Low Testosterone in dh and infertility....

[Caring Touch]

We just found out that my dh has extremely low testosterone. One doctor said it was at the level of an 80 year old man and he's only 35 y.o.!!! He used to be so alive and over the past 4 years or so he's turned into an old man and it keeps getting worse.

It seems that allopathic meds are difficult to manage and have a LOT of side effects.

Does anybody know of what we can have him do naturally? He needs a lot of help right now. I've got him on Maca, L-arginine, a strong multi with lots of greens, a green drink, decent diet, martial arts 3x/week, anti-oxidant, therapy, accupunture and chiropractic (and prayer).

Even with ALL of that he doesn't seem to be getting better. He's seeing a urologist this week to rule out any serious medical problems, althought I don't believe he has anything. I am in the health field and can usually pick up problems, but we will see.

Does anybody have experinece with this? Am I missing anything?

Where did my husband go? I feel like I am living with an 80 y.o. man and I am very lonley because of it. Plus we've been trying to have another baby and he's infertile, most likely due to low hormones. My heart is broken.

Please help!

Caring Touch

[Pookietooth]

I would look into adrenal fatigue if I were you. There is a thread about it over in Health and Healing here. Sounds like there is something really up with him. Also, check out pyroluria information -- I think it also can cause low testosterone.

[Snapdragon]

I know of a doctor who specializes in Testosterone issues- but he is in Boston.

Abraham Morgentaler. He has a book about testosterone replacement, which they can do. Maybe you can look for the book.

Here is a link:

http://www.lef.org/Vitamins-Suppleme...-For-Life.html

[PaulaJoAnne]

Along the same line, be absolutly certain he is not consuming any soy. That includes all processed foods that contain soy oil, and even the vege oils that are made from soy.
Asian countries only consume 2-3 tbsp of highly fermented soy per day.
When the women do not want to become pregnant, they feed extra amounts to their husbands. It lowers testosterone levels drastically.
I have seen my husbands hormone levels change big time when we cut out all soy ( we follow the WAPF way of eating).
If you are using Maca, make sure he takes Ioderal as well.
And throw out all refined sugars, since that is a big player in adrenal fatigue.
One other thing to look into, is cholesteral levels. Cholesteral is used by our bodies to make our hormones.

Something of interest, is that all of our blood passes through the thyroid every 17 minutes.
If the Adrenals are not working properly, the thyroid shuts down.
Hence the reason for taking Iodine along with the Maca.
It is also important to take high vitamin cod liver oil, since this will help carry the iodine from the intestines to the bloodstream.
Here is an amazing site in regards to regaining endocrine health.
www.drjlang.com
Hope this is not to jumbled up

[fullofhope08]

I'm so sorry to hear that you and your husband are experiencing problems with both his health and infertility as a couple. It can feel very sad, hopeless, and plain scary at times. We have gone through this same experience over the past year. I'll share what we've learned.
my dh learned about a year ago that his sperm count was very low - under 1 million. it took about 5 months before someone thought of checking his hormone levels and discovered low testosterone/high fsh. from what we have learned - this combination indicates some damage that is considered irreversible. it's been explained to us as the male equivalent of early menopause in women - testicular failure. we've been told his numbers will keep dropping. so far, they're staying the same. there is still that uncertainty that they could drop/vanish at any time, depending on who you talk to. apparently some men will have low testosterone but their fsh levels are low/normal (I forget which one). in these cases, there are some medications that they can try to help the situation. for us - they can't explain what has caused this and have said it won't get better.
initially, the dr's couldn't tell us much - no explanations, no help. one dr did give my dh a prescription for androgel (testosterone replacement, it's a gel that he applied to his skin). he felt great on it - within a week, he was more confident, happier, had a sex drive again, was overall way more positive about life. it made him realize how down he had felt for the last few years. he stayed on it for about 3 months, until we were told by the specialists that the androgel would actually have the effect of lowering his sperm levels even further. he got off the drug, grudgingly since he felt so great on it. so if you're wanting to have children right now, androgel and other testosterone meds will only make the situation worse.
I must say that a bit over a year into this journey, I think that my dh is not as depressed as he was a year ago, libido seems a bit better...I think part of what he was feeling a year ago was part of his grief over his fertility. he still has his days when he's got no energy, or it seems that all he wants to do is complain about the world (which really isn't him)...so I hear what you're saying about being married to a man that is acting a lot older than he is. it's heartbreakign to watch your husband go through this. and it becomes lonely - I hear you on that one too! for us, it took some time to allow the grief to resolve to some degree and get a better idea of what is baseline is. I also needed the time to grieve our fertility as well. there were times when we didnt feel that tight as a couple (and we have a great marriage!) and I worried about how this would affect us. it seems that we have come out of the darkest times of our grief...we still have bad days...but we seem more cohesive now...we're in this together. it's not his or my problem but something that we're facing together.
we tried the holistic route, initially to try to increase his sperm count, then to increase his hormone levels. we never saw a naturopath that specializes in infertility (we're in a pretty rural community, so we're lucky to have access to any naturopath!) he tried maca, tribulus terrestis (sp?), horny goat weed, ginseng. dh doesn't find these herbs give him any boost in libido, energy, etc so he has stopped taking them. they may be worth a try - doesn't mean it won't help others in the same situation. we're looking at starting ivf/icsi in the new year. it's our only real option at this time to have a child that is ours genetically. fingers crossed!

