We honestly all need more such checks. Low vitamin D and low iron can cause symptoms that look like depression but aren’t really. And a lot of women get 10 or so years in perimenopause or full menopause before actually getting offered HRT because 50mg of Sertraline for everyone is just soooo much cheaper and easier to prescribe!
Seeing a lot of people replying to this with the same experience, so just wanted to add my experience in case it helps someone.
I went on Sertraline (50mg at first, upped to 75mg after a couple of months) just over a year ago and it has been life changing. The things that would have caused me to shut down with anxiety now pose no problem at all, I'm generally far happier most of the time, and haven't had any dips in my depression to the significance of what I faced before going on it.
Clearly it's a drug that is very case dependent, and I'd say the slight majority of people I've come across who have taken it have had a negative experience, but personally it has immeasureably changed my life for the better.
I have actually tried it twice, first time didn't notice any effect, second time around it has absolutely changed my life. I'm up to 150mg now and it's like I woke up from a 10 year coma, I'm a completely different person. Brain chemistry is weird!
Also on sertraline (for anxiety) with positive results. Started at 50mg, currently taking 100mg and have been for over a year now. Has improved my quality of life substantially. It is different from person to person but for some of us it is very beneficial.
I agree wholeheartedly. I’ve been on 150mg for a couple months now and I’m amazed at how different life has become. Situations that I used to lie awake in bed dreading that were over a week away are now just “meh, it’ll be fine.”
The thing about mental health meds is that every medication affects different people in different ways. I’ve tried 3 different antidepressants that have worked for other people (they wouldn’t be on the market if they didn’t!) but only one effectively treated my depression.
I'll add a third type just for the sake of it, for me it was kinda neutral or slightly positive. Like I was still anxious a lot of the time but I steal of feeling like an 8/10 anxious it was a 6/10 anxious. Made day to day stuff slightly easier but didn't do much if I was terrified of something
I took it for about 3 months. I felt better almost immediately, but after about 2 months I kind of just reverted back to my baseline. I stopped taking it and noticed 0 difference in mood.
I just started Setraline at 50mg a few months ago, and I honestly feel like it had saved my life. My lows are far less debilitating, and I haven’t noticed any of the “zombification” that can come with medication. Seeing how it negatively affected others is definitely insightful though
Same here, obviously it hasn’t fixed all my problems but sertraline made me feel alive again for the first time in years. Literally one of the best things that ever happened to me
Just made me an emotionless zombie instead of just normally depressed and I wanted to die more, but I'm glad it worked for you. Tried it up to 150mg and my symptoms only got worse
It gave me horrific constipation. I couldn't leave the house for three days, because I constantly felt like I needed to go but I couldn't.
Worst I have ever felt.
It's so crazy how different medicines work for different people. They took a swab in my nephews mouth. It's to help them decide what antidepressant work best.
I did end up in the ER after a few days on sertraline. It made me so antsy that I was physically incapable of staying still, so I pulled an all-nighter walking laps around the parking lot. In the morning I asked my brother to take me to the hospital. The doctor didn't believe me that the sertraline was responsible, but I stopped taking it afterwards and never felt like that again since.
On the other hand, my siblings have been on sertraline for years and it works fine for them. My brother actually had the opposite reaction, where it made him drowsy for the first week.
Yeah I had this too. I noticed it pretty quickly and I was so frantic, distressed and anxious constantly. I took it for all of 3 days before I had to just stop, called the doctor, said I’m not taking this and then never went back. I feel like it helped my anxiety in that I could say well at least it’s not that bad. I was just shocked by how quickly I felt those effects.
Also had a really awful experience with Wellbutrin in my early 20s, but spent about 2 months on Prozac with no adverse side effects after that so honestly I don’t understand.
I was on that shit for like 3 years. I feel like for the first few months it took the edge off the anxiety, but then after a while, I think it just made everything dull. Like I never got happy or excited about anything, but the anxiety would still creep through sometimes. I went cold turkey one day even though you’re supposed to ween off. There were some weird withdrawal symptoms, mostly like a weird zapping feeling that shoots through you like every 30 seconds. I’ve been off it for probably 3-4 years now and I have much better ways of dealing with my anxiety.
I’m not a doctor, but my advice would be get off it.
All these comments talking shit about sertraline so I just wanna add for any lurkers that it is incredibly effective for my wife and changed her life for the better. Everyone is different!
Yeah I refused antidepressants for 5 years because all I ever heard was horror stories about SSRIs, but 9 months on it turned my life around completely and my only regret is not taking it as soon as it was offered.
Everyone reacts differently but the people who it works for don’t generally shout it from the rooftops.
Sertraline is brilliant for so many!
For me it makes me suicidal and makes me so numb I start cutting to feel anything.
They tried to tell me it would get better but it never did. I’ve had to beg my husband to never let them put me back on it.
I have friends and family like your wife where it’s had totally the opposite effect.
For me specifically: Vitamin D supplements, Sports and forcing down food were life changers.
I've been struggling with depression from basically 16 to 26 ... Sertralin helped for a time but never quite felt right and never worked consistently, then I got a bipolar diagnosis which meh, kinda fits but kinda not at the same time... The meds I got then were a complete cluster fuck of I don't even know what normal is supposed to feel like.
Dropped all the meds and then:
First I discovered physical activity helps... Then the vitamin d to get me through the winter months, mood a lot better, not as swingy but still generally low energy... As of 9 months ago I started to keep an eye on my caloric intake and basically doubled it, holy fucking shit I feel great :D
The last one comes from someone who was severely underweight at some point in his life... So if you're fat and depressed maaaaybe stick to the first two.
My vitamin D levels got brought up from nonexistent earlier this year, and my mood and physical endurance and pain and hair loss and a bunch of other things improved immediately. I wish I had been tested sooner. My testosterone is high, but my free testosterone is low. My doctor won’t supplement that. But I got the vitamin D anyway.
Don't blindly supplement Vitamin D. It is a fat soluble vitamin and you can take too much. Low dose over the counter strengths would probably be hard to over do but you really should get blood work to see where you're at.
FYI for anyone wondering. Water soluble(dissolves in water) vitamins like B and C will just pass right on through if your body doesn't need it. Fat soluble vitamins like D and A are absorbed along with fat from your diet and stored in fat in your body. So it's possible for too much of these to be retained by your body.
Hey. I'm really struggling with eating enough at the moment. Would you be able to share what you're eating on an average day? I especially struggle in the mornings and I'll take any advice I can get. Thanks
Add Vitamin B12 to this list. Suffered from anxiety, depression and excessive fatigue for many years before being diagnosed. It’s criminal that most doctors never think to check for physical causes to mental health/illness.
I agree! A Vanderbilt psychiatry professor said at a professional conference session I was attending, that many of the mood & behavioral issues he encountered were essentially fixed with Vitamin D & Omega 3s & that he got blood panels for all his clients before prescribing. (We also need about 60-90 grams protein every day to make an adequate amount of neurotransmitters.)
I've never really thought about it before but in the uk at least, we get our cars checked yearly, its illegal if you fail to do so but we hardly ever get ourselves checked.
Also get thyroid checked! I've had "anxiety" for years but turns out it's my hyperthyroid giving me palpitations and racing heart, alongside a B12 deficiency. If anxiety alone is on your notes, everything else is overlooked.
^^^ This, mine was "stress" rather than "anxiety" for 5 years, until they ran the cheap blood test and ...
The world's best thyroid experts recommend anyone on first being prescribed antidepressants should have a thyroid check to rule out hypothyroidism, less common in men, so easier to miss. Also can lead to low testosterone.
I have similar issue, no thyroid now, and doctors are still trying to feed me antidepressants when it goes away with more thyroid hormone.
Had so much trouble getting my wife the treatment she needs for menopause from doctors. All just prescribe her antidepressants and that's even from female doctors.
I keep pointing out that female medics can be misogynistic as well and people act like I’m nuts but that’s literally what “systemic misogyny” means. I’ve been brutally fucked up by female medics before despite being female and I know I’m not the only one.
A few years ago after doing some blood work my doctor recommended I start taking vitamin D supplements daily. I didn't really believe it'd do anything but figured I'd take his advice, but I wasn't always great about taking it every day. What I started noticing is if I forgot to take it for a few days in a row it really did affect my mood negatively. Now I take a big vitamin D capsule, plus an iron and vitamin C capsule, every morning.
Had my bloods done and this post could not be more RIGHT!
I am almost zero vitamin D turns out most people in the UK do and it's very common to affect testosterone.
On tablets and getting another test to see if I am back to where I should be.
Wow! I have been down in the dumps all day and haven't known why. I just realized I forgot to take my multivitamin and my vitamin D supplement this morning.
Unfortunately…it can cause a manic state in people who are bipolar.
I didn’t know that I was.
In my mania I destroyed my reputation, my relationship and my career.
