Need help from the older guys.

Yeah I think so too.

But I think you ought to get tested when you have your next annual physical. Just a little extra blood to go along with all the other tests they run then.

For a BASELINE reading.

Just in case you have trouble down the road.

If I had had a BASELINE reading it would have been easy for my doctor find the correct dosage.

We just would have needed to match that number. Instead it took a year or more of trial and error to get my dosage correct.

You may never need this BASELINE reading. However it would be real nice to have in case you do. It is not a big deal to ask you doc to add that on.

Good article sta-kool. It’s right on the button. Thanks.

I’ve never had any test in my life!

For your wife’s sake you need to start. I am sure she wants you to be around a long time. A yearly physical with blood tests is important, especially for guys our age. cholesterol, liver function, thyroid function etc etc.

For example, you are getting to the age where you need to have a colon cancer screening. This is serious business, your health is very very important.

Also get Vitamin D tested, it’s a big one(should be in 50-65ng/ml range) ;) .

Perhaps you’re not aware of it, but most amino acids compete to cross the blood-brain barrier. Taking them together cancels them out as far as brain activity goes - which is where sexual arousal takes place. Bodybuilders have learned to take them separately. Taking the arginine with the other amino acids will greatly decrease the arginine’s effect on you in regards to sex or bodybuilding.

Marky777, theanine is used to relax people - it’s often recommended as a sleep supplement. Between the theanine and phenylalanine, the theanine is much more likely to have made you feel detached. It relaxes you while stimulating your mind (enhances alpha brain wave activity).

Phenylanine made you feel numb and detached? In 30 years of nutrition research, I’ve never heard of that response. Phenylalanine is a slight stimulant and mood elevator. It also helps with depression and sex. Too much can make you feel wired. Tyrosine can have similar effects, though less pronounced. That being said, everyone responds differently.

If you’re going to take either one, taking them on an empty stomach is necessary to get the best response.

If what you’re trying to do is up your dopamine levels, why bother with precursors? Why not get some L-dopa? You can buy it legally. Check out . I have some that I use occasionally - some folks rave about it, but I haven’t noticed anything dramatic.

Marky777, if you go to the cognitive nutrition site, also check out the piracetam and aniracetam. They’re two widely used nootropics - nutrients used to increase memory and intelligence. There’s a vast library of research and anecdotal reports of these two. Personally, I take piracetam daily, along with Twinlab’s Choline Cocktail (which is also filled with brain nutrients - choline is instrumental in brain function, as is the DMAE that’s included etc), to counteract my insane habit of overindulging in my homebrew at night.

Do a bit of researc on the ‘retams and I’ll bet you’ll end up getting some. Who doesn’t want a better memory, faster learning, higher IQ?!

Taking testosterone does NOT increase the risk of cancer. When men with prostate cancer are checked, they’re invariably LOW in testosterone. I’m not sure where you’re getting your information, but it’s dead wrong. It’s possible that if you already have a type of cancer which feeds on testosterone, then taking more could increase the cancer growth, but taking it in the absence of cancer does NOT increase your risk for developing cancer, and if anything it decreases your risk for many other diseases, including cardiovascular disease. I’ve been on testosterone for nearly a decade, have done the research, have read the studies. Testosterone CAN cause your testicles to shrink, since your body determines that enough testosterone is being released - it can essentially shut them down. However, any good, cutting edge male hormone doctor would likely prescribe HCG - human chorionic gonadatrophin - which stops testicular atrophy when taking testosterone. I’m on HCG as well. My balls have not shrunk at all - and thanks to damiana, they’ve actually grown in the past few months.

And, once you stop taking testosterone, your testicles would revert back to their normal size - it’s not permanent damage.

If you’re at all considering testosterone supplementation, go to the yahoo hypogonadism group () and talk to the guys who really know what the scoop is. In fact, I first learned about Thunder’s Place through a guy on that group.

Personally, I use Dr. John Crisler, who I think is the best at helping men get their testosterone levels back in line. He’s a DO, not an MD, which means he went to med school like an MD but then continued on with several hundred hours of more training.

Some very good information here.

This thread will be very useful for many men at thundersplace in the future.

Hi Sir.

Interesting stuff.

I am very sensitive to drugs of any kind, so I am a good person to dabble with this.

I found the Phenylanine increased my concentration a bit, but really worked a bit like an anti-depressant: I felt calmer, but detached from what was going on. My dick felt slightly number.

The L-Theanine was much more pleasure enhancing.

The L-Tyrosine was similar, but perhaps more gentle.

One day, I got the amounts and the order in which I took them just right, and I felt drunk with sexual feelings :)

I am feeling way way better now.

The L-Theanine is perhaps the most interesting, but the packet says don’t exceed 1200 mg, so I am treating it with caution. One day I got slight heart-race when I doubled the dose, but also felt very euphoric.

Unfortunately, other (non health) issues have cropped since starting this thread that have upped my stress levels, so I am having to put the experiment on hold for now, although I am still taking a maintenance dose of everything :)

A little stress is good for my creativity, a lot of stress annoys the crap out of me. BEST OF LUCK getting through all that.

Thanks for that jimbeaux. Most appreciated. I do take the Arginine separately — 1 level teaspoon morning and again at night with my meals. The listing was the whey protein isolate brew that I take as a post workout shake. I have also been taking creatine (1 level teaspoon) with the Arginine and also in a pre-workout shake along with glucose (40 g). I take the arginine every day, but the creatine only for half the week — nothing on the other half.

As I understand it, you have to cycle the creatine (and my doctor monitors it at 3-monthly blood tests associated with HRT). As for the glucose, I really don’t understand what happens there, but I do know it’s got with promoting an insulin spike. Also, if I don’t take the glucose, I do run out of energy before I have fininshed my workout and have lactic acid pain.

What do you recommend, please?

Yes, my balls did shrink, quite a lot — I’ve been on HRT since December 2003, but only at optimal levels since December 2007. Since December 2007, I have been injecting 1,500 iu of hCG each three days (so I take 3,500 per week). My balls have recovered a fair bit, but they’re still much smaller than before I started all this. I don’t have before and after measurements, but they certainly don’t hang as low as they did before and I put that down to less weight stretching the scrotum skin.

How much hCG are you taking, please, and where do you inject it (I do it into the subcutaneous fat to the side of my belly button)? And what’s damiana?

Cheers,

Rick

My attitude is - who cares if the balls shrank as long as the bat works!

This could be because I have smaller testicles to begin with, so I do not notice a ton of difference.

I have read Crisler’s stuff, his protocol is interesting. Unfortunately so far I have been unable to find any medical research on PubMed etc that discusses hCG as a part of a HRT treatment plan. Crisler is the only person I have seen who advocates this. It would be good if he could get a study going.

There are of course articles about using hCG with a TRT patient if he is wanting to conceive a child. (NOTE - no ‘damage’ to the testicles, they are just sleeping)