have an interesting question here, please read.

[nomore-jiggles]

 I recently had my surgery done in January. Im satisfied with how it came out.  8 months post op and it looks pretty good. 

I recently had a blood test and found that my testosterone levels are really low. 

I was told low testosterone causes many things such as depression, lack of energy, low sperm count, and oh yes, gynecomastia.

Increasing my testosterone levels will raise my sperm count. I'm trying to have a baby with my wife who is in her late 30s.  Having low sperm count doesn't help. 

Since I already have low testosterone levels, Will taking testosterone injections cause my gynecomastia to come back? I gotta think, if low levels were the cause in the first place then taking testosterone replacement shouldn't cause it to come back right?  I asked the endicronologist if taking testosterone will give me breasts and he said no, that with the low dose he will be injecting me with, there is no risk for that.

What do you think?

[xelnaga13]

Adding exogenous testosterone can cause gynecomastia. Primarily because it bypassed your bodies natural feedback loop with is designed to regulate the production of androgens.

The risks of gyne can be mitigated with proper blood work and supervision from your endo. If necessary your doctor can add antiestrogens in order to prevent the build up of estrogen (a contributor to gyne).

However, seeking testosterone replacement therapy can be a life changing fruitful pursuit. It's possible that you've become accustom to feel terrible all the time because of your low T, and once that problem is addressed you may thrive like never before.


P.s. Most of the time gyne is caused by poor test/estro ratios. It's the reason why guys like arnold could injection thousands of mg of testosterone every week with no estrogen medication and not get gyne.

[nomore-jiggles]

by exogenous, do you mean large amounts?   And is one injection of a low dose enough to cause gynecomastia?  I ask this because I don't think I'm going to want to continue this treatment even at a low dose. too much risk, I shouldn't have even risked it in the first place.

[Poland2012]

It means that it's from outside the system. As for continuing treatment, ask your endo.

[xelnaga13]

by exogenous, do you mean large amounts?   And is one injection of a low dose enough to cause gynecomastia?  I ask this because I don't think I'm going to want to continue this treatment even at a low dose. too much risk, I shouldn't have even risked it in the first place.

Endogenios refers to something that originates within your body, such as your natural testosterone production. Exogenous refers to something thats added from the outside, such as testosterone injections.

TRT is a personal choice. I dont consider testosterone a luxury hormone, I consider it an essential hormone. IMO the health benefits of normal testosterone levels far outweigh the risks of gyno.

[Dr. Cruise]

Exogenous steroids deserve a bad reputation as I commonly see gyne caused by the steroids. Keep in mind, these are people who did very large amounts of test. Well over the amount the human body was intended to have. In your case, you are merely bringing yourself up to normal. This is completely different and should not be a problem. If you do feel signficant pain and swelling in your chest you should re-evaluate but this is very unlikely in your situation with an Endo following you.

[nomore-jiggles]

thank you gentlemen and to Dr. Cruise, thanks for your input.  it has been 4 days since I got the injection.  I haven't felt any changes yet, but I have an appointment with the endocrinologist in one month to go over the effects of the first (and probably my last) injection.  He told me to document this month, day by day to see if there are any changes I may experience to determine how he will treat me the following month and so forth. But I gotta be honest, there will have to be some major major positive changes for me in this coming month to consider continuing the treatment.  I've been checking myself out in the mirror everyday to see if the gyne has come back because of this shot. So thank you again for listening.   

[xelnaga13]

I wouldn't be looking in the mirror everyday, you're not getting gyno from one 100-200mg shot of testosterone depot.  A very small amount of that injection will actually convert to estrogen; and your body is designed to filter out estrogen so it wont build up.

[nomore-jiggles]

well, guess what happenned.  Yesterday,  I looked at myself and it has come back.  Unf--king believable.  I really hoped this wasn't going to happen. I'd like to think that it is just swelling, but that's highly unlikely after 9 months already.  That injection I took for testosterone replacement had to be the reason it came back.  everything was looking good. it's been 2 weeks since I got the injection and I'm back to having gynecomastia again.  I can't believe it.  Short of having the surgery again, can the endicronologist give me another injection of some sort to reverse this or am I f--ked? 

