Non-surgical success story

[jkmullins]

I'm 28 and first noticed my breasts growing a few months ago, about mid August.  I went to a GP who sent me to an endocrinologist.  He discovered my testosterone was well below what it should be (1.9 free/219 total).  After what seemed like endless testing, he never found any cause for the problem.  I've never used steroids, never smoked pot, don't smoke and drink infrequently.  My pituitary function and all other hormone levels were fine (other than a very mildly high estrogen...a reflex reaction)...I'm a total mystery case.

Long story short, I've been on AndroGel (testosterone therapy) for over 2 months now, and as of my checkup last week, my free testosterone is now around 20 and my palpable glandular breast tissue is noticeably reducing.  I feel better, have more energy, more appetite, and an increased libido (not sure if that's good or not  ).  I'm also having a much easier time losing weight.  I've been putting belly fat on for a while now and haven't been able to get rid of it no matter what I did...now it's starting to melt away.

[nukem2k5]

That's awesome.  That's why it's good to always see an endo before surgery.

[reaper33]

hey jkmullins, can you give some more info about your gyno, i think it worked on you because you caught it at the right time, anyhow what kinda gyno you have is it puffy nipples or just large breast shape, and can you post some before and after pics, that would really give a lot of hope to people on these boards, where do you live any who is your doctor, and ive heard about andractim, but what is androgel, did u see any side effects. however i had gyno for the past two years, and considering surgery right now, but its good to hear your non surgical success congrats, keep us posted.

[gyn_zen]

can i have the details about ur endocrinologist plz

[30yrold]

Jkmullins
 
Hi, you must be very relieved!!   

I had low testosterone, due to a pituitary tumour and was told that if they gave me TRT it could make the gyne worse, as the body converts an unnatural excess into oestrogen. I was also told that my naturally increasing levels of testosterone (due to medication to shrink the tumour), could help to shrink the breast tissue over time. Its not happened, and if anything they appear larger.   

I guess there really is no right or wrong, as the body make up of everyone is different and any chemical imbalances will probably have different outcomes. 

 

[jkmullins]

To try to answer the questions asked so far:

To reaper33:  It was totally catching it at the right time.  I remember one of my nipples being puffy for a couple of years, but it was just like the real growth started happening all of a sudden earlier this year.  I can still remember the day I noticed something wasn't normal like it was yesterday.  I can't seem to find my before pics right now, but they wouldn't be extremely relevant.  They were taken almost 3 months prior to starting treatment and I had subsequently gotten worse by the time I actually started the therapy.  In the couple of months I've been on the therapy, I've gotten back to around the point I was when the pictures were taken and I'm getting better weekly.  I had puffy nipples and just general breast growth behind the nipple and areola.  It's actually been hard for me to gauge the improvement myself (I'm my own worse critic), but my mom (who is a nurse and has helped me a lot in my personal research) noticed a difference in just the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and said she really couldn't notice it through my shirt anymore, and I was actually wearing a t-shirt during Christmas, and then my endo acted almost shocked at the progress when I saw him a couple of days later. 

AndroGel is a topical testosterone gel that is dispensed in a prepackaged bottle with a metered pump on top.  Your endo will prescribe you with a certain number of pumps per day, and you just dispense that many pumps into your hand and rub it into your abdomen, and it absorbs over the course of the next few hours.  It dries in a couple of minutes and after that you can put on a shirt and go on with your day.

To 30yrold:  It was almost 2 months after I first saw my endo that I finally started on my TRT, and that period was one test after another for that whole time, everything from bloodwork (three different rounds if I remember right), to MRI, and even a semen analysis to check testicular function.  Everything, other than my testosterone levels, came back completely normal.  He started me on a low dose of testosterone for the first month to make sure I was going to absorb it properly, and when that bloodwork came back normal, he upped my dosage.  The whole time (and even now) he really hasn't known what is going on, but he has figured out what it isn't and made the call that TRT should work...it has, in a big way.  Beyond my gyne, everything from my energy levels to my moods have gotten a big boost.

For everyone else who has asked or is wondering:  I live in Montgomery, AL and go to Dr. Neil Schaffner.  He's a great Dr, has a great bedside manner, and is extremely thorough.  The only gotcha is that he doesn't take insurance, but his staff does help you with the paperwork to file your claims separately.  He is $150 for the first visit, and then $75 for followups, and he doesn't make you come in for a bunch of unnecessary followups.  Anything he can do with you on the phone, he will, and he won't charge you for it.  His lab is separate and does take insurance, so there are no worries about huge lab bills either.

[reaper33]

awesome jkmullins, if only you could post your results of gyne you can really prove a lot of people wrong, and i am curios why do you rub the gel on your abdomen, i thought you were applying it on your nipples, can you explain how that works, i for one do not believe in these easy fixes, i read a post of someone using andractim gel for two months and not getting any results, and suffering from side effects of the gel like thinning hair and shrinking jewels, can you talk a lil more about the side effects, i for one have made up my mind and planning a surgery by spring break, i hope you can prove me wrong, i am seeing my endocrinologist next week and im definitely gonna talk about androgel, and how old are you, because i heard that testosterone therapy only works during and after puberty like from 15 to 20 i guess, i am 21 by the way, great success man and stick to your t shirts. peace

[jkmullins]

Well, I really wouldn't say miracle cure.  I'm not really treating the gyno directly.  It's being caused by low T, and that's what I'm treating.  It's being treated as a side effect of a bigger problem, not the root problem itself.  Now that I've gotten my testosterone right, the gyno is straighting itself out.  My endo warned me right from the start that there was no guarantee that the gyno would reverse, but there was a good chance of it.  However he did say that it was sure to at the very least stop getting worse.  I was lucky in that there was a clear cause to my gyno, and it's always a good thing to figure out what's behind it.  We never did figure out why I had low T, but we did figure out how to treat it.  Even if you have to get surgery, you at least want to figure out what the root cause of the problem is, so it won't come back afterward.

[HarryO]

Do you have to have this hormone treatment for the rest of your life?

[Wayne1985]

Hormones really are a baffling thing.  I am taking a nearly identical drug called Testim.

The gel has made this man's case go away.  On my gel, it says a possible side effect is gynecomastia.

I've read the same thing about clomid; some claim it has caused their gynecomastia while others claim it has made it go away.