I'd settle for a small prick...
... rather than the promised large bore needle that I'm facing.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Return appointment to see my andrology nurse today and get the results of my last load of blood tests. Rather disappointingly my serum testosterone levels are 8, which is, on the one hand, an improvement on last months 6 but is, frankly, pretty crap compared to the 20-ish that they should be reaching. Especially as, for a full three months, we'd maintained high high teens with exactly the same treatment and exactly the same circumstances for me.
So, after consulting with consultants and, for all I know, casting runes and reading the Tarot, the decision has been taken to try another depot injection. This time using a large bore needle and going into deep muscle on either my upper arm or calf. Either one is going to hurt. The calf is the most likely to give a good result but it's also the one that's most likely to hurt more. (If you want to get an idea what it's like, go get a knitting needle and ram it into your leg....)
I am so looking forward to going back on Thursday for this. Oh yeah.... /sarcasm
On a lighter note!
After reading the pretty poor response from the Minister for Health to questions put before the House of Commons on behalf of Testosterone Deficiency (TD) sufferers and having met with some pretty inconsistent levels of awareness about TD and TRT in medical / health care providers here in Scotland, I have written to my MSP to find out what the official position north of the border is.
Specifically:
Searching the NHS24 website I found that HRT is, according the the entry there, something solely concerned with addressing hormone deficiencies in post menopausal women. One assumes therefore that, by NHS24 reckoning, men don't have any hormones. There are no entries for either Testosterone Deficiency or Testosterone Replacement other than as a footnote in the treatment of prostate cancer.
And of course, the entry for good old testosterone itself only makes mention of it's primary function as a 'sex hormone' but completely ignores all the secondary functions that if is responsible for and that, for TD sufferers, often outweigh any considerations of sex / libido.
Hypogonadism and TD are a largely silent epidemic. The symptoms are frequently associated with other illnesses and, when treatment for those illnesses don't work, the patient is often told that it's "due to his age and only to be expected" or more damningly, told that it is "all in your head". When I was first given my diagnosis I was told that an average GP would expect to see maybe one case of hypogonadism in his whole career. In the past *month* without trying to seek my fellow 'nad sufferers I have made contact with three guys who, rather worryingly, have stories that echo mine so closely that the "so rare it's a once in a career thing" excuse for not knowing about TD and TR is inexcusable in any informed professional.
But where is the information? Where are the posters? The press campaigns? Where is the big bus going round offering screening and advice? Where are the support networks?
In some places I'm told these things exist. In other areas? Even trying to get your GP to do the blood test to check on hormone levels turns into a grudge match. I realise now that I have been exceptionally lucky to have the Nurse Practitioner that I have and that my first contact with the endocrinologist / microbiologist who ordered *my* blood tests was the best break I could have hoped for. I just happend to be lucky enough to live in a health board area where there are a couple of members of staff actively researching this very issue. If I lived elsewhere? Doesn't bear thinking about.
Okay, so so far that's pretty much been all about Me Me Me, but, if you have read this far and are in the UK, please, visit the Testosterone Deficiency Center's site and sign the online petition to have he Secretary for Health to conduct a thorough review of Testosterone Deficiency in Adult Males.
If you live in the UK and are a male, or are the mother, daughter, sister, partner, best friend of one and you care at all, get on there and sign.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Return appointment to see my andrology nurse today and get the results of my last load of blood tests. Rather disappointingly my serum testosterone levels are 8, which is, on the one hand, an improvement on last months 6 but is, frankly, pretty crap compared to the 20-ish that they should be reaching. Especially as, for a full three months, we'd maintained high high teens with exactly the same treatment and exactly the same circumstances for me.
So, after consulting with consultants and, for all I know, casting runes and reading the Tarot, the decision has been taken to try another depot injection. This time using a large bore needle and going into deep muscle on either my upper arm or calf. Either one is going to hurt. The calf is the most likely to give a good result but it's also the one that's most likely to hurt more. (If you want to get an idea what it's like, go get a knitting needle and ram it into your leg....)
I am so looking forward to going back on Thursday for this. Oh yeah.... /sarcasm
On a lighter note!
After reading the pretty poor response from the Minister for Health to questions put before the House of Commons on behalf of Testosterone Deficiency (TD) sufferers and having met with some pretty inconsistent levels of awareness about TD and TRT in medical / health care providers here in Scotland, I have written to my MSP to find out what the official position north of the border is.
Specifically:
- What assessment has been made by the Department of Health of the findings published in late 2002 by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists on adult male Hypogonadism?
- What, if any, research available to the Department of Health, suggests that low Testosterone can cause Type 2 Diabetes, Cardio-Vascular Disease, Ischemic Heart Disease, Alzheimer's Disease and Osteoporosis in men?
- What assessment has been made of the reliability of using the Free Androgen Index to establish hormone health in men?
- What assessment has been made of the possible benefit of using Testosterone therapy when treating co-morbid patients?
- What estimate has been made of the number of men born each year in England, who are destined to have Testosterone problems?
- What plans does the Department of Health have to ask NICE to produce guidance on testing for low Testosterone and subsequent treatments?
- What other steps is the Department of Health taking to raise the profile of low Testosterone problems, or promote the use of Testosterone?
Searching the NHS24 website I found that HRT is, according the the entry there, something solely concerned with addressing hormone deficiencies in post menopausal women. One assumes therefore that, by NHS24 reckoning, men don't have any hormones. There are no entries for either Testosterone Deficiency or Testosterone Replacement other than as a footnote in the treatment of prostate cancer.
And of course, the entry for good old testosterone itself only makes mention of it's primary function as a 'sex hormone' but completely ignores all the secondary functions that if is responsible for and that, for TD sufferers, often outweigh any considerations of sex / libido.
Hypogonadism and TD are a largely silent epidemic. The symptoms are frequently associated with other illnesses and, when treatment for those illnesses don't work, the patient is often told that it's "due to his age and only to be expected" or more damningly, told that it is "all in your head". When I was first given my diagnosis I was told that an average GP would expect to see maybe one case of hypogonadism in his whole career. In the past *month* without trying to seek my fellow 'nad sufferers I have made contact with three guys who, rather worryingly, have stories that echo mine so closely that the "so rare it's a once in a career thing" excuse for not knowing about TD and TR is inexcusable in any informed professional.
But where is the information? Where are the posters? The press campaigns? Where is the big bus going round offering screening and advice? Where are the support networks?
In some places I'm told these things exist. In other areas? Even trying to get your GP to do the blood test to check on hormone levels turns into a grudge match. I realise now that I have been exceptionally lucky to have the Nurse Practitioner that I have and that my first contact with the endocrinologist / microbiologist who ordered *my* blood tests was the best break I could have hoped for. I just happend to be lucky enough to live in a health board area where there are a couple of members of staff actively researching this very issue. If I lived elsewhere? Doesn't bear thinking about.
Okay, so so far that's pretty much been all about Me Me Me, but, if you have read this far and are in the UK, please, visit the Testosterone Deficiency Center's site and sign the online petition to have he Secretary for Health to conduct a thorough review of Testosterone Deficiency in Adult Males.
If you live in the UK and are a male, or are the mother, daughter, sister, partner, best friend of one and you care at all, get on there and sign.