Health Problems

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Captain Suave

Captain Suave

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Daidraco said:
I used to use Teledoc religiously. Then they stopped prescribing antibiotics for everything, and they became completely useless to me. I get a sinus infection at least once a year and its outrageous that I have to go to my doctor, pay somewhere around 100 bucks to get a prescription for fucking antibiotics. I understand that shit will eventually become immune to antibiotics, but gahh damn. Just giving me extra steps to drive up the cost of the shit. What about poor people? Theyre just fucked.
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I used to get really bad sinus infections a couple times a year. I apparently have a moderately deviated septum and am prone to it. I started lap swimming for exercise a few years back and haven't had one since. It seems getting a regular chlorinated sinus wash is a good preventative.
 
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Izo

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Captain Suave said:
I used to get really bad sinus infections a couple times a year. I apparently have a moderately deviated septum and am prone to it. I started lap swimming for exercise a few years back and haven't had one since. It seems getting a regular chlorinated sinus wash is a good preventative.
Click to expand...
GIF by South Park
pee swimming GIF by South Park

Maybe it's a different wash that helps? :D But yeah, getting it rinsed it key.
 
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Gurgeh

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Captain Suave said:
I used to get really bad sinus infections a couple times a year. I apparently have a moderately deviated septum and am prone to it. I started lap swimming for exercise a few years back and haven't had one since. It seems getting a regular chlorinated sinus wash is a good preventative.
Click to expand...
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Probably in which a curative amount of chlorine wouldn’t be a great idea, but a preventive amount is fairly manageable.
 
Captain Suave

Captain Suave

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Gurgeh said:
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Probably in which a curative amount of chlorine wouldn’t be a great idea, but a preventive amount is fairly manageable.
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It probably doesn't have much to do with the chlorine, to be honest. Getting occasional water up my nose and then doing flip turns does a great job of clearing out any sinus cavities that might otherwise get clogged.
 
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Haus

Haus

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Kobayashi said:
Question for butt pelleters: at what levels did you start to look into things? Just got my numbers back, 40 year old male:

Free Testosterone: 10 pg/mL
Testosterone: 438 ng/dL

Per the lab reference levels, it's pretty middle of the road for my age. My energy is pretty shit, but I can make a ton of lifestyle changes - diet sucks, need more exercise, currently no supplements, blah blah blah. Current plan is to start making those changes and re-evaluate in 3 months. Any recommended supplements/blends? Edit: forgot to add, what sort of thresholds make sense to cut losses and what levels does TRT come into play?
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OK, I did TRT from around the time I was 39 until I was around 49. When I first got tested either I had serious issues, or they were gaming the test trying to get me on their particular T treatment, but it clocked in as a 145. Obviously supes low.
I didn't use their treatment, got a second opinion but it was still in the high 200's. So I did pellets. In my experience, I didn't want to do self administered shots because screw self administered intramuscular shots (which most of them seemed to be), and I didn't want to expose the wife to incidental contact which made the underarm cream unattractive for me.

For me there was a curve on the pellets. You take a week or two to ramp up (usually they would give me an intramuscular when they inserted the pellets to help buffer me up some since I was numbed for the pellets). Then you have a plateau (which varies depending on how fast you metabolize the pellets), then a drop off (i.e. time to re-up.) How long the plateau lasts and how high a given number of pellets take you depend on your metabolism so the first time it's good to test frequently and map it out. For me, the plateau lasted longer (around 4-5 months), but I didn't get as high a surge. So the Dr adjusted number of pellets accordingly. I got more aggressive over time with them because good God Damn I felt great. Everything they say about it seemed true, energy, focus, better sleeping, everything...

