Hello everyone,
I'm in a predicament with my decision whether I should start TRT or not. The decision is dependent on certain factors that would potentially deny me access to TRT in the future if I make a decision for one or the other route I could see myself going forward with.
First of, some stats. In the 3rd test, I've added some things that looked off in the test that my endocrinologist did. Most of the other numbers/lipids that aren't related to testosterone look good.
I'm a 28 year old, 6'1 inches (186 cm) male from Europe with around 290 lbs right now. I was a competitive swimmer from 15-18. My body type is endomorph, wide shoulders and just a wide body in general. I'm what people would call "genetically gifted" in some areas. Strong legs, fairly wide shoulders despite being significantly overweight, without the hormones backing me up. Never really built any muscle besides my legs and was always the guy with "hidden strength". Since my genes are from Balkan, think of Jokic as a body equivalent without being this tall.
I don't work out and have been quite sedentary with my lifestyle due to the depression that usually comes with ADD (every 3rd ADD person usually develops symptoms in that direction). I do believe that some of my symptoms are compounding to my lack of physical activity, or that my lack of physical activity is the reason for it. Never been really thin even at the peak of my physical activity. I'm definitely fat as fuck right now, but I don't think my body type can support going below 200 lbs.
What I'm suffering with:
I'll hold it short and add more context on request.
Extreme lack of energy or lethargy. I'm running on power saving mode, physical activity in the morning knocks me out for the rest of the day and makes me incapable of working. Heart rate jumps high quickly (low 80, jumping quickly to 140-145 just from minor physical activity) - probably due to extreme lack of physical training. No morning erections since years, horrible erection quality and erections don't stay during sex making sex impossible. Anxiety rising during afternoon and peaking at night.
I have sleep apnea that's been treated for round about 3 years, without a single day missing. Before my sleep apnea diagnosis, I wasn't physically able to do anything, not even work at my desk job. My brain would shut off and refuse to work.
There is a certain possibility that I've never had genetically high testosterone that could lead to my subjective opinion of me never having had "visible muscles", or just me never really been super lean for it to be visible.
My predicament:
I'm from Europe and in the country where I live, there are no TRT clinics that I can throw money at to solve my problem. The only way to gain access to testosterone is through an endocrinologist or UGL, the latter not being an option for me personally.
Here's the situation I'm in.
My endocrinologist diagnosed me with "mild" secondary hypogonadism (lmao) with a recommendation to lose weight using a GLP-1 drug, hoping to improve my values with weight reduction. My numbers right now are bad enough that if I were to push it hard enough, I'd probably be able to get TRT prescribed with either this endocrinologist or a different endocrinologist that I have another appointment set up in August.
I'm usually all-in trying it the natural way by losing weight to restore testosterone levels. It makes sense that adipose tissue has more testosterone converting to estrogen, thus me simply having low testosterone potentially makes sense. So losing weight and fat tissue, lowering estrogen in the process and opening up more testosterone in my body makes sense.
Here's the problem though.
If I were to decide to do it that way, lose 80-90 lbs and potentially gain testosterone, I'm not sure if I would be able to recover enough testosterone for symptome relief. My estrogen is high, but even if estrogen gets reduced by half due to weight loss, would my gains in total T be significant enough to actually feel good? There is obviously a limit to how much testosterone you can free up by reducing weight. If I lose some weight and my numbers improve it to let's say 350-380 (fictive number), I'd get denied for testosterone at every doctor in my country while only have minor improvements to before.
This puts me in a position where I have two options:
Option 1: Lose weight, pray that your body restores itself and that you free up enough testosterone due to reduction of fat tissue and hope that you'll feel good. Get 100% denied for TRT because numbers aren't "bad enough" yet for treatment after weight loss, even if no symptome relief. Since I have low SHBG, there's some potential to increase free T enough.
Option 2: Start TRT (+ GLP-1), lose the weight but be dependent on TRT injections (for life). Never know natural potential that I could've recovered from if I were to go natural. Potential infertility due to low Inhibin B that I won't recover from, despite HCG. HCG potentially not available in my country. Deal with potential side effects like HCT.
I have tried to analyze my situation to come to a decision but I have too much personal bias involved to make a good judgment on my own situation. Looking for unbiased advice from people that actually know and understand TRT.
Thanks!
I'm in a predicament with my decision whether I should start TRT or not. The decision is dependent on certain factors that would potentially deny me access to TRT in the future if I make a decision for one or the other route I could see myself going forward with.
First of, some stats. In the 3rd test, I've added some things that looked off in the test that my endocrinologist did. Most of the other numbers/lipids that aren't related to testosterone look good.
