Messages

1

Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: Clomid success story?

« on: April 20, 2021, 05:13:10 am »

Glad to learn you're doing well. I remember your earlier struggles and have wondered how things were and if you were still on Clomid.

Have you given any thought to switching to enclomiphene now that it's somewhat available?

I had not known that enclomiphene had become available!  TBH things are working well enough for me now that I don’t know that I’d want to mess with my current protocol.  But I will be seeing my doc soon and will ask him what he thinks!  Thanks for the info!

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Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Clomid success story?

« on: April 14, 2021, 03:44:44 pm »

Hey all - it’s been a long time.
Just wanted to drop in and give some of the newer people some encouragement.  When I first came here in 2015, I was a complete wreck.  My T was in the low 100s, I was completely impotent (which came on all of a sudden around April of 2015).  It was a long road getting better and I learned along the way that I have a genetic abnormality that has given me very premature heart disease (I was 41 in 2015).
But!  With Clomid (and a touch of Anastrazole), I was able to get my T levels into the 500s (and sometimes above that, as high as the 700s).  It took over a year, and the help of 2.5 mg of Cialis a day, but my erections returned to more or less normal (even strong on occasion), and I enjoy regular sex with my wife without a LOT of worrying (that never goes away entirely, I’m afraid).  In many ways, my nightmare has been over for a while.  I owe a lot to the good people here (and over at franktalk.org) for listening and giving support and advice when I really needed it.  There is hope!

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Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: Latest test results - High T, Low SHBG?

« on: September 19, 2019, 04:26:30 pm »

Thanks, Cataceous.

The heart stuff?  Eh, it sucks.  Phase 3 trials of the drug that lowers Lp(a) started, which I cannot get on because I have not had a heart attack YET.  It’s sad that a minor heart attack could ultimately save my life.  Ain’t life funny?

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Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Latest test results - High T, Low SHBG?

« on: September 18, 2019, 11:36:44 pm »

Hey all - have not been active in a while.  More focus on the heart than the T.

Anyway, got my routine blood test results for the year and was a bit surprised. 

Total T, Bioavailable T, and Free T were ALL higher than they have EVER been, while SHBG was LOWER than ever.  This seemed odd because in the few days prior to getting the blood drawn, I had noticed the first slight issue with flagging erection during sex that I have noticed in a while.

I have only a dim understanding of low SHBG and what it does.  What do you folks make of this?

Total T: 622 NG/DL (Range 270-1070)
SHBG: 30.5 NMOL/L (Range 14.6-94.6)
Free T: 141.7 PG/ML (Range 48.2-169.6)
Bioavailable T: 332.2 NG/DL (Range 113.1-397.7)

All it all these numbers LOOK great to me, considering my original T reading three years or so ago was in the low 100s!  Clomid sure has done wonders for me! 

Just curious if any wiser and more experienced folks here had any input.  Thanks!

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Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: Libido and staying power

« on: March 14, 2019, 01:06:41 am »

Not encouraging doom and gloom, and I got MY EQ and stuff pretty much back (with help from Cialis), but I know it helped my psych wise to realize that the WORST CASE SCENARIO was me getting an implant, which would solve the problem once and for all and which the vast majority of men (and women!) who use them are very happy with.  Check out www.franktalk.org and read some of the implanted guys’ testimonies. 

Don’t give up on getting your TRT in gear and beating this that way!  You’ll probably be able to do it!  Just take a deep breath and realize that the worst case scenario - ain’t that bad.

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Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: starting clomid. have doubt.

« on: March 09, 2019, 01:15:39 am »

Just gonna chime in here as something of a “Clomid success story”.  My T was 120 or so at start, with near complete loss of sexual functioning.  Most of this is in my bio. Clomid (and a small bit of Anastrazole) (and, to be fair, a fair dose of Cialis) has brought me to T in the 500s and quite serviceable sexual functioning - although I doubt the anxiety will ever go away completely (maybe after I get that inevitable implant, if I live that long).

My point is, Clomid played a big part in righting my T and bringing my dick back from the dead.  Good luck, man!  It took time (months, years even) for me, but it happened!

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Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: 55 years old, calcium score CT scan = 0

« on: December 06, 2018, 08:36:19 pm »

I just did the CT scan calcium score test at the local hospital with the pretty awesome looking GE scanner. I've been very tired lately and my cardiologist (I have a cardiologist because I had AFIB years ago) wanted to do both a Calcium Score and a Nuclear Stress Test.

The calcium score came out at zero. It's highly unusual for a 55 year old to have no calcium in heart arteries. Not a hint of calcium in my heart anywhere. The pictures were amazingly clear, and the external structure of the arteries were very visible, with no white anywhere.

My PTH (parathyroid hormone) level is 3x high and blood calcium trends on the low side. I do feel better sometimes if I take calcium. I wonder if my typical low blood calcium has affected my arteries?

I am envious.

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Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: T-docs in Chicago area?

« on: December 04, 2018, 05:36:59 pm »

Thanks.  If you feel comfortable naming the doc in a PM, please send his/her name my way privately.  I just don’t want this poor woman and her husband to waste their time on some idiot who tells that that his T of 300 is “in range” and therefore couldn’t possibly be a problem...  (I do not know his actual T levels).