[bluephiman72]

After reading your last post, I felt obligated to reply. I had gyno surgery in May 2012 and have been on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) since July 2012. I had similar symptoms you expressed, such as depression, low energy, lethargy, and low sex drive. However, TRT has changed my life! I have great energy and mood, and have become much stronger in the gym. Did I mention wood for days? I receive 150mg of testosterone cypionate (test) per week with no returning gyno. My test levels when last checked were around 600, which is well within normal range. I wanted to dispell the notion that your one isolated shot of test, at a low dose, taken a month or less ago caused a return of your gyno. That is not supported by the facts, as described by you, and not supported by science.

It's true anabolic steroids can cause gynecomastia. This is the result of the body's conversion of testosterone into estrogen (estradiol), known as aromatization. However, bodybuilders take unusally high amounts of test (anywhere from 500-1000mg/week), which increases size and strength, but has the negative side effect of increased estrogen levels. At the doseages we take, gynecomastia is highly unlikely; even more so since you've had only ONE shot. Even if your estrogen levels were significantly elevated after your one shot, it's extremely unlikely you would have developed gyno in such a short period of time. My suggestion would be to have your endo do some blood work (BW) and check your estrogen levels. If it's high, your doc will most likely prescribe an aromatase inhibitor (AI), such as Amiridex. I'm no expert in this field, but I used this new invention called Google and found a lot of useful information on TRT.

I'm not coming down on you, but also don't want someone else suffering from low T who had gyno surgery to believe that their gyne would return on TRT. With well managed care and regular BW to check your levels, you won't have to worry about gyne returning. Irrational fears helps no one on this site, and does more harm than good.

[xelnaga13]

After reading your last post, I felt obligated to reply. I had gyno surgery in May 2012 and have been on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) since July 2012. I had similar symptoms you expressed, such as depression, low energy, lethargy, and low sex drive. However, TRT has changed my life! I have great energy and mood, and have become much stronger in the gym. Did I mention wood for days? I receive 150mg of testosterone cypionate (test) per week with no returning gyno. My test levels when last checked were around 600, which is well within normal range. I wanted to dispell the notion that your one isolated shot of test, at a low dose, taken a month or less ago caused a return of your gyno. That is not supported by the facts, as described by you, and not supported by science.

It's true anabolic steroids can cause gynecomastia. This is the result of the body's conversion of testosterone into estrogen (estradiol), known as aromatization. However, bodybuilders take unusally high amounts of test (anywhere from 500-1000mg/week), which increases size and strength, but has the negative side effect of increased estrogen levels. At the doseages we take, gynecomastia is highly unlikely; even more so since you've had only ONE shot. Even if your estrogen levels were significantly elevated after your one shot, it's extremely unlikely you would have developed gyno in such a short period of time. My suggestion would be to have your endo do some blood work (BW) and check your estrogen levels. If it's high, your doc will most likely prescribe an aromatase inhibitor (AI), such as Amiridex. I'm no expert in this field, but I used this new invention called Google and found a lot of useful information on TRT.

I'm not coming down on you, but also don't want someone else suffering from low T who had gyno surgery to believe that their gyne would return on TRT. With well managed care and regular BW to check your levels, you won't have to worry about gyne returning. Irrational fears helps no one on this site, and does more harm than good.

Well said. I don't know all the fact behind OP's medical history, but its certainly curious that he posted his fears about 200mgs of testosterone, and then a week later boom he has full gyno.

[nomore-jiggles]

so would this be swelling in the late phases of my recovery?  I just find it to be an incredible conicidence that the gyne came back just 2 weeks after I got the shot of T.  I heard guys talking about swelling before, but not so late like this, this is why I have to attribute the regrowth to the shot of T. Im making an appointment to see the endo tomorrow. I'm just screwed, I'm just really screwed here unless this is swelling and it magically goes away on it's own. Thanks for your responses.

[xelnaga13]

You're 8 months post op. I doubt it's swelling. It's possibly water retention.

 

[greatlakes]

Nice post bluephiman72.