No TRT For Me! - What's Next?

Last video I mentioned that my doctor wanted me to go one more month to see if my natural Testosterone levels would bounce back at all and then the way I understood it, we would look at the possibility of me going on TRT. Well that's not how it turned out. My Testosterone levels from my most recent bloodwork show that they have dropped again by a fair bit and rather than bouncing back it looks like my Testosterone is just crashing harder now, almost 7 months after quitting TRT cold turkey back in January.

So when I had my latest doctor consultation I was expecting we were going to talk about a game plan on what kind of TRT we should consider but instead my doctor wants me to see a hormone specialist which will not be for another couple more months... That was a hard pill to swallow "yah I know" as the last month has been a real challenge and I was hoping some relief was coming soon, but that is not the case. Another two more months of this and then maybe my new specialist will put me on some sort of TRT program?

To be honest I am at my wits end and all I want it is to feel normal. I have been doing everything the right way and not trying to produce an outcome that I am looking for, but I feel enough is enough and sometimes you need to take your personal health into your own hands ( I am not condoning or recommending anything). That said, I am contemplating getting on a fast acting Testosterone for a month just to get me through to my specialist appointment but the problem is that is going to affect my bloodwork to some degree, even if I make sure to get my Testosterone levels back down to their low level before my bloodwork, I am sure a hormone specialist would be on to me looking at all the bloodwork results. I will most likely just tell my specialist what I did as they need to know what is going on to be able to figure out a plan moving forward, I do hope they will see my 6 months of being off TRT and come to a conclusion that my natural Testosterone is probably not coming back.

Well what do you think I should do? Tuff it out or do what I need to do to get my mental and physical health back?

 

6 Plus Months Post TRT - Current Testosterone Levels

It's now been over 6 months since my last Testosterone injection back in early January of this year and if you have been watching my channel you already know I had to go down this road because of my Heart issue. As it turns out not dying is more important than aesthetics! My Testosterone has been slowly going down for a while now and it does not look like it will recover any time soon or even at all as this month is my lowest Testosterone level result since I went cold turkey (About the same as a woman's now).

I was in the 4-6 nmol/L and should have been in the 8-28 range to be within normal levels. I am now even lower and I can feel it in some ways but in other ways I think my body has gotten a bit use to the lower Testosterone.

I spell it all out in the video but to summarize... Sex drive sucks, mental cognition has gotten a bit better, maybe, motivation and outlook on life is about the same, body aches are still bad, ability to add muscle has actually improved but so has my workout frequency and intensity.

Next week I have a doctor consult and will be going over my results, my last consult about a month ago we talked about doing one more test to see what my bloodwork shows in terms of Testosterone and if it is not improving then we both agreed perhaps looking at TRT would be a good option. I will let you know how that all goes.

Ultimately I want to do what is best for my health and what also gives me quality of life.

 

Road to Recovery - Completed

It's been a little bit over 5 months since I had my open heart valve replacement surgery to fix my Bicuspid Aortic valve that also had a huge Aneurysm above it twice the size it was supposed to be (6cm vs 3cm).

My Injection Fraction was 18%. Normal is around 60%. Injection Fraction is the percentage of blood in the heart that it can pump out with each contraction.

My heart was also double the size it was supposed to be as it was trying to overcome the weak inefficient valve that was not working well at all.

In other words I was in rough shape and literally could of died at any time!

Yesterday I journeyed back to St. Paul's Hospital where my open heart surgery had been performed to get my post surgery Echocardiogram done and find out if my heart function had improved from the surgery.

I was of course expecting to see much improved heart function, but was blown away when the doctor told me my heart was normal and my prognosis was for a long and healthy life.

My Injection fraction was now 58% and my heart was back to normal size! I can only see this as a miracle and thank God for this gift!

My doctor also recommend that I should possibly get my pacemaker/defibrillator removed as he said I didn't need it anymore. I am still in a bit of shock but in a good way as I was expecting to see improvements to my heart but this was amazing and I don't think my appointment could have gone any better.

I want to thank everyone for their prays, words of support and love shared with me over the past 5 months, it has meant so much to me!

What's next? The Road to Restoration perhaps! It's time to restore my body back to a condition I once had, maybe not so extreme as before, as my goals are different now Bodybuilding is who I am and even though I will be downsizing my goal physique a bit from what it use to be, I do plan on getting a good portion of it back over time... 

TRT Update 5 Months Off TRT - Not Feeling So Good

In this TRT Update 5 Months Off TRT Video, I go over some of the key areas that I feel are regulated a lot by Testosterone or the lack thereof and how this is effecting me at my current Testosterone level.

Testosterone Levels - Currently 4.7 nmol (should be 8-28). Getting an update in about a week.

Weight and Strength - Lost another 5 pounds, now down 30 pounds, 175 pounds from 205. Trying to keep any remaining muscle is very difficult, I am not really making any progress anymore, just trying to keep what I have right now, workouts are hard.

Base Energy - Overall I generally have energy throughout the day.

Brain Fog - I am finding it very hard to remember short term stuff, it just disappears from my mind. Regular daily activities require a lot more concentration or I find myself getting off track and not even remembering what I am doing. I struggle to find names and words at times. 

Motivation - I have to force myself to go to the gym or even do activities other than walking.

Mood - I am not in a very good state right now. I feel kind of lost and low on ambition.

Recovery - Sore after every workout for several days.

Body Aches - Most of the time I am sore, getting up in the morning, after sitting down for even a short period to time.

Libido - Non Existent, I just don’t even think about it much. The only OK thing is that some of my heart medication acts as a vasodilator which is kind of the same as what Viagra does in terms of increasing blood flow. So my hardware still works but getting things started is a bit tuff as I am just not in the mood most of the time.

 

Road to Recovery - 4 Months Post Operation

What's going on 4 months Post Open Heart Surgery to replace a congenital Heart Valve defect? Well if I didn't know better, I would say I am for the most part back to normal now. I feel like I can do most everything I want to do. Life now is a bit different then before, I have a new set of goals! The first one was to survive and that one has been checked off my list. My next goal was to be able to go for walks, go to the gym and keep my body tuned up, and do some outdoorsy stuff. Again another check on my Road to Recovery list . Now I am even out ripping around on my Electric toys, training at the gym as hard as I want to, and feeling really good doing it all.

I am still a bit careful when it comes to high level cardio as I have not had my post operation heart test done yet to see how much it has recovered from my pre-operation baseline, which was an injection fraction of 18% (Normal is 60%). I feel my injection fraction now will be very much improved and would not be surprised if it is close to the 60% normal marker, at least that's how I feel. I can tell you that whatever my injection fraction is at now, I am OK with it as I feel really good and do not feel that I have any real limits on what I can do with my new working heart.

Well take a watch of this video as I hope you will enjoy the kind of new format. I hope to record in this format in the future (weather permitting), that is if you like it, perhaps it's a bit distracting? Let me know.