I thought I'd post about this here because many of you have experienced changes in your level of T.  Mine seems to have gone in the opposite direction (less not more) but maybe you can tell me if this sounds T-related or not.  I guess I'm just looking for informal opinions on my suspicions before I show up at the endo complaining of low T.

I always seemed to have really high testosterone, naturally.  I had an annoyingly high sex drive, good muscle tone, good energy level, high metabolism, strong sense of who I was and what I liked and disliked.  I was motivated and passionate about things.  I enjoyed working out every day.

About a year and a half ago, I had a miscarriage, and my hormones seemed totally out of wack for a couple of months afterwards.  The one thing that didn't return to normal after a few months was my sex drive.  My once-high sex drive was non-existant.  I just thought, "Well, I've heard of hormone levels changing after pregnancy," so I didn't worry about it.  And I was really enjoying my lack of a sex drive.

What's scary is that over the past year, I've been having more symptoms of low testosterone, and it seems to be getting worse.  For about a year, I had hot flashes.  Over the past 6 months or so, I've become unmotivated and indifferent to everything.  I'm not depressed at all.  In fact, I'm content.  But I'm not the person I used to be.  It's like I'm just drifting blissfully through life without caring about anything.  It's really similar to a description I heard of what happens when you have really low T.

Even scarier - now I'm having some weird muscle weakness, and my metabolism has slowed.  I just looked up symptoms of low T and found out these things can be caused by low T and are dangerous.  So I'm going to try to get to an endo. 

Hey, maybe I'll end up getting prescribed T before making plans to transition.  Wouldn't that be interesting?


EDIT: I forgot to mention that I'm 31 and it's obvious that I'm not going through menapause or anything like that.  If I was older, I guess some of this stuff would be normal. 

I think I did read somewhere that pre-menopause can start as early as early 30s. Whenever a female body miscarries a pregnancy that often points to something being amiss in either the physical bits or hormone balance (often times it's due to a lack of progesterone). The body not actually producing enough testosterone can be caused by something up with the endocrine system. Also, there's such a thing as estrogen-dominance that has a variety of causes one of which is actually eating too many foods with pseudo-estrogens (like soy and beer). I guess you're already doing the one thing you can and going to see the endo to run tests and stuff. Hopefully it's nothing major. T levels can naturally decline and fluctuate but if you've got a multitude of symptoms it's always best to go have it checked out. Good luck!

Thanks!     That was informative.

I do consume a lot of soy and beer.  I was actually consuming A LOT of soy and beer in the months leading up to the miscarriage (didn't know I was pregnant).  But my hormones seemed normal then.  I had some subtle pregnancy symptoms, but my sex drive was really high as usual.  Also, late menopause runs in my family - on both sides, it doesn't happen until women are in their 60s.  And about half of my relatives, going back generations, were conceived when the mother was in her 40s.  But I could be the odd one out.

Guess I'll see what the endo says, and while I'm waiting for an appointment, maybe I'll try some of the natural methods for increasing T levels that have been mentioned on here.  I don't know if I could give up soy or beer, though.

I get major hot flashes in time with my "cycle." It's a sign of low estrogen.

I'm afraid I don't really have anything to add to this thread, but I'm curious to see what other people say. I think my T level has gone up recently. I've got hair coming in on my thighs and stomach that wasn't there before, and even a bit of dark mustache hair, which gives me hope that I'll be able to grow legitimate facial hair when I start T.

Now I'm getting apprehensive about going to the doctor about this.  I realized I should start by going to a GP because endo's are incredibly expensive.  I'm scared that it's going to be hard to explain all this stuff to her, and that she might say I'm just depressed.  Or that she'll test my T and it'll be in the normal range, which would probably be low for me because it was really high before.  I hate stuff like that - how doctors go by what's normal for the average person, not what's normal for you.  I also don't know what to say when I call to make the appointment. 

Quote from: Alexmakenoise on October 25, 2010, 09:37:43 AM
Now I'm getting apprehensive about going to the doctor about this.  I realized I should start by going to a GP because endo's are incredibly expensive.  I'm scared that it's going to be hard to explain all this stuff to her, and that she might say I'm just depressed.  Or that she'll test my T and it'll be in the normal range, which would probably be low for me because it was really high before.  I hate stuff like that - how doctors go by what's normal for the average person, not what's normal for you.  I also don't know what to say when I call to make the appointment.

Do you have any medical records that show your hormone levels before? That might help. Write down all the symptoms you're feeling and when you feel them that might also help. The thing with most doctors is you have to actually be firm with them. Our medical system is not really set up for them to "care" too much about patients. They also make determinations a lot before doing any tests because they're pressured by drug companies - so they just hand out prescriptions like candy that only treat symptoms - while the real CAUSE of why you're having the symptoms gets overlooked. So you have to take charge and don't let them just see you for 5 minutes and give you a prescription or just tell you something like, "well you're in normal ranges". Often times "normal" really doesn't mean anything and what's normal for one person is definitely not for another. I've already been down that path myself because I have  higher than "normal" T but I have no actual health conditions (like PCOS - which can cause high levels of T but is actually a moderately serious condition). I've stumped more than a few doctors, but after every test and no legit medical condition I made the determination that nothing was actually wrong - that I was "normal" for ME.

So, only you know how your body feels. Yes, you may have symptoms, but symptoms alone are often a poor determination for a diagnosis because many conditions can have similar symptoms. You need to get some actual tests done first to see where everything stands and then approach it from there.

Update: 

I did talk to my doctor (a friendly naturopath).  She told me not to worry about it and explained that our hormones change about every 7 years.  Puberty actually has 2 or 3 phases and lasts until you're about 28.  This is true for both males and females, apparently.  She said I was probably just experiencing the end of puberty.

Shortly thereafter, I happened to start drinking coffee again after going without it for about 6 months.  Oddly enough, once I went back to drinking coffee, I was back to my old self.  I looked back and realized that it was around the time I stopped drinking coffee that "it started to get worse". 

Now it seems it actually wasn't a change in hormones but just caffeine withdrawal, or just the way I am without caffeine in my diet.  (I've been a pretty serious coffee addict for at least 10 years).  I'll never give up coffee again!   


EDIT:  And I'm not giving up soy or beer either!