Greetings all. I'm writing this post after I read Vergel's book, and I have some questions regarding low testosterone and TRT. This is all new to me and slightly confusing. I'm not sure what to make of it and what to do, whence this post.
Some background information: 35 year old male from Norway, 6'1", 192lbs. In December last year I was diagnosed with a DVT, and as part of the blood work I asked for a check on my testosterone levels. It turned out it was quite low, measured to 12 nmol/l or 346 ng/dl. A second test a few weeks after showed more or less the same, 11,5 nmol/l or 332 ng/dl. This time SHBG was measured as well, the value was 15 nmol/l. As far as I can tell, both the T levels and the SHBG are low. Blood work shows I do not have any known genetic predispositions for blood clotting.
I measured cholesterol as well, these are the values. Normal range in paranthesis:
HDL: 1,66 mmol/L (0,80 - 2,10)
LDL: 2,90 mmol/L (1,50 - 4,80)
Trigl: 0,76 mmol/L (0,45 - 2,60)
Total: 4,9
Metabolism was checked as well, and TSH was elevated at 6,2. T4 was within normal range at 15,3. This was about three months ago. If it's of any importance this was a stressful time for me with the DVT and some other life stuff, and I was in a caloric deficit as well. I see a preliminary study have found a correlation between DVT and subclinical hypothyroidism, but this is speculation on my part. This might be relevant for me, but I don't know. I don't have any symptoms of hypothyroidism though.
I checked again three weeks ago and TSH was now in normal range at 2,1. According to my doc TSH can fluctuate, so it's not necessarily a reason for concern. I don't know, for all I know this is all part of a bigger picture. There is a history of heart disease on my father's side, all his six brothers have had heart issues. If I've understood correctly, atherosclerosis may be a factor regarding DVT's. If so, I'm off to an early start with this problem, yay. From what I can tell men on TRT have less risk for heart problems than men with low T, so this is certainly an important factor for me.
My doc will now confer with an endocrinologist what the options are as far as the low T goes. He's not opposed to TRT, but not that knowledgable about it as he's "just" a normal general physician. After reading Vergel's book and reading on this website I see that there's a lot of blood tests that ought to be done, estradiol and so forth. Should I just ask my doc to do these? Or perhaps just get a referral to the endocrinologist directly?
I'm not opposed to TRT at all, but I am somewhat uncertain about it. Me and my girlfriend have decided to give reproduction a shot, so there's the added concern of my little swimmers as well. If I've understood this right, sperm count can go down after starting TRT unless you take additional drugs. Right now I'm leaning towards delaying TRT at least until me and my girl find if we're fertile or not. First things first.
Sorry for the long post. I tried to include relevant information without getting too specific. Any advice on how to proceed is much appreciated. I'm a bit confused by all of this, and the DVT thing really shook me up. Thanks.
Some background information: 35 year old male from Norway, 6'1", 192lbs. In December last year I was diagnosed with a DVT, and as part of the blood work I asked for a check on my testosterone levels. It turned out it was quite low, measured to 12 nmol/l or 346 ng/dl. A second test a few weeks after showed more or less the same, 11,5 nmol/l or 332 ng/dl. This time SHBG was measured as well, the value was 15 nmol/l. As far as I can tell, both the T levels and the SHBG are low. Blood work shows I do not have any known genetic predispositions for blood clotting.
I measured cholesterol as well, these are the values. Normal range in paranthesis:
HDL: 1,66 mmol/L (0,80 - 2,10)
LDL: 2,90 mmol/L (1,50 - 4,80)
Trigl: 0,76 mmol/L (0,45 - 2,60)
Total: 4,9
Metabolism was checked as well, and TSH was elevated at 6,2. T4 was within normal range at 15,3. This was about three months ago. If it's of any importance this was a stressful time for me with the DVT and some other life stuff, and I was in a caloric deficit as well. I see a preliminary study have found a correlation between DVT and subclinical hypothyroidism, but this is speculation on my part. This might be relevant for me, but I don't know. I don't have any symptoms of hypothyroidism though.
I checked again three weeks ago and TSH was now in normal range at 2,1. According to my doc TSH can fluctuate, so it's not necessarily a reason for concern. I don't know, for all I know this is all part of a bigger picture. There is a history of heart disease on my father's side, all his six brothers have had heart issues. If I've understood correctly, atherosclerosis may be a factor regarding DVT's. If so, I'm off to an early start with this problem, yay. From what I can tell men on TRT have less risk for heart problems than men with low T, so this is certainly an important factor for me.
My doc will now confer with an endocrinologist what the options are as far as the low T goes. He's not opposed to TRT, but not that knowledgable about it as he's "just" a normal general physician. After reading Vergel's book and reading on this website I see that there's a lot of blood tests that ought to be done, estradiol and so forth. Should I just ask my doc to do these? Or perhaps just get a referral to the endocrinologist directly?
I'm not opposed to TRT at all, but I am somewhat uncertain about it. Me and my girlfriend have decided to give reproduction a shot, so there's the added concern of my little swimmers as well. If I've understood this right, sperm count can go down after starting TRT unless you take additional drugs. Right now I'm leaning towards delaying TRT at least until me and my girl find if we're fertile or not. First things first.
Sorry for the long post. I tried to include relevant information without getting too specific. Any advice on how to proceed is much appreciated. I'm a bit confused by all of this, and the DVT thing really shook me up. Thanks.
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