Testosterone i am almost 30 y o and within the las 4 years i have lived a few drastic changes in my physiology. i have lost muscle mass, put on adipose tissue, abit depressed, no motivation, and low sex drive. i am suspecting a low testosterone case and a

While : While you may have symptoms that can be suggested to be from low testosterone levels, it is important to be tested and have those levels checked before initiating any treatment such as receiving testosterone replacment. There can be different causes for that, and it would be appropriate to have an evaluation to determine the underlying reason and to correct that, and not simply to treat it with supplementation and testosterone replacement. Equally important, even if you receive testosterone as prescribed by a doctor, it can have very negative consequences, such as shutting down your normal testosterone production, and causing infertility, and essentially the same potentially harmful effects of performance enhancing drugs that might be used by athletes. You would be best to be examined by your primary doctor to get to the root cause of your symptoms, before embarking on any therapy.

It's : It's good that you're paying attention to your health. And you're right that low testosterone may be at least partially to answer. Perhaps low T3 (liothyronine) if you're referring to your thyroid. However, your symptoms could also be due to a subtle change in your lifestyle, eg nutrition & physical activity. The symptoms of hypogonadism are really non-specific in that they can be accounted for by many other conditions, chief among them, depression, to which you've admitted. The question to answer is which started first, depression or everything else. Assuming that depression didn't start first and that you are truly hypogonadal (not just relatively so), we worry about your pituitary and liver as possible reasons for low testosterone. Some medications, especially antipsychotics and narcotics can affect testosterone production. That's why i believe dr. Chen suggested that you need to go see your family physician. Our role is to help you get to the bottom of it and to get you a solution. It's also good that you've done some research and realize that testosterone can be metabolized into estrogen which can bring about some unwanted side effects. However, you should know that testosterone can also be metabolized into dihydrotestosterone which has its own set of unwanted side effects. By focusing on just one metabolite, you run the risk of upsetting your overall balance. So while any physician can prescribe testosterone, you need to find someone who understands all the possible ramifications. And as you jack up your levels, let's not forget that there are many possible side effects from too much of a good thing. One more issue that you didn't raise/mention but dr. Chen noted: by using testosterone (derivative), you will essentially render yourself infertile. While that may not be an issue at your age, you might feel differently in the future (although you didn't mention your relationship status or interest in future fertility). Luckily, there are other non-testosterone options to increase testosterone level while maintaining sperm count. Again, that's why it's important to follow up w/your family physician, especially someone who has an interest in this particular aspect of human performance.

Changes: Quite possible.Testosterone levels typically start to fall in early 30s.Get your total and free testosterone levels checked.