Who Has Actually Recovered?

[KidCapriB]

Bump...I'm sure someone has recovered and has a story to tell.

[pmgamer18]

I feel in my case having a bad Pituitary I was just getting enough message from my Pituitary to make enough cortisol to get by. I love walking for exercise and was a Race Walker in my late 30's even took lessens for this. I got dam sick 23 yrs. ago and it's been a long hard battle. The following is my story.

I don't feel my TRT (Testosterone Replacement Therapy) 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 are my T levels low but my Cortisol, DHEA, Thyroid, IGF-1 and Glucose all very low normal.

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 Testosterone 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 my 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 www.allthingsmale.com 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 (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) 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 Androgel and going to Testosterone shots fixed this adding HCG doubled my T levels and lead us to finding out I am Hypopituitary from a bad head injury. When I went on shots 26 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 feel this was the hardest my Adrenals ever took a hit, now not only do they not get a good enough message to make Cortisol but they are over worked do to the Bronchitis

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 site 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.
My sex life is dam good doing this and I has lost it for 10 yrs. due to high E2 levels as soon as I found out about high E2 in men and got mine down I got my sex life back like it was in my 20's.

I am on 10 mgs of cortef in the morning with 1 grain of Armour, 5 mgs of cortef at noon with 1 grain of Armour and 5 mgs. of cortef at dinner with 1.75 grains of Armour. My temps I have been doing for 11 months and this is the first time in the last 15 days they have been between 98.5 to 98.7. I still can't exercise and don't want to stress dose to do so. I don't think I can ever get off Cortef and have had to stress dose 2 times in the last 4 weeks from being up set do to bad health news from family members. I added 5 mgs and it helped but that night I could not sleep.

I feel like I am wasting away not being able to even walk for 10 min.'s with out having to stop and rest. I am just now starting to lose some weight and feel it's my thyroid because I have not done anything different. I have gained the 65lbs I lost and more back this is killing me. Every morning I wake up and think this is going to be the day I feel better and am going to hit my Thread Mill. By the time I empty the Dish washer and fix my breakfast I am all in. My wife is going in for Knee Surgery next week and I hope I can take care of her. I never thought I see the day that I would be this bad off. And I am still young 63 yrs. old.

My goal this yr. is to get back to where I was at a year and a half ago out working around the house, walking everyday for an hour and getting back to the Gym.

We can live a normal life on TRT but we need to know why we are low in the first place as you can see from my story just treating the low T was not enough and if Dr.'s yrs. ago were to treat my Adrenals and Thyroid I would not be in the shape I am today. The good thing is so far this winter I have not been sick like the last 23 winters. Because we are treating everything that is wrong. So do find out why your low on Testosterone and treat everything.

[KidCapriB]

thats a good story. I hope you can get back to where you were a year ago. Good luck!

[eeso]

I thought I had recovered after doing dr. scally's recovery protocol, but i crashed again.

I still havent gone back on TRT so I've been off everything for like 4months now, so ill see if there's been any improvement...

But i also just found out i have empty sella syndrome (pituitary problem) so maybe that's why my LH and FSH is low...although on clomid and nolva it went up to normal...

time will tell, but im pretty keen to get back on TRT because right now i dont have the energy to train more than a couple of times a week, lost heaps of strength, lost 3-4kg of muscle and am getting fatter!!

funny thing is tho, if i dont go to the gym my wang works alright, but if i go to gym then wang is no good. I guess i just dont have enough testosterone to do both...

[pmgamer18]

Originally Posted by eeso

I thought I had recovered after doing dr. scally's recovery protocol, but i crashed again.

I still havent gone back on TRT so I've been off everything for like 4months now, so ill see if there's been any improvement...

But i also just found out i have empty sella syndrome (pituitary problem) so maybe that's why my LH and FSH is low...although on clomid and nolva it went up to normal...

time will tell, but im pretty keen to get back on TRT because right now i dont have the energy to train more than a couple of times a week, lost heaps of strength, lost 3-4kg of muscle and am getting fatter!!

funny thing is tho, if i dont go to the gym my wang works alright, but if i go to gym then wang is no good. I guess i just dont have enough testosterone to do both...

