alright long story with a short question..
im just trying to stop all of the follow up questions in advance.

back in 2005 i was working in louisiana after huricane katrina. i work for the govnmnt but do not have insurance, its kinda like a contract job. but whenever i am at large operations like that i always have the benefit of having a doctor on site for free treatment. ..soo…

by the way I am 34 now, and was 29 almost 30 then.

after i was there for a few months i was really tired and run down. and extremely grumpy. almost hostile at imes. very unlike me. i thought it was a stress issue due to the long hours and a few other things. i didnt really notice i had no sex drive because i was away from home and my significant other. but either way i hadnt woke up with a Mr. happy in weeks, maybe months. my sex drive at home was pretty much nonexistant also before i left. i was looking for excuses to get out of my manly duties.
mostly the problem was that i was feeling very short tempered with people i had to work with at this point. so i went to the doctor and told her the symptoms, she asked me some questions. "sex drive stuff i hadnt thought of" and said i was expereincing low testosterone. i was also getting pretty out of shape. my arms were getting skinny. my gut was getting flabby. but i noticed it mostly in my usually very well developed legs. they were starting to look like female legs. no hair. hardly any muscle tone. and i was getting fat deposits on them. i thought it was because of long hours, and no exersize. but the effects were too dramatic.
anyway.. its pretty clear my testosterone levels were low. she told me she could do a blood test to determine whether i should use injections or gel or patch. and i asked her some questions. mostly about side effects.. we have all heard the horrible things about steroids in the media.. shrinking balls, baldness, cancer! she said i would probably need testosterone therapy of some sort for the rest of my life. i was mortified.. i had been the picture of health my whole life.. very active, ate right. low blood pressure. reasonable body fat to muscle ratio. didnt smoke, drank in moderation.
this type of thing only happened to people who didnt take care of themselves right?
i told her i needed to think about some things and look into some different options.

so i went back to my office and started looking at different treatments online. different symptoms.
natural treatments. i ran accross hundreds of "natural" remedies. herbs.. root extracts.. vitamin combinations. im sure if you are reading this you have ran accross several yourself.
so a few things led me to my decision to try some natural remedies. firstly the doctor told me it was possible that my test levels were low because of the long stressfull hours and lack of sex..
so maybe just a few little things here and there could help out right..
well first i tried some stuff i ordered off the internet. it was a liquid drop you held under your tongue. tesocurlone i think it was called. i also increased my b complex vitamins.
well that did it.. after about 3 or 4 days i woke up with a raging rock hard erection. i thought - hell i should be a doctor.. i felt better. my muscles felt stronger.
the affects however were shortlived. after about 3 months of this, i started to see a decline in my sex drive and energy. also since i work out semi regularly i could tell my performance was fading. weaker, and less stamina ..
so on to another remedy… then another… then another…
the results over the past few years have almost always been the same. i have tried different combinations of herbs… nettle root,vitamins and over the counter remedies from health food stores.
they seem to help for a while until my body kind of "runs out" its almost like its sputtering. up and down.
so now im about to change jobs and have insurance in april. to celebrate i went to 2 different doctors here in town to try to maybe get my testosterone levels regular and steady. i have decided that everyone grows old but at 34 i want to be able to enjoy the time i have and its very hard to do physical activities like riding mountain bikes and playing basketball when you feel like you are 64 instead of 34. i dont care about performance enhancing, only enjoying life.
so the first doctor i went to i told him all these things. he asked me about my job and personal relationships. asked me how much i worked out. which is always 2 hours of full court basketball on sunday and light weight training once or twice during the week during winter. but summertime im always outside, riding, hiking,building things, whatever i can do to enjoy the outdoors.
he took my vitals and tested my blood, but for cholesteral and lipids and stuff rather than test.
he said i thought i was depressed. he rattled off a couple antidepressants he thought i could have some success with. he said steroids were basically the devil. they would kill me if i too
kill me if i quit taking them. low testosterone was part of getting older. i just had to accept it.

i was stunned at first. i didnt know what to say. i left the drs office feeling like an old man. like it was all downhill, i should just enjoy the ride. i started thinking about quitting basketball. since honestly it was becoming a huge struggle to keep up. i obviously needed to drastically alter my diet to accomidate about 1600 calories a day. i thought, well what can i do the Dr said this and that. i dont really have much choice.
then i had a novel idea. ill go to a different DR! and i did. i looked in the phone book. called. made sure i was going to see a doctor who was under 50. went and he proceded to tell me some of the same things the first doctor did. except that he was under the impression i was trying to use him to score steroids for performance enhancing.
i think he assumed since i am kinda muscular and bigger that i was looking for a legal way to get "gains". by the way im 6-1 about 230lbs. i have a 50 inch chest and a 38 inch waist. i got this big in high school while i was rowing crew except now my body fat is all out of whack and my arms are kinda skinny looking with very little tone. my chest is getting flabby. and my waist is reaching maximum density. and remember for the past few years i have been trying every over the counter and natural remedy combination i can find with mixed results and little success. the hardest thing to do when my testosterone drops is finding motivation to exersize or be active at all. i just want a steady healthy energy level that will allow me to live a healthy active lifestyle instead of basically rolling over and dying.
the second doctor said my test levels were low but within acceptable range. around 400 i think he said. he told me if i worked out naturally and watched my diet i could get them up
natuarally with out steroids. i tried to explain that i have been trying that for the past 4 or 5 years. but he was not swayed.
here is the problem. i live in a small town that is for the most part very conservative. most of the doctors here are older from the old school that seem to think steroid therapy is akin to witchcraft and cheating in some way. i have went to 2 doctors here and neither was willing to help, well the old guy wanted to put me on zoloft or welbutrin or something. and the younger guy though that i was trying to "get juiced" he was a smaller younger guy kinda skinny and i think he may have had a napoleon complex of some kind.
im tired of the erratic sex drive and energy levels. im tired of feeling like i just ran a marathon ofter sex if it does get to that point. (i take stamina RX, OTC) im tired of being grumpy and angry. and im tired of being tired. i live in the WV, OH, KY tristate area. does anyone know of a doctor that would be willing to help
alright.. couple of quality responses, but not what i am asking for.
firstly, i am not seeking advice on the forum. i already have a pretty good idea of what is needed through research. i dont claim to know more than a doctor ofcourse, but a family practitioner over 60 years old might be a bit out of touch with up to date treatments. also let me just let everyone know right off the bat.. i am not depressed. i lead a pretty stabile life that is rewarding and active. i have tried treating this problem with every kind of extract, diet, food, or supplement i could find reason to believe in. and like i said, some have had some positive altho temporary results. i am asking…. DOES ANYONE KNOW OF A DOCTOR OR CLININC IN THE WV, OH, KY areaTHAT SPECIALIZES IN THIS TREATMENT. i do not need any more advice. i need real treatment for a real problem.i wrote the novel cover all possible facets so as to weed out the good advice givers and people telling me steroids are not the answer




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