This is really personal and I'm only sharing in hopes of helping someone else out there who might be going through a similar situation.
Counseling helped sort out some areas of my life that needed sorting out, but even when things were at their best... things weren't good and my symptoms persisted. My family was growing concerned with my complaints of "feeling tired" all of the time.
In 2008 I read an article describing symptoms of low testosterone on-line. The light bulb went on... all of my nagging symptoms listed right there in one article. I quickly made an appointment with my doctor to have my testosterone levels checked.
Results came back within a week and everything checked out. My doctor said that my testosterone level was "within range". Feeling actual "depression" I went home and popped a Celexa. Months went by and nothing changed.
Then one sunny day in early 2009 I had to schedule an emergency appointment with my doctor for something entirely unrelated, the flu. My doctor had no openings so I was forced to make my appointment with a different doctor at St Luke's South. I went in to see my new doctor, he took one look at my blood work from my previous visit, compared it with work that was done years earlier (during a testicular cancer scare) and commented that my testosterone level had plunged. My earlier work showed my testosterone levels as being high and currently I was one point from being below the range for my age group. note* It doesn't take a genius to look at my bald head, hairy, somewhat muscular body and realize that somewhere along the way I had high testosterone. (not to mention a few years of gentle whoring in college when my sex drive was insatiable) He prescribed androgel a topical gel which I applied to my shoulders daily after showering. After a month of treatment my life changed completely. Goodbye to antidepressants.
In the past year, I've switched from a daily topical gel to an injectable testosterone once every two weeks. I did this for two reasons: 1. Cost: the gel was around $60 a month with insurance. Injections around $3 per month. 2. Convenience: The gel is nasty.... it took forever to dry and often stuck to my clothing... another drawback was the skin irritation it caused after waxing.
There are a lot of misconceptions out there about injecting testosterone. I was afraid there would be a huge mood swing between injections. I didn't want to bust into a "roidrage" and shove our dogs in the oven. I also had a huge fear of injecting myself and of my testicles shrinking. None of these fears have come to fruition and injecting yourself isn't a big deal.
This blog posting was brought to you by my left testicle. The one with the lump on it. The one that received a sonogram in a broom closet at St. Luke's South while they were renovating. The one that felt violated.
