Several questions

[dano79]

I have seem to reach an impass in my treatment. My free T levels are in the mid to high normal range, and my total t is in the low normal range. I am still having ED and libido problems. My morning erections have returned.

My total T used to be about 800, now its 350..Why such a diference and why would free T be normal? What is the significance of Total testosterone levels, should I be at a higher level. I'm 26 years old.

Also, my doctor proposed the idea that If someone has been having problems with libido and erections for several years, everything can be brought back to normal, but the brain can forget what normal is. He gave me some viagra to try and said my system can readjust. Has anyone ever heard anything like this, does this make any sense?

[Weatherlite]

SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin) regulates your Free T. When total T goes down so does SHBG to keep Free T up. When total T goes up so does SHBG. That's how your normal Free but low total can happen.

While Free T does the "work" the total levels are also important. Many men find that everything works OK when their total is low but that everything works BETTER when it is high-normal.

As for the brain forgetting...I don't know if this is a widely accepted idea but I feel it may be true. You get so used to one thing you start to think it's normal even though it's not. So yes, some problems may be mental and not physiological.

[dano79]

My doc did adjust my medication from 1 tube of testim to 1.5 tubes to see if that makes a difference. I am trying to stay open minded.

[James23]

Dano,

I'm 24 now, and I have the same problems as you do. Did you doctor ever identify or suggest the "type" of hypogonadism that you have? My blood test results show nothing that matches the traditional "primary" or "secondary" patterns.

My doctor made a smiliar suggestion to yours. He considers the low libido situation a "repressed libido." His solution is anti-depressants -- Wellbutrin, specifically. I'm the last person to tout AD's for ED, because I've been on 14 of them since the time I was 16 and now. However...

To be honest, the only time my libido absolutely surged was when I began taking Wellbutrin XL at 300mg per day. Of course, I can't be sure if that medication was the cause, because I also simultaneously quit HRT and used only Arimidex to keep estrogen low (under the belief that my problem was purely an estrogen excess and T supression, rather than just a mysterious ideopathic lack of testosterone.)

As for Viagra, I can't imagine how that would help. You need to be aroused the get the erection. As stated, we do not really have erectile dysfunction. Viagra is useful only when there are problems with bloodflow even though you are completely aroused. Don't get me wrong, though, I still have every ED drug legal in the U.S. (and Europe) just incase I need to be of service to a woman despite my lack of interest. It's just that I don't think that it'll fix/restore anything related to your problem.

[dano79]

James, do you suffer from any penile sensation problems as well?

[James23]

I would say yes, but I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about. Could you describe it?

I often describe the sensation as similar (to doctors) as rubbing a finger.

[dano79]

Thats excatly it, no tingling charged sexual sensation!