Let’s talk Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT)

[RustVendor]

We do actually have long term data on Testosterone, and yes it's necessary for wellbeing but it's also why men die earlier than women. It has a direct effect on your lipids and blood pressure both of which literally will kill you. That's precisely why if you are going to do it, stay on the lower end because the short term "gainz" will literally make your life shorter.

 

[skram]

I am no doctor and not giving medical advise. But I am older and do a lot of research on health related issues.

T levels start dropping in our 30s. Muscle atrophy starts in our 30s. Rhetorical questions, so no answers being sought here, and these are things I have learned as I have addressed similar health issues.

Are you over weight or obese? If yes, lose the weight first before starting T therapy. Do you lift weights? If not, you should, for many reasons, not just T levels. Weight lifting is the most important exercise aging men should have in their daily routine till their dying day. Are you on a good exercise program? If not, you should be, and I would get on that for at least 6 months before adding T into my body.

Are you on a healthy diet? Are you at 1 gram of protein for every pound of desired body weight daily? So if you should be at 180 pounds, are you eating 180 grams of protein daily? Do you know your BMI and your body fat percentage? If you don't, you should. Do you know what your daily caloric intake should be to maintain weight, or to lose weight? If not, you should.

Do you drink alcohol? Alcohol is a poison to our body, it is a toxin. Don't get me wrong, I love scotch rocks. But consuming alcohol is truly not a good thing to do for our bodies. I try to limit my intake to 2 days a month, but I would prefer a scotch rocks every night after work. Alcohol affects many of our bodily functions. I would quit drinking for 6 months before adding T into my routine.

Are you getting 8 cups of green vegetables in your diet every day? Spinach, broccoli, asparagus?

I'm medicare eligible age. I wish I would have started a healthier lifestyle when I was your age.

At under 40, I would focus on my health for 6 months, start evaluating the results, before taking T. But that's me. I won't take T therapy. It is not worth the risks, based upon what I know. I do use a number of supplements, creatine, leucine, and a few others, to help slow the affects of aging and muscle atrophy which is a naturally occurring process.

I take no meds and am on no prescriptions. I consider myself very fortunate.

I wish you the best of luck. Life can be difficult if we don't have our health.

I’d like to echo everything right here.. also look in to fasting and check out this guy Dr. Sean Omara.

Im 42 and recently went through some hellish things with stress and anxiety - my body, adrenal system, etc was all totally screwed. I checked my T levels and they were ok - room for improvement - but I read some things about TRT that I didn’t like.

I cut alcohol, started exercising, dropped 40 lbs, and I currently feel F-ing amazing and have plenty of energy.

Lots of protein, low carbs and next to zero processed foods, daily lifting and HIIT, jogging, lots of water, very little caffeine. And good sleep to top it all off.

Good luck!

 

[sabersix]

I have been on it for about 25+ years. I've done shots, injections, creams, etc. I have been fortunate that my levels were so low that they were able to prescribe it for me. Insurance has been paying for it for all of that time.

I don't actually see a urologist. My GP made the first prescription and it was okay. But, it really got better when I started seeing an Endocrinologist. There are a variety of ways to measure Testosterone and she checks all of them. You really need to be under a doctors care since it can cause blood related issues. One doctor described it as your body would overproduce hemoglobin and I needed to periodically donate blood.

But the big change is that I've lost weight. I've been overweight pretty much for the last 40 years and I couldn't seem to lose the weight. I started taking Ozempic (which isn't covered by my insurance) and I ended up losing 45 pounds so far. What that has done is that my free testosterone (one of the way of measuring it) has gone way up.

I hired a personal training and now workout with cardio and weights 3-4 times a week. While I won't reach my dream of looking like a 1990's professional wrestler, I do look and feel better than I have in a while.

My advice for everybody:

1. Go see a doctor
2. Get tested
3. If you need to take it, you need to take it
4. Keep up with the exercise and weight loss if that applies to you
5. Have a doctor regularly monitor you to make sure there aren't any side effects

 

[H. Bowman]

seeing OG body builders like Dorian Yates, jay cutler, tom platz, mike ohearn, robby robinson, marius pudgzianoski...

As long as you do what you need to responsibility wise with your bloodwork, not juicing too hard like the young kids these days, you should be ok. The thing is the old school guys would cycle. These days, its year round for the young cats, so I'm curious to see how this all turns out. A lot of youngins, have body dysmorphia because of social media. A normal body is no longer normal. Everyone expects to be jacked and you have another segment who's body positivity. Super polar opposites these days in everything.

Therapeutic use of TRT is not anything like taking cycling anabolic steroids . Those guys did not take therapeutic doses, and neither do a lot of the "young kids" today. Thats like comparing having a beer with dinner a couple times a week to a fifth of vodka a night.

We do actually have long term data on Testosterone, and yes it's necessary for wellbeing but it's also why men die earlier than women. It has a direct effect on your lipids and blood pressure both of which literally will kill you. That's precisely why if you are going to do it, stay on the lower end because the short term "gainz" will literally make your life shorter.

Perfect example of classic closed minded biased thinking.

 

[ikeo1]

Therapeutic use of TRT is not anything like taking cycling anabolic steroids . Those guys did not take therapeutic doses, and neither do a lot of the "young kids" today. Thats like comparing having a beer with dinner a couple times a week to a fifth of vodka a night.

I think you misunderstood the context of my comment. I was saying smart use and good genetics you can go a long way without all the bad side effects.

The kids now are blasting year round vs cycling on and off with not the best nutrition with exceptions of course. Kids now blasting 1000mg on the high end 200mg in their 20’s year round.

If you have gout, a beer will destroy you no matter how much you drink. All depends on the person making better decisions for their situation.

I’m only against young guys going for BEFORE learning proper workout discipline eat right, routine and sleep. Instead just using it a a crutch for shortcuts to get jacked

 

[H. Bowman]

Instead just using it a a crutch for shortcuts to get jacked

...which is not therapeutic use.

All the "test is bad and you'll die young of high blood pressure blah blah blah" people can't differentiate between that use, and legitimate medical use. They're probably the same people that have high blood pressure and gout from lack of excercise and poor diet.

 

[ikeo1]

...which is not therapeutic use.

All the "test is bad and you'll die young of high blood pressure blah blah blah" people can't differentiate between that use, and legitimate medical use. They're probably the same people that have high blood pressure and gout from lack of excercise and poor diet.

Might want to be a bit more open minded.

 

[RustVendor]

Therapeutic use of TRT is not anything like taking cycling anabolic steroids . Those guys did not take therapeutic doses, and neither do a lot of the "young kids" today. Thats like comparing having a beer with dinner a couple times a week to a fifth of vodka a night.

Perfect example of classic closed minded biased thinking.

We are literally agreeing, We both said that taking too much has side effects and being too low also has a different set of health risks. I've been on Test for 5 years and have experienced the side effects myself, LDL up, BP up etc and that was on 200 mg which the out of pocket clinics start everyone at. For most people 200mg is a mini cycle and a LOT of people take that much.

 

[geoint]

Does anybody know if Tricare covers TRT?

 

[couragewolf]

...which is not therapeutic use.

All the "test is bad and you'll die young of high blood pressure blah blah blah" people can't differentiate between that use, and legitimate medical use. They're probably the same people that have high blood pressure and gout from lack of excercise and poor diet.

I genuinely don't know that medical data supports that long term extended low yield use is healthier or safer than occasional stacking and building muscle mass I think you're just sort of having a good gut feeling that it is because you see the use case as somehow more legitimate.