Test 1 | Test 2 (306 lbs) | Test 3 (288 lbs) | |
Total testosterone | 245 | 239 (197 - 669) | 280 (250 - 860) |
Estradiol (E2) | 40 | 35.2 (<44.9) | (not measured) |
SHBG | - | 17.9 (11.5 - 54.5) | 18 (18 - 54) |
Albumin | - | 7.2 g/dl (5.7 - 8.2 g/dl) | 46 (35 - 52) |
LH | - | 3.5 (1.5 - 9.3) | 4.3 (1.7 - 8.6) |
FSH | - | 3.4 (1.4 - 18.1) | 2.2 (1.5 - 12.4) |
Hematocrit | - | 45 (<54) | 46 (<54) |
Prolactin | - | 13.7 (<17.0) | 16.5 (4.0 - 15.0) |
DHT | - | - | 190 (219 - 1140) |
Inhibin B | - | - | 115 (120 - 400) |
Parathyroid hormone | - | - | 44 (11 - 43) |
I'm a 28 year old, 6'1 inches (186 cm) male from Europe with around 290 lbs right now. I was a competitive swimmer from 15-18. My body type is endomorph, wide shoulders and just a wide body in general. I'm what people would call "genetically gifted" in some areas. Strong legs, fairly wide shoulders despite being significantly overweight, without the hormones backing me up. Never really built any muscle besides my legs and was always the guy with "hidden strength". Since my genes are from Balkan, think of Jokic as a body equivalent without being this tall.
I don't work out and have been quite sedentary with my lifestyle due to the depression that usually comes with ADD (every 3rd ADD person usually develops symptoms in that direction). I do believe that some of my symptoms are compounding to my lack of physical activity, or that my lack of physical activity is the reason for it. Never been really thin even at the peak of my physical activity. I'm definitely fat as fuck right now, but I don't think my body type can support going below 200 lbs.
What I'm suffering with:
I'll hold it short and add more context on request.
Extreme lack of energy or lethargy. I'm running on power saving mode, physical activity in the morning knocks me out for the rest of the day and makes me incapable of working. Heart rate jumps high quickly (low 80, jumping quickly to 140-145 just from minor physical activity) - probably due to extreme lack of physical training. No morning erections since years, horrible erection quality and erections don't stay during sex making sex impossible. Anxiety rising during afternoon and peaking at night.
I have sleep apnea that's been treated for round about 3 years, without a single day missing. Before my sleep apnea diagnosis, I wasn't physically able to do anything, not even work at my desk job. My brain would shut off and refuse to work.
There is a certain possibility that I've never had genetically high testosterone that could lead to my subjective opinion of me never having had "visible muscles", or just me never really been super lean for it to be visible.
My predicament:
I'm from Europe and in the country where I live, there are no TRT clinics that I can throw money at to solve my problem. The only way to gain access to testosterone is through an endocrinologist or UGL, the latter not being an option for me personally.
Here's the situation I'm in.
My endocrinologist diagnosed me with "mild" secondary hypogonadism (lmao) with a recommendation to lose weight using a GLP-1 drug, hoping to improve my values with weight reduction. My numbers right now are bad enough that if I were to push it hard enough, I'd probably be able to get TRT prescribed with either this endocrinologist or a different endocrinologist that I have another appointment set up in August.
I'm usually all-in trying it the natural way by losing weight to restore testosterone levels. It makes sense that adipose tissue has more testosterone converting to estrogen, thus me simply having low testosterone potentially makes sense. So losing weight and fat tissue, lowering estrogen in the process and opening up more testosterone in my body makes sense.
Here's the problem though.
If I were to decide to do it that way, lose 80-90 lbs and potentially gain testosterone, I'm not sure if I would be able to recover enough testosterone for symptome relief. My estrogen is high, but even if estrogen gets reduced by half due to weight loss, would my gains in total T be significant enough to actually feel good? There is obviously a limit to how much testosterone you can free up by reducing weight. If I lose some weight and my numbers improve it to let's say 350-380 (fictive number), I'd get denied for testosterone at every doctor in my country while only have minor improvements to before.
This puts me in a position where I have two options:
Option 1: Lose weight, pray that your body restores itself and that you free up enough testosterone due to reduction of fat tissue and hope that you'll feel good. Get 100% denied for TRT because numbers aren't "bad enough" yet for treatment after weight loss, even if no symptome relief. Since I have low SHBG, there's some potential to increase free T enough.
Option 2: Start TRT (+ GLP-1), lose the weight but be dependent on TRT injections (for life). Never know natural potential that I could've recovered from if I were to go natural. Potential infertility due to low Inhibin B that I won't recover from, despite HCG. HCG potentially not available in my country. Deal with potential side effects like HCT.
I have tried to analyze my situation to come to a decision but I have too much personal bias involved to make a good judgment on my own situation. Looking for unbiased advice from people that actually know and understand TRT.
Thanks!
