Low Testosterone Diagnosed - Pharmacy or GNC?

[Sisyphus3]

I'm a 43 year old otherwise healthy male. Just got the word from doc that I'm low-t. Sex drive hasn't been raging (nor is it moribund), but plenty of other stuff has been going on (11 month old, 2 businesses) to keep wifey and me more than busy.

My question is, should I be a good little medical consumer and just go straight to a pharmaceutical therapy (not too long ago I answered a Harris poll that seemed to be trying to gauge awareness of Low-T, and I surmise that it was put out there by one of the large pharmaceutical companies that was trying to decide whether to launch an ad campaign to sell every male in the country something he didn't know he needed), or should I try DHEA from GNC (or the grocery store, or CVS or Walgreens) first?

I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts or experiences on this.

[camarillodan]

39 Year old male. During a routine blood test 2 months ago I was found to have low T. Sex drive lower than what I wanted. Lack of nocturnal erections for about 6 months, tired all the time. Dr. put me on Androgel, after just a week I felt much better. More energy - sex is better. Feels like I am 5 years younger. I say go RX.

[orion]

Originally Posted by Sisyphus3

I'm a 43 year old otherwise healthy male. Just got the word from doc that I'm low-t.

First you need to find out why your testosterone is low because any treatment you undertake will mask the clues. Low testosterone can be an important first warning about some very serious disease. You need blood tests for LH, FSH, thyroid, prolactin, DHEA, SHBG and IGF-1. Those tests will pinpoint what has failed and if it can be fixed.

[Sisyphus3]

OK, just had blood drawn for all that stuff. Results are due by the middle of next week. Meanwhile, now that it won't throw the tests off I've started myself on 25mg/day of DHEA.

[JinL]

Originally Posted by camarillodan

39 Year old male. During a routine blood test 2 months ago I was found to have low T. Sex drive lower than what I wanted. Lack of nocturnal erections for about 6 months, tired all the time. Dr. put me on Androgel, after just a week I felt much better. More energy - sex is better. Feels like I am 5 years younger. I say go RX.

In about a week the effect may wear off. This will be due to the body shutting down the small amount of testosterone yourtesticles were making. The AG may not be enough to support you. If this happens ask the doc to write a compounding prescription fore a stronger dose. I had to go from a AG5 gram to a compounded 10 gram testosterone gel or cream. The double strength compounded testosterone gel was 1/4 the price of the AG5 per month.

Have your estrogen E2 tested also. If your body has a problem with any of the testostereone it will converet it to Estrogen E2. If the E2 get too high you will grow boobs.