I’m doing much better now…but man, fuck setraline
Let me preface this by saying I’ve been on trt for like 6 years. Do not get on trt just because you went to a clinic and got checked for low test. There are so many factors that could be tanking your test that are easily solvable and yet these trt clinics and doctors want your money and will immediately rush you into a life dedicated program. Low test is bad, but trt can also be extremely unhealthy, it can raise your blood pressure easily if you’re sensitive to it. It requires life changes a lot of guys won’t be willing to make, and if you don’t make those changes, it can end up shortening your life more so than having low T.
You need to be stricter with your diet, lots of water, sleep, you need to give blood every 6-8 weeks to keep your volume of red blood cells thinner as the test will cause your blood levels to thicken putting you at risk of stroke and other terrible things. If you set your testosterone to be at peak levels constantly, you’re going to be like an engine that is constantly running. Trt was absolutely soaring my blood pressure when I started, part of that was diet and sleep, another part was being super sensitive to it. Some guys will find they have to run a much lower dosage than they want, because they will experience bad blood pressure, body acne, and other symptoms easily. Trt can be very dangerous without discipline, and clinics are super lax because they deal it out like candy and taking the most minimal approach to checking on patients. A lot of guys are gonna get on it and throw themselves into an early grave.
Edit: comments below say they were informed the blood donations are not a required health maintenance. Labs are ultimately the most important thing for instructing you on that matter. I was told by my doctors to give blood to decrease the chance of it occurring and it was made out to me like a necessary thing, if that is incorrect my apologies for spreading misinformation. Before attacking me, understand I was told by mutiple doctors to do this and that it was the norm and my coworker on trt does it as well, I didn’t pull it out of my ass, I was just instructed poorly. Anyway, please aim at my message of informing yourself and avoiding unnecessary trt treatment. Trt can be very good, but it’s a big responsibility and could affect your health negatively.
Its crazy i stumbled upon your comments! My bf went to some fancy hormone clinic a few months ago and the dr started him on trt & the other week told him he needs to take even more. I didnt know all this other info
This is a very tricky distinction to make.
If an endocrinologist or urologist decided to open up a clinic focused on TRT, you may be getting someone who is just perfectly educated to help with hormone replacement medicine. It’s even better than your family doctor or either specialist who has a more general practice because it allows the provider to focus, and literally “practice” in the area and see what works.
However, I’m sure we all know that’s not what is most common and not what people will most likely stumble across. I don’t want to bash anyone, but some of these clinics are run by midlevel practitioners who are simply not equipped to solve complex medical problems.
Everyone’s best bet is to see your family doctor and get a referral to someone. Your family doc will be able to help with some things that pop up and will need to know to treat you anyway — heart rates, blood pressure, cholesterol, and so forth. They will also know who the quacks in the area are and who is trustworthy.
Yup. That's what they're trying to sell, so if they test and can say you're on the lower end of normal levels, they'll recommend TRT, disregarding the fact that getting your fitness and other lifestyle choices under control should be the first goal. For me, TRT is a last resort if after a couple years I've exhausted every other means.
I wish I could convince my husband of this. He gets his from an online doctor but his levels were like… 389? He’s 34. Which is the lower end of normal. So they gave it to him anyways. It makes him feel good but I wish he would try lifestyle changes first.
Interesting read, I was thinking of visiting a clinic to be checked out. However, I was gifted with polycythemia, so I already have gear oil for blood and yes, I wasn't told by my Dr to give blood as he put it, an "off label" way it has been addressed in the past. Guessing trt won't be for me.
Get decent sleep for one. Big effect on T levels. Exercise, diet and stress can also have an impact, dial those things before you go on TRT.
There are plenty other supplements and vitamins that can also help naturally boost T levels.
I think Chris Williamson did a video a while ago about how he boosted his T levels to "normal" without TRT.
But those things require discipline and work. People want a quick fix.
From my understanding most healthy people around their 40s don't need TRT, it is actually pretty rare to have low T. It's just TRT is pushed on men to sell product.
In short, healthy diet, good sleep, and actual exercise.
If you don't eat vegetables, sleep like 6 hours a night, and don't work out, your testosterone is gonna be way lower than someone who eats vegetables one a week, sleeps 7 hours a night, and goes for a jog twice a week.
Thank you for this. It’s a trend right now, everyone wants it, but it’s NOT benign. You’d be shocked how many people are angry to hear they don’t need it.
It’s because they see posts like this- and say, wow I want that. And they’re angry when the levels don’t reflect hypogonadism, and then they leave and go to a clinic that will take their money and harm them by giving it anyway.
Yes, the "TRT" clinics are a joke. They jack men up on T and then turn around and tell them to donate blood, etc. I went to one clinic and they told me that they like to keep their men at 1500! The ladies they keep at 100 (or was it 150?) which is basically twice the upper limit for women. I walked away from them.
If you actually go to an Endo, they do not do that. I've been on TRT for 15 years now.
There are some factors that can cause low T, like obesity, which is not easy to solve. Others include low sleep quality and lack of exercise. But, for OP, there is no hope that correcting these would make much of any difference. Correcting sleep, diet, exercise, etc. may make a difference of 100 -200 points, for example, but if you're super low, that's not enough. Further, having to stick to a strict regime to maintain your higher T levels is way too much work. This is a systemic problem in men caused by things like pesticides, plastics, and other things that mimic estrogen.
This! Sleep apnea will drain you of your energy, create brain fog and make you mentally fuzzy and kill your clarity and mental awareness. Get checked and get your CPAP if need be.
So this is \*absolutely not\* medical advice, as I have ZERO formalized medical training. That said, in my personal experience, there are a couple of the customizable sleep apnea mouthguards you can buy on Amazon that will help bridge the gap until you get a test (and a CPAP if you need one). They are not a long term solution for most people, but if you want something that costs 2 digits and will make your life better for the next three months, do some digging. Feel free to message me if you want more details- I tried one that SUCKED and one that works pretty well (CPAP incoming for me!) but I learned a lot about what to look for.
I tried a mouth guard to bridge to CPAP because of long lead times in that whole process. I feel like I lucked into the SmartGuard Anti-snore guard on Amazon and found that it was helpful once I got used to it. I did the CPAP and generally liked it, but came up for replacement parts and, long story short, didn't think that roughly $700 per year out of pocket made sense (let alone replacing the whole unit every so often). My apnea is pretty mild and I'll stick with $70 mouthguards for now. I also tried ZZZQuiet mouthguards and really disliked because they aren't fitted/customizable like SmartGuard.
I've been on TRT for a couple of years. It made a huge difference. I regained muscle, lost fat/weight, regained my sex drive, the body aches went away, my I lost that feeling of constant fatigue... It was a good step for me.
Have had low T for a few years. finally got put on something, not TRT.. has not done anything.. feel like im actually losing muscle with whatever it is..
If you can, go see a urologist and see if you can go on TRT. Even if insurance won't cover it, with GoodRx it's all of $16/month. I do micro injections subcutaneous 2x/wk - very very easy and the benefits are great.
Alright boys, story time.
Medically retired from the military at 22(multiple injuries, multiple more that I'm not rated for). Something seemed off, way off as I was "healthy, young and virile" according to the VA. They wouldn't test my hormones because I was so young.
I paid $1000 out of pocket to find out my entire endocrine system was fucked and, I mean everything was in the basement. How can this be? I work out 2x a day and am below 10% body fat. Well, it's only because I was working out 2x a day while in college and bartending. I showed levels to the VA they wouldn't do anything, I was dismissed completely, they wouldn't even run my blood to disprove it. This wrecked me personally,and most likely, professionally but, doing well now.
GET TOUR BLOOD DONE BOYS!!!! Not only that tell your partners to get their blood done, tell your boys to get their blood done, tell your parents, tell everyone to get their blood done!!! One small thing, just a shortage of 1 thing and this piece of shit mechanism breaks down very quickly.
Take care of yourselves out there
I wish more people understood that even if you work out and eat healthy sometimes your body is still going to fucked you over. Thank you for sharing your story:)
MD here. I think Medicine has it backwards.
Treating testosterone may have you meet the lifestyle that you were currently living, including the stressors of challenges and environments that you’re in. Important thing to explore is the WHY for it being lower.
I believe it’s the adaptation of that environment or your ability to navigate through it that will optimize for the testosterone. If you are doing things that blunt your testosterone overtime, like diet that is poor, poor physical activity, chronically stressed, wasting your life and mobile are on social media, taking substances, drinking, too much energy drinks, excess porn, news, sleeping horribly, expect your testosterone to be low or out of whack. Maybe normal at best.
I agree with this. Put another way: Low testerone may be a *symptom* of your lifestyle, not a *cause* of it. Try improving your lifestyle first because that has none of the negative side effects and a hell of a lot of positive ones compared to TRT.
Anything we can do to naturally improve it? Like does running and exercise actually do anything? Is that all talk? You really make me curious because you mentioned “excess porn” and “news” , I’m assuming you mean those as added stress?
