What is your experieneces with testosterone therapy?

I just got my T results back andt it came in at 215.  My uro says normal for my age of 62 my T should be at least 250+, and since I have had 0 psa's for the last 6 years since my surgery, the uro feels it is safe  to start me on testosterone therapy to raise my level. 

The sysmptoms that I have are zero libido and a lack of enery.  I hope taking T will bring back my libido. I have no Ed issues from surgery and can get rock solid erections, but I just don't have any desires to use them anymore.

Has anyone here used testosterone therapy to increase your T levels and if so, what has been your experiences?  Do you feel different after taking the therapy?  Any side affects I should worry about?

Post Edited (NY-Sooner) : 3/6/2013 11:32:07 AM (GMT-7)

There's a lot more to libido than testosterone, and there's no clear correlation between testosterone level and libido. Some guys are horny as hell with T=300, some would rather read a newspaper with T=1000. When I took T some years ago for a sports injury, I noticed an initial surge in libido that leveled off over time as my body became accustomed to the higher T level.

One part of the puzzle is dopamine levels. People who took dopamine agonists for Parkonsonism often reported an increase in libido. There are dopamine agonists like cabergoline, apomorphine and pramipexole.

Many men treated for PC find that their orgasms are less earth-shaking than they used to be, and without that impetus, sex drive may suffer. I noticed that I was disappointed by dry orgasms. For 40+ years I associated orgasms with semen. It required a big mental readjustment for me to perceive the pleasure response without the visual cue or the feeling of ejaculation.

There are also many drugs (e.g., antidepressants and beta blockers) that may reduce sex drive.

There are some sexual medicine doctors who specialize in this sort of thing. Sex drive, orgasms and erections are very complex physiological processes that involve both the mind and the body. I hope you're able to find a doctor willing to work with you on this.

- Allen

I've been off the board for a while; will describe why in another post. But I've followed periodically.

I'm just over 4 years out from surgery, and two of those years have been spent on TRT in one form or another. This summer, I began treating with Dr. Eugene Shippen in Reading, PA....he took me off of T injections (Testosterone Cypionate) and started me on HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin). HCG mimics LH (Leutinizing Hormone ) in the body, which tells the testicles to get off smoke break and start cranking out T again. It works, and raised my level at one point to mid-800's, from a low in the low 300's. That's my own tesotsterone being produced, not synthetic supplementation. Unfortunately, the window where I felt like all the women in town needed to be locked up for their own safety came and went rather quickly. This was due primarily to a converson of T to Estradiol. Shippen started me back on a low dose of Arimidex, and now the E levels are being dialed in. Still not there, but getting there. My PSA has remained undetectable since January of '09, and I just had blood drawn yesterday, so I'll know if that holds at the 4-year mark. Aside from the elusive libido issue, gains have included energy, muscle mass, loss of brain fog, better sleeping, etc.........I believe also that I have a minor thyroid issue, which will be a addressed when I see Shippen next month. TRT remains controversial, not only on this board, but in the general population as well. My urologist thanked me for being his "guinea pig" in this, as he had never before supplemented a man post-prostatectomy. His comment was "we all need to continue to learn".

Arnie