Progress

April 23, 2002

Jerry,

Thaks for your great post! It can be very frustrating waiting for the

positive changes, but I'm glad you stuck with it. I guess we all need

to develop a patient attitude when dealing with this problem.

Regards,

K4

> Hi guys,

>

> I haven't posted here before because I still feel kind of

> uncomfortable about this whole problem, but I've been

> appreciatively reading your messages for quite a while now. I

> thought I might have some things worth sharing.

>

> I'm 51 now. After 40 I started feeling that my energy and focus

> began to diminish. I used to have an iron grip and it eventually

> got uncomfortable to even pick up a milk bottle from the fridge.

> An exciting and promising career began to diminish and stall.

> Sexual energy and desire slowly evaporated. I didn't know what

> to think and started to believe that old age was just coming early

> for me. One summer my wife and I were driving back from a

> health ranch in Utah and I happened to see an article about

> hypogonadism and new treatments.

>

> It was a year or two before I got up the nerve to talk to a doctor

> about what I was feeling. The first doc decided I was depressed

> and put me on Paxil, an antidepressant, which I quit rather soon

> because of side effects. A family member who know more about

> drug therapies told me I didn't give it a fair chance, but I'm

pretty

> sure I never had ordinary depression. My symptoms lined up

> much closer with the hypogonadism. Finally I tried another doc

> and asked him to give me a blood test for testosterone levels

> and sure enough it came back at 203 - borderline or low by

> anyone's standards.

>

> The doc let me have androderm patches, which I had a vicious

> reaction to. Big itchy welts that I scratched at all the time. No

> way to be discreet about it. I felt a little better over all but

couldn't

> deal with the rash. Then one day I heard about Androgel on

> Good Morning America. I looked it up on the web and after

> reading the info asked my doc if he would let me try it. I got a

> prescription and tried it, only to find myself covered with a

severe

> itchy rash everywhere I applied it. I gave up shortly and thought

I

> would abandon the pursuit, but the malaise I was feeling every

> day was unacceptable. I asked the doc to let me see a urologist

> and he did. This doctor is involved in researching various

> hormone replacement therapies, including the test phase of

> androgel. A little before I saw him I tried Androgel again for a

few

> days and still got the rash. He was really surprised at my

> application site reaction and said that no one in the studies had

> had a severe enough reaction to abandon androgel. Once

> again, I seemed the exception. He tried me on shots for a while

> and I was about to go on them permanently, doing my own

> injections, but I asked if I could try the androgel one more time

> before committing to a lifetime of shots. Well, I have no

> explanation for this but on the third try I stopped having the site

> reactions. Was it psychosomatic? I don't know. I don't think I'm

> that easily influenced by such things (as fear of needles) but I

> couldn't entirely rule it out either.

>

> So I went along for about a month on 5g of Androgel a day and

> got tested again. I was only up to 214 - hardly seemed worth the

> effort and was pretty dissappointing. He had me continue for a

> couple of months and and I made it to 330. I was happier with

> the number but wasn't feeling any big difference. I had a phone

> conversation with the doc and pleaded with him to let me try 10

> grams, he was resistant but finally let me.

>

> Several more months went by and I started to feel that it just

> wasn't working. I got pretty frustrated and asked for another

> appointment, which usually takes about 6 weeks. Oddly enough

> I began to feel a little different during those weeks. I slowly

> began to notice that my abs were starting to firm up, though I

> haven't been especially attentive to my exercise. I have to admit

> that early on in the therapy my mental state was improving but I

> was frustrated with my lack of libido and now that also began to

> show signs of life again. When I finally got back to the Uro, my

> blood test showed T at about 765, which I was thrilled with.

>

> Bottom line, I don't have a good head for science - I'm in the

arts.

> But I'm starting to feel some really positive differences. They

> seemed slow in coming compared to some of you. But it was a

> real relief when I saw one of you post that it could take up to a

> year to " come back " on this therapy. I'm starting put on some

> muscle, can think more clearly, feel more enthused about work,

> and feel like having sex a few times a week rather than a few

> times a year.

>

> Hope this encourages some of you to hang in there. I almost

> didn't, but I'm sure glad I did now.

April 23, 2002

Jerry:

Great message. I haven't found the happy ending just yet, but your

message keeps me motivated. Welcome to the group! By the way, the

bit about antidepressants supports my theory that the MD's are not

educated by the drug companies to treat the cause of hypogonadism

because there is more money in drugs that treat its symptoms. Be

thankful that you seem to one of the few MD's who we all seek that is

willing to work with you.

So far, after a year of trying, the patches and AG haven't boosted me

at all. I'm in my early 40's. I still hover in the 218 to 331

zone. Actually, the 331 was one month into AG, then it started to go

down (original reading before anything was 271). Now I'm dosing HCG

to see if my anatomy can be primed into working properly. I go for a

blood test today to see what 2,000IU/3x/wk has resulted in after six

weeks. I get the results next week.

Keep posting! We like hearing from you! Seren.

April 24, 2002

Jerry,

Great post and welcome to the Group. It took time for the AG to

really start to help me. The first blood tests were disappointing.

I went from 5 to 7-1/2 grams and things seemed to kick in at 10. I

hope that LDSlifter is reading this! AG does not seem to be a quick

fix but maybe a more steady one.

Jim

April 25, 2002

Hi Jim.

No, it wasn't the quick fix I hoped for. I almost quit before it

finally

started to work. I think the key may be that we all have different

body chemistry, and things like this don't work the same for

everybody. I've read about guys getting near immediate results,

in particular with libido. Just wasn't the same for me.

I complained to the doctor about my lack of libido before the AG

finally started to work. He told me that libido is complicated, not

just about the T level, and that it has a lot to do with your mental

state and how well the rest of your life is working out. He also

gave me a sample pack of Viagra, but since the AG started

working I haven't felt the need for it.

A lot of guys on here have talked about the importance of good

health habits like proper diet, exercise, rest and stress

management, as well as getting the T level back to normal. Ditto

that. Now that my T level is in the 700's I'm trying to get the

other

things back in balance. It's a struggle given the crazy lives most

of us lead, but definitely worth the effort.

Anyway, how long have you been on AG, and since it kicked in

have your results been pretty stable?

Thanks for your reply.

Jerry

> Jerry,

>

> Great post and welcome to the Group. It took time for the AG to

> really start to help me. The first blood tests were

disappointing.

> I went from 5 to 7-1/2 grams and things seemed to kick in at

10. I

> hope that LDSlifter is reading this! AG does not seem to be a

quick

> fix but maybe a more steady one.

>

> Jim

April 25, 2002

Sounds like you have secondary hypo. Did you ever consider HCG

therapy?