How to -LOWER- my testosterone

Yes you read it correctly, I need ideas. In a nutshell I have always had low testosterone levels. However, they have always been right at the borderline for treatment. I am going for my first physical in years today and I did not get my blood work done yet because I want to have my levels tested again and need to speak with the Doctor about adding that test. Now I figure if my levels were boarder line when I was 18 and in shape, now at 24 and a completely out of shape, they should be slightly lower. I would like to know if anyone has any ideas of how to temporally lower my testosterone levels before I do the blood work that might finally bump me that little bit lower so I can finally get some sort of treatment. I would much prefer to have something prescribed to me then seeking out various grey market shit on the Internet to try to take care of it myself.

Due to my low testosterone levels I have very low energy level no matter how much I rest, morning stiffness and soreness and an almost non-existent sex drive (which now that I am on anti-depressants is almost completely gone). I have had every other cause for these symptoms checked out and the only thing I can conceive is it’s my low testosterone levels. I have had these symptoms since I was 14 or so and I have had my testosterone checked at around 16 and 18, both times just at the lower acceptable limit ( for instance on a scale of 1-10, 4-8 being the normal range I always came in at like a 3.9 or 4.05 )
I have tried eating a strict diet, as much exercise as I could get done with being so tired all the time, zinc, vitamins, and all sorts of other shit to bring my levels up, but nothing seems to work.

So if anyone has some suggestions on anyway I can lower my test levels temporally for my blood work let me know, the low energy and sex drive has been extremely disruptive to my life.

Thanks

Here is a quick test I found - I answered YES to almost all of them.

Do you have low testosterone? Take this little quiz and find out.

Do you have a decrease in libido or sex drive?
Do you have a lack of energy?
Do you have a decrease in strength or endurance?
Have you lost weight?
Have you noticed a decreased enjoyment of life?
Are you sad or grumpy?
Are your erections less strong?
Have you noticed a recent deterioration in your ability to play sports?
Are you falling asleep after dinner?
Has there been recent deterioration in your work performance?

If you answered “yes” to question #1 or #7 or you answered “yes” to three others, you may have a low testosterone level. Talk about your testosterone level with your doctor at your next visit.

Man Chuck, just because you had two borderline tests years ago, does mean you always had, and always will have, low testosterone. It is a convenient excuse to put into your head. You blamed everything from morning stiffness to low energy on this theory of yours. T fluctuates a lot during the day and low results are not necessarily anything to worry about. If you test low again however, it may mean something, but you need to get an accurate test after all these years.

If you do have low T it is bad news, so don’t hope for it. T replacement therapy will totally kill your natural endocrine system and permanently shrink your balls. You would need to do it for the rest of your life.

Low sex drive, lack of energy, stiffness, and low T can all be improved by exercising and getting in shape. I know you have started some exercise, but you are also using 6 year old test results as an excuse in your head why you can’t do a good work out, and why it won’t help anyway. Stop all that. Get serious about working out. Even if your T is low, you can get into great shape. Women do it all the time. Get your T tested. If it is low, try to improve it naturally, and get it tested again in a few months.

If it is really low, a doctor should want to help you considering your symptoms, without trying to rig the test. However, I think the best way to get a low test is to get the blood drawn in the late afternoon, after a stressful day, maybe after a couple of drinks. T is highest and should always be tested first thing in the morning.

Since I can’t give any advice about lowering your T, I suggest reading 789’s thread “I’ve been diagnosed with Andropause” about what to do with a low T.

Having said that, I wonder if mravg isn’t on to something about self-fulfilling prophecies…

ManChuck,

I was diagnosed with low T a year or so ago. I had similar symptoms, low energy, low sex drive, foggy thinking, etc. I am on Androgel and it has brought my levels up from a low of the 150’s to over 800 on a scale of 250-1000. It has definately changed my life, mostly for the better. I did have ball shrinkage but once I hit the top end of the normal scale, the doc wants to try to take me off for a certain period of time to see if my system will jumpstart itself again.

Good luck.

789

I should have been more specific as to the level of my fatigue. I can’t get through a day a without a energy drink, caffeine, nicotine, green tea, or some type of stimulant. I have gone without such stimulants, for a week or two at a time, to see if I was simply addicted to these things, but I was falling asleep at work and class everyday. I have been to three sleep studies which said nothing was wrong with me. After a simple 8 hr work day I need to crash. After 8 hrs of sleep I feel like I haven’t had any - if I have the time, like on weekend I usually sleep 12+ and only after that do I feel normal. Look I could be sounding like a baby, but when you are tired everyday for years maybe you become alittle bit of a cranky bitch. I am sure my condition has gotten worse lately due to the anti-depression medication I am on.

Maybe I just had a crappy doctor in the past. He was a very black and white guy - your test came back 1 off from the level need for treatment, so no treatment. With my new Doctor, there might not even be a reason to rig the test, but here is the thing - I don’t have the money to be going to the doctor all the time. Right now with my therapist, psychologist, medications and regular Doctor visits and regular expenses I am in the hole. I had to cancel my physical therapy for my back because I couldn’t afford it. I only felt like helping the test along in the right direction would help prevent ten million doctors visits.

