Thanks for sharing your experience. I have heard very similar stories from many people and it is certainly a pretty good sell for trying TRT.
Your initial experience is weirdly similar to mine. My doctor has given me a few different antidepressants over the past 2 and a bit years (Escitalopram, Amitriptyline, Sertraline to name three) but they just made me worse in that I put on weight (which now will not fucking leave!), awful sleep, my penis became useless, and I was just angry 95% of the time. I was a truly awful person to be around and I felt so sorry for my wife and son having to put up with me. So I told him they're not working and we need to look at other ways of treating this depression and anxiety.
He sent me for a testosterone check I think as a bit of a way to just shut me up as I kept asking him what else can we do. He was surprised when it came back at 257ng/dL but as it was above the 249 bottom end he was like "it's a bit low but in the normal range". Thankfully I have a friend that is a doctor and they put me in touch with an Endocrinologist who agreed under 300 at least deserves some further blood work and check I don't have a pituitary gland issue which can cause a lot of my symptoms.
My symptoms are:
* extreme fatigue (to the point of falling asleep in my office chair)
* easily exhausted when exercising
* much longer recovery times from exercising, when I used to have maybe a day or two of muscle aches from pushing myself a bit more to build muscle it would now take me 3 to 4 weeks to recover.
* My concentration is garbage
* Cannot lose the weight around my abdomen. I managed to lose around 13KG back in 2020 yet put it back on thanks to the SSRIs mentioned above and doing the same things I did the first time just does not shift the weight
* Depression but it feels different to my previous experiences with depression not to mention it seems treatment resistant this time whereas before I found Sertraline was at least somewhat effective.
* Heart palpitations that are extremely uncomfortable
* Terrible sleep. It often takes me 2 hours to finally get to sleep and my sleep quality as measured by my FitBit is awful compared to a few years ago (first time the sleep tracking came in helpful)
* Very irritable and easily frustrated
I don't know how that compares to your list of symptoms but they have absolutely wrecked me the past few years. I am just hoping to god there is something of value found in my blood results so I can start working on improving things.
As I said I don't know if I will jump on TRT as it does worry me a little bit. There is no such thing as side effect free HRT after all but my wife has said I should keep an open mind and listen to my Endocrinologist who has said she would recommend it if my blood work comes back with levels in line with ~250ng/dL. I will see what the results are though, if I'm under 250 I think I will have to seriously considering just trying it for a few months. If I am around 300 I think I would rather try some natural ways and retest in 2-3 months and see if it has helped at all. If not then I will give TRT a try.
> I don't know if I will jump on TRT as it does worry me a little bit. There is no such thing as side effect free HRT after all...
Brother, it sounds like your life is made of horrendous side effects. I am just a random internet commenter, not a doctor, but I am a fellow man. And if there were ever a time to ignore your fear and roll the dice, it's now.
You're not wrong and my wife certainly shares your opinion too!
I am naturally a bit of a worrier about "big" medication regimes like TRT and I over research and over think everything which is obviously not a great thing when it comes to medicine as everything has side effects.
I am slowly starting to adjust my mindset with regards to trying TRT but I need to see what my results are to help me make a decision.
It is a decision, but, I wouldn't say it's a "big" one. It is possible to come off TRT, though it's a long ramp-down period. The TRT itself isn't really a hassle, I just poke myself in the butt twice a week. I've worked it into my morning routine: shave, shower, teeth, poke.
I was like you before I started TRT, super hesitant, and worried I would just be poisoning myself. A good friend of mine kept pushing me to try, and I can't say I have any regrets.
For me personally, I wouldn't want to come off TRT, I feel so much better consistently. IMHO, there are no downsides, at least none yet that I've experienced.
That's still quite low. As I mentioned in a previous comment, my family doctor wouldn't persribe TRT even though I was outside of the "normal" range. I ended up having to go to a "mens health clinic", who are much more liberal with handing out prescriptions.
Not sure if you will see this but on the chance you do I was hoping you could get in touch with me directly as I would really like to talk to someone on TRT to ask some questions. If possible could you drop me an email? You can email my username [redacated] at gmail. Many thanks!
Your initial experience is weirdly similar to mine. My doctor has given me a few different antidepressants over the past 2 and a bit years (Escitalopram, Amitriptyline, Sertraline to name three) but they just made me worse in that I put on weight (which now will not fucking leave!), awful sleep, my penis became useless, and I was just angry 95% of the time. I was a truly awful person to be around and I felt so sorry for my wife and son having to put up with me. So I told him they're not working and we need to look at other ways of treating this depression and anxiety.
He sent me for a testosterone check I think as a bit of a way to just shut me up as I kept asking him what else can we do. He was surprised when it came back at 257ng/dL but as it was above the 249 bottom end he was like "it's a bit low but in the normal range". Thankfully I have a friend that is a doctor and they put me in touch with an Endocrinologist who agreed under 300 at least deserves some further blood work and check I don't have a pituitary gland issue which can cause a lot of my symptoms.
My symptoms are:
* extreme fatigue (to the point of falling asleep in my office chair)
* easily exhausted when exercising
* much longer recovery times from exercising, when I used to have maybe a day or two of muscle aches from pushing myself a bit more to build muscle it would now take me 3 to 4 weeks to recover.
* My concentration is garbage
* Cannot lose the weight around my abdomen. I managed to lose around 13KG back in 2020 yet put it back on thanks to the SSRIs mentioned above and doing the same things I did the first time just does not shift the weight
* Depression but it feels different to my previous experiences with depression not to mention it seems treatment resistant this time whereas before I found Sertraline was at least somewhat effective.
* Heart palpitations that are extremely uncomfortable
* Terrible sleep. It often takes me 2 hours to finally get to sleep and my sleep quality as measured by my FitBit is awful compared to a few years ago (first time the sleep tracking came in helpful)
* Very irritable and easily frustrated
I don't know how that compares to your list of symptoms but they have absolutely wrecked me the past few years. I am just hoping to god there is something of value found in my blood results so I can start working on improving things.
As I said I don't know if I will jump on TRT as it does worry me a little bit. There is no such thing as side effect free HRT after all but my wife has said I should keep an open mind and listen to my Endocrinologist who has said she would recommend it if my blood work comes back with levels in line with ~250ng/dL. I will see what the results are though, if I'm under 250 I think I will have to seriously considering just trying it for a few months. If I am around 300 I think I would rather try some natural ways and retest in 2-3 months and see if it has helped at all. If not then I will give TRT a try.