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Comment by tenaciousDaniel | Hacker News Reader

I feel that way now but I'm only 37. I knew it was a bit soon so I went to a doctor, and turns out my testosterone is at 250 (whereas at my age it should be over 1,000).

No idea if that's something you've already explored, but felt it couldn't hurt to share.

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>whereas at my age it should be over 1,000

Where did you get that reference range for a 37 year old? I'm not sure that was even true 30 years ago.

That's what my doctor told me. I'm sure there are differing opinions but meh whatever, I know it could be higher so that's good enough.

I just looked this up last week and I believe the reference said >950 or so put you in the 97.5 percentile of men 18-39.

Found it: it’s actually 916 ng/dL https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20170223/researche...

exercise daily, especially strength training. get some traditionally manly hobbies like building stuff. it worked for me.

Your doctor is misinformed. No one except outliers going through puberty have natural testosterone over 1000. The average for someone in their 30s is around 300-400. 250 is on the lower side but not so low that most people with that level would have the symptoms of low testosterone.

This is something I've entirely thought about and likely suffering from.

That being said, I am trying some other remedies before I take Androgel or Androderm and they seem to be slightly helping.

Your testosterone is supposed to be dropping off as you get older though? Does your doctor actually treat this still?

Yes, natural testosterone production decreases throughout your life once you finish puberty. Doctors vary wildly in what levels they will treat. You can find "mens clinics" that will give you testosterone therapy at virtually any blood level, they don't care. They're very expensive though (~$2000+ a year).

I started taking some Ashwaganda and experienced positive effects so far. Give it a try, maybe it works out for you as well

any more details on "positive effects"? Have you had blood work?

I’ve done bloodwork prior to taking Ashwaganda and will do again in two to three months. Testosterone was low, not excessively so but was feeling exhausted and unmotivated. Ashwaganda appears to have given me the energy and motivation back but I’ve only been taking it for a week so am not exactly sure how I’ll fare in the longer term. It gave me enough energy to work out now so Im hoping to raise my energy to prior levels or close by.

Also worth checking Vitamin D levels - inside all day at the computer, especially with lockdown, can lead to a deficiency which has direct physiological impacts.

Do you go to a doctor to prescribe blood work for you? I am interested in doing bloodwork as part of a wellness check to check for deficiencies etc but am unsure about how to approach this.

If you live in the USA you should be able to order online and then go in person to like a labcorp or whatever. If you ever got a drug test for a job, thats the sort of place that usually does it. I think some states you may need a referral but most you do not. For a hormone related test covering testosterone and other factors it is going to cost >100 dollars.

You can simply ask your doctor about which tests you want to do and he can order them for you. This might be expensive depending on your insurance.

Here's a good resource on both methods, and places to order online if you go with that method:

https://old.reddit.com/r/steroids/wiki/bloodwork/list

> I’ve only been taking it for a week

Why even suggest it then?

Same age. Same experience.

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