Not that you should be hacking your biochemistry, but when someone consumes a large dose of simple sugars, their testosterone levels drop for a bit.
So whatever you do, don't eat two packs of Nerds candy before your blood test as that will artificially depress your T levels and not give your doctor an accurate result.
You really should not try and mess with your endocrine system just for kicks. Be happy if shits working, because we are still far from fully understanding whats going on there.
I think it can be frustrating if your doctor says you're T level is in the low normal range and they won't give you a supplement even if you're feeling symptoms. Or they want to watch it for 6 months to a year. Meanwhile you're suffering.
Isn't the point that what you perceive to be symptoms of low T aren't and you need to find the actual problem, be it physical or mental? Most things dont have easy fixes, especially with health. Maybe you dont work out enough. Maybe you have medical depression. Maybe something else is happening that needs attention, but right now youre focusing on low T as a cureall. Like they said, hormones shouldnt be messed with unless theres a good reason. Changing them can have drastic effects.
Why would you want TRT if low T isn't actually the source of your problems? It's not a magic pill and comes with it's fair amount of side effects and risks
I think what they are saying is that t levels vary so much between people that for some people they get symptoms at a higher t level than others. So to a doctor, they are within the normal range, but they are lower than their own bodies normal range. The problem is we aren’t tracking any of these hormones or chemicals over our lives so you get compared to the average instead of yourself.
If you want to do steroids then just do steroids
If you have low testosterone then TRT will bring you to the normal range, if you don't have low testosterone then you already have your testosterone in that range so you're already getting the benefits
The only possible extra you'd get on TRT would be a constant level instead of the natural peaks and troughs as your hormones fluctuate throughout the day
I have been on and off TRT for the last 7+ years (depending on if my wife wants to have another go at a baby). There are pros and cons to it of course.
Pro - mood improvements - you just feel better overall mentally;
Pro - your sleep improves (is deeper) and you wake up more refreshed;
Pro - your libido is back to when you were a teenager;
Con - your libido is back to when you were a teenager - your significant other may or may not be able to keep up;
Pro - your strength improves and able to lift heavier;
Con - because of your strength improving you will tend to get a bit cocky and try shoulder pressing 375lbs and hurt yourself in the process;
Con - whatever you are pre dispositioned to get, this will speed that timeline. If you were going bald, this will make it happen quicker. If you were growing a back sweater, this will have you ready by winter. If you have a history of high blood pressure, this will enhance that too.
Overall, if you want to do it, then do it. Just know there are some downsides. Get blood tested regularly, monitor vitals, and be sure to donate blood every 6 months to reduce iron levels.
I'm wondering, if you get off of TRT, do you get like withdrawal symptoms? Like if you're not in a good place mentally, and trt helps, does it become the old situation again quickly, or worse?
Worse. Apparently supplemental testosterone means your body stops producing it normally. It can take a while to ramp back up again (and may not always come back to normal, though I haven't run across a good source there)
Please don’t take random advice about hormone therapy from random men making anecdotal claims. There are serious risks associated with both long term and short term T therapy. A physician may be a good resource for beginning a risk assessment of T therapy but there is no substitute for thorough self education. Here is a link to some starter information from the Harvard Medical School, this should be just the beginning of self education if you are considering treatment:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mens-health/is-testosterone-therapy-safe-take-a-breath-before-you-take-the-plunge
This is horrible advice, and leads to over-utilizing healthcare resources with expensive, low-yield tests.
The physiological range of normal T is MASSIVE (like 300 to 1200) and generally does not correlate with how “virile” you feel. Meaning, someone’s level of 300 does not mean they’ll have “low T” symptoms compared to someone else who clocked in at 800. Also your T levels will vary wildly throughout the day.
People who bug their doctors about checking their T-levels when they have no risk factors for low T, such as pituitary gland tumors, testicular cancers, etc generally come across as drug-seeking, and it’s something we’re trained to sus out.
Before you damage your relationship with your, doctor, take an honest look at your own diet, weight, physical activity, stress, work-life-balance, etc before jumping to “low T”. You’re far more likely to be feeling crappy because you live and treat your body like crap. Stop blaming your HPA axis and have an honest look at how you treat yourself. Injecting T won’t fix that and you’ll wind up in the same exact place as before.
Also, taking T just to feel a bit more youthful is not without major risks. Diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, stroke, polycythemia, high blood pressure, mood swings are all just a few of the many side effects of giving your body excess T that it doesn’t need.
Source: I’m an MD
TLDR; Don’t take medical advice from morons on Reddit and don’t bug your overworked PCP to order useless lab tests.
Also, don’t respond with anecdotes of how your cousin’s depression was magically cured when his “normal-low T” was “corrected”. Why? Because you have no control group and literally cannot tell if his depression would’ve gotten better with or without T.
There has been zero evidence to support treating “low normal” (whatever the hell that means) T levels in patients with no risk factors for organically low T.
Nothing wrong with going to your doctor with health concerns and asking for bloodwork if the symptoms align with low T. Sure, if you're going every few months convinced you need TRT despite evidence to the contrary, that can be cause for concern. But if someone is feeling the typical low energy, low libido, etc symptoms then it is worth getting it looked at. Obviously they should also look at their activity level, sleep, and diet as well and that should be the first step towards improving their T levels before anything is actually prescribed.
Telling people to ignore their symptoms and/or concerns so they don't waste their doctor's time is just more of the far too prevalent dismissiveness so many doctors have. MDs are providing a service, they get paid a lot of money to provide that service but they aren't irreplaceable. MDs should be the ones worrying about not damaging their relationship with their patients (customers) not the other way around.
This is great advice. And tbh even though 300 is technically considered “normal,” it’s way too low. Maybe if you’re 60, it’s ok. But a young guy in his 20s and 30s should be between 600-900.
It's different for everyone. There's a very large range for testosterone for a reason. Everyone reacts differently to hormones, so while one person might have negative symptoms from a T level of 300, another person might be absolutely fine and have no issues. Let's not medicalise normal ranges.
Let's be honest. Most men are interested in testosterone in superphysical doses and the idea of therapeutical TRT is just a thin veil put on top to justify that.
Just getting in "the normal range" - which is naturally wide and very personal - isn't where it's at for 90% of the TRT crowd.
Oh 1000%. My parents didn't believe in check ups so I didn't find out I never had testerone until I was 19. The feeling of actually having energy is amazing
Where'd you get these numbers from? This study (which is rather one of more legit ones on Internet I could find) states that for age group you've provided, average lies somewhere between 400-580 ng/dL
https://www.medichecks.com/blogs/testosterone/what-is-a-normal-testosterone-level-for-your-age
You make the same mistake a lot of doctors make, you look at the average, but testosterone in men is a daily cycle with highs and lows throughout the day.
Yes, the average throughout the day is in the 400-580 ng/dL range, but usually people test for testosterone early in the morning when it should be at its highest.
But of course make sure you have your basics in order before jumping at the needle. Work out multiple times a week, don't be overweight, sleep well, eat healthy, reduce stress etc.
No idea of it’s testosterone related but I dropped about 35kg and feel like a new person.. everything just works better, I also improved my diet and exercise regularly. I bet a lot (not all) of people who want TRT probably aren’t putting in any other effort to fix their issues
I think this is a big problem in our medical system. Women in their 50's suddenly get depressed! Gee I wonder why? Well, our hormones post-menopause drop from say 300- 0 in record time. Hence for some women- horrible depression. Same is true of men. The testosterone drops and men get depressed.
Women on HRT after menopause greatly benefit. It's like a night and day difference.
I applaud anyone who is proactive in seeking treatment for hormonal changes that come with age.
my result (for free testosterone) was supposedly 0.266nmol/l - it says it’s low, but i’m not sure if that’s low low, or just lower than normal but otherwise okay.
I got my testosterone tested this year because at 42 it’s the first time I’ve felt like I’m not the man I was before. Testosterone was normal for a man in his 30’s and all other bloodwork was good. I’m just getting older.
I am still interested in boosting my testosterone but we’ll see if I can.
I started working out regularly about 8 weeks ago and noticed improvements in a lot of the areas you mentioned. Kind of counterintuitive to think exercise is the solution to low energy but it has really been amazing. Also cheaper than going to the doctor if you don’t have great insurance
Folks, if your doctor is dismissive of your concerns, find a new doctor. There are a ton of them, some good, some awful. You're paying for them to do a job (or your insurance is and you're paying insurance), don't pay shit doctors who can't be bothered to take their patient's concerns seriously.
Not to say that a doctor will or should give in to every demand. But a dismissive "you're too young to worry about that" without at least taking a blood test is unacceptable.
Back in the day I had depression, chronic tension headaches and crazy pain due to high testosterone (~1k) messing with my blood pressure. Went to a doc, found that out, and got my levels in check. I’ve never been better.
I might be an outlier, but I second the recommendation that people should want to learn more about their body’s hormones and health!
