Originally Posted by Jason_Els
Are there any good supplements that boost testosterone production? Something not too expensive I could take daily? I’m thinking of a single pill combination thingy, not an army of bottles. I don’t know that testosterone gel applied to the penis would do a thing for you as your pituitary regulates testosterone in your system. If it sees more testosterone in the body then it thinks there should be, then it will shut down the testosterone production in the testes. Your boys don’t run the show, the pituitary gland does.
Apply gel, testes stop producing. Take away gel, testes start producing again. At all times, your pituitary gland is seeking to produce x-amount of testosterone and it will fight to keep that level even if you add more. The trick is to get the pituitary to want to produce more testosterone and there is a way to do that. I used Clomid to do so and it helped quite a bit. I stopped taking Clomid as I was feeling better but probably should get back on it again though I can’t afford it now as I don’t have a job or health insurance. My testosterone levels are low, both bound and free. I don’t have morning wood or generally much interest in sex though I do get surges of interest in it at odd times.
As far as “natural” supplements that boost test, you can try zinc. I think zinc can be effective at increasing free testosterone in males who are somewhat zinc depleted (many of us are; we lose a lot of zinc when we ejaculate). You can also purchase ZMA, which is merely a trademark for a certain ratio of zinc/magnesium. In my experience, 50 mg per day of zinc has the same effect.
There is a lot of anecdotal evidence of other compounds (yohimbe, tribulus, DHEA, etc…) but I think much of the result will depend on the quality of what you’re getting (not much regulaiton for supplements) and your particular response.
As far “apply gel, testes stop producing; stop gel, testes start producing again”, I somewhat disagree; certain types of steroids will disrupt the HPT axis more than others and dose and duration play a role as well; you may not get any real disruption to your endogenous production. Conversely, simply stopping a cycle is sometimes not enough to kickstart endogenous production; you may have to take HCG and, as you have, clomid.