Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

Hello all,

I am still trying to determine the cause of my low testosterone. Doctors says I need an MRI, but that will not determine the cause of my hypogonadism. I want to do a clomid or HCG stimulation test which is unknown to the doctors I have talked to. They just want to prescribe me testosterone and be done with me. Anyone know any doctors in Colorado who are knowledgeable on this subject?

Thanks!

An MRI? Who are these people? Sounds like someone is just trying to get you to shell out for expensive tests. Hey, if the docs you know aren't educated enough to tackle your specific problem--and many aren't--then you just need to keep looking until you find some that are. Or better yet, do it yourself. I had severe thyroid issues once, caused by stress, and the physicians I encountered were so unfamiliar with the subject that I ended up spending most of my time in their examination rooms filling them in on the medical field's latest discoveries. In the end, they just wanted to plug me full of drugs, not actually find the cause. I ended up curing myself.

You're right about the knee-jerk prescription of testosterone. That technique is applied to pretty much everything hormonal. Rather than help you get back into balance, they'd rather just inject what's missing and call it done. Same thing for insulin. So many people could be helped quickly and easily by doing a little research into their lifestyles and health history but it's quicker, easier, and let's face it, a much higher profit for the drug companies, for doctors to just tell patients to inject a generic form of insulin for the rest of their lives. It actually causes diabetes to worsen because the body looses its ability to produce it's own insulin or even to respond to the signals that it needs it. And the drug companies get richer.

If you are serious about figuring out this testosterone thing yourself, I recommend starting by researching all things that cause the body to stop releasing it, stop identifying it when it is released, or stop absorbing it. You may not even need to do any tests. A simple mineral to try is magnesium, which is responsible for so many processes in the human body, it boggles the mind. There's a lot of research out there but you have to hunt for it because the medical industry isn't interested in funding any solution that a drug company can't trademark. After all, you can get magnesium at any health food store.

The dirty trick on vegans is that, although magnesium does occur in fruits and veggies, there's a lot less of it in those sources than there used to be. Once depleted from the soil in farms and orchards, it has to be added back manually via fertilizers--and fertilizers typically do not contain magnesium. A stalk of broccoli today in the supermarket is a lot less nutritious than a stalk you could have had in the 50's. The end result being that you can stuff yourself with organic, "magnesium-rich" plants and still not get enough. Plus, if your body is under any form of stress (like bodybuilding or dealing with low hormone levels), you need even more magnesium because magnesium is specifically used for stress management.

Get yourself a small bottle of magnesium supplements (without calcium) and try it for a few weeks to a month between meals. Here's a decent how-to article: http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Heart-Rhyt ... ow/1002415 I take around 1200 - 1725 mg a day with no side effects and it's done wonders for me. Find one of those labs where you can get blood tests done on things without a doctor's order and monitor your testosterone before and after. Don't worry, you'll figure this out.

Here's some articles....
http://www.fitnessandpower.com/bodybuil ... deficiency
This guy talks about magnesium towards the end of his article: http://www.mikemahler.com/online-librar ... ogens.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20352370
http://www.ergo-log.com/magnesiumtest.html
https://dangerandplay.wordpress.com/201 ... tosterone/
http://www.livestrong.com/article/54010 ... rone-zinc/
http://www.charlespoliquin.com/Articles ... neral.aspx

Here's a fantastic book, available at many libraries: http://www.amazon.com/Transdermal-Magne ... 0978799119

Baby Herc

I have been working on this for years with no effect from numerous natural remedies. I do not know if I have primary or secondary hypogonadism which is why I want to do an HCG test. I would love to do it myself, but I don't know anyone who can supply me with HCG.

My testosterone is around 110, so it is more than what supplements or exercise can do. Probably been this way all my life because I can still get an erection, grow facial hair, etc. Men who have testosterone of 700 are nearly completely debilitated when it goes down to 300 or 400. My body somehow has become used to the low levels and makes good use of what I have. However, I can't build muscle, increase endurance, or increase strength. I managed to lose 70+ pounds through nutrition and exercise, but any physical activity is very difficult for me because I have very low energy and recovery rate. For example, I have done both P90X and Insanity, and it takes me twice as long to get through the workout as the length of the video because I have to constantly hit the pause button.

I may have to consider testosterone supplements if I can't find the cause. But I want to rule everything out first, and most doctors won't, or don't even know how. I would actually prefer a different steroid than testosterone, but I would have to do it illegally, because most doctors wouldn't consider a safer steroid over the most prescribed.

Wow, Pittylove, that's quite a journey! You are doing spectacularly well, considering, if your levels of testosterone are at 110. I'm impressed with your determination to exercise. Keep the faith and keep looking for what you need, I know you'll figure it out. Somewhere out there is the answer and with that determination of yours, you'll find it.



Baby Herc