There are three concerns when doing this :
  1. Prostate cancer - So testing PSA often (which the Dr should be doing if their competent)
  2. Fertility/sperm production - Since I was past the window of "try for baby" I didn't give a shit about this.
  3. Higher than normal red blood cell count. I had this, and the counter-treatment? Just go donate blood.
I haven't done it for the last 5 years, not sure why really, just stepped back from it in general. There was a supplement I was taking while doing this at the Dr's recommendation, called Diindolymethane , which even without the pellets last I checked I was still in the mid 300's which supposedly isn't bad for a guy in his 50's. But damn if being in the 1300-1500 range didn't feel a hell of a lot better. ;)

But as I am definitely hitting a slow down in my 50's I am debating just going in on "better living through pharmaceuticals" but wondering about more than just TRT, wondering about other hormonal and supplemental augmentation. YMMV but that was my experience... I think Lanx Lanx or someone was in the TRT industry at some point? Or am I thinking of someone else around here?
 
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Haus

Haus

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Daidraco said:
I used to use Teledoc religiously. Then they stopped prescribing antibiotics for everything, and they became completely useless to me. I get a sinus infection at least once a year and its outrageous that I have to go to my doctor, pay somewhere around 100 bucks to get a prescription for fucking antibiotics. I understand that shit will eventually become immune to antibiotics, but gahh damn. Just giving me extra steps to drive up the cost of the shit. What about poor people? Theyre just fucked.
Click to expand...
To be the devil/teledocs advocate...

I used to get sinus infections frequently, and my Dr was one of those who would drop a zpac on your ass at the drop of a hat. After years of this cycle I finally noticed. The speed at which I got over a sinus infection seemed to not vary depending on if I took antibiotics of not so I finally asked her about it. My doc admitted that apparently a number of sinus infections are really viral and not bacterial. As such anti-biotics don't really do anything past a placebo effect in some cases. The question would be if the Dr wants to go into taking a culture and really testing to see what you have and giving you the right treatment, or take the Occam's shotgun approach.
 
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Haus

Haus

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Captain Suave said:
I used to get really bad sinus infections a couple times a year. I apparently have a moderately deviated septum and am prone to it. I started lap swimming for exercise a few years back and haven't had one since. It seems getting a regular chlorinated sinus wash is a good preventative.
Click to expand...
I remember in my early 30's after the aforementioned lifetime of sinus infections (usually a couple times a year or more), I went to an ENT. They did a cat scan of my head and he showed me and pointed out..

"Each time you get one of those infections it leaves behind some scar tissue.... Here's a lifetime of scar tissue build up, and how it's affected you and partially deviated your septum."

He went in, cleared it out. I had essentially a nosebleed/stopped up nose for 2 weeks after. Quite literally had what felt and looked like a tampon strapped under my nose. Then I go in and he pulls out the "shape holding plugs" they had left in my nose. It was like a pair of full size big mouth bass lures. I remember the first big breath I took when that was done and I almost cried as it was the first time in my life I could remember feeling that much air getting through my nose, and both sides working at the same time... It was glorious.

But as Mrs. Haus Mrs. Haus would later note to me, it essentially added a reverb and echo chamber to my snoring.
 
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TomServo

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Haus said:
I remember in my early 30's after the aforementioned lifetime of sinus infections (usually a couple times a year or more), I went to an ENT. They did a cat scan of my head and he showed me and pointed out..

"Each time you get one of those infections it leaves behind some scar tissue.... Here's a lifetime of scar tissue build up, and how it's affected you and partially deviated your septum."

He went in, cleared it out. I had essentially a nosebleed/stopped up nose for 2 weeks after. Quite literally had what felt and looked like a tampon strapped under my nose. Then I go in and he pulls out the "shape holding plugs" they had left in my nose. It was like a pair of full size big mouth bass lures. I remember the first big breath I took when that was done and I almost cried as it was the first time in my life I could remember feeling that much air getting through my nose, and both sides working at the same time... It was glorious.

But as Mrs. Haus Mrs. Haus would later note to me, it essentially added a reverb and echo chamber to my snoring.
Click to expand...
This Wakandan got a wah wah pedal on his nose!
 
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Haus

Haus

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TomServo said:
This Wakandan got a wah wah pedal on his nose!
Click to expand...
I cannot understate how different it felt... And she recorded me to make the point. Definitely kicked the volume and throw of it up a few substantial notches. heh But also improved my O2 sat at night at lot.
 
