Info on Low Testosterone

[ShawnsWife]

The hubs had his orchiectomy last June. Had 3xBEP over the summer. Had lung wedge resection and node removal in December. Through all of this, we never saw any signs of Low T. But now, I'm pretty sure he is experiencing it. He hasn't gotten tested yet. It's something I want to gently ease him into getting tested for because it seems like a sensitive subject. But I'm just curious if you all had this and what the solution is.

[melanie]

Hi there,

My husbands oncologist and GP said not to even bother testing testosterone until a year after finishing chemo. It is expected to be a mess until then. Should start to normalize between 10-18 months.

He warned against doing any testosterone supplementation until you are 100% sure your body wont rebound since once you start your body will no longer produce its own.

He also went on to say that most men with one left should be able to rebound to normal levels with time.

Here are the tips he gave to help boost testosterone naturally.....

One of the best things to help the body boost testosterone production is exercise, especially weight training in the mornings.
Avoid anything that is hard on the liver, like alcohol, and Tylenol. Since the liver was very stressed by chemo it tends to not metabolize hormones very well after treatment and any extra stress on it doesn't help. Alcohol also effects hormones, and can lower testosterone, so a double no.
The other thing he was told makes a bigger difference than people think is diet. Eat lots of fruits and veggies since the micro nutrients help support cellular repair and in return, help testosterone. He was told that cruciferous veggies ( broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, cabbage) have a compound in the (DIM or diindolylmethane) which helps you to metabolize estrogen which in turn help to raise testosterone.

A hormone test should be part of his routine blood work from now on so your husband might not even have to bring it up if he is uncomfortable. But if not I would definitely push the issue. Its nothing to feel bad about and it is imperative to mens health to have normal testosterone levels.

Hopefully with some good healthy habits and time his levels will improve.

Best of luck!

[surfhb]

Zinc vitamins and foods that are rich with zinc could help also. I take 2 forms of zinc, a natural one called “a mans zinc” and one from Thorne research which is just a zinc vitamin. Care not to overdose yourself on zinc but I also cook in cast iron pans to boost too. Maybe just adjusting diet and exercise and a few other smaller items could help.

[cc79]

All I can say is in hindsight I wish I had a baseline of all my hormones including free t, total t and e2 before my tc journey. After my first one I had all kinds of imbalances of hormones which did balance out after a year but not for long after getting hit again with #2. Then I was forced to go on t replacement. To be honest out of this cancer ordeal rebalancing hormones has been the most difficult part of this journey. It took me 4 years to finally get it dialed in since what used to be beautifully automated by the body is now placed in somewhat of a manual mode. Others on this board have no issues, just depends.

It can take time for the survivor to kick in but I would find a good endo (who is an expert in the male endocrine system, not just diabetes) monitor bloods and if necessary find the right regimen of t replacement.

[ShawnsWife]

Melanie, thank you. That is great information.

CC79, thank you for the Male insight to it all and for the info. I'm now curious, as you are another one I have seen that ended up getting it later in the remaining testicle. Do you know how common it is for this to happen?

[dcalandrelli]

There have a been a handful of guys that had this happen, but the vast majority I’ve seen on here were one and done so I don’t believe it’s all that common.

[Davepet]

First off, it is rare for them to test for testosterone automatically, especially with only 1x,so he'll probably have to request it.

Also, it is pretty rare to get 2x,but the odds are increased somewhat after a 1x. It does seem to me that we are seeing more than we used to.

Dave

[ShawnsWife]

We just had scans and labs Sunday and they automatically tested it. I didn't even mention it. And she told us it was 355 which was normal range but lower end. That it should climb back up and level out after more time since chemo has passed. I was glad to hear it was in normal range even if a bit low.

[Davepet]

There are two big problems with testosterone: The biggest one is that the "normal" levels cover every guy from puberty to 70's. Unless your guy is in his 60's or older, 355 is NOT "normal", it is very low. The other big problem is that thanks to misuse by athletes, testosterone is a controlled substance & prescribing it causes difficulties for docs, so many try to avoid going there if at all possible.While some guys suffer a reversible downturn in T levels, I don't believe it is common, based on the posts I've seen here. I could be wrong....

[StetCity35]

I have been on TRT gel for 5 days. When did you feel the effects of it? I am young so I want them to get me back into the 600/700 range. Will shots get me there? Advice?


Sorry to hear about your hubby too. Hope everything goes ok

[Davepet]

As far as I know, there is no one method better than any other, some work better & some worse than others for every guy out there.Even that isn't cast in stone, I felt the topicals worked better, but find the convenience of an injection once every three weeks a good trade off. Eeryone is different.
Dave