If you have a pituitary problem you need to test all hormones that the Pit. puts out your feeling bad after a work out can be your Cortisol levels are low. Go to this site for help.
http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com...1e81a394e9d4de
You need to test your Cortisol, DHEA-S, Thyroid TSH, Free T3, Free T4 and Thyroid Antibodies (TPO, which is Thyroid Peroxidase, and Antithyroglobulin. YOU NEED BOTH.)
* Ferritin (and do stress FERRITIN, not just RBC)
IGF-1,Aldosterone and Renin along with all your Testosterone tests.

[JanSz]

Originally Posted by pmgamer18

IGF-1,Aldosterone and Renin along with all your Testosterone tests.

What to watch for and how to react to Aldosterone and Renin levels?

[eeso]

Hey pmgamer, I've had most of those things tested numerous times and I'm all normal. My doc was puzzled as to why only my FSH and testosterone are low while other things are ok. He thinks that the empty sella syndrome isn't actually affecting me, otherwise all my hormones would be out of whack. Anyway, he's passed me on to an endo who he reckons is alright so I'll get more answers in a few months when i see him.

Cortisol has actually been high if anything on my tests.

[pmgamer18]

Originally Posted by eeso

Hey pmgamer, I've had most of those things tested numerous times and I'm all normal. My doc was puzzled as to why only my FSH and testosterone are low while other things are ok. He thinks that the empty sella syndrome isn't actually affecting me, otherwise all my hormones would be out of whack. Anyway, he's passed me on to an endo who he reckons is alright so I'll get more answers in a few months when i see him.

Cortisol has actually been high if anything on my tests.

This happens only a few this are off good thing is you had them check but I need to tell you if your tests came back low normal and your Dr. told you your ok your in the range this is not a good Dr. I was low normal on all the tests but testosterone, LH and FSH and this not being treated would set me back every winter being sick with Bronchitis and every dam thing that was around.

[eeso]

I'm actually at good levels though, not low normal. Except for LH/FSH of course. Mainly FSH.

The only other level i was concerned about was HGH was 0.1 on 0.1 - 0.8, but i really need an IGF-1 test for that, and even if it is low I can't afford to supplement it anyway.

But yeah, everything else so far has been very good levels, not low normal. Will see how it goes....

[Madball99]

I think you were a little harsh on him. He has had some pretty damn low test results and he's right about there being alot of heartache and misery on this board (and most TRT boards). I too avoided it for several months for similar reasons. Not too many success stories, it is what it is. certainly none have posted on this thread so far, so it makes you wonder. Recovery can be slow.....but recovery is also recovery, not endless years of deaing w/ endos, patches, drugs, etc.......It's being on your own. Iyt's not a nice # on apaper, it's feeling good, having libido, strong erections, energy, etc........Like we were before we fooled around w/ this stuff. Just normal for your age. If he was normal BEFORE he messed w/ juice, then his lack of wellbeing is more likely phyical not mental.



However some, like hacksii, do claim reovery and that is encouraging. Also, this thread was started w/ positive intentions and hope. It was meant to inspire not only him, but others.

Originally Posted by BigAk

Yes... I know of someone who recovered their HPTA... It's YOU Kid... However, I don't believe you've recovered your head bro... I don't see the negativity you're talking about from any of the other guys on here except from you. I think everyone is doing relatively well in their efforts to recover, and when you bare in mind that this recovery deal is not an overnight success, you'll see that we're all doing pretty well. We all go through ups and downs during this process but the big picture is that we're all recovering slowly but surely.

You're to the point of not coming to this board again due to negativity. To tell you the truth, I avoid reading your posts only; while I find positiveness in everything else I read. Lemme prove it to you. Do a search on all your posts and threads. they have titles like:

How Can My Levels Be Low But I Can Grow A Beard?
I Can't Take It Anymore When Will It End?
Newest Test Results In...Very Strange

Heck.... These titles alone are enough cause to shut down one's HPTA.




Then the only post you write when your test results are in the close to mid range, you're still not happy. Vast majority of the populations of males live very happily with levels at 399 without even knowing it. Have you ever stopped and thought that maybe your issues extend beyond just testosterone levels?? There is far more to libido and feeling good than just testosterone levels.

Finally to answer your question; On the behalf of all the guys on this board, I come forward and say; Yes... We're all recovering... and this is not just in my head.

Peace....