The fact remains that this could have nothing to do with testosterone levels and I realize that. It’s just the only conclusion I could come to after all these years. The main indicator I have been using besides the extreme lack of energy has been sex drive. On a scale of 1-10 I would rate my sex drive from the ages of 15-21 as a 3 and now around 0-1.

The only other conclusion I can draw is that I have some undiagnosed shit, which may be another possibility. My mother, my aunt and myself have severe sleeping issues along with severe fatigue and our left hands shake like motherfuckers, which is pretty weird. We have always though we have some undiagnosed shit because or symptoms are so similar. Oh well, guess I just take some “magic fish oil” or some shit which seems to be the only answer.

To be honest out of everything the thing I am most pissed off about or would like to fix more than anything is my sex drive. I have felt like a complete freak my entire life because of it. I have only felt sexually attracted to someone twice in my who life and both of those times were under the age of 16, when my hormones were raging. I would love to feel that chemical attraction, that lusty feeling I felt so long ago. When I look at women I can appreciate their beauty and recognize if they are sexy or hot but I do not feel the urge to fuck them ( and no I don’t like men). I never really felt like a man because of that. I guess that it isn’t all that bad. When I look at women I see a people with feelings and shit instead of just a piece of meat or walking twats like most men I know. Although it would be refreshing for once in my life to think with my little head instead of the big one.

I knew this was going to be a touchy subject and that most of the responses where going to try and persuade me from doing it, but I figured I give it a shot.

I think you should take your mother, your ant and yourself over to that doctor. Three close relatives, three clear sets of weird symptoms? Your low test might be a sideeffect of something else, I guess.

We should page Dr. TenaciousD.

Very true, only both of them have been tested extensively and no one can figure it out.

Does anybody else have any ideas what It might be? I guess the only way to find out is to speak with my Doctor today and see what she thinks. Maybe there is some test that can be done to see if it is something else besides testosterone and mravg is right, I shouldn’t base shit on old tests. Maybe blood sugar or something?

I was thinking thyroid gland myself, but I’m no doctor.

I don’t think you need to worry about this being a touchy subject, it’s just that from your previous threads at least I draw the conclusion that you’ve allowed yourself to believe things that just aren’t rational and so I - like mravg - wonder if your mind is playing you games. Which is a bit of a problem, of course, because it might hide a very real problem.

Generally professionals don’t like being told their job (I certainly don’t) - and I think this very much applies to doctors, from both training and tradition. Hell, I’ve even read of research that showed that patients that suggested illnesses got less help than patients that kind of let the doctors figure things out on their own. That does not mean not to tell the doc about the symptoms, that means not telling the him/her that “look, I’m real fucking tired, it’s gotta be low T”.

Yeah I only plan on telling her the symptoms I have, not what I think it is. The thyroid gland might be a factor, I’ll have to look into that. My mother asked my doctor about that, back in the day when my mother would come in and he simply said that the test was unnecessary because I was growing fine. My aunt DOES have thyroid problems, I now that for a fact, and we share a similar body chemistry as we both can eat quite heavily and not gain weight.

I looked this up quick

Common symptoms of hyperthyroidism are:

Jitteriness, shaking, increased nervousness, irritability (I shake like a mother fucker and anyone here can tell I get irritable)
Rapid heart beat or palpitations
Feeling hot (all the time, I sweat in air conditioning)
Weight loss (if I do anything active or change my diet I drop weight like what)
Fatigue, feeling exhausted (Defiantly got this one)
More frequent bowel movements
Shorter or lighter menstrual periods

You got this one as well?

I wish! Yeah couldn’t you tell I have a huge vag filled with sand. Half the time I post it sound like I am on the rag. Anyway off to the Doctor, 1 o’clock appointment.

We will see what happens and I don’t plan on suggesting anything, just telling her what’s wrong.

Peace

You might want to spill the beans that Thyroid problems run in the family. Might get her brain thinking in different directions. After all, who knows what the heck is wrong with your tiredness.

back from the Doc and I am getting my testosterone levels checked and shit for thyroid as well as blood sugar. So we shall see what develops. On a side note I have shrunk an 1” and as fat as ever 197 cloths on. I usually hover around 180-185. Whooo I knew my pants were fitting tight. Great I am getting fatter and shorter fantastic. It’s funny, I started eating better for the last week and a half and I actually weight more.

Just checked out 789’s thread, some interesting similarities. Besides the obvious stuff, my hair also grows VERY slow. I go 2 months minimum before getting my haircut. I cannot grow a mustache, just doesn’t fill in. Also I never have morning wood, ever. That seems to be very common among everyone here but since puberty I have never had morning wood that I can remember and have not a had a nocturnal emission in 6 or so years. Oh well guess I get to check another box on the freak sheet.

Here’s how I would answer this quiz.

#1. HELL YES!! libido or sex drive doesn’t exist.
#2. Yes
#3. Yes
#4. No still weigh about 150 pounds just like I did 20 years ago.
#5. Definitely because of question #1.
#6. Yes
#7. Yes
#8. Yes
#9. Yes
#10. Not really.

HOWEVER, I have all the numbers from all my blood tests and they are generally in the middle to high to extremely high parts of the ranges.