New Here & Saying Hello

[Francis "Frank" Castle]

Hello everyone, just wanted to start here in Introductions and say hello.

Really briefly I'm here because after 10 years of successful Trt I moved, lost my doc, new doc "doesn't feel comfortable" prescribing despite all my records etc and I am now 18 months from an Endo referral. Because of my health issues I do not have 18 months to wait so I have to take matters into my own hands. Nuff said.

Looking forward to reading, learning and meeting some folks.

Cheers

 

[JustMe]

Welcome to the forum buddy! Have a great time here.

 

[Francis "Frank" Castle]

Welcome to the forum buddy! Have a great time here.

Appreciate the help getting in and the warm welcome.

All the best

 

[Local Dipshit]

Welcome aboard! Shitty to hear about your situation. Hope that gets resolved for ya

 

[StraightSideways]

10 years on trt and your new doc won't continue that? That doesn't make sense. Was anything on your bloods out of wack? 

Also, welcome to the board. 

 

[FullyLoaded]

Welcome

 

[Francis "Frank" Castle]

10 years on trt and your new doc won't continue that? That doesn't make sense. Was anything on your bloods out of wack? 

Also, welcome to the board. 

My latest Bloodwork showed my Total at 305 and she says thats high enough that I don't need any supplementation because if I go higher I'll get Prostate Cancer. I literally had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing out loud. If I didn't need the other meds I can get from her so desperately I would have walked but it is what it is and here I am.

 

[BobTheOldLifter]

My latest Bloodwork showed my Total at 305 and she says thats high enough that I don't need any supplementation because if I go higher I'll get Prostate Cancer. I literally had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing out loud. If I didn't need the other meds I can get from her so desperately I would have walked but it is what it is and here I am.

That's a crappy situation - totally sucks.  They must have learned the prostate cancer/testosterone link in med school and many won't change their view despite mountains of evidence to the contrary.  Kinda kills confidence in the medical profession a little...

Do you have no other TRT alternatives?  What general area of the country do you live in?

 

[Francis "Frank" Castle]

That's a crappy situation - totally sucks.  They must have learned the prostate cancer/testosterone link in med school and many won't change their view despite mountains of evidence to the contrary.  Kinda kills confidence in the medical profession a little...

Do you have no other TRT alternatives?  What general area of the country do you live in?

I am 18 months from an Endo referral, lol, thats already in process and I am looking for something faster. There are private clinic options, one of which I am going for a consult next week but these are not paid for by OHIP, I'm in Ontario Canada, and I only have $50/session with a naturopath (this consult seems to be a naturopath that works with a consulting Doctor) in my extended benefits from my wife's employer. The online info about this place leads me to believe I will go in and they will try to sell me some package with a lot of stuff I neither need nor want (nutritional counseling, CBT etc stuff like that) and the cost will be prohibitive so we will see. Other than that, self medicating seemed like the best path while I explore other options.

 

[Francis "Frank" Castle]

That's a crappy situation - totally sucks.  They must have learned the prostate cancer/testosterone link in med school and many won't change their view despite mountains of evidence to the contrary.  Kinda kills confidence in the medical profession a little...

Do you have no other TRT alternatives?  What general area of the country do you live in?

The big problem here is that as a result of my health issues and my pain medication working at driving my levels down 24/7, I don't have time to wait. The results of not getting the levels under control, the immediate results, are drop in efficacy for my medications, increased pain levels, increased fatigue, hugely negative impact on my mental state, nothing good and it all gets worse and worse until I will land in hospital, AGAIN. Thats the thing and the big thing that really pissed me off with this new Doc. None of this is conjecture as my records clearly show what will happen as it already has.

My wife attends every Doc appointment with me. When the Doc told me flat out no go and then went on to explain why, and it was obvious that aside from her misinformation there was personal bias at play, my wife quietly excused herself  saying she needed to use the restroom but it was obvious to me that she was livid. My wife is the quietest little mouse who gives everyone the benefit of the doubt always and is just one of those really good people that others should aspire to be. But she was ready to eviscerate this doc. Again, if I wasn't in sucj dire need of my other meds I would have let her have it for being a "C" and walked but I can't. I am also now looking for a new Doc as it's obvious that no matter how hard I try to be a good patient with this one, my progress back to the level of health that i know I can achieve, is going to be stymied in places it shouldn't be and I can't have that.

 

[BobTheOldLifter]

The big problem here is that as a result of my health issues and my pain medication working at driving my levels down 24/7, I don't have time to wait. The results of not getting the levels under control, the immediate results, are drop in efficacy for my medications, increased pain levels, increased fatigue, hugely negative impact on my mental state, nothing good and it all gets worse and worse until I will land in hospital, AGAIN. Thats the thing and the big thing that really pissed me off with this new Doc. None of this is conjecture as my records clearly show what will happen as it already has.