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Noodleface

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I've had some pretty severe sinus infections and experienced the hesitation for antibiotics as well. From their perspective it's true most are viral. I think overly prescribing antibiotics has some ill effects. That said when the doctor saw me they immediately gave me them.
 
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Khane

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On the subject of Testosterone and testing. I'm 42 now and so have decided to regularly, at least once but probably twice a year, have a full panel done including Testosterone. The first one I had done was back in December. When the results came back I was kind of incensed and confused at the same time because it was the first time I had ever been tested and also the first time I ever saw what the absolutely ludicrous "normal" ranges are.

My Total Testosterone came in at 531 ng/dL. Normal ranges are 200-1100.... what the actual fuck is that range?
My Free Testosterone came in at 85.9 pg/mL. Normal ranges are 35 to 155.... again... what the fuck?

The results mean I won't be able to get almost any doctor to prescribe any sort of testosterone treatment even though I am on the lower end of "mid". My energy levels have dropped drastically over the last few years and I want to get back towards the higher end of "normal" because I know the difference in how it feels for overall health and well-being. There are some shady online outfits that I can get compounded treatments from but there is 0% chance I'm going that route.

One thing this sheds light on though is how absolute horse shit professional sports drug and testing policies are. Pretending that humans naturally have a "level" playing field when some guys will be 1100 or higher and other guys will be 400 or lower on that scale is laughable. If anyone was serious about creating an actual level playing field in professional sports there would be an association sponsored program to gather baselines and keep every athlete in that sport within a 5% standard deviation of that baseline via treatments.
 
Guurn

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Khane said:
On the subject of Testosterone and testing. I'm 42 now and so have decided to regularly, at least once but probably twice a year, have a full panel done including Testosterone. The first one I had done was back in December. When the results came back I was kind of incensed and confused at the same time because it was the first time I had ever been tested and also the first time I ever saw what the absolutely ludicrous "normal" ranges are.

My Total Testosterone came in at 531 ng/dL. Normal ranges are 200-1100.... what the actual fuck is that range?
My Free Testosterone came in at 85.9 pg/mL. Normal ranges are 35 to 155.... again... what the fuck?

The results mean I won't be able to get almost any doctor to prescribe any sort of testosterone treatment even though I am on the lower end of "mid". My energy levels have dropped drastically over the last few years and I want to get back towards the higher end of "normal" because I know the difference in how it feels for overall health and well-being. There are some shady online outfits that I can get compounded treatments from but there is 0% chance I'm going that route.

One thing this sheds light on though is how absolute horse shit professional sports drug and testing policies are. Pretending that humans naturally have a "level" playing field when some guys will be 1100 or higher and other guys will be 400 or lower on that scale is laughable. If anyone was serious about creating an actual level playing field in professional sports there would be an association sponsored program to gather baselines and keep every athlete in that sport within a 5% standard deviation of that baseline via treatments.
Click to expand...
Having a higher natural testosterone level is no different than being taller, or having more quick twitch muscles. It sucks if yours it's like that but that's just your body, not all bodies are equal for all sports. Some people are cut out for football and some for darts. I know this, if you start getting replacement your natural testosterone will drop to zero and the replacement will make up all of it. In bodybuilders that go off testosterone they often have to take estrogen to spur their natural production back on. If I were you I'd try some reasonable ways of increasing your normal levels. Decreasing fat, increasing exercise, certain food can help etc. If you are really getting tested regularly it should be easy to tell what is working for you.
 
Khane

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Exactly, there is no such thing as a level playing field so people using that as an excuse to villify Steroids in sports sound like morons is the point.
 
Sylas

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I won't knock anyone who takes an interest and agency in their own health but I would caution against putting on blinders with your own self diagnosis in lieu of actual medical opinions from doctors.

I had very similar symptoms for over a year as a lot of you guys claiming low T and had they continued I probably would have went down the same rabbit hole as you guys looking for some shady clinic to prescribe trt for what is perfectly normal and healthy t levels.

