Happy with TRT? How so? Plz share details

[Normandy]

I'd like to find out from as many of you guys as possible exactly how good TRT has worked for you. I know TRT has been a blessing to those of you with low T and you wouldn't ever want to go back to low T, but that's not what Im asking. Instead, I'd like to know to what degree life with TRT aproximates an average healthy person's life. (setting aside the pain in the ass of applying TRT)

For example, if your libido is real strong some days and then real fickle on others, then that's an area where TRT has not fully placed you in an "average healthy person" category. That you're gratefull for the strong libido on the days you get em, is a different story. I would be too. But I hear docs saying that people are doing great with TRT and I'd like to know how much of that is due to simply being gratefull for the improvement they do see versus truly "doing great with TRT".

A few other examples would be.. if you find yourself taking some anti-anxiety meds, even occasionally, chances are that's due to a not yet optimized hormonal system. i.e. the limitations of TRT.

If you still need viagra or cialis for proper erectile function or are having trouble losing weight even though you're exercising... if your mood swings from irritable to calm on varying days for no particular reason or if you find yourself getting emotional while watching a chick flick.. all of these could be signs that your hormonal system is not as optimized as it would be if you didn't have this condition. These signs and symptoms could just as well be the limitations of TRT due to fluctuations, aromatization, other hormones being affected, etc And if this is my destiny, to have all of the above for life, then fine. I'll be thankful and grateful that Im not suffering major joint pains, that Im not impotent, and that I have enough energy to provide for myself and my loved ones. But I just want to go into TRT without false hopes. I want a better sense of the reality in the field, from the grunts themselves, not lofty assurances from doctors.

So I turn to you guys for your objective feedback on how successfull TRT has been for you in terms of aproximating a normal and healthy lifestyle.



-- Normandy

[pmgamer18]

I don't feel my TRT was unsuccessful before TRT I suffered bad fatigue feeling of depression and worth. I got so dam bad I could not work and I was in my prime 40 yrs. old. I spent the first 5 yrs being treated for depression because not one Dr. bothered to test my hormones. Just think being on them dam meds all spaced out and not depressed.

When I started on TRT I felt good enough to get back to work but was still not right and was off on sick leave more then I was at work.

I now know it was not because of low t and my treatment but that they did not have it right as to why I was low in the first place.

So here I am 23 yrs. later just finding out why. I had a bad auto accident with a head injury. So not only is me T levels low but my Cortisol, DHEA, Thyroid, IGF-1 and Glucose all very low normal.

Going back just 4 yrs I could not have sex with out using a pump to pump it up and a ring to keep it up yet even then I could not reach an orgasm this had been going on for some 10 yrs. No libido just memories of what it was like.

I could never talk to my friends or family about how I felt. Because to look at me I am a big rough looking guy and people would say you don't look sick. I knew when people say this it is the start of insults. Like just pick your self up and get on with your life.

Well 4 yrs. ago I joined a group for low T and the first thing I read about was High Estradiol "E2" in men and what it can do to your sex life. I had this tested got it down and got me sex life back. I am great full and mad that Dr.'s don't know enough to see this.

Last yr. I read Dr. John's web site and started on HCG this was to start to finding out what was wrong with me and why I never felt 100% on TRT. When I added HCG to my T shots at the time I was house bound with bad pain in my joints and muscles. My back was so bad that when I stood up to walk the pain was so bad I could hardy walk. At the time I was on gels and going to shots fixed this adding HCG doubled my T levels and lead us to finding out I am Hypopituitary for a bad head injury. When I went on shots 18 months ago I was able to get out and walk for exercise and later ended up going to the gym and working out 3 days a week by last fall I had lost over 65 lbs. And was feeling on top of the world. Then winter came and my old friend Bronchitis hit me and I had the worst case of it ever it was so bad that today I am still trying to get back to where I was before winter.

I was back on my ass again house bound and thinking this is not going better but getting worse. I starting pushing my Dr. about my low normal levels of IGF-1 telling him I read if this is low that your immune system will be bad and maybe this is why I keep getting Bronchitis every yr. He just told me I am getting older and it was a bad winter for this.

I started ordering different tests and searching for answers to what the low normal levels mean. I came to a sit about Pituitary Problems and in it it listed things that cause these problems and what labs show.
And a light went off in my head this is what is wrong with me. I told my Dr. and showed him the site and he said yes this is what is wrong.

It pisses me off that I have seen 7 Endo's been taken off TRT and suffered bad to be tested off TRT and not one of them seen this. All the test were done showing my low normal levels that were screaming I have a pituitary problem.

So my Dr. ordered an MRI and nothing showed a problem. I had to dam near break his arm to treat my low Cortisol and Thyroid.

Now that I am being treated things are looking up I am starting to get back but it is dam slow.

I feel TRT works if you have your levels up high enough up in the upper 1/3 of your labs range for a young man and your E2 down between 10 to 30 best at 20. And your Adrenals are in good shape with out any thyroid problems.

