So,
me and the wife are trying…things haven’t happened yet.
I say to her, if it takes more than a few months I get a testosterone test and see where it’s at.
If I have low T I will consider leaving triathlon and replacing with T so we can have a sprog.
The result comes back and it’s very low, around 200nmol.
Balls.
The wife has said she’s happy for me to try and sort it natually for 2-3 months, then I have to consider replacement.
I know Cody Beals suffered with this, and fixed it.
My plan -
sleep more,
put on some weight
lift weights.
chop wood, yes chop wood!
D aspartic acid? Seems to have some shaky evidence.
Have you actually had a sperm count done? Having lowish T doesn’t necessarily mean you have no swimmers.
My T numbers are at the bottom, and sometimes below, the normal range. We have 2 kids.
Tried for a little while (months) with no luck, then wife used one of those ovulation monitor/sticks to time things right, bam, preggers.
I’m confused. You and you wife are trying to have a baby and a testosterone level gets ordered. Has a semen analysis been ordered? That would give you some useful information without that I don’t think you can make any conclusions as to why you are not having success. Of all the patients I have had with infertility issues I cannot recall low T being an issue that was pursued.
So,
me and the wife are trying…things haven’t happened yet.
I say to her, if it takes more than a few months I get a testosterone test and see where it’s at.
If I have low T I will consider leaving triathlon and replacing with T so we can have a sprog.
The result comes back and it’s very low, around 200nmol.
Balls.
The wife has said she’s happy for me to try and sort it natually for 2-3 months, then I have to consider replacement.
I know Cody Beals suffered with this, and fixed it.
My plan -
sleep more,
put on some weight
lift weights.
chop wood, yes chop wood!
D aspartic acid? Seems to have some shaky evidence.
Anyone got success stories to share?
Matt Bach is a high-level amateur who won Ironman Maryland in its first year. He has documented his battle with Low T but to a much greater level of granularity than anyone I have seen. He has take his numbers from <200 to about 600. I have no idea how he has done it, he explains it be a bit, but his first of many many blogs posts is here:
As many know I recently got a full blood test done and my T numbers weren’t great. As I understand Free T is more important than anything else and the company I went with basically has just tested high-level athletes and has a large database of numbers. I was explained that my numbers are very common as far as professional athletes go and that given the rest of my biomarkers that it was unlikely to change much this season. Unfortunately, I didn’t ask what would happen if I quit cold turkey. For any of those interested my complete results are here:
6 years ago mine was low and the doc scribbled me out a prescription without any hesitation. However, he wouldn’t give me one for a sleep aid . I did some research (mostly here on ST) and never filled the script. Mt T was back in the “normal” range within in a year. (For an old guy)
In addition to your plan I would also in order of importance
1 . Increase healthy fats.
2. Be sure you are getting the enough protein
3. Include intervals in your training.
Yes, all true, but to be honest I think it has affected my libido quite a bit!
I also don’t want to get crap at triathlon because of a low T!
How do you know if it has affected your libido? Do you know when your T levels dropped, were you tracking it?
Libido can be affected by a lot of things having nothing to do with sex. Again, I’m very low T, but we had 2 kids no prob, and if I had my way, we’d never leave the bedroom (but no more kids…)!
As for getting crap at tri’s, again, I really think you are looking at the wrong reasons.
Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Wait, you’re trying to conceive with your wife and you think taking T is the solution? Is that correct?
I’m no endocrinologist, but T naturally inhibits the production of hormones that stimulate the production of sperm (GnRH, FSH). Taking T is known to kill sperm production (that’s why some juicers have tiny balls) and would just make conception harder.
I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that you start a round of something that would boost up GnRH or FSH to get sperm count up. T levels might also rise with GnRH.
Also, keep in mind that it takes ~64days for new sperm to be made. So any treatment you start today, whether it be natural or drug induced, won’t really benefit you for another couple of months.
Can’t be arsed? I’ve never understood that. My wife actually sleeps with a pillow in between us, if I had my way it would be on like donkey kong every day, several times a day! I’m 35, and if anything I feel hornier now that I did in my mid 20’s!
Sorry, I didn’t mean for that to come across as some sort of slight, so I apologise if it did. Have you tried anything out of the ordinary to get yourselves out of the ‘rut’? Everyone goes through those down periods, sometimes all that’s needed is a nice weekend away to rekindle the ‘interest’!
So maybe the low T isn’t a cause, but a symptom? A hopeful course of action might be to look at other factors running you down (work stress, lack of rest and play, etc) and try to mix it up a little (chop wood, halve your training volume and throw in some intervals, etc).