Low energy, no stamina, loss of muscle mass/definition. But I also had additional symptoms such as getting winded/out of breath with minimal exertion (like 1 flight of stairs) as well as painful muscle cramps with any out of normal movement, like a stretch or twist.

I ended up having what my doctor describes as life threateningly low levels of hemoglobin due to long term iron deficiency anemia.

I had surgery a few years ago to repair some hernias and I guess the navy doc nicked something and I've had a very small internal bleed ever since. The body makes more blood to replace what I'm losing but eventually it depleted all of my iron stores and without iron you cannot make hemoglobin (red blood cells)

Long story short I had less than 1/3 the normal amount of hemoglobin and wasn't getting enough oxygen for my muscles or organs.

I ended up getting several pints of blood transfusions and IV iron to get my blood numbers up and it instantly cured all my "low t" symptoms.

Unfortunately i had written off my symptoms as the pangs of middle age, having just transitioned from a physically active job to sedentary office work, so I didn't get checked out until I almost died.

the long term damage from the anemia lead to heart damage which resulted in blood clots which resulted in 2 strokes and a heart attack within a 12 hour period. the strokes is what caused me to go to the ER (vision, and right side paralysis) and I had the heart attack the next morning while in the hospital (btw best place to have a heart attack is in the hospital surrounded by doctors).

I'm getting surgery to repair the bleed but like I said all my initial symptoms were instantly cured with blood transfusions and my hemoglobin and iron are back to normal range.

I have physical therapy and rehab and I have to take iron supplements until the bleed is fixed. My right side is back to full strength but I lack fine motor control in my right hand which makes me suck at fps or any game where mouselook matters.
 
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Haus

Haus

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Khane said:
On the subject of Testosterone and testing. I'm 42 now and so have decided to regularly, at least once but probably twice a year, have a full panel done including Testosterone. The first one I had done was back in December. When the results came back I was kind of incensed and confused at the same time because it was the first time I had ever been tested and also the first time I ever saw what the absolutely ludicrous "normal" ranges are.

My Total Testosterone came in at 531 ng/dL. Normal ranges are 200-1100.... what the actual fuck is that range?
My Free Testosterone came in at 85.9 pg/mL. Normal ranges are 35 to 155.... again... what the fuck?

The results mean I won't be able to get almost any doctor to prescribe any sort of testosterone treatment even though I am on the lower end of "mid". My energy levels have dropped drastically over the last few years and I want to get back towards the higher end of "normal" because I know the difference in how it feels for overall health and well-being. There are some shady online outfits that I can get compounded treatments from but there is 0% chance I'm going that route.

One thing this sheds light on though is how absolute horse shit professional sports drug and testing policies are. Pretending that humans naturally have a "level" playing field when some guys will be 1100 or higher and other guys will be 400 or lower on that scale is laughable. If anyone was serious about creating an actual level playing field in professional sports there would be an association sponsored program to gather baselines and keep every athlete in that sport within a 5% standard deviation of that baseline via treatments.
Click to expand...
It should be noted that those "normal" ranges are for a male across their entire adult life. And it's really a slow sloping decline as you get older once you finish puberty (i.e. early 20's for most men). So if you're at the tail end of life expectancy it's expected you'll be around that 200 mark, if you're in your mid 20's it's expected you'll be around the 1100. So I would say you're roughly in line with where a 40 something should be.

In my case, I told the Dr. "let's put me at 18 year old Haus levels and see how that flies" and they were cool with it, and that's when I felt like I was getting the most out of it. Of corse by medical standards I was overshooting the "normal range" I should ahve been in. Better living through pharmaceuticals!

1741634545520.png
 
Borzak

Borzak

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Seems like a number of doctors I go to like to throw antibiotics at anything and everything "just cause". I've avoided a lot of it.

In high school I used to get real bad sinus infections and finally had sinus surgery. It helped a lot and never had any sinus issues afterwards. About a year after the surgery got a letter from a lawyer wanting to know if I wanted in on the lawsuit since the doctor lost his license because the operation wasn't FDA approved. Worked well for me.
 
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