I have had a strong libido for the last 4 yrs. keeping my E2 in check. I can have sex anytime I feel like having it. And feel for you guys here and at other sites you should be the same as me. Because the word is out there on high levels of E2. Also I feel the HCG really topped off my sex life it's just to bad it took this long. I am 62 with outer problems then just low T and getting on my life is well worth living.

[JanSz]

Originally Posted by pmgamer18

Last yr. I read Dr. John's web site and started on HCG this was to start to finding out what was wrong with me and why I never felt 100% on TRT. When I added HCG to my T shots at the time I was house bound with bad pain in my joints and muscles. My back was so bad that when I stood up to walk the pain was so bad I could hardy walk. At the time I was on gels and going to shots fixed this adding HCG doubled my T levels and lead us to finding out I am Hypopituitary for a bad head injury. When I went on shots 18 months ago I was able to get out and walk for exercise and later ended up going to the gym and working out 3 days a week by last fall I had lost over 65 lbs. And was feeling on top of the world.

I often have a back pains. It started when I was 19, I am 66 now.
Wonder if there is any known connection between low or out of range hormone levels, adrenals, thyroid, etc, and a bad back?

[pmgamer18]

Originally Posted by JanSz

I often have a back pains. It started when I was 19, I am 66 now.
Wonder if there is any known connection between low or out of range hormone levels, adrenals, thyroid, etc, and a bad back?

Yes I feel there is when I was just doing gels the T did not get into the joints and muscles and they were breaking down. I have talked to many men that say the same thing doing shots gives relief from pain. Even women have said this at some of the thyroid sites I am at they got there T tested it was low started on Andregel once a week and there pain went away.

[firedude]

Originally Posted by JanSz

I often have a back pains. It started when I was 19, I am 66 now.
Wonder if there is any known connection between low or out of range hormone levels, adrenals, thyroid, etc, and a bad back?

I think there is some relation don't know what. In my case when i was twelve i was 6'1" by eifghteen 6'3/4 and shortly before my trt and now i'm 6'0". that was just one of the things i thought were wrong and made me dig deeper. My g/p said that it was propaly from the low t that led to the shrinkage of cartilage and bone problems i sufferd. on a lighter side it was always hard to find pants with a 28 waist and leg of 33, now with a waist of 30 and leg of 30 i have more of a selection in my small town .

[Ruper]

Well I didn't have ED before TRT, but very low libido and depression. I think things are basically normal now. My libido isn't through the roof, but it wasn't in my early 30's either. Also my wife is expecting and for me that seems to dampen my libido some.

On the other hand I have experimented a bit and I do know that if I go just to the top of normal my libido increases significantly.

I don't expect to have morning wood every day, but I feel like mood, libido etc.. are more a function of everyday life now, rather than hormones. No more depression - no meds for that. The reversal was so complete that my wife and I were sure I would engage in some form of therapy after settling in to TRT, but that is obviously not necessary now.

As far as weight, I put on 15lb of muscle and lost several %BF in the first few months, mostly without trying. My body was obviously limited by my low T levels. I tryied a slow, clean bulk on low T (before TRT, when I knew my levels were low) and put on 8lb of fat to ~2lb of muscle. On TRT I hadt o reduce calories to not put on muscle too quickly - I was concerned about getting injured and in fact did have a couple of problems probably related to this.

I think (rightfully) a lot of posters here are here because TRT has not proven to be a silver bullet, but I suspect for many, especially people without other issues on top of low T, that it gets you back close to 'normal', whatever that is.

Finding a good doc that will work with you and is more interested in your welbeing than numbers has been key for me.

[love_en]

I did not risk my freedom writing my own prescription for TRT just so I could wake hard and horny. Nor to have the sexual appetite of a teenage boy. I have been hypogonadal among other things all of my life. So I never knew what normal was. In addition to being cheated sexually, my growth was affected by the multiple hormonal deficiencies. I have more to realize of what I have been missing after being on TRT for one year this October. What is next is to know what normal thyroid and adrenal function is like.

A few months after starting 125mg per week enanthate, I saw things happening to me that everyone else either takes for granted or expends a lot of effort to make happen. I put on 5 lbs, then one year later I am at 140-145lbs. To properly frame this: at 18 years old, I was only 90lbs. At age 25, I was at 120lbs and right before going on TRT I was 130lbs. I am 5'6", but thanks to hormonal deficiencies, what was supposed to happen, did not. After a year on TRT, I can take off my shirt and not be mistaken for a 10 year old boy or girl. I also have more endurance and physical strength. The 90 lb weakling cliche' applied to me. What got me in the doctor's office is when my physical condition declined further from that already horrible state.

I can unequivocally say that I am happy with TRT. Prior to that, my life was a waiting game of the worst kind. I was waiting for my physical body to decline completely. I consider noticing potential encounters, having sex on my mind and being able to have erections happy side effects. I entered into this venture not expecting my weekly shot to turn me into a porn star. I think having this expectation harms the legitmacy of TRT much like the doping scandals. I would not want to give the narrow-minded ammunition, as is too many people who should know better oppose TRT because it is all about sex and big muscles to them. This prejudice burries any unbiased work on the medical benefits of testosterone.