Afraid to start TRT. Could you share your experience?

[iceman_from_hell]

Before I describe my problem, I wanted to say hello to everyone on this forum. I recently started reading it, and I learned a lot of valuable things.

I’m 29 years old now and about 4-5 years ago, I started to feel worse, weakened, have libido problems, poor results in the gym, unhappy, etc. After many visits to doctors, one of them said that we should test testosterone. The test was performed on 2019-11-20 and showed a value of 3.38 ng/ml. Of course, my doctor said everything was fine, and I have no cause for concern.

Already at this point, I was leading a healthy lifestyle, and I was surprised that my testosterone is so low, in comparison my older brother (35 years old), who has never been to the gym, loves sweets, alcohol and has a testosterone level of 6.50 ng/ml, unfair.

After reading many articles and books on what to do to raise my testosterone levels, I have implemented some adjustments to my lifestyle:

- No alcohol
- Zero sweets
- Sleep for at least 8 hours a day
- Training in the gym at least twice a week (5x5 method)
- Cardio 1-2 times a week.
- Supplements, creatine, zinc, selenium, multivitamins, Panax ginseng, ashwagandha, etc.
- Cold showers
- Meditation

On September 22, 2020, I did another testosterone test, and the result was 2.96 ng/ml. I lived a very healthy life, and my testosterone decreased. Needless to say, how disappointed I was.

My doctor still told me that I’m normal but decided to check my testicles for varicoceles with an ultrasound examination. No varicoceles were found, my testicles are perfectly fine.

After all this, I lost my tone a bit. Although I continued to lead a healthy lifestyle, I repeated the tests in the upcoming months and my highest result for the testosterone was 3.72 ng/ml.

At one point, I realized that I only had two options, live like this so far, or try testosterone therapy.
I would like to have libido the way it used to be. I wish I had the motivation and strength. I used to feel like life is slipping through my fingers.
My biggest concern is fertility. With my wife, we want to have kids in 2-3 years.

I am afraid of testosterone therapy, but on the other hand, I do not want to live like this…

Here is a full list of my blood tests:

Could you please share your story with testosterone therapy:

1. What’s your protocol?
2. How do you feel?
3. How did you feel before testosterone therapy?
4. What’s your libido?
5. How long have you been using testosterone?
6. Did you have children before you started using testosterone?
7. Did TRT impact your fertility?
8. What are the disadvantages of testosterone therapy?
9. Do you regret starting therapy?

 

[Cataceous]

Let me instead address your situation: Your lowish SHBG means your free testosterone is not quite as terrible as suggested by the measurements of total testosterone. Nonetheless, the free testosterone calculators have your levels at or a bit below the bottoms of the respective healthy normal ranges. In other words, it's still plausible that low testosterone is contributing to your symptoms.

You may have a third option besides maintaining the status quo or starting full-blown TRT: testosterone nasal gel can be used to boost testosterone a few times each day. The periods of higher testosterone are short enough that your own production is not significantly disrupted, and fertility is maintained. Clinical trials have found that although fairly brief, these periods are sufficient to relieve overall symptoms of low testosterone. I think anyone seriously contemplating TRT should try this option first if it's available to him. The name brand product to look into is Natesto. In some locations, such as the U.S., there are generic versions available that may act similarly.

You are right to be cautious in considering conventional TRT. It is more disruptive than most people realize, affecting many other hormones. For some men this means much of the time on TRT is spent trying to fix or work around the problems created by TRT itself.

One other point about your lab results: although your prolactin is in range, there are cases where having it as high as yours causes problems. Prolactin can reduce testosterone production and also independently harm libido. So a possible fourth option for you is to run a trial with very low doses of cabergoline to see if there is any improvement.

 

[xcpatr922]

1. What’s your protocol? Tcyp 135-140mg/wek @day subq+HCG
2. How do you feel? super (esp. after daily injection)
3. How did you feel before testosterone therapy? miserable, almost like having no penis
4. What’s your libido? back to 19 again
5. How long have you been using testosterone? 7 months
6. Did you have children before you started using testosterone? yes
7. Did TRT impact your fertility? no,as HCG is used
8. What are the disadvantages of testosterone therapy? too many things to managed, need to be advanced in medical/biology/science...need to inject everyday.....new routine
9. Do you regret starting therapy? no way, this is best thing in life

 

[HealthMan]

Before I describe my problem, I wanted to say hello to everyone on this forum. I recently started reading it, and I learned a lot of valuable things.

I’m 29 years old now and about 4-5 years ago, I started to feel worse, weakened, have libido problems, poor results in the gym, unhappy, etc. After many visits to doctors, one of them said that we should test testosterone. The test was performed on 2019-11-20 and showed a value of 3.38 ng/ml. Of course, my doctor said everything was fine, and I have no cause for concern.