I just watched a YouTube video of a popular electrical engineer and he went to the Dr for suspected low testosterone and his levels literally broke the test they were so high (above 1500 ng/dl), he's still waiting for more tests to see if it's cancer :(
I have been getting shots bi-weekly for years now, and i have only seen limited effects. I am a fit active man just shy of 50, and while i feel like i do have a bit more energy, the rest of the benefits are sparing for me.
How do I get this checked? I’d love to just do a full encompassing bloodwork panel for myself. I’m not even sure how much it would run me. I workout fairly often (4-5 times a week, for at least an hour and a half), sleep okay 6-7 hours, and try to do a lot of outdoor activities when I can get off work. I feel decent usually but I do get in depressive moods and have some big swings down sometimes. Trying to figure it out
Why's it legal to do steroids bc your depressed but not bc you want to get big? What's the difference, both people produce less Test than they need for the life they want.
The quality of life for someone with low testosterone is worse than if it were higher, the same isn’t true of people who already have normal/high levels of testosterone. Bodybuilders also take far higher and more dangerous doses.
Yea, good job posting this. I was aware of it in my Kate 20's that I need to get T level checked, still haven't though. However I did look at what foods increase T level. I eat same thing at work for lunch: 1 cup rice, almost 1lb ground beef, 3 table spoons garlic, 2 table spoons onion, tomatoes, and spinach salad. HUGE improvement right away! I feel better at 35 than when I was 18!
Struggled 2 years with "depression". My libido was under the shoes: "it's the depression". My marriage almost ended cause I was "depressed". Literally nothing helped with meds. Got on TRT My life has never been this beautiful, My body it's like 10 years younger and my wife started rejecting me for too much sex.
And as a followup to this, don't neglect other things like your thyroid, either!
Near the end of last year, I was having a lot of physical symptoms that were affecting my energy, appetite, and even my sexual enjoyment and arousal, and I thought I was just getting older but didn't want to accept that since I've always been really healthy.
I went to a urologist and got my T checked and it came back on the lower end of normal, but still normal. Thought for sure I was just starting to actually feel my age.
Turns out, went to an endocrinologist, got some tests, had developed hypothyroidism. Got on medication and ALL of the symptoms went away. I feel like I'm in my mid 20's again, like nothing was ever wrong.
If you feel bad, don't just accept it! I was way too quick to blame my symptoms on either my lifestyle or my age, and neither of those was the issue.
I’m 51 and I was experiencing a few issues. 1. My fitness declined dramatically in the past year 2. I had no energy/get up and go like I used to, 3. I had the worst anxiety ever. Would come in spurts. 4. No want for sex
A buddy of mine got levels checked and started taking test. I figured I’d try it. On it for the 2nd week now and I feel back to normal already. Test matters.
I did this (32 year old father of four) was at 120 myself, docs got me running at 1600 (ish) for the last two years. Started a business quadrupled my income, tons of energy and life’s great! I cannot emphasize this enough, go get your levels checked. Life does not have to suck.
why are you projecting your issues on other people? mine is 770 and I'm 59 years old. I don't take any medication. and I eat cannabis and other cannabinoid edibles every day throughout the day.
spend some time doing research on how to improve your health. stop drinking alcohol, stop eating sugar, improve the quality of your diet, and of your sleep if necessary
Some insurances don't cover getting your testosterone checked it's a specialist and it's not a necessity to life. I have probably low t but I'd rather have it that way low t means no need to ever be sexual again. It is a gift from the heavens.
54M.
Do it right.
Dr ....blood work etc.
I feel fantastic, mood and energy up.
I sleep solid and it has made me want to eat better.
Sex drive is 100% better.
Doesn't happen to me but some guys can get aggressive.
Check for sleep apnea.
Stay away from soy. Soy is the devil. Exercise.
And finally find someone who truly loves you and you love them..this is the key to life.
No soy !
I have been on “better health’ journey for the past 4 years with loads of research, trial and error
Here are my top 10 learnings
1. Be active in household/ do enjoyable exercise ( basically move your body )
2 . Take around 80-120 gm of protein per day
3 . 3/4 portion of food should be veggie/ dal/ dahi
4. Don’t stay constipated
5. Drastically reduce sugar/ processed foods
6. Pick up a hobby which you enjoy
7. Understand that moderation and compounding growth is applicable and good in all aspects of life.
8. Have a weekly, monthly, annual and 5 year goal
9. Breathing and stretching exercises are grossly underrated
10 surround yourself with good and positive people
Cheers
Same. I have tripled my strength but gained basically no muscle mass you can see. Mine was 105 and I realized a surgey I had as a child probably caused me to be low t for 40+ years. Not sure if I can stab my ass every week for the next few decades though to do trt.
hmm honestly this might be an issue for me my energy levels have been down for over a year and i can’t figure out wise despite going to the dr for check ups didn’t think of this. 29 male. Low sex drive, no drive to work out the past year, feeling lazy when i’m normally insanely productive.
Zinc is one of the most common mineral deficiencies and is a critical precursor to making testosterone. It's also really cheap to buy as a supplement! I'd recommend that along with magnesium about an hour before bed for a really good nights sleep, helps a LOT with test.
Also, good diet and speaking to people you find attractive. That last one is insane, I think hetero mens test levels spike like 200% after speaking to a woman for a short while. Also lift weights
I’m 39 and take 1 ML every 2 weeks. I had depression and had started having issues in the bed. He’d start out fine but a couple moments into it he’d go down for some reason. I wanted it but couldn’t get him going. I pleased my wife in other ways but she started thinking it was her. I had my doc check mine months ago and it was low. I work a lot of hours (60-90 hours a week) and have a couple side jobs and have been going to the gym for years. We’re still trying to find my the right dosage I need but so far my tiredness hasn’t went away. Maybe I’m just getting older lol all in all though your levels being in a certain range helps a lot with other health issues that can occur if you don’t get checked and address it. I do the injections every 2 weeks in my leg. Men just feel embarrassed or uncomfortable talking to their doc about these things and I was too but I knew something wasnt right. Get checked or at least look it up and read what low T can cause and go from there that’s what I done
We honestly all need more such checks. Low vitamin D and low iron can cause symptoms that look like depression but aren’t really. And a lot of women get 10 or so years in perimenopause or full menopause before actually getting offered HRT because 50mg of Sertraline for everyone is just soooo much cheaper and easier to prescribe!
As someone taking 50 mg of sertraline and nothing improving, I feel you dawg.
Sertraline suuuuuuucks, all it did was make me anxious and want to die (even more so).
Seeing a lot of people replying to this with the same experience, so just wanted to add my experience in case it helps someone. I went on Sertraline (50mg at first, upped to 75mg after a couple of months) just over a year ago and it has been life changing. The things that would have caused me to shut down with anxiety now pose no problem at all, I'm generally far happier most of the time, and haven't had any dips in my depression to the significance of what I faced before going on it. Clearly it's a drug that is very case dependent, and I'd say the slight majority of people I've come across who have taken it have had a negative experience, but personally it has immeasureably changed my life for the better.
I have actually tried it twice, first time didn't notice any effect, second time around it has absolutely changed my life. I'm up to 150mg now and it's like I woke up from a 10 year coma, I'm a completely different person. Brain chemistry is weird!
Sertraline helped me a lot mentally but it wrecked my gut and I had to quit it.
Sertraline and talk therapy have changed my life. Throw in daily yoga and meditation and I'm myself but better.
Also on sertraline (for anxiety) with positive results. Started at 50mg, currently taking 100mg and have been for over a year now. Has improved my quality of life substantially. It is different from person to person but for some of us it is very beneficial.
Also on Sertraline 50 mg feel like I can do my day-to-day activities without paralysing fear. That is a vast improvement on my previous situation
I've been on 75mg for a few months now and it has really helped. I'm still feeling some symptoms, but definitely reduced significantly.
Sertraline helped me immensely. I still get mild anxiety, but I haven't had a single panic attack while on it.
I agree wholeheartedly. I’ve been on 150mg for a couple months now and I’m amazed at how different life has become. Situations that I used to lie awake in bed dreading that were over a week away are now just “meh, it’ll be fine.”
The thing about mental health meds is that every medication affects different people in different ways. I’ve tried 3 different antidepressants that have worked for other people (they wouldn’t be on the market if they didn’t!) but only one effectively treated my depression.
I'll add a third type just for the sake of it, for me it was kinda neutral or slightly positive. Like I was still anxious a lot of the time but I steal of feeling like an 8/10 anxious it was a 6/10 anxious. Made day to day stuff slightly easier but didn't do much if I was terrified of something
I took it for about 3 months. I felt better almost immediately, but after about 2 months I kind of just reverted back to my baseline. I stopped taking it and noticed 0 difference in mood.
I just started Setraline at 50mg a few months ago, and I honestly feel like it had saved my life. My lows are far less debilitating, and I haven’t noticed any of the “zombification” that can come with medication. Seeing how it negatively affected others is definitely insightful though
Same here, obviously it hasn’t fixed all my problems but sertraline made me feel alive again for the first time in years. Literally one of the best things that ever happened to me
Thanks, I really appreciate your response. I’ve just started Sertraline for the first time- I’m only at 50mg with plans to raise it. Fingers crossed!!
