New to the forum, ex propecia user. Low T. Help!!

[cepo]

Hello everyone,

First of all I must introduce myself and tell you a little bit about my case. I´m a 30 year old male from Spain (you are gonna have to excuse my english, it´s not very good) who started treatment with Propecia (finasteride) for hairloss for about 4 months and a half and stopped it about 1 year and a half ago.

Since then, my life has been more or less like hell on earth. I used to be a very active guy; weight lifting, sports, etc. Now I feel like an old man.

I feel the fatigue, weakness, lack of energy, diminished libido, E.D. Also I gained weight, don´t enjoy life as much as I used to.

Also I have some other sinthoms such as watery semen and sometimes a feeling of cold in my scrotum and in the top of my penis.

It´s just unbearable.

I went so my Urologist and he did some tests to me. One in January and the other in May.Well, he found out that, in both of them, I have Low total and free Testosterone levels.

He prescribed me a treatment with testosterone gel and he told me to follow it for 4 months.

I am a bit worried about the consecuences that TRT could do to me. I mean sterility, my body shutting down it´s own production of Testosterone, etc.

Well, I wanted to ask all of you for your advise. I have been with many doctors here in Spain and they just can´t help me. I only found 1 Urologist who took me a bit seriously and has told me about the TRT treatment, the rest...well, the typical "it´s all in your head. You are too young to be suffering from this, etc, etc".

I have contacted Dr. Crisler (well, his secretary), since I have read a lot of positive comments about him, and I´m seriously thinking about becoming one of his patients. I don´t even mind about goping to the U.S. to meet him personally and explain my case to him. I just want to be treated by someone who really understands about these Testosterone things!

Well, thank you very much to all of you for your time....and any advice will be appreciated.

Regards.

[cepo]

By the way, I haven´t started the treatment with the Gel yet. As I said my urologist tells me not to worry about fertility, etc issues.....but I´m just not sure about anything anymore.

[Megazoid]

Really sorry to hear about your problems cepo. Propecia is a very dangerous drug and it caues all manner of hormonal inbalances (not just testosterone but thyroid/adrenal problems too). It might be worth looking back over older threads on the subject on the forum for more information. The board seem's to be getting allot of ex-propecia users these past few months and there is allot of information on the subject.

I would strongly advise going to see an expert such as Dr John or Marianco (both exceptional doctors).

You need to get a full hormonal workout including adrenals and thyroid. One mistake being made here is propecia users addressing only testosterone when cortisol, thyroid and other hormones are out of whack too.

Don't worry too much about fertility, HCG (HCG + HMG combo) will sort that out. Both of which induce sperm production in the testes.

Propecia is known to cause secondary hypogonadism in a wide majority of men, so your LH/FSH are probably low as is.

Can you list all your present symptoms and if possible post lab work.

[JanSz]

Originally Posted by cepo

By the way, I haven´t started the treatment with the Gel yet. As I said my urologist tells me not to worry about fertility, etc issues.....but I´m just not sure about anything anymore.

I would say, do not start the gel.
You have opportunity to get good blood test and figure out more than one area where you may have problem.
Get blood test that I list below, post results here, numbers, units, ranges.

0 iodine
1 CBC w/ diff
2 Calcium
3 Carbon dioxide
4 Chloride
5 Copper, serum
6 Ferritin
7 Magnesium
8 Potasium
9 Selenium
10 Sodium
11 Zinc
12 Alkaline phosphase
13 ALT
14 AST
15 BUN/creatinine ratio
16 Creatinine
17 Globulin, calculated
18 Protein Total
19 Urea nitrogen
20 Bilirubin, Total
21 Bilirubin, Direct
22 EGFR non afr american
23 RPR W/Titer & Conf RFX RPR screen
24 C-reactive protein CRP
25 Fibrinogen
26 Hematocrit
27 Hemoglobin A1C
28 Homocysteine, cardio
29 Lipoprotein (A) Lp(A)
30 Folate, Serum
31 Folate, Serum
32 Cholesterol, Total
33 HDL cholesterol
34 cholesterol/HDL ratio
35 LDL chol, calculated
36 Triglycirides
37 VLDL
38 Vitamin A
39 Vitamin B12, serum
40 Vitamin D, panel
43 T3 Free
44 T3 uptake
45 T3,Total
46 T4,Free
47 T4,Total
48 TSH
49 Glucose, fasting
50 Insuline, serum
51 PSA, Total
52 PSA, %, free
53 IGF Binding protein-3
54 IGF-1
55 Aldosterone
56 Cortisol AM/PM
57 DHEA sulfate
58 Prolactin
59 FSH
60 LH
61 Progesterone
62 Pregnenolone
63 Estradiol, Bioavailable
64 Estradiol, Free
65 Estradiol, Fractionated, serum
66 Estradiol, Ultra-sensitive (is part of fractionated)
67 Estrone,serum (is part of fractionated)
68 Estrogens, Total, Serum
69 Testosterone, Free, Bio/Total (LC/MS/MS)
70 Testosterone Total (included in T panel)
71 Testosterone Free(included in T panel)
72 Testosterone Bioavailable(included in T panel)
73 SHBG(included in T panel)
74 Albumin, serum(included in T panel)
75 Dihydrotestosterone DHT