Woah guys slow down here, I'm not some bull headed 25 year old that decided to take things into my own hands because my DR said NO to me. I went and got blood tests every day for a week, 3 MRIs, and 1 CT scan looking for the possible cause/effect of my low testosterone and high prolactin. After all that was said and done, we found no "ah-hah" signs of what the cause may be.
I was a heavy opiate drug user for about 5 years (most of high school and some time after as well) and we had concluded that my abuse of the drugs is more than likely what has crashed my dopamine system, and in turn, my testosterone as well.. I have been clean since 2009.
So again, no, I didn't just say screw it and go into this blind, I have got more tests done, read more information, and taken more precautions than it seems you all give me credit for. I understand its probably coming for a place of love and concern, but I'm not just blindly doing this hoping it works, I have dedicated a fairly substantial amount if time into my cycle, and finding what works best for me all while working full time as an engineer.
Congrats on getting clean, but you're missing my whole point. For starters I wasn't passing judgement on the route or reason you opted to go on TRT nor am I questioning the amount of effort you put into finding the problem or how you are pursuing the "fix" so you can relax, no one is trying to put you down for any of that. Im simply trying to bring to your attention, and others in your shoes, that there is often times a very direct connection between ones nutrient level and their health.
In your first line above you stated
"we found no "ah-hah" signs" which is what my ramblings are all about. Doctors, 99% of the time, totally ignore the nutrition factor in disease and diagnosis because its something they chose to ignore or are simply ignorant about.
So with that being said and the fact you revealed you were a heavy opiate user just further supports my statements. In addition to their well-known effect on regulating pain transmission in the brain, opioid receptors are also widely distributed in the peripheral nervous system and the gastrointestinal tract (GI), such as in the myenteric plexus and the intestines. Opioids essentially affect the physiological functions of the entire GI tract. Not only do addict often have less than ideal diets what they do eat doesnt get into the body like it should because of the opiates impact on the GI tract.
The food we eat is more than just life sustaining calories, more than simple energy like gas in a car. Food is the source of essential nutrients with an emphasis on essential. On the extreme, deprive your body of ANY essential nutrient for a period of time and you will die! Deprive your body of the REQUIRED amount of any essential nutrient and provide some, but not enough, and what do you think happens? Processes in the body that require what ever nutrient is missing begins to perform suboptimally which in turn often affects other processes in the body.
I'll use a common example everyone has heard of, scurvy. Scurvy is the clinical term for the condition where the body doesnt have ample vitamin C to support the bodies internal processes that rely on it. Scurvy is what happens when the level if vit C intake is sow low a slew of symptoms that the doc can easily see manifests and they pin a name on it. It doesnt happen over night, it takes days, weeks or even months. People seem to think that prior to having the doc label it scurvy they are fine. They have scurvy or they dont but its not a switch, a case of have or dont have, its not black and white. Prior to a clinical diagnosis you could be in seriously rough shape due to lack of vitamin C yet still not present all the clinical symptoms just not yet sever enough to warrant the label. This by no means means you are fine or in good shape, your on the road to scurvy and then death if ignored. The problem with the medical community is when it comes to nutrition they dont throw up any red flags until a patient presents with all the clinical signs that are severe enough to warrant a deficiency label yet millions are just on the other side of the line to warrant a label and suffer needlessly.
Sorry for the long winded post but I felt it had to be said. Your too young and have worked to hard to have the medical community miss what I feel is likely your underlying problem and thats malnutrition. The kind your not going to be able to overcome with food alone but requires an extensive supplementation plan.
