In today's world many things are changing but not necessarily for the better. In this case I'm talking about Testosterone: more and more young males suffer from low testosterone and its effects, without, in many cases, being aware of it. (and thinking their condition is normal )
Lots of reasons have been proposed to explain this, from chemicals in water, food, computers and clothes to other 'easier-to-spot' signs: Obesity and lack of Physical activity( Check here ) .
Symptoms vary from low muscle mass, belly fat, low blood count to few hair( and growing slow), impossibility to lose or cut down Body Fat, fatigue and easily stressed (A comprehensive list here ).
Normal levels of Total Testosterone generally are within the range 300 - 1000 ng/dL, but this represents only a small frame of the picture and also a serious problem if your GP stops at this, signalling incompetence. ( As you can see here , the Japanese Urological Association has decided to drop entirely the use of Total Testosterone in favour of Free Testosterone)
In fact, if you want to have a general picture you should run all of the following, and possibly over multiple periods of time:
- Total Testosterone
- Free Testosterone
- Bioavailable Testosterone
- DHT
- Prolactin
- DHEA
- FSH
- LH
- SHBG
- e2
- Cortisol
- The most important Thyroid Hormones (T3, T4, TSH)
- Metabolic Panel (including Albumin)
- HDL, LDL & Triglycerides
- others that I'm surely forgetting about
which amounts to about $ 200. Not much for your health and well-being.
The diffusion of information about Testosterone has caused a few problems, mostly people using this as an excuse for being fat or lazy: TRT is only for people that really need it. It's not a shortcut, and if you have an active functioning endo system it will be partially shut down, because, of course, the body is here the produce the amount that is needed at any moment - extra production would be useless and unnecessary work.
Because therapy is the ultimate step, you should fix your attitude toward life first: more exercises, check diet, more sleep, sun exposure, remove alcohol and drugs that fuck up your endocrine system. After being sure that you cannot do without ART/TRT or something similar, then hopping on this train will be your last step.
Before and on the therapy you must check and do bloodwork regularly, so that there isn't any problem coming up and you're not taking either too much or too little.
It is also important to remember that many GPs and Endocrinologists are not on the front line of this and will only give you a therapy in case your blood levels are beyond imaginary shit, so it is not so easy to get a decent treatment (Looking for a male wellness clinic might be a better option, though more expensive) and find a solution, forcing many guys to 'do it alone' which tends to be also cheaper (but requires discipline, and if you are a fat fuck it is quite dubious that you can cope up).
Finally, there are positive things but also negative ones: Thickened blood (polycythemia ), Gynecomastia , increase of LDL - 'Bad Cholesterol' , Sleep Apnea and, of course, Infertility are the major drawbacks of TRT. Obviously, if your production is shit this won't make much of a difference.
Further Readings:
/r/testosterone WIKI
Mayo Clinic
This is not medical advice, rather it's a little help to you, before seeking it. Talking to your Doctor (and at the same time informing yourself) is essential and the first thing to do.
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