Who would have thought that at 62 years old I would be writing about beginning something new. I notice the service I use to create and host my site has an estimate of how long it will take to read a blog post. We live in such a time that we have to manage time to the point of having some idea of how long a blog post will take to read. Since this isn't written yet, I'm writing now, I don't know how long this one will be but many of the others have links to what someone else has said or researched. This one will be my own take on what I'm learning.
Yesterday I started learning first hand what will happen to my body when the testosterone levels are increased. I don't yet have the numbers, Since it is 3:50 AM and I'm writing this as part of my dealing with insomnia. I haven't looked for studies but I find many older men sleep very little. My wife tells me her research into hormone therapies for women will have a direct affect on sleep patterns. My doctor yesterday basically said I may still have to work at getting enough sleep. He said as my levels of testosterone increase there will be some improvements in sleep I will need to provide the time to make sure I'm getting enough.
One thing I learned is there are many signs of low T. I filled out a questionnaire with a list of close to 10, I forgot to count them, items. They told me when someone marks three or more with a yes they are a good candidate for replacement therapy. I marked them all yes. The place I'm going to is a business and this could have been a marketing ploy. Those questions could have been chosen knowing people would mark them all most of the time but I feel a place that has a good reputation my use something like that to help marketing, the reason it works is it based on facts. I works because it presents facts in a way our emotions feel good about whatever action we are about to start. They are very good at that.
I went into this with many questions. The clinic I chose has a person come in to ask questions as sort of a form of triage. He explained much, made sure this wasn't some whim on my part, it is an expensive process after all, and offered me a chance to ask questions. There were times both he and the doctor used lots of big words. In my profession I learned to use lots of big words also so that didn't make me uncomfortable. They did let me restate my understanding in smaller words to make sure I was getting the idea. I'm not sure if he always talks about testicles as "little factories" or if that is a result of the clinic being in Salt Lake City. This is the heart of Mormondom folks. There was a leader of that faith who published a pamphlet against masturbation that has been controversial for decades. I don't know if that was a calculated step of his plan or just a coincidence, I did resist the urge to openly laugh at his choice and listened to what he was trying to convey to me.
I felt like I had just spent a day in school. Not like I did for over 30 years as a teacher but what I feel when I'm the student. What I learned is the body produces less and less testosterone as it ages. There are other substances that try to bind to it rather than those that use it to help with the symptoms I identified myself as having. He referred to them as stealing the testosterone. It seems strange evolution would have worked out to have something in our bodies stealing a hormone for no reason but he never identified why it binds up like that. Of course the evolutionary process doesn't mean it couldn't happen the way I understood it. So even the total amount of T produced isn't available for use. They drew blood to find the levels I have of various compounds, testosterone, that binding agent I just discussed, indicators of liver function, etc. They will take those numbers and devise a mixture of agents to help free up and replace the testosterone in my body to help deal with the challenges I face with it being low.
My process of dealing with my insomnia has worked, The rack monster is attacking me so I'll finish this later.
A few more hours of sleep I'm back. I just had my wife take some measurements of my body, my chest, my waist, my hips, my thigh, and a bicep. I don't know where medical personnel would measure but those are things that affect how my clothes fit so I went with those. I'm hoping the work outs I do every other day will bring some, like my waist down, and maybe a slight increase in spots like my thigh and upper arm. I will be reporting on how things change as well as how I feel through this process. I guess I'll get back to finding new information to share as I learn more about being sex-positive and sex as we age.
Edit: I'm reading The Sex Bible for People Over 50. In the book Dr. Laurie Betito uses the term "bioavailable" to describe the amount of testosterone available for use. I'm sure they used that term at the clinic the other day but I couldn't seem to recall it. I guess one thing we'll find out is if TRT will help be focus well enough to remember terms like that.
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