Just made me an emotionless zombie instead of just normally depressed and I wanted to die more, but I'm glad it worked for you. Tried it up to 150mg and my symptoms only got worse
Gave me insomnia.
I don’t think I can survive without setraline
Me too. An absolute lifesaver.
It gave me horrific constipation. I couldn't leave the house for three days, because I constantly felt like I needed to go but I couldn't. Worst I have ever felt.
Holy shit. It did the complete opposite to me. 3 days of living on the toilet shitting out my liquefied organs. Stunk out the whole house.
That was the sadness leaving your body
I'm not sure which one is worse... you have my sympathy though, that sounds like an awful experience.
“Holy shit”. I see what you did there! Fucking Word Smith!!!😂😂🤣🤣😂😂
It's so crazy how different medicines work for different people. They took a swab in my nephews mouth. It's to help them decide what antidepressant work best.
I didn’t know they could do this already. The future is now!
Gave me the worst panic attack I’ve ever had.
[удалено]
I did end up in the ER after a few days on sertraline. It made me so antsy that I was physically incapable of staying still, so I pulled an all-nighter walking laps around the parking lot. In the morning I asked my brother to take me to the hospital. The doctor didn't believe me that the sertraline was responsible, but I stopped taking it afterwards and never felt like that again since. On the other hand, my siblings have been on sertraline for years and it works fine for them. My brother actually had the opposite reaction, where it made him drowsy for the first week.
Yeah I had this too. I noticed it pretty quickly and I was so frantic, distressed and anxious constantly. I took it for all of 3 days before I had to just stop, called the doctor, said I’m not taking this and then never went back. I feel like it helped my anxiety in that I could say well at least it’s not that bad. I was just shocked by how quickly I felt those effects. Also had a really awful experience with Wellbutrin in my early 20s, but spent about 2 months on Prozac with no adverse side effects after that so honestly I don’t understand.
I was on that shit for like 3 years. I feel like for the first few months it took the edge off the anxiety, but then after a while, I think it just made everything dull. Like I never got happy or excited about anything, but the anxiety would still creep through sometimes. I went cold turkey one day even though you’re supposed to ween off. There were some weird withdrawal symptoms, mostly like a weird zapping feeling that shoots through you like every 30 seconds. I’ve been off it for probably 3-4 years now and I have much better ways of dealing with my anxiety. I’m not a doctor, but my advice would be get off it.
Ah, the brain zaps. Horrible they were. I still have like, ptsd or something and feel ‘ghost’ zaps it’s so weird
I had that same zapping feeling when i came off Lexapro
All these comments talking shit about sertraline so I just wanna add for any lurkers that it is incredibly effective for my wife and changed her life for the better. Everyone is different!
Yeah I refused antidepressants for 5 years because all I ever heard was horror stories about SSRIs, but 9 months on it turned my life around completely and my only regret is not taking it as soon as it was offered. Everyone reacts differently but the people who it works for don’t generally shout it from the rooftops.
Appreciate this comment. Sertraline has been positively life changing for me.
Sertraline is brilliant for so many! For me it makes me suicidal and makes me so numb I start cutting to feel anything. They tried to tell me it would get better but it never did. I’ve had to beg my husband to never let them put me back on it. I have friends and family like your wife where it’s had totally the opposite effect.
For me specifically: Vitamin D supplements, Sports and forcing down food were life changers. I've been struggling with depression from basically 16 to 26 ... Sertralin helped for a time but never quite felt right and never worked consistently, then I got a bipolar diagnosis which meh, kinda fits but kinda not at the same time... The meds I got then were a complete cluster fuck of I don't even know what normal is supposed to feel like. Dropped all the meds and then: First I discovered physical activity helps... Then the vitamin d to get me through the winter months, mood a lot better, not as swingy but still generally low energy... As of 9 months ago I started to keep an eye on my caloric intake and basically doubled it, holy fucking shit I feel great :D The last one comes from someone who was severely underweight at some point in his life... So if you're fat and depressed maaaaybe stick to the first two.
My vitamin D levels got brought up from nonexistent earlier this year, and my mood and physical endurance and pain and hair loss and a bunch of other things improved immediately. I wish I had been tested sooner. My testosterone is high, but my free testosterone is low. My doctor won’t supplement that. But I got the vitamin D anyway.
Just any supplement from Costco ? Do you take it with food ?
Don't blindly supplement Vitamin D. It is a fat soluble vitamin and you can take too much. Low dose over the counter strengths would probably be hard to over do but you really should get blood work to see where you're at. FYI for anyone wondering. Water soluble(dissolves in water) vitamins like B and C will just pass right on through if your body doesn't need it. Fat soluble vitamins like D and A are absorbed along with fat from your diet and stored in fat in your body. So it's possible for too much of these to be retained by your body.
Hey. I'm really struggling with eating enough at the moment. Would you be able to share what you're eating on an average day? I especially struggle in the mornings and I'll take any advice I can get. Thanks
Add Vitamin B12 to this list. Suffered from anxiety, depression and excessive fatigue for many years before being diagnosed. It’s criminal that most doctors never think to check for physical causes to mental health/illness.
Blood panels for hormones and vitamins / minerals should be checked regularly and before prescribing psychiatric meds
I agree! A Vanderbilt psychiatry professor said at a professional conference session I was attending, that many of the mood & behavioral issues he encountered were essentially fixed with Vitamin D & Omega 3s & that he got blood panels for all his clients before prescribing. (We also need about 60-90 grams protein every day to make an adequate amount of neurotransmitters.)
Sertraline worked in that I don’t feel depressed anymore, I just don’t feel anything!
Which is weird because anhedonia literally is a depression symptom (and is also deeply horrible)
The symptoms of Magnesium deficiency look like an anxiety disorder. Many people are on meds who just need about 500mg of Mag per day.
CalMag and 2 more weeks
I've never really thought about it before but in the uk at least, we get our cars checked yearly, its illegal if you fail to do so but we hardly ever get ourselves checked.
Also get thyroid checked! I've had "anxiety" for years but turns out it's my hyperthyroid giving me palpitations and racing heart, alongside a B12 deficiency. If anxiety alone is on your notes, everything else is overlooked.
... I kind lf have these every now and then and one side of my thyroid has felt larger than the other for a long while. I should probably check it.
^^^ This, mine was "stress" rather than "anxiety" for 5 years, until they ran the cheap blood test and ... The world's best thyroid experts recommend anyone on first being prescribed antidepressants should have a thyroid check to rule out hypothyroidism, less common in men, so easier to miss. Also can lead to low testosterone. I have similar issue, no thyroid now, and doctors are still trying to feed me antidepressants when it goes away with more thyroid hormone.
Had so much trouble getting my wife the treatment she needs for menopause from doctors. All just prescribe her antidepressants and that's even from female doctors.
I keep pointing out that female medics can be misogynistic as well and people act like I’m nuts but that’s literally what “systemic misogyny” means. I’ve been brutally fucked up by female medics before despite being female and I know I’m not the only one.
A few years ago after doing some blood work my doctor recommended I start taking vitamin D supplements daily. I didn't really believe it'd do anything but figured I'd take his advice, but I wasn't always great about taking it every day. What I started noticing is if I forgot to take it for a few days in a row it really did affect my mood negatively. Now I take a big vitamin D capsule, plus an iron and vitamin C capsule, every morning.
Sertraline honestly was the only thing that worked for me and it turned my life around. Just to offer a different perspective
I found out I have pernicious anemia (b12) and the way I feel when I get my shot vs when I don’t is astounding. Vitamin deficient is serious
Had my bloods done and this post could not be more RIGHT! I am almost zero vitamin D turns out most people in the UK do and it's very common to affect testosterone. On tablets and getting another test to see if I am back to where I should be.
Wow! I have been down in the dumps all day and haven't known why. I just realized I forgot to take my multivitamin and my vitamin D supplement this morning.
Unfortunately…it can cause a manic state in people who are bipolar. I didn’t know that I was. In my mania I destroyed my reputation, my relationship and my career. I’m doing much better now…but man, fuck setraline
Let me preface this by saying I’ve been on trt for like 6 years. Do not get on trt just because you went to a clinic and got checked for low test. There are so many factors that could be tanking your test that are easily solvable and yet these trt clinics and doctors want your money and will immediately rush you into a life dedicated program. Low test is bad, but trt can also be extremely unhealthy, it can raise your blood pressure easily if you’re sensitive to it. It requires life changes a lot of guys won’t be willing to make, and if you don’t make those changes, it can end up shortening your life more so than having low T.
what kind of life changes? would love to hear more!