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Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: T-docs in Chicago area?

« on: December 03, 2018, 06:52:25 pm »

Good to see you too, Golf.  Hope all is well with you.

Thanks for the info.  Was hoping to find someone who had actual experience with a good doc in Chicago, but what I see here is better than nothing.  I was just about to tell this woman all about how many docs have their heads up there butts on T and what to look out for when I realized there was a whole group here and maybe someone could just give me a trusted name.

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Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / T-docs in Chicago area?

« on: December 03, 2018, 01:32:02 pm »

Hey all.  Hope all is well with you.  I’ve been pretty good - EQ is always up and down (har har) but has been significantly more reliable since I doubled my Clomid dose.  I do think it has lowered my libido somewhat as I rarely feel the same “edge” when in the presence of pretty young women these days - I mean I FEEL it, I notice, it just doesn’t seem as strong.  Still having plenty of sex though.

My question isn’t for me.  It turns out I have a female family member who recently confided in me that she has been frustrated for years new because her husband seems to have no interest in sex and she regularly goes six months or more without his touching her, and when he does it is only after a lot of begging and pleading.  I’ve been on the receiving end of that and it was horrible; real trauma.  I feel - anger - for this woman, who is attractive and sexual and in pain.  She loves her husband but - you know the drill.  It hurts.

I suggested that she might want to look into having him get his T checked.  I know that is not always the answer but it would not hurt to look.  She says he says he is “too tired” a lot and that could be low T as well.  Anyway she was receptive to that BUT - we all know that there are some docs out there who really have their heads up their asses when it comes to testosterone.  I’d rather this poor woman not waste her and her husband’s time on one of THEM.

So - can you who are in the know recommend a doc or two in the Chicago area whose names I can pass along?  Docs who take low T seriously?  If T is the reason this guy’s libido is so low. treatment could ultimately be saving a marriage or at least the mental health of this poor woman.  Thank you.

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Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: Success with Cholesterol and A1C on TRT

« on: October 14, 2018, 03:05:19 am »

You are doing so much the same as me!  I was about to suggest K2 and then I saw it in your stack already. Nice!  I believe the Kyolic is important as well.

Unfortunately my own A1c is not nearly so good. Got it down from 6.0 to 5.6 by losing 60 pounds and radically changing diet, but not even Metformin will budge it lower and it slid up to 5.7 this year (I did gain a bit of weight back, about 15 pounds). 

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Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: Switching from cream to Clomid for a while.

« on: October 01, 2018, 04:53:22 pm »

Clomid takes a long time to get right, I think.  I started it four or so years ago.

I consider myself to be a “Clomid success story”, I guess, as it has raised my T from 120 or so to the high 600s.  Sexual function has returned to almost normal, from near complete impotence.

I take 50 mg EOD and .25 mg Anastrazole E4D.

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Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: "No 'safe' level of alcohol consumption"

« on: August 25, 2018, 09:02:06 pm »

I would be VERY curious to see the breakdown of the causes of those deaths, as I strongly suspect the majority are from DUI, which is VERY avoidable if you aren’t an ignoramus.

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Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: 40 years old, just had T tested, 170. Just wanted some advice.

« on: August 25, 2018, 06:02:06 pm »

Hey Jackie, I am late to the party here I see.

I was 41 when I learned that my T was 120 or so.  It was a nightmare.  Then it got worse.

But that’s mostly because of some genetic defects.  You probably don’t have them.

The good news is that there is a lot that can be done.  I was functionally impotent when I was diagnosed, and a mental wreck (ask anyone here who remembers me from then). 

I guess I am a “Clomid success story” since I am not really on TRT, just Clomid and a very small dose of Anastrazole.  My T went up to the low 400s on 25 mg EOD and is now almost 700 on 50 mg EOD.  I feel much better, by sexual equipment is working almost completely normally (worst problem now is that I might “waver” a bit in the middle of things, but I always manage to rally back, and this only happens rarely).  It took MONTHS for the improvements to really manifest and I’m still not where I was before “the crash” at 41, but I’m much better, have regained the ability to sleep in and have vivid dreams, etc.  Clomid can work.

Good luck and don’t give up!  If I could normalize, so can you!

Oh, and a thing that keeps me going on the darkest of dark days?  The knowledge that penile implants exist and are very effective.  Seriously.  If that’s in any way your problem, go to franktalk.org and check out the implants forum there.  Lots of very happy guys.  That’s your worst case scenario.  It doesn’t seem that bad.

15

Testosterone, Hormones and General Men's Health / Re: Anyone else missing the hell out of Peak's energy around here.

« on: August 25, 2018, 05:51:34 pm »

I miss him.  On a personal level I think I am still processing his death and what it means to me, going forward.  I’m not sure he would have wanted me to take home the message I feel like I am taking home, but the gist of it is that you can work as hard as you can to keep yourself healthy and give yourself a long life, and have none of it matter.  It makes me reconsider some of the sacrifices I have made in the past in a mad effort to undo what genetics has done to me.  Peak could have been enjoying ice cream and steakhouses for the last decade of his life and it wouldn’t have impacted his lifespan at all.