Why Guess Yourself Get A Professional To Do It For You?
June 2003

As I write, I ponder about the hormone issue I am currently going through. I wonder why I have had so much trouble with something I now understand to be quite straight forward. You see, I am rather a trusting soul. I gave a medical professional the benefit of the doubt and it got me into strife. Costing me money, and time and a lot of grief. But in the words of Forrest Gumph “shit happens’ and you just have to accommodate change.

I should start from the beginning. I am one of this world that had Testicular Cancer, just loosing one at the time, so life continued as near as normal. Then tiredness, and mood swings set in and because I learned from the TCNET email support group, the remaining testicle does not necessarily maintain the hormone levels as two do. I had my levels checked.

My body was asking for more testosterone and I was not able to produce it. My L:H and FSH readings were high, so a supplement was required and I was able to ‘top up’ my levels, first with patches then creams.

But then the second testicle was lost, due to a non cancerous reason and I knew then I had to have a permanent source of Testosterone and it would be for the rest of my life. I decided on implants. The initial discomfort of having six pellets put in my backside for a few days seemed worth the ‘forget about them ‘ attitude for a few months. Six months later, another half dozen went in. That was in November 2002. To be honest, I didn’t feel that great in the fifth and sixth month.

Around March 2003 I was concerned about the dosage and the levels I was arriving at. I didn’t feel right. I was anxious, moody and generally pissed off. So down to the Doctors I went, for a blood test. It was found that my LH [Luteinizing Hormone] and my FSH [Follicle Stimulating Hormone] levels were non existent. The reason, according to my Endocrinologist was that my Testosterone levels were so high, that the Pituitary gland was saying, to my non existent testicles,. “Shut down production”. He told me I was overdosed.

So I am at the crazy point at the moment where I have to lower my testosterone levels to a base line, while suffering the symptoms of low testosterone, before my Endocrinologist will allow any more implants.

But why should I have to be at this stage? One which I may add, I would not be at if curiosity had not set in. I wonder, with dismay, at how many other ‘trusting males’ are overdosed though ignorance, brought about by trusting the physicians “expertise”. I can only speculate that male hormone management is not yet taken as seriously as it should be. This is why now I am going to manage my own Testosterone levels, with the assistance of my doctor.

There is another situation for males unlike myself that seems to be ‘the fashion’ at the moment. The revitalisation of the mid life in the promotion of Testosterone. ‘To give the youth back to the middle aged’. I do not object to that at all, for it is a known fact that the male testosterone levels diminish with age and at the far end of the scale, the long term lack of it will cause crumbling bones. But this latest fad does not seem, to my research, to have the follow up ‘management’ of hormone levels to suit the individual. The frightening thing is that there is enough long term research into the lasting effects of testosterone overdosing to show the risk I was running.

If you are in the situation where you are in need of Hormone Replacement Therapy [HRT] or Testosterone Replacement Therapy [TRT] regardless of your age or circumstance, first do some basic research. Find out what blood tests should be performed and enable yourself to read the results. This will ensure that you know what is right for yourself, rather than speculate that the person you are seeing is looking after your interests. Look at the supplement alternatives that are available and what suits you. For instance, the patches and gels are the best to format the dosage, being a daily application. Although the patches can give you, after a period of time, a skin irritation.
Injections, are slightly harder, administered approximately once a fortnight and implants the hardest to correct the dosage by at the least, being every two months or even longer.

So in finishing, correctly, the medic to see is an Andrologist or an Endocrinologist with an interest in men’s health. But as in all professions there will always be the percentage that will not follow the task through to completion. The moral of this story is that there is nothing wrong with putting your trust in someone, where your health is concerned. But do a bit of homework on the side, like I now do, so that the trust you give, you know, is warranted

Martin Yalden [Melbourne Australia]