feel free to keep in touch if you'd like. I hope your appointment with the urologist was helpful, even in letting you know where you stand (not always what we want to hear, but the unknown can be scary). it does get easier to deal with.
hugs to you...

[hethir]

There are various herbs that can help with increasing testosterone, my favorite being Tribulus. Tribulus helps to increase testosterone in the body. It has been proven tribulus terrestris can increase the amount of Luteinizing Hormone (LH) produced by the body’s pituitary gland. LH stimulates the testes to secret the male hormone testosterone.

Another factor is making sure to reduce excess estrogen exposure by following these 5 guidelines:

1. Reduce your exposure to xenohormones

2. Eat only organic meats and dairy

3. Do not eat soy foods.

4. Cleanse the body of excess hormones and toxins.

5. Eat lots of fiber and cruciferous vegetables. These vegetables contain a special element that helps the body to rid itself of excess estrogens. You can also take the supplement DIM to have the same effects.

There is a recent study that showed pesticides affected men's hormones because they mimic estrogen in the body.

[rainytown]

how to talk about low sex drive

my husband has had a low sex drive since we started having sex about 7 years ago (once or twice a month). It's pretty demoralizing for me... As far as I can tell he doesn't think anything is wrong. When I bring it up he says work is stressfull right now, or more recently he blames co-sleeping, but his sex drive is always extremely low.

anyways, I've noticed that he seems depressed. Some small thing can set him off and he'll be lathargic and mopey for the rest of the night.

About a year ago I made him an appointment with a doctor after he curled up in a ball on the floor for a couple hours... the doctor just told him he was too stressed out, so nothing has changed.

has anyone else had an experience like this? And if so, how do you get your partner to see a doctor - and actually trying to fix things?

[OverRunWithSons]

What are his testosterone level numbers ?

Caring Touch: What are his numbers from the Testosterone tests? What is his age? I am new to this forum (1st post), I struggled with infertility, now have 6 children, here my husband is in his 40's now (45 yrs), thankfully, this was not an issue while wanting to conceive, we are now dealing with LOW NORMAL Testosterone issues, he is seeing an Encronologist, waiting for results today. He is tired alot (but has always been more than me) and what I noticed was the lack of Sex drive compared to before. BUt it didnt help that my drive has increased immensely in the past 2 months, or I might not have even noticed. My Husband's first test showed 344 (normal 250-1100), % Free Testosterone was 1.52 (normal 1.50- 2.20), and Free testosterone was 52.3 (normal 35.0-155.0). Just curious to compare. If everything falls into into Low Normal (being tested for Thyroid & Hormones) and Docs can not help us, I plan to get him some Tongkat Ali herb. This is supposed to boost testosterone levels in men. Has to be taken on on -off cycles.

[rainytown]

How'd you get him to get his levels tested? I haven't managed to bring this possibility up with my hb yet... I'm worried that I could really hurt his feelings.

[fullofhope08]

We have also been dealing with low testosterone, which we discovered as we were trying to get to the bottom of my his sperm count was so low. thankfully, my dh has been willing to go through every test, every appointment as it was important to him to know 'why.' we haven't had this question answered yet, but I am very thankful that he is willing to jump through the hoops.
The book "the male biological clock" really helped us understand the issue of low testosterone - the list of symptoms associated with this as outlined in the book is actually what tipped my dh off to this perhaps being a problem. the list described him to a tee, and made him curious to know where his hormone levels were. I think every man will be different with how he copes with the thought of his body not functioning properly with regards to testosterone levels - a bit of a hit to their manhood. I don't know, but seeing themselves described in a book like this may be enough for them to identify that there IS a problem, and it's great when the rest of the book explains their options. my dh felt like a million bucks once he was on testosterone replacement therapy - androgel. he's off of it now as we're ttc, but will say that he plans on taking it again in the future when we've completed our family.
good luck to you all. I know this is a touchy subject for men.

[rainytown]

We got test results back, and indeed it was very low (below the normal range). He got his first shot a couple days ago, and I'm feeling pretty hopeful about the future.