where to start with gynecomastia diagnosis / diagnosed with gilbert few years ag

[tomreils]

Hey there,

I finally want to get my gynecomastia checkt out, but quite know where to start.
I've been a skinny child, but put on a lot of weight from 12-16, which I lost from 18-22 and
now at 27 gained back, I am currently at a bmi of 29 and I know that I should loose a lot of weight, but
I always had bigger breast and and as a result never went swimming and so on. The thing is that I actually
wouldn't mind having a little breast fat, but it's just a little too much/feminin.

I never really visited a doctor in the last few years, but now in retrospect I believe that I've definitly have been
suffering from a hormonal imbalance all my life. I am mostly gay and my body also seems to like stocking fat in the behind area
and I have very soft skin. all in all I actually sort of are more like my mom than my dad.

my mother died of breastcancer a few years ago, which is another reason I really want to get this checked out, but
as I said I really don't know where to start.

I don't have a go to doc that I really trust. should I just first get a regular blood test and than take it from there if there are any
hormonal problems? which kind of doctor should you actually go to if you might suffer from gynecomastia? as I said, I have a
bmi of 29, which is quite high, I just don't want to feel stupid and be told that I should just loose the weight. I am also suffering from
depression mostly all of my life and read that this is also something that can be triggered by an hormonal imbalance.

so where to start?

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

The first thing to do is to be active on this site.  Here you find empathetic men with similar problems and you will find answers to many of your questions.

Would strongly advise a trip to your primary care doc for a complete head to toe physical.  Based on that and your personal medical history, he may recommend further consult with an endocrinologist to investigate your hormonal status.  While this is going on, you should make a determined effort to lose weight.  A BMI of 29 is considered overweight and borderline obese.  Any contemplated surgery would provide much better results if you did lose weight and your BMI was closer to 25-26 or so.

If your physical exam and hormonal status come back normal, then you should begin researching potential surgeons.  Would strongly advise consults with several plastic surgeons, preferably plastic surgeons with interest and demonstrated expertise in gyne surgery.

Best of luck!

Dr Jacobs

[tomreils]

thanks!

I just went to get a blood test and have the rest of the check up next week. One thing that I noticed though is that I was told when I was 18
that I have Gilbert Syndrom (it's called different in german, that's why I never noticed it) and I read on multiple sites that Gilberts is a
causing gynecomastia.

what I can't find out though is why it's doing that? Is it actually increasing my estrogen production in some way? I also startet to develop cellulite in
the last year, which is extremly annoying and get's me down even further :/

I hope though that the doctor mentions any kind of hormonal imbalance, because I am sort of afraid to mention the topic on my own since I don't
know the doctor and don't feel very confortable about the whole situation.

l mean is it really of any use. as far as i gathered gyno won't just go away, even if my estrogen levels would get lowered via meds and the same goes
cellulite (stuck with it for live according to the internet).

[Paa_Paw]

I am not a Doctor, and what little I do know may be less than you already know but I'll try to fill in some of the gaps. You will need to do some serious homework yourself and your care should be well monitored.

Gilberts does several things. That may have been a poor choice of words. Maybe I should have said it doesn't do several things.

One of the things it doesn't do is to detoxify the blood. Men normally have a small amount of Estrogen which is dealt with by the liver.  Even if your production of Estrogen is "Normal" it could be the your liver is not dealing with it adequately so you may have an accumulated excess.

Whether or not this is true could easily be found with fairly routine lab work.

The usual fiat to avoid self medication is doubled or tripled in your case due to your reduced liver function.