Posted by MarkinBoston on November 15, 2000, at 15:35:24
In reply to Somewhat PG-13..., posted by Buffet on November 10, 2000, at 0:21:02
Since your drive and performance are both affected, have your endocrine levels checked. Depression will tend to raise cortisol levels and lower testosterone levels. Tell your primary MD that your libido has declined and you've had some instances of functional difficulties, or notice an absense of "morning wood". The first screening check is for total testosterone. This doesn't really mean a whole lot, especially since the "normal" scale includes men from 18-80 years old, and while the lab may say you're normal, when its age corrected, you could be low. There are no age correction stats out there, so apply reason when interpreting results.
If the numbers are out of range, then a more telling set of tests are done, including: total testosterone, free testosterone, LH, FSH, E2 (estradiol), cortisol, and prolactin. Possibly a few more. This is getting out of range for primary care physician and you'll probably get a referral to an endocrinologist - hopefully one not specialising in diabetes or women's health, and having experience in Cushing's syndrome and male hormone replacement therapy. My first endo said my testosterone was low because I was depressed and to go see a pdoc, while its also true that low testosterone can cause depression. In either case, cause or symptom, managing testosterone and estradiol is easy to do and makes you feel better. Managing cortisol is hard to do and there are lots of side effects from those drugs that have to be managed with others. Email me if you want more info.
poster:MarkinBoston
thread:48591
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001115/msgs/48860.html