Endo results...opinions please (long)?

[rcbrown23]

OK, I finally went to an endocrinologist (very credited in gyne). First I'll tell my story.

25 years old, 165 lbs, good shape, thin athletic build. Excersize regularly, drink alcohol excessively (2 nights a week), smoke pot occasionally (a joint once a month, maybe), mild case of glandular gynecomastia.

Had a liposuction only procedure almost one year ago. The doctor did not know what he was doing and was unable to get the glandular tissue, leaving me worse off, post-operation. The liposuction did, however, get about half of the gland on one side.

About six months later, after a one week vacation of lots of drinking, I felt a small pain and lump in the side where the lipo got half of the gland. Sure enough, within a coulple of months the gland was back to it's original size, as it was pre op.

I'm ready for another operation (hopefully the last) but I want ot be sure that it will not grow back.

Went to the endo and after a physical examination, we thought it could be hyperthyroidism due to varying symptoms - high blood pressure, fatigue, trembling hands, insomnia.

Results got back for those tests:

"hCG             undetectable
total T3        129ng/dl
TSH              0.89 uU/ml
Chemistries also normal
The one he said was not normal is the dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEA-sulfate) which is 580 ug/dl where normal is 125 to 300 ug/dl.

Those are his words. He then asked me to come in for more testing:

LH                     6.5 mlU/ml
FSH                   2 mlU/ml
tesosterone       442 ng/dl
estradiol            45.2 pg/ml

He says everything looks pretty normal except the DHEA-sulfate stated above. He wants to start me on medication for that. Here are his words:

"Once we lower your DHEA-sulfate value, we will I think see an increase in total testosterone concentration and, hopefully, a reduction in estrogen concentration with a simultaneous decrease on the volume of breast tissue."

He wants to put me on "dexamethasone 0.5 mg 1/2 tablet at bedtime daily with a little skim milk."

So...what'd ya think?

Do I really need to start taking medication?...or should I get another operation and hope that the only reason it grew back is because only half of it was taken out?


                          Thanks
                                                -Brown

P.S. Something instinctivley tells me that alcohol is the root of all my problems. I really hope that's not the case, and I really don't need anyone telling me just to give it up because it's bad for me.

Sorry for the long-ass post.

EDIT:
I looked up DHEA-sulfate and from what I see I am pretty much in the normal range.

Typical normal ranges for males:

18-30 Years 125-619 ug/dL
31-50 Years: 59-452 ug/dL
51-60 Years: 20-413 ug/dL
61-83 Years: 10-285 ug/dL

This is just one of the many that show pretty much the same values. I'm on  the upper area of normal, so it should be OK, right?