Anxiety due to T?

[sounders]

So I started Testim a couple months ago. My initial T levels were 290 and 260 (I'm a 40yo male). First few weeks were great, then it was like I fell off a cliff. I started experiencing very bad anxiety. I was having heart palps and just bad stuff all around. Got convinced I was having a stroke and ended up in the ER. I wasn't

Doctor tested my T thinking the Testim had increased my T level too high. My T level returned 320. This had everyone including me puzzled. He told me to stop the T and sent me to an Endocrinologist.

After being off Test for a little over a week the Endo tested it again and it was 200. The endo did a work up and mri and said I had hypogonatropic hypogonadism cause by a pituitary disfunction. I am also hypothyroid.

The endo started me up on T again, this time I'm taking androgel (it's actually a generic called Perggio?). He also doubled the dose from 50mg to 100mg per day.

I'm starting to feel better but I've noticed some of the anxiety symptoms coming back like shortness of breath and heart palps.

Getting a little frustrated. Anyone have any thoughts? Is T increasing or causing anxiety or is it the gel formulation or what?

 

[CoastWatcher]

You may have experienced an initial few weeks of success because your body was still producing its own (reduced) level of testosterone. When you added Testim you enjoyed higher levels than you'd had in some time...and then the exogenous testosterone shut down your body's natural production. Boom - you slid back down.

Topical gels, despite their marketing hype, don't work for a significant number of men. I gave them a good try and eventually moved to injections. But some men do experience success on gels - just don't be surprised.

 

[Gene Devine]

Can you get a copy of your blood work from your Doctor and post your labs here in this tread complete with referecne ranges?

Without the labs everything said is really speculation.

Agree on transdermals; they don't absorb well for many men and injections are the best way to go; one injection once a week minimum.

 

[James]

sounders - I had some cool stuff happen with test cyp, but one of the worst side effects was tremendous anxiety. It was debilitating. Check your E2. My standard test had me really high and my sensitive test had me just above the mid range. I can feel like crap from a slight elevation in E2 and you might be the same way. A very small does of Arimidex (1/4 of a mg, once a week) worked wonders for me. What is your E2 and what type of test was it? This site is one of the best IMO but definitely not overly arimidex friendly. Talk with your doc. Maybe you're sensitive to the effects of E2, even if you fall in a normal range.

 

[SuperDutyDave]

Sounders

I would be a little concerned (not surprising though) that neither doc knew that after initially dosing you with T you would peak then fall after natural T production shut down

This is normal stuff nothing unusual......doctor not anticipating this calls their competency in treating with T into question in my humble opinion

I personally would seek out a much more competent doc.

As for topicals I tried them and had limited results......many men have issues with them.

I would be looking to switch to sub-q injections and also be looking at HCG along with E control and other supplements When trying to get dialed in......monthly labs are a necessity with consistent tweaking of dosages to ensure hitting sweet spot that will move around a bit until settling in

First thing get a better doc have him test throughly and see if a cause for your low T might be found.....that's the best case. If not then a good doc can develop a proper treatment plan for you

Good luck


Ps anxiety etc can happen while your ping ponging around with levels too