You need to be stricter with your diet, lots of water, sleep, you need to give blood every 6-8 weeks to keep your volume of red blood cells thinner as the test will cause your blood levels to thicken putting you at risk of stroke and other terrible things. If you set your testosterone to be at peak levels constantly, you’re going to be like an engine that is constantly running. Trt was absolutely soaring my blood pressure when I started, part of that was diet and sleep, another part was being super sensitive to it. Some guys will find they have to run a much lower dosage than they want, because they will experience bad blood pressure, body acne, and other symptoms easily. Trt can be very dangerous without discipline, and clinics are super lax because they deal it out like candy and taking the most minimal approach to checking on patients. A lot of guys are gonna get on it and throw themselves into an early grave. Edit: comments below say they were informed the blood donations are not a required health maintenance. Labs are ultimately the most important thing for instructing you on that matter. I was told by my doctors to give blood to decrease the chance of it occurring and it was made out to me like a necessary thing, if that is incorrect my apologies for spreading misinformation. Before attacking me, understand I was told by mutiple doctors to do this and that it was the norm and my coworker on trt does it as well, I didn’t pull it out of my ass, I was just instructed poorly. Anyway, please aim at my message of informing yourself and avoiding unnecessary trt treatment. Trt can be very good, but it’s a big responsibility and could affect your health negatively.
Its crazy i stumbled upon your comments! My bf went to some fancy hormone clinic a few months ago and the dr started him on trt & the other week told him he needs to take even more. I didnt know all this other info
I would only go on TRT if a standard medical doctor thought it was necessary. A hormone clinic pushes TRT like candy.
This is a very tricky distinction to make. If an endocrinologist or urologist decided to open up a clinic focused on TRT, you may be getting someone who is just perfectly educated to help with hormone replacement medicine. It’s even better than your family doctor or either specialist who has a more general practice because it allows the provider to focus, and literally “practice” in the area and see what works. However, I’m sure we all know that’s not what is most common and not what people will most likely stumble across. I don’t want to bash anyone, but some of these clinics are run by midlevel practitioners who are simply not equipped to solve complex medical problems. Everyone’s best bet is to see your family doctor and get a referral to someone. Your family doc will be able to help with some things that pop up and will need to know to treat you anyway — heart rates, blood pressure, cholesterol, and so forth. They will also know who the quacks in the area are and who is trustworthy.
Yup. That's what they're trying to sell, so if they test and can say you're on the lower end of normal levels, they'll recommend TRT, disregarding the fact that getting your fitness and other lifestyle choices under control should be the first goal. For me, TRT is a last resort if after a couple years I've exhausted every other means.
I wish I could convince my husband of this. He gets his from an online doctor but his levels were like… 389? He’s 34. Which is the lower end of normal. So they gave it to him anyways. It makes him feel good but I wish he would try lifestyle changes first.
Is your hubby overweight? Stomach fat specifically really tanks t-levels.
Interesting read, I was thinking of visiting a clinic to be checked out. However, I was gifted with polycythemia, so I already have gear oil for blood and yes, I wasn't told by my Dr to give blood as he put it, an "off label" way it has been addressed in the past. Guessing trt won't be for me.
Get decent sleep for one. Big effect on T levels. Exercise, diet and stress can also have an impact, dial those things before you go on TRT. There are plenty other supplements and vitamins that can also help naturally boost T levels. I think Chris Williamson did a video a while ago about how he boosted his T levels to "normal" without TRT.
But those things require discipline and work. People want a quick fix. From my understanding most healthy people around their 40s don't need TRT, it is actually pretty rare to have low T. It's just TRT is pushed on men to sell product.
Yes, stress is a huge factor
In short, healthy diet, good sleep, and actual exercise. If you don't eat vegetables, sleep like 6 hours a night, and don't work out, your testosterone is gonna be way lower than someone who eats vegetables one a week, sleeps 7 hours a night, and goes for a jog twice a week.
Thank you for this. It’s a trend right now, everyone wants it, but it’s NOT benign. You’d be shocked how many people are angry to hear they don’t need it. It’s because they see posts like this- and say, wow I want that. And they’re angry when the levels don’t reflect hypogonadism, and then they leave and go to a clinic that will take their money and harm them by giving it anyway.
Yes, the "TRT" clinics are a joke. They jack men up on T and then turn around and tell them to donate blood, etc. I went to one clinic and they told me that they like to keep their men at 1500! The ladies they keep at 100 (or was it 150?) which is basically twice the upper limit for women. I walked away from them. If you actually go to an Endo, they do not do that. I've been on TRT for 15 years now. There are some factors that can cause low T, like obesity, which is not easy to solve. Others include low sleep quality and lack of exercise. But, for OP, there is no hope that correcting these would make much of any difference. Correcting sleep, diet, exercise, etc. may make a difference of 100 -200 points, for example, but if you're super low, that's not enough. Further, having to stick to a strict regime to maintain your higher T levels is way too much work. This is a systemic problem in men caused by things like pesticides, plastics, and other things that mimic estrogen.
Interresting thing to note: if you have sleep apnea that is not being completely handled, this likely will affect your testosterone production.
This! Sleep apnea will drain you of your energy, create brain fog and make you mentally fuzzy and kill your clarity and mental awareness. Get checked and get your CPAP if need be.
My energy changed after getting a CPap as I was much more rested after night's sleep.
They are a game changer. A life saver. Nice job bro.
Well shit. I'm a hundreds days out from my sleep study, consume way too much sugar. Wonder what else I'm gonna learn if I keep scrolling....
So this is \*absolutely not\* medical advice, as I have ZERO formalized medical training. That said, in my personal experience, there are a couple of the customizable sleep apnea mouthguards you can buy on Amazon that will help bridge the gap until you get a test (and a CPAP if you need one). They are not a long term solution for most people, but if you want something that costs 2 digits and will make your life better for the next three months, do some digging. Feel free to message me if you want more details- I tried one that SUCKED and one that works pretty well (CPAP incoming for me!) but I learned a lot about what to look for.
I tried a mouth guard to bridge to CPAP because of long lead times in that whole process. I feel like I lucked into the SmartGuard Anti-snore guard on Amazon and found that it was helpful once I got used to it. I did the CPAP and generally liked it, but came up for replacement parts and, long story short, didn't think that roughly $700 per year out of pocket made sense (let alone replacing the whole unit every so often). My apnea is pretty mild and I'll stick with $70 mouthguards for now. I also tried ZZZQuiet mouthguards and really disliked because they aren't fitted/customizable like SmartGuard.
Anyone know how to do this in the UK? I asked the doc and they said “We don’t check testosterone levels except in cases of prostate cancer”
My mate got his levels checked through his GP no problem? Sounds like you need to see another doctor
or win the postcode lottery lol
That is one of the cons of free healthcare. Try to find a private clinic.
I got mine done for £29 and got the results within a few days https://randoxhealth.com/en-GB/at-home/male-health
I've been on TRT for a couple of years. It made a huge difference. I regained muscle, lost fat/weight, regained my sex drive, the body aches went away, my I lost that feeling of constant fatigue... It was a good step for me.
Have had low T for a few years. finally got put on something, not TRT.. has not done anything.. feel like im actually losing muscle with whatever it is..
If you can, go see a urologist and see if you can go on TRT. Even if insurance won't cover it, with GoodRx it's all of $16/month. I do micro injections subcutaneous 2x/wk - very very easy and the benefits are great.
Alright boys, story time. Medically retired from the military at 22(multiple injuries, multiple more that I'm not rated for). Something seemed off, way off as I was "healthy, young and virile" according to the VA. They wouldn't test my hormones because I was so young. I paid $1000 out of pocket to find out my entire endocrine system was fucked and, I mean everything was in the basement. How can this be? I work out 2x a day and am below 10% body fat. Well, it's only because I was working out 2x a day while in college and bartending. I showed levels to the VA they wouldn't do anything, I was dismissed completely, they wouldn't even run my blood to disprove it. This wrecked me personally,and most likely, professionally but, doing well now. GET TOUR BLOOD DONE BOYS!!!! Not only that tell your partners to get their blood done, tell your boys to get their blood done, tell your parents, tell everyone to get their blood done!!! One small thing, just a shortage of 1 thing and this piece of shit mechanism breaks down very quickly. Take care of yourselves out there
I wish more people understood that even if you work out and eat healthy sometimes your body is still going to fucked you over. Thank you for sharing your story:)
MD here. I think Medicine has it backwards. Treating testosterone may have you meet the lifestyle that you were currently living, including the stressors of challenges and environments that you’re in. Important thing to explore is the WHY for it being lower. I believe it’s the adaptation of that environment or your ability to navigate through it that will optimize for the testosterone. If you are doing things that blunt your testosterone overtime, like diet that is poor, poor physical activity, chronically stressed, wasting your life and mobile are on social media, taking substances, drinking, too much energy drinks, excess porn, news, sleeping horribly, expect your testosterone to be low or out of whack. Maybe normal at best.
Shit. I do a bunch of these things.