Already at this point, I was leading a healthy lifestyle, and I was surprised that my testosterone is so low, in comparison my older brother (35 years old), who has never been to the gym, loves sweets, alcohol and has a testosterone level of 6.50 ng/ml, unfair.

After reading many articles and books on what to do to raise my testosterone levels, I have implemented some adjustments to my lifestyle:

- No alcohol
- Zero sweets
- Sleep for at least 8 hours a day
- Training in the gym at least twice a week (5x5 method)
- Cardio 1-2 times a week.
- Supplements, creatine, zinc, selenium, multivitamins, Panax ginseng, ashwagandha, etc.
- Cold showers
- Meditation

On September 22, 2020, I did another testosterone test, and the result was 2.96 ng/ml. I lived a very healthy life, and my testosterone decreased. Needless to say, how disappointed I was.

My doctor still told me that I’m normal but decided to check my testicles for varicoceles with an ultrasound examination. No varicoceles were found, my testicles are perfectly fine.

After all this, I lost my tone a bit. Although I continued to lead a healthy lifestyle, I repeated the tests in the upcoming months and my highest result for the testosterone was 3.72 ng/ml.

At one point, I realized that I only had two options, live like this so far, or try testosterone therapy.
I would like to have libido the way it used to be. I wish I had the motivation and strength. I used to feel like life is slipping through my fingers.
My biggest concern is fertility. With my wife, we want to have kids in 2-3 years.

I am afraid of testosterone therapy, but on the other hand, I do not want to live like this…

Here is a full list of my blood tests:

View attachment 18438
Could you please share your story with testosterone therapy:

1. What’s your protocol?
2. How do you feel?
3. How did you feel before testosterone therapy?
4. What’s your libido?
5. How long have you been using testosterone?
6. Did you have children before you started using testosterone?
7. Did TRT impact your fertility?
8. What are the disadvantages of testosterone therapy?
9. Do you regret starting therapy?

At your age i would be really worried about fertility. TRT can really mess with that. You can problem maintain it with HCG and FSH by given the last developments the cost will be high.

 

[Systemlord]

I am afraid of testosterone therapy

Why are you afraid of testosterone, the primary male hormone?

All of the credible high quality studies on TRT show it is safe.

What’s your protocol?

Jatenzo 237mg orally twice daily. It would cost $1000+ per month if not covered by insurance. Jatenzo make topicals look like a bargain.

How do you feel? super

I feel much better than I did 9 weeks ago, everything is improving across the board. The most noticeable thing is muscle and energy.

How did you feel before testosterone therapy?

I felt like I was dying (Total T 91 ng/dL), a trip to the bathroom felt more like a climb up a steep mountain.

What’s your libido?

It's improving all the time.

How long have you been using testosterone?

About 5 years, treatment failure on injections, creams and gels. The treatment failure has more to do with my body preferring shorter half-life TRT formulations keeping the hormones changing across hours instead of days.

I'm a unicorn and not a typical case.

Did TRT impact your fertility?

Fertility is an unknown at this point, but should I want kids HCG and FSH would be added to my TRT protocol.

What are the disadvantages of testosterone therapy?

Fertility is the biggest one of them all, the second is managing hematocrit by donating blood which can have a negative impact on your ferritin.

Though not everyone needs to donate blood on TRT, so it depends on the individual.

Do you regret starting therapy?

No way!

 

[goolapsh]

Why are you afraid of testosterone, the primary male hormone?



Jatenzo 237mg orally twice daily. It would cost $1000+ per month if not covered by insurance. Jatenzo make topicals look like a bargain.


I feel much better than I did 9 weeks ago, everything is improving across the board. The most noticeable thing is muscle and energy.


I felt like I was dying, a trip to the bathroom felt more like a climb up a steep mountain.


It's improving all the time.


About 5 years, treatment failure on injections, creams and gels. The treatment failure has more to do with my body preferring shorter half-life TRT formulations keeping the hormones changing across hours instead of days.

I'm a unicorn and not a typical case.


Fertility is an unknown at this point, but should I want kids HCG and FSH would be added to my TRT protocol.



Fertility is the biggest one of them all, the second is managing hematocrit by donating blood which can have a negative impact on your ferritin.


No way!

I’m surprised the scrotal creams didn’t work for you. They are also short half life t.

 

[Systemlord]

I’m surprised the scrotal creams didn’t work for you. They are also short half life t.

Minutes after applying the cream I did feel the effects of high T, but it was to short-lived, 3 hours later the rug got pulled out from underneath me and would had have had to dose it every 3 hours.

So the cream had no problem getting into my system, but I didn't absorb it so that it could last longer in my system to where I could dose it 2x daily.