How to go about getting TRT?

[Versus]

Hi all,

I'm a male in the UK who just turned 26 years old two weeks ago. I've had a lot of symptoms of low test (never taken PEDs) , so after speaking with my GP I was instructed to do some blood tests before 9 am on a fast. After doing multiple my tests have come back being between 178-250 ng/dl with my free test being ~5ng/dL. Surprisingly I was told that this is a normal amount of test to have, how tf could that be the case? My 55 year old dad has more test... What should I do? I've been feeling like shit for the longest time and I need to get this sorted out ASAP. I'm a complete noob when it comes to TRT so I wouldn't even know a reputable place for the UK to source it myself if I were to go down that route.

Anyway sorry for being ignorant on the issue, just need any and all advice as my mental health has been f*cked over trying to figure out what to do. Thanks all.

 

[Iron1]

Get a second opinion from a specialist. Either an endocrinologist or a urologist will be better able to evaluate your situation. Back when I was going through the trouble of getting on TRT the GP wasn't as helpful as the endo specifically. These days now that I've been on for some time my GP doesn't even bother to second guess anything. It's just "You still seeing Dr. X, Iron? Everything good there? Okay, moving on"

I don't recommend self administering unless you know exactly what you're doing. Your endo/uro/gp will be doing a lot of blood work in the initial phases to make sure the regimen is working as intended. Going it alone can cause more harm than good unless you know what you're doing.

 

[Versus]

Get a second opinion from a specialist. Either an endocrinologist or a urologist will be better able to evaluate your situation. Back when I was going through the trouble of getting on TRT the GP wasn't as helpful as the endo specifically. These days now that I've been on for some time my GP doesn't even bother to second guess anything. It's just "You still seeing Dr. X, Iron? Everything good there? Okay, moving on"

He said he spoke to an endocrinologist, which I doubt. Should I ask him to be referred? The NHS in the UK is pretty structured unfortunately.

 

[Iron1]

He said he spoke to an endocrinologist, which I doubt. Should I ask him to be referred? The NHS in the UK is pretty structured unfortunately.

Yes, you want feedback from the endo themselves. "Trust me bro" from the GP isn't good enough, imo.

 

[Versus]

Yes, you want feedback from the endo themselves. "Trust me bro" from the GP isn't good enough, imo.

Yeah was thinking the same. I also forced their hand at giving me another blood test form. So I'm thinking about trying to crash my test to give a more drastic value so they'll listen. But honestly, I haven't looked into that enough.

Anyway, appreciate the advice!

 

[genetic freak]

Yep, Iron covered it. If you were in the US, they would consider you low. However, the UK uses a lower standard than we do. That includes the top range, so if you get a script, they usually shoot for around 700 ng/dl at your age.

 

[Versus]

Yep, Iron covered it. If you were in the US, they would consider you low. However, the UK uses a lower standard than we do. That includes the top range, so if you get a script, they usually shoot for around 700 ng/dl at your age.

Unfortunately one of the down sides of Public healthcare. 700 isn't crazy high, but honestly considering it's ~4x what I have now, It'd make a massive difference. Appreciate you chiming in!

 

[jipped genes]

UK has TRT clinics. Go to to one of those. That is all these practices do is deal with T (Male) issues. Another option is to lower your T before your blood test. This will not have a huge diff but might make for 25 more mg of T in your script.

On the other side, why is it low? Do you get enough sleep? Eat clean? Drink alcohol frequently? Lots of reasons to have low T.

How To Lower Testosterone (Temporarily) Effectively | HRTGuru Clinic

Certain unhealthy lifestyle changes, as well as OTC drugs, can affect testosterone production in both men and women. Here're the best ways.

hrtguru.com

 

[Versus]

UK has TRT clinics. Go to to one of those. That is all these practices do is deal with T (Male) issues. Another option is to lower your T before your blood test. This will not have a huge diff but might make for 25 more mg of T in your script.

On the other side, why is it low? Do you get enough sleep? Eat clean? Drink alcohol frequently? Lots of reasons to have low T.

Yeah, you're not wrong. I'm still looking into the reason why things are this way. I was taking a medication called Prozac for a while which is linked to lowering libido (came off it a week ago), so that could have been a factor, but not 100%. Appreciate the advice, I'll look into these!

 

[Mainelymoshe]

Generally speaking most physicians, whether a family physician or endocrinologist, are very conservative when it comes to these matters. It doesn’t help when they use such a broad range of values. Roughly falling anywhere between 300-1000 is WNL. That’s a huge range even when factoring for age.
The other variable is most men don’t get screened for hormone levels until they become symptomatic. So, even if the value is 450-750 (normal), it may not be your normal. Meaning prior to becoming symptomatic you may have been at 750-950 or higher. Unfortunately that baseline value is unknown. The symptoms are also not life threatening and generally won’t interfere with daily living. Consequently, they’d rather treat the associated symptoms by prescribing ED meds, antidepressants, ADHD meds rather than the root cause.
The out of pocket TRT clinics are much more liberal but they don’t deal with insurance companies either.
My values go up and down depending on the year; 759 - 435. I’m taking matters into my own hands (mostly). Getting some treatment via on-line clinic and I’ll be supplementing on top of that. It really puts men between a rock and a hard place.

 

[Versus]

Generally speaking most physicians, whether a family physician or endocrinologist, are very conservative when it comes to these matters. It doesn’t help when they use such a broad range of values. Roughly falling anywhere between 300-1000 is WNL. That’s a huge range even when factoring for age.
The other variable is most men don’t get screened for hormone levels until they become symptomatic. So, even if the value is 450-750 (normal), it may not be your normal. Meaning prior to becoming symptomatic you may have been at 750-950 or higher. Unfortunately that baseline value is unknown. The symptoms are also not life threatening and generally won’t interfere with daily living. Consequently, they’d rather treat the associated symptoms by prescribing ED meds, antidepressants, ADHD meds rather than the root cause.
The out of pocket TRT clinics are much more liberal but they don’t deal with insurance companies either.
My values go up and down depending on the year; 759 - 435. I’m taking matters into my own hands (mostly). Getting some treatment via on-line clinic and I’ll be supplementing on top of that. It really puts men between a rock and a hard place.

Yeah for sure, like I can't even explain how much my head has been frying just thinking about this everyday. And I'm sorry you're dealing with that shit man. I'm going to get this new blood test that I have and see what they say. If they still try to mess me around I'll see what TRT clinics say. Personally I don't really want to resort to sourcing it myself as I'm very inexperienced, so knowing a good source/how to administer it properly myself is gonna be tricky. But, I really need to get this sorted out ASAP, I literally have no energy for anything let along working out which I've been dying to do for the longest time. Anyway, really appreciate you giving your say.

 

[Glycomann]

Over here in the USofA most of the docs are morons that think they're gods. I've been under Dr care for TRT for 10 years and then the fucker threw me under the bus over the vaccine so I dropped him. NOw I'm dealing with a more moronic moron and her side kick endo-moron. The way I did it 10 years ago was to call up a compounding pharmacy and ask who used them for TRT. Then I started calling. My doc was fine until the vax. He ave me an exemption for a year and then refused to use it when I needed it to change jobs without the poison shot. I was forced to take it and my pulse didn't go under 90 for 4 months. Fuck all doctors. You're almost better off playing Russian roulette with under ground labs if you can find a decent one.