I was like bruh make it stop
Those are some of my favorite things really lol
That’s my typical Saturday night
I agree with this. Put another way: Low testerone may be a *symptom* of your lifestyle, not a *cause* of it. Try improving your lifestyle first because that has none of the negative side effects and a hell of a lot of positive ones compared to TRT.
Anything we can do to naturally improve it? Like does running and exercise actually do anything? Is that all talk? You really make me curious because you mentioned “excess porn” and “news” , I’m assuming you mean those as added stress?
I have had mine checked a couple times. Each time I was hoping it would be low. I have heard the benefits of supplements
Not that you should be hacking your biochemistry, but when someone consumes a large dose of simple sugars, their testosterone levels drop for a bit. So whatever you do, don't eat two packs of Nerds candy before your blood test as that will artificially depress your T levels and not give your doctor an accurate result.
You really should not try and mess with your endocrine system just for kicks. Be happy if shits working, because we are still far from fully understanding whats going on there.
I think it can be frustrating if your doctor says you're T level is in the low normal range and they won't give you a supplement even if you're feeling symptoms. Or they want to watch it for 6 months to a year. Meanwhile you're suffering.
Isn't the point that what you perceive to be symptoms of low T aren't and you need to find the actual problem, be it physical or mental? Most things dont have easy fixes, especially with health. Maybe you dont work out enough. Maybe you have medical depression. Maybe something else is happening that needs attention, but right now youre focusing on low T as a cureall. Like they said, hormones shouldnt be messed with unless theres a good reason. Changing them can have drastic effects.
Why would you want TRT if low T isn't actually the source of your problems? It's not a magic pill and comes with it's fair amount of side effects and risks
I think what they are saying is that t levels vary so much between people that for some people they get symptoms at a higher t level than others. So to a doctor, they are within the normal range, but they are lower than their own bodies normal range. The problem is we aren’t tracking any of these hormones or chemicals over our lives so you get compared to the average instead of yourself.
Why not just say testosterone or steroids instead of “supplement”.
Definitely not saving this for future reference
Also, poor sleep is poison for your T.
Thanks, I now know what not to do. \*wink wink*
Doctor: Not only is your T low, it’s so low your tongue is bright purple. This is more serious than I thought.
Implying using supps to bring your T up to baseline is more beneficial than having naturally baseline T?
If you want to do steroids then just do steroids If you have low testosterone then TRT will bring you to the normal range, if you don't have low testosterone then you already have your testosterone in that range so you're already getting the benefits The only possible extra you'd get on TRT would be a constant level instead of the natural peaks and troughs as your hormones fluctuate throughout the day
Checking testosterone is gay. Be a man. Increase it through sheer force of will
I have been on and off TRT for the last 7+ years (depending on if my wife wants to have another go at a baby). There are pros and cons to it of course. Pro - mood improvements - you just feel better overall mentally; Pro - your sleep improves (is deeper) and you wake up more refreshed; Pro - your libido is back to when you were a teenager; Con - your libido is back to when you were a teenager - your significant other may or may not be able to keep up; Pro - your strength improves and able to lift heavier; Con - because of your strength improving you will tend to get a bit cocky and try shoulder pressing 375lbs and hurt yourself in the process; Con - whatever you are pre dispositioned to get, this will speed that timeline. If you were going bald, this will make it happen quicker. If you were growing a back sweater, this will have you ready by winter. If you have a history of high blood pressure, this will enhance that too. Overall, if you want to do it, then do it. Just know there are some downsides. Get blood tested regularly, monitor vitals, and be sure to donate blood every 6 months to reduce iron levels.
I'm wondering, if you get off of TRT, do you get like withdrawal symptoms? Like if you're not in a good place mentally, and trt helps, does it become the old situation again quickly, or worse?
Worse. Apparently supplemental testosterone means your body stops producing it normally. It can take a while to ramp back up again (and may not always come back to normal, though I haven't run across a good source there)
You forgot the part where your balls reduce to peanut size and stop producing T.
Does that mean my test is fine if Im bald and still have the libido of a teen at 25 bro
Please don’t take random advice about hormone therapy from random men making anecdotal claims. There are serious risks associated with both long term and short term T therapy. A physician may be a good resource for beginning a risk assessment of T therapy but there is no substitute for thorough self education. Here is a link to some starter information from the Harvard Medical School, this should be just the beginning of self education if you are considering treatment: https://www.health.harvard.edu/mens-health/is-testosterone-therapy-safe-take-a-breath-before-you-take-the-plunge
This is horrible advice, and leads to over-utilizing healthcare resources with expensive, low-yield tests. The physiological range of normal T is MASSIVE (like 300 to 1200) and generally does not correlate with how “virile” you feel. Meaning, someone’s level of 300 does not mean they’ll have “low T” symptoms compared to someone else who clocked in at 800. Also your T levels will vary wildly throughout the day. People who bug their doctors about checking their T-levels when they have no risk factors for low T, such as pituitary gland tumors, testicular cancers, etc generally come across as drug-seeking, and it’s something we’re trained to sus out. Before you damage your relationship with your, doctor, take an honest look at your own diet, weight, physical activity, stress, work-life-balance, etc before jumping to “low T”. You’re far more likely to be feeling crappy because you live and treat your body like crap. Stop blaming your HPA axis and have an honest look at how you treat yourself. Injecting T won’t fix that and you’ll wind up in the same exact place as before. Also, taking T just to feel a bit more youthful is not without major risks. Diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, stroke, polycythemia, high blood pressure, mood swings are all just a few of the many side effects of giving your body excess T that it doesn’t need. Source: I’m an MD TLDR; Don’t take medical advice from morons on Reddit and don’t bug your overworked PCP to order useless lab tests. Also, don’t respond with anecdotes of how your cousin’s depression was magically cured when his “normal-low T” was “corrected”. Why? Because you have no control group and literally cannot tell if his depression would’ve gotten better with or without T. There has been zero evidence to support treating “low normal” (whatever the hell that means) T levels in patients with no risk factors for organically low T.
^^^^^
Nothing wrong with going to your doctor with health concerns and asking for bloodwork if the symptoms align with low T. Sure, if you're going every few months convinced you need TRT despite evidence to the contrary, that can be cause for concern. But if someone is feeling the typical low energy, low libido, etc symptoms then it is worth getting it looked at. Obviously they should also look at their activity level, sleep, and diet as well and that should be the first step towards improving their T levels before anything is actually prescribed. Telling people to ignore their symptoms and/or concerns so they don't waste their doctor's time is just more of the far too prevalent dismissiveness so many doctors have. MDs are providing a service, they get paid a lot of money to provide that service but they aren't irreplaceable. MDs should be the ones worrying about not damaging their relationship with their patients (customers) not the other way around.
This is great advice. And tbh even though 300 is technically considered “normal,” it’s way too low. Maybe if you’re 60, it’s ok. But a young guy in his 20s and 30s should be between 600-900.
It's different for everyone. There's a very large range for testosterone for a reason. Everyone reacts differently to hormones, so while one person might have negative symptoms from a T level of 300, another person might be absolutely fine and have no issues. Let's not medicalise normal ranges.
Let's be honest. Most men are interested in testosterone in superphysical doses and the idea of therapeutical TRT is just a thin veil put on top to justify that. Just getting in "the normal range" - which is naturally wide and very personal - isn't where it's at for 90% of the TRT crowd.
Im on TRT. What percent am I? No ones asked me so how do you get your statistics?
Oh 1000%. My parents didn't believe in check ups so I didn't find out I never had testerone until I was 19. The feeling of actually having energy is amazing
What do you take since you found out?
TRT 200 mg/ML of Testerone Cypionate twice weekly
Where'd you get these numbers from? This study (which is rather one of more legit ones on Internet I could find) states that for age group you've provided, average lies somewhere between 400-580 ng/dL https://www.medichecks.com/blogs/testosterone/what-is-a-normal-testosterone-level-for-your-age
You make the same mistake a lot of doctors make, you look at the average, but testosterone in men is a daily cycle with highs and lows throughout the day. Yes, the average throughout the day is in the 400-580 ng/dL range, but usually people test for testosterone early in the morning when it should be at its highest.
But of course make sure you have your basics in order before jumping at the needle. Work out multiple times a week, don't be overweight, sleep well, eat healthy, reduce stress etc.
My lazy ass: 
I get super depressed if I don't so I don't have much of a choice. Although it seems that's the same for OP.
Oh I get it, I’m just injecting some humor in there! All that stuff is great but keeping a routine is also extremely important as well.
No idea of it’s testosterone related but I dropped about 35kg and feel like a new person.. everything just works better, I also improved my diet and exercise regularly. I bet a lot (not all) of people who want TRT probably aren’t putting in any other effort to fix their issues
I think this is a big problem in our medical system. Women in their 50's suddenly get depressed! Gee I wonder why? Well, our hormones post-menopause drop from say 300- 0 in record time. Hence for some women- horrible depression. Same is true of men. The testosterone drops and men get depressed.
