Testosterone tanked :(

[real_mission]

Well I've finally got my blood results. Not very in depth at all .All my bloods from 2010 are on 1+1/2 pages of A4.

I remember asking my Doctor to check my Testosterone for months, I'd been losing muscle mass and feeling Uuugh. He had refused as 'it was too dear' and more of 'your being silly....' etc.,etc.,etc. :(.

So I was a bit naughty and added it myself . No contact from GP's surgery ,so I thought I must be okay.

Looking at the results, back in December ,when the testosterone results came back, my reading was 6. The range is 8-29. There is a caveat saying the test was taken in the afternoon and it should have been in the ,morning , but my problem is it shouldn't go below that mark anyway? No phone from GP, no contact from surgery.

I've never taken steroids or testosterone supplements in my life. I'm struggling with my levels as my calcium is 2.1 and my Vit D is 30 too. So everything is tanking, you can imagine how I feel along with being surgically Hypo and having difficulty finding a med level that suits.

Any ideas of whats going on? How should I approach GP to kick him into action? Do I have to escalate things as so much has been missed?

[real_mission]

Already in the post

I cant wait to try it, the last two years seem like I've slowly been going down a hole. No wonder why, my calcium is stripped from my bones, my old fella is in a mood with me and my Vit D thinks I've been in a sleeping bag for 24 months

What sort of case can I put to my Endo/GP? Im getting increasingly frustrated with their lack of intervention. Months and months between appointments when I have to live with the day to day of aching bones, low sex drive and tendinitis. I really feel like throttling someone! (my Testosterone cant be that bad after all )

[real_mission]

Why is that? I was told to slowly gain dosage one grain then two and so on. But Ive been told this before when going from T3 to T4 and just ended up badly hypo for a week. Thyroxine is a little odd for me as I dont ever seem to get palpitations or the usual hyper symptoms if I take a significant amount,.

[stephensmith]

You should request another testosterone test (9am). I was 7.1 ( same range) and now apply gel on a morning. It will help. It stopped the waves of tiredness. On T3 and T4 still trying to get the dose right to stop the aching joints

[real_mission in reply to stephensmith]

Ah! A chappie in the same boat. 8) Pleased to make your acquaintance. So you're still having bone aches? What is it attributed to ? Mine is possible Vit D calcium deficiency. Although it has improved, its still very much evident. Im taking 5000 Vit d3 ontop of my Adcal supplements for 6 weeks now, still pain in my elbows.

[Helen65]

Could you please pm me the name of the Specialist, many thanks

[real_mission]

I did have a real reaction to it in the early days. I could physically feel an energy burst post tablet.

I tried the 'dose all at once ' the other week. Took my T3 80mcg all in one go and held on for dear life......nothing. Fell asleep at 11am

[stephensmith]

Vitamin D , ferritin, calcium etc all OK. I was on T4 only but as I increased from 50 to 125 my symptoms of aching joints, fatigue got worse and really bad itching of face. Now on 50 T4 and 20 T3. Feel under medicated so test in a few weeks then off to endo again

[real_mission in reply to stephensmith]

Are you managing your weight okay being under?

[stephensmith in reply to real_mission]

Struggled with weight but I gave up smoking (18 months) and hence have put on over a stone. Seems to have settled. Let me know how you get on with NDT. Thx

[real_mission]

I really,really hope so. I have NDT in the post, so hopefully (a big hopefully) this will solve all my symptoms

[Hashihouseman]

Boron! It’s the only thing I found to offset the levothyroxine induced testosterone deficiency. This is known but the endo’s ignore it (maybe because their patients are mainly women) and I was told there was absolutely no problem despite the free testosterone levels of a 90 year old (I was 56) because my total testosterone was in the upper range.

If your issue is thyroid related it is because the thyroid replacement increases the metabolic activity of the liver which increases the amount of sex hormone binding globulin which then hammers free testosterone causing potentially more symptoms of fatigue pain mood swings et cetera et cetera than being hypothyroid. I think for many men taking thyroid replacement simply swaps our symptoms of hypothyroidism to hypogonadism! Most endocrinologists seem to be highly unsympathetic to this (as well as thyroid issues).