.

But TRT really makes a huge difference in health and life style. It would be impossible now to convince me otherwise.

In my case, I had GI issues (possibly Celiac being triggered) that resulted in a quick weight loss of 20-25 pounds in a short period of time; and I was already fairly lean. I suffered from fatigue, crippling brain fog, anxiety, etc.; I was a train wreck. I went from someone who walked miles every day to someone who got bone-tired just hobbling down the street 100 yards.

I went months in this state, and every damn test known to mankind was applied - to no avail. My PCP gave up, said it was in my head and wanted to prescribe Xanax. I snapped at him and said "there is *something* physically wrong with me" - and he got mad and sent me to a psychologist, who tried to put me on Buspar. My wife suggested seeing a NP she liked, and this NP had the idea to do testosterone testing; and it turned out my levels was dirt low, like 131 total T or so.

Ultimately a dietitian though I may have triggered some gluten sensitivity or Celiac; and put me on a GF diet. That, along with starting gels and eventually injections, put me back on the road to health. It also turned out that I do have the primary genetic marker for Celiac.

Furthermore, the dietitian suggested that it was the combination of weight loss, and the inability to get enough nutrients/calories that dumped the T. And that I may have been able to avoid TRT if I could have started this diet and got my weight back quickly enough, so that the nutrients/calories needed to maintain T levels were there.

During this whole ordeal, I also saw two GI docs, an ENT specialist, an autoimmune specialist, and an endo. Every damn one of them was worthless, other than helping themselves to my wallet with the boatload of tests they performed. It was the dietitian and the NP who were the heroes. It's literally a nightmare in my mind when I look back to that time, and I shudder at where I would be if the NP had not tested my total T.

for me, the fact that i was aging, also ped use, the last time i used i stayed on for 2 years, came off, somewhat got levels back, but they went lower over time, i wanted 5 years before i started trt, started at age 50.

I suspect I was on the low end if not low T (I consider low t anything below 400), all of my life. Finally in 2013 at the age of 44 it seemed to have reached such a low level I could not ignore it anymore. My low energy, lack of ability to put on muscle, brain fog and low libido became too much. I came across info about low T symptoms and got tested at a Low t center nearby. My level was: 225. And the rest is history.

user_joe said:

Whatever the hell it is that’s making it so common in young men these days. Went on trt at 33, and I believe low T started at 20-21. Was definitely not an issue prior to that. I’ve got some theories, but they are just that. Don’t know.

I remember reading the 8-10 symptoms on a website, and ED was the only one I didn’t have.

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Here's a thought.

I said my testosterone seemed to decline about 23-25 years ago. Perhaps something in the environment did change, it affected me at age 40-43 in 1993, , but if it affects all of us at around that time, then men that are younger than my age of 65 would have had problems earlier.

Sperm counts have plunged by nearly 60 per cent in just 40 years among men living in the West, according to a major review of scientific studies that suggests the modern world is causing serious damage to men’s health.
....
The same trend was not seen in other parts of the world such as South America, Africa and Asia, although the scientists said fewer studies had been carried out there.

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https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...p-60-per-cent-years-modern-life-a7859491.html

You can pretty much see the same sort of information on testosterone and sperm counts from many different studies.

What is really pernicious is that labs simply change what is "normal" when the average levels of testosterone has declined over the decades.

DragonBits said:

What is really pernicious is that labs simply change what is "normal" when the average levels of testosterone has declined over the decades.

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I agree - this is just insane. Every time I look at recent labs and see that the new low end cut off for normal reference range is 264, I cringe. That is just wrong. Even the low end of the normal range from labs last year before that changed, at 348, seemed too low.

264?! Just nuts.

S1W said:

I agree - this is just insane. Every time I look at recent labs and see that the new low end cut off for normal reference range is 264, I cringe. That is just wrong. Even the low end of the normal range from labs last year before that changed, at 348, seemed too low.

264?! Just nuts.

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On average most men 400 ng/dl or less along with low free t will start to experience low t symptoms mind you <500 ng/dl can cause issues in some but that is with low free t.

As believe it or not there are men with average total t (400-500 ng/dl) who still have descent free t levels.

Even than genetically some men have average testosterone (total t/free t) and experience no low t symptoms at all.

Also there are many cases where thyroid dysfunction is the main issue regarding symptoms which one thinks are caused by low t.

Healthy functioning thyroid plays a huge role in the overall hormonal cascade!

What Caused Me to Need TRT
at the age of 50 years, I had an accident where I broke my neck (C6). During recovery I was on MST (Morphine) for pain and the pain clinic decided to change my medication over to OXY, within 2 days of changing medication I took a turn, which caused a fall and guess what: two further fractures to my spine (back) this was my T7 & T8 vertebrae.
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I then had a DEXA scan which showed osteopenia which is low bone density and the onset or osteoporosis.
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Following this I had various blood tests which showed "total Testosterone as "normal" , but "Free & Bio" testosterone as low, very low
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Through recovery, physio, TRT & now dedication at the gym I have made a very reasonably good recovery, still nerve pain and some restricted movement but my gains in gym & fitness is now back to what I was in mid 20's.
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All opiate medication has been ditched as this can also cause low testosterone, alcohol has been cut back, NO mid week 9pm alcoholic drinks, still enjoy a drink at weekend but a good focus now on diet & health and a good nitrogen stack as advised from Vince.
I am now retired as the fractures meant I could not continue working offshore on oilrigs and my employer gave me early retirement. The Gym & my wife are indeed my life now as well as travel, enjoying the scenic routes in USA, Life can be good after a serious injury.

I was every year more and more tired and could not find out why. I have always lived a very heavy life style. Tried several different doctor, ran several different tests and finally someone ran my testosterone levels and they were in the high 200s and my estradiol sensitive was in the low single digits. Also despite a good diet and exercise my cholesterol levels were off, blood pressure slightly elevated, fasting blood sugar close to 100. So i decided to give TRT a try. All my symptoms now are gone and I feel great again.

Can thyroid effect testosterone?