According to wikipedia Exemestane has the ability to permanently suppress aromatisation of estrogen. I could not find anything on this drug in this forum except for Mew mentioning it in the new member’s faq.
I think for me it is very much an aromitsation issue and not a testosterone deficiency. I can not be sure of this as I still need to get a blood test, the woman who I talked to on the phone trying to get an appointment at the lab was being a total bitch, she told me that it doesn’t make a difference whether I get my hormones tested in the afternoon or the morning, and she told me she would call me back but has not, I get the feeling she just doesn’t take me seriously.
But overall I have not experienced muscle wastage (I’ve actually gained some), brain fog, anxiety (except for the anxiety caused directly by my sexual problems), depression (same situation as anxiety but I’m doing my best to keep my shit together), testicular shrinkage (I think they may have actually grown because they’re struggling to normalize hormone levels), I also get floppy nocturnal and morning erections (some nights harder than others), and I can get aroused by things like touching and kissing, on a good day I can even get it somewhat up just by looking at some pictures on the internet.
Also a combination of Zinc and the Broccoli treatment has helped me out a lot in the past 2 or 3 days, and I think my nipple size may have actually reduced…
It has still only been around 4 months since I quit the drug, and I only took about 2 weeks worth of it, so I do feel things may get better naturally, but if I see that after several more months I’m not making any progress and my blood tests reveal normal testosterone but high estrogen then I may perhaps try arimidex, and if that works out for a while then perhaps aromasin so I can permanently rid myself of this problem, of course I would like to be under the care of a good doctor through all of this…
Someone stated that arimidex made them feel like they were 15 again and getting erections constantly, and they had normal testosterone levels but high estrogen levels.
Hell after going through all of this I’d expect nothing less than my sex drive to come back to it being like how it was when I was 13 all over again, just to make up for the lost time.
I will be getting my blood tested next week, and it will be in the morning, otherwise I will not give them my money. I will of course post the results.
Thanks for the update… I would be wary of anything that permanently surpresses anything in the body… that mention of Aromasin in the FAQ was taken verbatim from the old Yahoo group FAQ, I think I will re-word it to be “anti-aromatase” inhibitors such as Arimidex instead… permanent is just too risky, especially after all this Finasteride stuff!
The only way you will know what the problem is, is by having the relevant pathology tests.
Finasteride does not cause one problem in people, it is not that simple. It can cause hypogonadism alone through a whole variety of mechanisms and understanding what has gone wrong and what is wrong is crucial when it comes to having the correct treatment prescribed.
Some people who have been on finasteride require the lowering of SHBG, others the lowering of estradiol, for others it is testosterone replacement therapy with or without the need to lower SHBG or estradiol. Some men can be prescribed HCG, others can not. Finasteride can cause metabolic hypogoandism, hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (otherwise know as secondary or hypothalamic/pituitary hypogonadism) or hypergonadotropic hypogonadism (otherwise known as primary or testicular hypogonadism).
This doctor is completely incompetent and can NOT be trusted to test or treat you when it comes to this issue. You NEED to fire her on this one and go and obtain eh services of someone who is competent in this area of medicine who can test and if need be treat you correctly. I do not say this lightly and in fact have chosen my words carefully.
I have said the above because she does not have the first clue about the very basics of endocrinology. It is an absolute requirement to perform the aforementioned testing in the morning in line with the natural male circadian hormonal rhythm, a requirement because every single testosterone test reference range has been calibrated around the reference values for such morning testing. You MUST have these tests between 8/9 am and 11/12 am/pm.
I would always suggest that men have their hormones evaluated at the later time available.
Any test in the afternoon or at any given time as stated by your doctor would result in a completely useless and meaningless test result.
Correct hormonal testing will hopefully give you a much stronger idea of what has happened.
If you post your test results here alongside the laboratory reference for each test I will take a look at the results for you and help you interpret what they mean.
Just because Arimidex had this effect in one person does not mean it will have this effect in you, it all depends on what the mechanism of the problem that finasteride has caused for you.
There is no one size/medicine fits all- trust me.
Arimidex probably worked in the individual concerned because the problem for them was elevated estradiol and lowering estradiol via arimidex helped balance their hormones. But if your problem was elevated SHBG, then arimdex would do little to nothing and could easily cause far more problems than it solves. If your problem was a low level of testosterone and or dihydrotestosterone again arimidex would not solve the problem and could make it worse.
No only all that but even if arimidex did work for an individual, unless they were prescribed it and had their estradiol levels monitored they could easily reduce estradiol too much and that would cause almost identical symptoms to estradiol being too high- and the person concerned what not know whether they needed to take more or less arimidex.
You need to get the correct blood pathology at the correct time. You need to get a copy of your pathology along with reference ranges and post it here and then you need a forward thinking competent doctor willing to correctly act upon the results if need be.
This is correct. If anything though you should have your bloods taken elsewhere given the lack of competence they have shown thus far. If you are in the US and you give me your nearest city I could probably give you contact details for someone better (even if they might not be great they wouldn’t make the kind of errors your doctor is clearly making).
You need to get a list of the correct pathology, I posted it on the site a number of times, others may have as well.
Mew or one of the other mods should be able to point you to the relevant section/posts
Well thanks for your reply hypo. I just got back from getting my blood drawn, the time for having it done was around 9:30, so all should be well, also this is actually not a doctor’s office where I got these tests done, it is a medical lab where they do nothing but tests, though the fact that it’s located in a strip mall does worry me ever so slightly. Well they agreed to test everything that has been recommended by this forum, some of the things like DHT and DHEA-s they said they’ll need to order in or send to an external lab or something like that… anyhow it was a total of 600 dollars with insurance, so at least the price is not too bad since I’ve read about some people paying around 2 grand. They said I will have to wait about a week to get my results back.
Hypo I have two questions for you.
They also offered tests for Creatinine and Billurubin, would it have been of any importance for me to have gotten these tests?
I live in Chicago, what recommendation for an endocrinologist do you have? I was thinking of going to the University of Chicago, because that is, after all, the place where they first officially discovered testosterone.
I got those tested and more actually. I got the full shebang, this really doesn’t seem like the thing to skimp on so…
Total Testosterone
Free (Bioavailable) Testosterone
DHT
Estradiol (E2)
Estrone (E1)
Total Estrogens
LH
FSH
DHEA-s
Cortisol
SHBG
Prolactin
Progesterone
Albumin
ACTH
PSA
TSH, T3, T4
CBC/FBC (Complete Blood Count/Full Blood Count)
LFT (Liver Function Tests - AST, ALT, etc.)
As for Dr Crisler, I feel skeptical about him. Mainly the fact he works with steroid abusers. I am not ready for more prescription drugs or TRT. 4 Months is still somewhat short, and I would definitley like to see if I can heal naturally and with herbs and supplements. I do not rule adrenal fatigue out of this, and I may perhaps try detoxing my guts. I definitley have a feeling inside of me that this can pass and I can move on with my life. I can feel my body fighting it, and I think after I get my results I can help speed the progress by taking the proper natural routes. The University of Chicago is a prestigeous place, and perhaps they may even do research to help me out (I can only hope), there is also a building nearby called “The Prostate Center” which I might also visit. Right now I feel all I can do is wait for the results and keep taking my vitamins.
