Possible Varicocele, Low T, and Low LH

[LakeGuy81]

I'm 37 and have been battling low T (200-300 range) for several years now. I also have had the symptoms of a Varicocele, such as dull pain in left testicle especially after exercising, comes on later in the day, and gets better from lying down. My left testicle hangs down really far and I think I can feel the enlarged veins, but I'm going to see a urologist soon to hopefully confirm this. My question: My LH during recent labs was low 2.9 (1.7-8.6) which indicates secondary, not primary, hypogonadism. If varicocele was indeed contributing to low T, wouldn't my LH have been high? Or can a varicocele suppress LH as well?

 

[abe]

Yes, varicocele can suppress testosterone levels. If is your case, having surgery to repair this usually will increased your T levels.

 

[LakeGuy81]

Yes, varicocele can suppress testosterone levels. If is your case, having surgery to repair this usually will increased your T levels.

Thanks. I'm aware it suppresses T levels, my question is what LH might look like in a person with a varicocele.

 

[Henry]

I had a grade 3 varicocele in my right testicle with pain and a grade 2 in my left one. I also had sperm issues. The sperm count was good (75M), it was just that they had issues (morphology, etc.). My LH and FSH were both low normal, indicating secondary, but I was diagnosed with primary due to the varicoceles. My T levels were 290 and 277 in the early AM. I had the ligation surgery and still had to stay on TRT since it only went up 100 points or so. I had the varicocele for 14 years and dealt with the pain since I was misdiagnosed by so many doctors. I was told it was prostatitis, epididymitis, etc. but not one person said it was varicoceles until I ran into the urologist that did my surgery. He said he didn't know how the other doctors missed it since I had it on both and the right one looked like a huge bag of worms.