FrankTalk.org

Greetings everyone. New guy here. Found out about this site from the Low Testosterone forum over at men's health. Have had ED and low sex drive issues for many years but found out back in January '13 that I had very low T (255) began taking the whopper injections which really roller-coastered me and found out about doing them subcutaneously which I've been doing for a few months now. My T level last measured was 759(18 free) but haven't had a super boost in the erection department although things have gotten much better - now it's the performance anxiety I have to deal with from years of ED/low drive. As of late though I've been feeling some increased interest in sex and I'm anxious to see where my T level is now (hopefully around 1000).

Things are looking good in other areas of my life too - the T has helped me with mood, outlook and general well being. I used to be really anxious and fearful and that is slowly going away. I'm also a bit more confident too with work and all. Anyways - married to a wonderful gal full of patience and compassion for me on this issue and she is very interested in getting things working (along with me). She'd been urging me for a few years to get my T levels checked but I didn't listen. Now I'm looking for some moral support as I continue this journey. I've read lots of stuff on here that I've never discussed with anyone before and I thought I was pretty open. It is very different from what I'm used to.

My endocrinologist thinks I might actually have a variant of Kallmann's syndrome where at some point I never finished puberty - never got that big testosterone wash that turns boys into men so consequently I've been languishing for years as a boy in a man's body with all the conflicting emotions and such. I suffered anxiety attacks for nearly 2 decades from my late teens through early thirties. Now it's migraine - those have been my constant companion since about 13. My hypothalamus and pituitary don't put out the hormones that tell the boys to make copious amounts of T. The injected T at this point is doing some work on pushing puberty away and bringing me into manhood. It's very strange. However, at this age becoming a man is a tough ride. Some of the age related issues I've read about on here are happening to me too. Loss of sensitivity, etc. Hopefully the T will give me a few good years with my wife.

So that's my short story and I'm sticking to it!

Welcome to the FrankTalk community, RF. You'll find lots of support here from a wonderful group of guys. Some of my own issues parallel yours. I had low T also (about 220), had Testopel pellets implanted in my butt in April which helped considrably with libido. My T jumped up to around 800. I've been noticing some decline in libido lately so I may need them implanted again -- they supposedly last 4-6 months.

I also suffer from performance anxiety. I didn't have sex with my wife for at least 6 months since it was so frustrating. I think my ED is partially due to low T, probably partly vascular, and partly psychological. Oh, and I was also on anti-depressants for a while (SSRI's) which further exacerbated the problem. Oral meds have helped me some (Levitra and Viagra) -- have you used them? At first they didn't do much, but it seems to be true that once you use them a couple of times you tend to respond better. I'm also thinking about vacuum pumps and/or injections depending on how things progress in the future. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to talk further -- just click on my user name.

Again, welcome!

Welcome to the new guys! 1 thing to consider - cock rings. There are some good ones out there and might give you guys with performance anxiety some help and confidence along with it. Good luck!

Welcome aboard. I hope you will find encouragement and information through this website.
Can't comment on the low T except when I took Lupron for prostate cancer treatment, my T went down to 3, then back to 10, and 24.
No energy and got a bit depressed. So I can sort of empathize.
Now that I have been off Lupron for almost a year by T is up. When checked in April it was 400+ and boy, is it nice to feel somewhat more "normal".
Some of your ED might be helped by penile rehab. Dr. John Mulhall is the absolute expert on that. You might want to get his book.
For the migraine headaches, you might try taking probiotics for a while to see if that helps. There are certain foods such as hard cheese and
chocolate that are known to trigger migraines in most people. So take note of your diet.
Speaking of diet, watermelon, especially the yellow variety, is high in citrulline which helps get the blood flowing down below.
But it is not a miracle food. See http://www.webmd.com/erectile-dysfuncti ... ral-viagra
All the best to you. We are pulling for you.

Thanks guys.

I've had the migraines since i was 13 or so. They seem to happen every 7 days or so - not all of them are nasty but they wear a guy down. Fortunately i don't get sick with them...just crave chocolate and sweets. Tried diets and such but nothing has stopped them. They seem intimately tied to slow moving weather fronts - usually lows pushing out highs but they do have deletrious effects on libido and erection. Mine are aura and blindness and then headache. I usually know when the come because I can, at times get a big, huge crazy spike in libido for a day or so and then that subsides for a couple of days. Since testosterone has been helping my overall libido i'm having a harder time recognizing when they're about to hit. I get other symptoms with migraine but they are just a plain old pain.

I tried arginine to increase blood flow but wound up giving myself a case of shingles (arginine can activate the virus) and didn't realize i needed to take lysine with it (it's good to have a friend who is a chemist). So I'm leery of supplementation for that sort of thing...however, i've never tried yellow watermelon for the same effect.

At the moment I'm building my endurance to run a 5K 3x a week as part of my normal morning running routine and I've stopped eating wheat of any form. A recent brain MRI showed a very large accumulation of small blood vessels around my hypothalamus and pituitary (my migraines tend to focus in that area). The doctor says this accumulation is often found in folks with migraines and may either be the cause of or result of said migraines.

So through a combination of diet and exercise i'm trying to reduce inflammation tendency as much as possible and build up my endothelium (lining of the blood vessels and arteries). These things will help with my ED issues, probably won't cure it but will help as well as the rest of my body and hopefully reduce migraine overall.