Living with Testosterone Deficiency

I’m 37 now, and got on Testim 1% about 19 months ago. I’ve dropped over 40 lbs. from 260… which was mostly fat back then. I’m still dropping weight slowly, and I have muscles now.

Looking back, it probably went low in my mid-20s. I was athletic and strong in my teens and early 20’s. I weighed about 170-180 when I was 24. Then I lost muscle over a couple of years and went down to about 150. Then I got fat… real fat.

I figure I was testosterone deficient for about 10 years, gradually getting worse. I had been to the doctor and taken blood tests, but I guess not the right one. I was on anti-depressants for the last couple of years before the hormone treatment began. At that point, I had gotten so heavy with fat and no muscle, was pinching and eventually partially severed a nerve in my upper-back and neck area. To this day, I still can’t feel a part of my thumb and index finger; fortunately, they still work.

This pinched nerve was the thing that got the ball rolling on trying to find out what was going on, but at this point I had very little motivation left to do anything. Fortunately, they found my testosterone level low with the right blood test.

When the doctor told me, I don’t think it really registered; I was in so much of a fog. He just said, “take this patch, one a day”, and I did.

I quickly found testosterone and Wellbutrin don’t mix! I was on Wellbutrin for the depression which was was doing some of the things testosterone does; it gives you motivation more than anything, because it feels like 16 cups of espresso being released into your body throughout the day. I almost jumped out of my skin the first week, until I figured out what was happening. I called up my doc and told him I had to stop taking the anti-depressants; I didn’t need them anymore.

I felt great! For the first time in years! Years!

Then, all hell broke loose! A month into it, every place I had put a patch broke out in a rash I mean, every patch… for the last month… all in one day! Thirty-something rashes! The really messed-up part of it is that the my doctor knew this would happen, but he had no choice but to try me on the patch first because the insurance wouldn’t cover it otherwise. They immediately switched me to the gel, but I had to wait two weeks to use it while the rashes went away. No Wellbutrin, no testosterone, no fun!

Since then, everything has been going pretty smooth. Losing the weight, regaining ambition, sex drive, self-image… it’s been a life-changing experience for sure! I went so long without testosterone, I had to re-learn how to deal with things like anger. In fact, I came to a lot of realizations on how and why this planet works the way it does. I guess if you fast on anything, you’ll always come out of it with a different understanding… whether you opt for it or not.

Although I feel 1000% better than I did three years ago, it has been no picnic! I feel sick almost every morning, some more than most. I have to drag my ass out of bed, which is helped greatly by my wife providing a cup of nuclear-strong tea. After a shower, I put the medicine-gel on… then I feel even more sick for another half-hour. If there’s anything in my stomach in the morning, it’s comin’ out (unfortunately, that sometimes includes the tea); so no more late-night meals for me!

After an hour, I finally get an appetite; it’s unnaturally huge! I’ve learned to portion, but that isn’t the problem. The problem is how quickly the appetite comes on… like a freight train! I go from not being able to eat anything to being ravenous in a very short period of time.

I could go on and on about testosterone deficiency but the fact of the matter is that I have to take this stuff every day for the rest of my life. It sucks, but the alternative sucks way worse!

I wonder why this happened to me. Perhaps it was the solvents I was using while a mechanic during my early 20s. It’s hard to prove that, though.