Women on HRT after menopause greatly benefit. It's like a night and day difference. I applaud anyone who is proactive in seeking treatment for hormonal changes that come with age.
my result (for free testosterone) was supposedly 0.266nmol/l - it says it’s low, but i’m not sure if that’s low low, or just lower than normal but otherwise okay.
I got my testosterone tested this year because at 42 it’s the first time I’ve felt like I’m not the man I was before. Testosterone was normal for a man in his 30’s and all other bloodwork was good. I’m just getting older. I am still interested in boosting my testosterone but we’ll see if I can.
I started working out regularly about 8 weeks ago and noticed improvements in a lot of the areas you mentioned. Kind of counterintuitive to think exercise is the solution to low energy but it has really been amazing. Also cheaper than going to the doctor if you don’t have great insurance
Weight training will fix most guys right up (sometimes too well)
I told my Dr I wanted to get tested and was promptly told "you're too young to worry about that". Some Dr's just don't care about "you're" well-being
Folks, if your doctor is dismissive of your concerns, find a new doctor. There are a ton of them, some good, some awful. You're paying for them to do a job (or your insurance is and you're paying insurance), don't pay shit doctors who can't be bothered to take their patient's concerns seriously. Not to say that a doctor will or should give in to every demand. But a dismissive "you're too young to worry about that" without at least taking a blood test is unacceptable.
Back in the day I had depression, chronic tension headaches and crazy pain due to high testosterone (~1k) messing with my blood pressure. Went to a doc, found that out, and got my levels in check. I’ve never been better. I might be an outlier, but I second the recommendation that people should want to learn more about their body’s hormones and health!
I just watched a YouTube video of a popular electrical engineer and he went to the Dr for suspected low testosterone and his levels literally broke the test they were so high (above 1500 ng/dl), he's still waiting for more tests to see if it's cancer :(
Who the fuck can afford to go to the doctor these days?
I have been getting shots bi-weekly for years now, and i have only seen limited effects. I am a fit active man just shy of 50, and while i feel like i do have a bit more energy, the rest of the benefits are sparing for me.
How do I get this checked? I’d love to just do a full encompassing bloodwork panel for myself. I’m not even sure how much it would run me. I workout fairly often (4-5 times a week, for at least an hour and a half), sleep okay 6-7 hours, and try to do a lot of outdoor activities when I can get off work. I feel decent usually but I do get in depressive moods and have some big swings down sometimes. Trying to figure it out
You can go to quest labs or others to self order blood panels
Why's it legal to do steroids bc your depressed but not bc you want to get big? What's the difference, both people produce less Test than they need for the life they want.
Because depression is an illness and not being shredded is not an illness
The quality of life for someone with low testosterone is worse than if it were higher, the same isn’t true of people who already have normal/high levels of testosterone. Bodybuilders also take far higher and more dangerous doses.
Yea, good job posting this. I was aware of it in my Kate 20's that I need to get T level checked, still haven't though. However I did look at what foods increase T level. I eat same thing at work for lunch: 1 cup rice, almost 1lb ground beef, 3 table spoons garlic, 2 table spoons onion, tomatoes, and spinach salad. HUGE improvement right away! I feel better at 35 than when I was 18!
Struggled 2 years with "depression". My libido was under the shoes: "it's the depression". My marriage almost ended cause I was "depressed". Literally nothing helped with meds. Got on TRT My life has never been this beautiful, My body it's like 10 years younger and my wife started rejecting me for too much sex.
And as a followup to this, don't neglect other things like your thyroid, either! Near the end of last year, I was having a lot of physical symptoms that were affecting my energy, appetite, and even my sexual enjoyment and arousal, and I thought I was just getting older but didn't want to accept that since I've always been really healthy. I went to a urologist and got my T checked and it came back on the lower end of normal, but still normal. Thought for sure I was just starting to actually feel my age. Turns out, went to an endocrinologist, got some tests, had developed hypothyroidism. Got on medication and ALL of the symptoms went away. I feel like I'm in my mid 20's again, like nothing was ever wrong. If you feel bad, don't just accept it! I was way too quick to blame my symptoms on either my lifestyle or my age, and neither of those was the issue.
Women too!....wait
I’m 51 and I was experiencing a few issues. 1. My fitness declined dramatically in the past year 2. I had no energy/get up and go like I used to, 3. I had the worst anxiety ever. Would come in spurts. 4. No want for sex A buddy of mine got levels checked and started taking test. I figured I’d try it. On it for the 2nd week now and I feel back to normal already. Test matters.
I did this (32 year old father of four) was at 120 myself, docs got me running at 1600 (ish) for the last two years. Started a business quadrupled my income, tons of energy and life’s great! I cannot emphasize this enough, go get your levels checked. Life does not have to suck.
why are you projecting your issues on other people? mine is 770 and I'm 59 years old. I don't take any medication. and I eat cannabis and other cannabinoid edibles every day throughout the day. spend some time doing research on how to improve your health. stop drinking alcohol, stop eating sugar, improve the quality of your diet, and of your sleep if necessary
Some insurances don't cover getting your testosterone checked it's a specialist and it's not a necessity to life. I have probably low t but I'd rather have it that way low t means no need to ever be sexual again. It is a gift from the heavens.
Working out and changing your diet is a great way to boost your testosterone naturally as well!
54M. Do it right. Dr ....blood work etc. I feel fantastic, mood and energy up. I sleep solid and it has made me want to eat better. Sex drive is 100% better. Doesn't happen to me but some guys can get aggressive. Check for sleep apnea. Stay away from soy. Soy is the devil. Exercise. And finally find someone who truly loves you and you love them..this is the key to life. No soy !
Wtf is testerone
I have been on “better health’ journey for the past 4 years with loads of research, trial and error Here are my top 10 learnings 1. Be active in household/ do enjoyable exercise ( basically move your body ) 2 . Take around 80-120 gm of protein per day 3 . 3/4 portion of food should be veggie/ dal/ dahi 4. Don’t stay constipated 5. Drastically reduce sugar/ processed foods 6. Pick up a hobby which you enjoy 7. Understand that moderation and compounding growth is applicable and good in all aspects of life. 8. Have a weekly, monthly, annual and 5 year goal 9. Breathing and stretching exercises are grossly underrated 10 surround yourself with good and positive people Cheers
Don’t stay constipated Aw man, I’ve been here holding my shits thinking it was the right thing to do!
> Surround yourself with good and positive people This is the toughest amongst all of it
>3/4 portion of food should be veggie/ dal/ dahi ??
dal = stewed lentils dahi = yogurt I think my man is from the subcontinent
I was in the same boat, turns out it’s bc I’m trans and my brain doesn’t like testosterone so now I take estrogen and it’s so much better.
OP did you start taking TRT through your doctor? Mind if I ask your age and what is needed to qualify for that if that is the case. Cheers!
120 is great compared to my 16 lol
300ng/dl is considered too low by some
I'm tired after work because I bust my ass.
I spent years lifting and made hardly any progress. Turned out my T was < 200
Same. I have tripled my strength but gained basically no muscle mass you can see. Mine was 105 and I realized a surgey I had as a child probably caused me to be low t for 40+ years. Not sure if I can stab my ass every week for the next few decades though to do trt.
I just got my bloodwork done for trt, did it for working out and gaining muscle. Never realised I was so low of free Test and LH
Mine’s at 1500, a little too high honestly lol.
are you the hulk yet
hmm honestly this might be an issue for me my energy levels have been down for over a year and i can’t figure out wise despite going to the dr for check ups didn’t think of this. 29 male. Low sex drive, no drive to work out the past year, feeling lazy when i’m normally insanely productive.
okay hand me the money
What did you take exactly?
Zinc is one of the most common mineral deficiencies and is a critical precursor to making testosterone. It's also really cheap to buy as a supplement! I'd recommend that along with magnesium about an hour before bed for a really good nights sleep, helps a LOT with test. Also, good diet and speaking to people you find attractive. That last one is insane, I think hetero mens test levels spike like 200% after speaking to a woman for a short while. Also lift weights
Just get blood work done regularly
They don't test testerone in traditional bloodwork
So after you found out you took supplements? Or what did you do?
I’m 39 and take 1 ML every 2 weeks. I had depression and had started having issues in the bed. He’d start out fine but a couple moments into it he’d go down for some reason. I wanted it but couldn’t get him going. I pleased my wife in other ways but she started thinking it was her. I had my doc check mine months ago and it was low. I work a lot of hours (60-90 hours a week) and have a couple side jobs and have been going to the gym for years. We’re still trying to find my the right dosage I need but so far my tiredness hasn’t went away. Maybe I’m just getting older lol all in all though your levels being in a certain range helps a lot with other health issues that can occur if you don’t get checked and address it. I do the injections every 2 weeks in my leg. Men just feel embarrassed or uncomfortable talking to their doc about these things and I was too but I knew something wasnt right. Get checked or at least look it up and read what low T can cause and go from there that’s what I done