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Originally Posted by bb_boy20 Sargovar:
You think identical as i do ! Lol every word!
i'm 21 , and my testosterone level is 520 ng/dL (300-1000) and i'm not happy about it, i can't make ANY progress in gym for over a year... i think 520 is normal but its not optimal at all...
i live a healthy life too...i'm about 16% bf
and i've noticed i don't have a much drive to do something...(variably)
i lack a bit enthusiasm too
but i guess i don't feel symptoms so much as you do...but definitely CAN'T make any progress in gym even with high protein/carb diets
i wan't to see my total testosterone in 700-800 range, so i'm about to run nolva 10mg/ED - 4 weeks soon...
i bought it already  |
Hehe, yeah, I can see a mirror reflection of my own situation when reading your post.
I mean sure, 520 or thereabouts isn't bad; it certainly isn't what you'd consider hypogonadal, but it just doesn't seem to cut it when it comes to maintaining a young man's libido and energy levels. Also, I think I may have excess estrogen floating around, since I almost always look "smooth", and have a hard time retaining water in my muscles, and a very hard time losing fat beyond a certain point. To reiterate, I'm not a fat guy, though.. around 14% bodyfat currently (can see the upper two abs). But that's only because I haven't eaten above maintenance in a year, and I'm actually trying to do a cutting cycle at the moment (with lackluster results).
Would be cool to keep tabs on your progress with
nolva alone. Based on what I've read here and elsewhere, it is very much possible to get into the upper 700-900 range or maybe even a little higher with it.
Hardasnails, nope, I haven't done much swimming (apart from swimming in the lake during summer). You say you
had vitiligo.. am I to understand you no longer have it? I've personally noticed that certain triggers seem to cause it to spread.. such as when I was in California for 2 weeks on a vacation trip this past november, and didn't get any or very little good fats during that time (which I normally consume in copious amounts, omega 3's in particular).. I got big vitiligo blotches on my waist and crotch area. I've dyed my hair very dark a couple times, too, and that also seems to provoke it to spread (strangely enough I have no vitiligo on my face, scalp or hairline). But now that I've been doing my best to avoid all the stressors that seem to catalyze the process of pigment destruction (hair dying, stress, not getting enough good fats etc), and started taking ginko bilboa along with vitamin D, it has hardly spread at all. In fact, the only place other than my underwear area (which obviously isn't visible to people
) that I have the spots is the backs of my hands, and they're not very widespread there, either. I seem to have halted or at least dramatically slowed down the progress of the disease. I'm getting an UVB home treatment device soon, and with any luck, I'll be able to treat the spots on my waist and the backs of my hands, and regain 100% of my pigment (since I haven't lost it extensively yet), and keep what I've regained.
I'm pretty sure I'll start to find some answers. I got a home kit to
test for adrenal fatigue (saliva 4 x a day, both cortisol and DHEA), and I'll run it this sunday and send it to the lab on monday. I used to think that all I'd need is more
testosterone.. but now I can't help but conclude that in a case such as mine, where my T output is apparently only slightly depressed, the reasons behind my deficiency may be very complex, and I'd better start searching for clues from the ground up: adrenals first, everything else second.
Speaking of which.. I think my "depression" (as it's been diagnosed, and as I myself have come to diagnose it) may have its roots in adrenal insufficiency, after all. I was bullied in school by bigger kids when I was 14 years old, and the experience was quite traumatic. In retrospect, that was the turning point, after which I've never quite felt 'alright' or 'connected'.. like a power chord in my brain has been unplugged ever since (persistant brain fog and mild depression, poor stress control, occasional bouts of severe depression; though none in the past year or so). I mean sure, I've had some better times in between all the gloominess, but for the most part, the time since I was 14 has gone by in a hazy blur; like I'm literally stuck in between ticks of the clock; frozen in suspended animation, incapable of progressing forward.
I really do count my blessings for having discovered this site, as I would have never found out about adrenal fatigue if I hadn't stumbled here. With any luck, the saliva tests will give me my answers, and I'll be on the road to treating not only my adrenals, but my thyroid (which, based on my TSH of 2.49, were a bit sluggish; again, probably because of adrenal fatigue) and testosterone as well, and reclaiming my vigor and enthusiasm for life, which I've been sorely missing for much too long. And I'd love not having to struggle so damn much just to maintain the kind of physique a truly healthy young man would attain with recreational weight lifting every now and then & eating whatever crap he feels like. Not to say I'm going to abandon my healthy ways of living or start slacking off with the weights when I get my testosterone and stuff up and running, but rather that I'll actually have a reason to be motivated and continue on with a healthy weight lifting lifestyle, because I'll start to reap the benefits.
Here's a pic of me taken last summer, btw.. this is as cut as I've ever been able to get (though I've never really tried drastic measures like DNP,
TRT or thyroid replacement). I felt like shit all throughout that cutter, and ended up losing 30 lbs off my bench press and narrow grip bench. Not a very good net result for my efforts, managing to get down to 13% bodyfat from 16% over the span of 3 months.
My body composition hasn't changed at all during this past year, nor the year before that, in spite of all my best efforts (I'm running on 4 years of lifting now). I have gained some strength in certain lifts, but as far as I can tell, my body looks exactly the same. In fact, even though I was on maintenance calories this entire past year, I managed to gain some fat, which I am now trying to desperately lose so I could look like I did last summer (which wasn't particularily ripped).
