Advice needed, not feeling too well

[AGutierrez1980]

I haven't been feeling well for the last 5 years or so, a lot of typical low T symptoms for which I was put on TRT (without a blood test!) but I really haven't had any relief. My doc is of no help, I've tried discussing with him that I don't feel well and *a drug I took* that I think may have played a large role in this but he just shrugs me off SO, I'm going to have to do my own lab work. I don't have the greatest income right now so I wash hoping I could tell you guys some of my symptoms and see if this sounds familiar to any of you or if you could point me towards what lab work you think I should have ordered first aside from the obvious T/estro/SHBG

**The drug I took when i was younger was dutasteride, I took it to clear up severe breakouts which had not responded to accutane. It was self-prescribed for about two years and after reading of the many cases of, sometimes permanent, DHT/estro issues it seems to cause, I think it may be an important part of the puzzle, esp. since most of the problems started shortly after. My doc completely dismissed this, but this is the same doc that put me on TRT without checking my hormones to begin with.


Symptoms:
- Fat maintenance not correlated with calorie/activity level. I'm eating 1400 calories and LISS cardio 3x/wk and don't have even a hint of definition.
- Moon-face, so much so that I've gotten three comments already "your face looks like a baby, that's so cute", or "wow you have a face like a toddler".... these are NOT compliments. But yes at such low calories I have a double-chin and am just bloated silly.
- Very female-like fat patterns (bloated face, bloated stomach, lots of fat on hips)
- Feeling very timid, shy, nervous and non-aggressive
- I used to be into drag racing and MMA... I kid you not, I'm actually watching soap operas now and just feel like I have a really female mindset. I'm finding it harder to hang out with my guy friends as we have little common ground anymore.
- Strength has gone down dramatically over past 5 years.
- on TRT, still tired, worn out, just want to be lying down all day, sex drive is a bit better but very hit or miss.

I personally think there's some link between the dutasteride and some sort of DHT/Estro imbalance. It seems to me most of the symptoms I have are the opposite of high DHT levels.

I've been aware of this for years but it really woke me up when I started getting comments about how swollen my face looks and when I'm at caloric levels that would previously have had me shredded and now i literally just get smaller and softer looking.

Sorry about the long post but does anyone have any insight into this, is there a way to accurately test DHT levels? I don't have the money for a full comprehensive panel so I want to start with the most important individual tests first. Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[raw33man]

What's your TRT protocol ?

 

[ThinkTank]

You should seek a doctors advice....Maybe you have a vagina?

 

[AGutierrez1980]

TRT is 150mg/wk, I also self-administer 500iu HCG/wk in two doses and aromasin .5 twice a week.

And yes I need a docs opinion but I've been nagging my doctor for six months..... this guy doesn't even want to give me a hormone panel.

Maybe I have a vagina? At this point I might as well. I'm so convinced the heavy avodart use in the past trashed my DHT levels, but I don't want to jump to blind conclusions.

If anything I've been thinking of cutting my test down to 75mg and adding 75mg of masteron on my own to see if a DHT does me better with just the minimum amount of test. But that's money I could use to get some blood work.

My diet is 200g of protein, 30g of fat all from fish oil and all my carbs are from green veggies...... that's like the peak of what I used to cut at years ago, I'm eating like a female runway model and walking around looking like gary coleman.

 

[Stewie]

You may find some good insight/suggestions from this site:

Post-Finasteride Syndrome & Accutane Sufferers | All Things Male Forum

Good luck on your endeavors towards recovery.

 

[prostock]

You should seek a doctors advice....Maybe you have a vagina?

What a fukn clown u are

 

[jm425]

Sounds like you may have lingering issues with estrogen and or prolactin. I would recommend getting a female hormone panel. I think they cost around 100 bucks on privatemdlabs so it's not overly expensive. I'm on doc prescribed hrt as well and my estrogen was in the 90's so now I'm on adex. While I didn't have all the symptoms you describe, I did have some to a much lesser degree. After incorporating adex I feel much better, little stronger in the gym and my body composition has shifted favorably as well since getting my estrogen down to 28.

 

[UriahSon]

You should seek a doctors advice....Maybe you have a vagina?

Do us all a favor and stop talking.

 

[raw33man]

Sounds like you may have lingering issues with estrogen and or prolactin. I would recommend getting a female hormone panel. I think they cost around 100 bucks on privatemdlabs so it's not overly expensive. I'm on doc prescribed hrt as well and my estrogen was in the 90's so now I'm on adex. While I didn't have all the symptoms you describe, I did have some to a much lesser degree. After incorporating adex I feel much better, little stronger in the gym and my body composition has shifted favorably as well since getting my estrogen down to 28.

How was sex drive ? how is sex drive now ?

OP, you MUST get blood work done

 

[cardealer]

I would ask dr to referr you to a urologist.He should be able to help with the problems.

 

[AGutierrez1980]

Thanks for the replies

My doc is like something out a comedy movie, I literally explained all this to him before and he just kind of laughed a bit and said "just aging, stick with the TRT".... no comment, I don't have the means for a better doctor right now so I'm just going to do my own labs

I'll be getting the female panel done, I'm assuming since DHT is concentrated in the scalp and various areas it's not as easy to test via blood.

And thank you for the post finasteride/accutane syndrome link. I've been reading all these peoples accounts for a few weeks now and a lot of it mirrors what I'm experiencing. I know I was depressed for about a year after coming off accutane, that was in my late teens.... if that didn't break the camels back, I'm convinced the dutasteride did.

I've been cutting for about 4 months now and it's very apparent that for whatever reason, I can't lose fat at the moment. For the sake of not putting my body through more stress I'm going to slowly bump the calories back up to around 2500.... it's really odd how at 3400, 2400 and 1400 I basically have the same stomach, same double chin... I get smaller, but look just as fat, there has to be some hormonal issue.

I spoke with a friend who is fairly knowledgeable about hormones and he believes the testosterone is making things worse. His stand is that after heavy dutasteride use my 5-A reductase activity got severely shut down, this in turn pushed my estrogen through the roof, which made me start developing more female fat patterns, which just led to more estrogen, which just let to further DHT shutdown. His belief is that I don't need test, I need mast/proviron with just the smallest possible amount of test for normal function (50mg test prop/wk plus 100mg/mast prop per week was his take). We will see.

 

[jm425]

How was sex drive ? how is sex drive now ?

OP, you MUST get blood work done

Sex drive was down when e2 was high. It's back to what I consider normal which is high for me since lowering estrogen.