My wife attends every Doc appointment with me. When the Doc told me flat out no go and then went on to explain why, and it was obvious that aside from her misinformation there was personal bias at play, my wife quietly excused herself  saying she needed to use the restroom but it was obvious to me that she was livid. My wife is the quietest little mouse who gives everyone the benefit of the doubt always and is just one of those really good people that others should aspire to be. But she was ready to eviscerate this doc. Again, if I wasn't in sucj dire need of my other meds I would have let her have it for being a "C" and walked but I can't. I am also now looking for a new Doc as it's obvious that no matter how hard I try to be a good patient with this one, my progress back to the level of health that i know I can achieve, is going to be stymied in places it shouldn't be and I can't have that.

Ok, here's what I'd suggest.

Go to the appointment at the private clinic next week and get all the info.  At this point I assume it's unknown whether or not they want to reel you into a bunch of stuff that you don't want/need, whether or not the cost is too high and so on.

Get all this info, then check back in.  Then take it from there.  

Does the clinic's program make sense for you?  Do you need other Ontario-based TRT suggestions?  Is cost the only issue?

Once the problem(s) are nicely clear, it's easier to solve them.

 

[Francis "Frank" Castle]

Ok, here's what I'd suggest.

Go to the appointment at the private clinic next week and get all the info.  At this point I assume it's unknown whether or not they want to reel you into a bunch of stuff that you don't want/need, whether or not the cost is too high and so on.

Get all this info, then check back in.  Then take it from there.  

Does the clinic's program make sense for you?  Do you need other Ontario-based TRT suggestions?  Is cost the only issue?

Once the problem(s) are nicely clear, it's easier to solve them.

That is definitely the plan to go and suss it out. Money is an option so anything that OHIP covers is the best option and I do have Good Benefits to pay for the meds so getting somewhere that can script me is ultimately the best scenario. Short of that, if I have to spend, I think the money is best spent on gear to treat myself than giving it to someone for things I don't need. One of the things that worries me about this consult I have is that their website makes no mention of "how much" other than them offering financing for some of the services. Past experience has taught me that usually means they are going to try and load me up but that's fine as no one is selling me anything I don't want or need. I have a background in sales and high pressure sales so I know all the tricks lol.

We could travel some if we needed to so long as it wasn't too often to have to be there. I'm in the Niagara region so Toronto, Hamilton etc is not far, again so long as it isn't too often.

The only thing I'm sort of pondering right now is whether or not I'm going to order some gear from BT right now or wait until after the consult. If I wait and it's a dud then I have lost more time although I guess it's not that much at this point as even if I ordered today i wouldn't have it b4 the consult or likely much sooner than if I order Tuesday. Looking at the related forum BT looks like a good Canadian source but by all means make suggestions in that area if you have them.

Thank-you, really I mean that sincerely. I have been feeling pretty alone in this and it really helps to be able to ask questions and discuss with folks who understand.

 

[BobTheOldLifter]

Happy to help anyway I can.

If this helps, my TRT doc is North GTA, not particularly convenient from Niagara, but 3 or 4 times a year maybe isn't too bad.

I get no extraneous BS as part of the program.  Regular blood tests and consultations.  So far he seems to be an good guy and a good doc.

For comparison purposes the cost, all-in, is probably about $1500/yr.  The Test is basically free for me too(drug plan) but he also has me on lowish dose DHEA (which I'm not sure is really beneficial, but he believes it is and my levels were low) and this wasn't cheap and wasn't covered.  Also some of the blood testing 'extras' have to be paid out of pocket, so all in about $1500 above OHIP and drug coverage per year.

 

[Francis "Frank" Castle]

Happy to help anyway I can.

If this helps, my TRT doc is North GTA, not particularly convenient from Niagara, but 3 or 4 times a year maybe isn't too bad.

I get no extraneous BS as part of the program.  Regular blood tests and consultations.  So far he seems to be an good guy and a good doc.

For comparison purposes the cost, all-in, is probably about $1500/yr.  The Test is basically free for me too(drug plan) be he also has me on lowish dose DHEA (which I'm not sure is really beneficial, but he believes it is and my levels were low) and this wasn't cheap and wasn't covered.  Also some of the blood testing 'extras' have to be paid out of pocket, so all in about $1500 above OHIP and drug coverage per year.

Ok, once Tuesday is out of the way I'll know how I have to act for the immediate time and then go from there. North GTA wouldn't be an issue so that could be of help and after Tuesday I make take you up on that so thank-you. I'm not sure where you get the DHEA here but that's a dead easy one to get from the US for cheap if that helps you at all. It boggles my mind we have to pay for some of those tests and CML/Lifelabs doesn't even offer the sensitive estradiol test. There's a lab in Niagara Falls that does and it's like $50 but you are over $200 by the time you pay for all the required ones that as far as I am concerned should be covered by OHIP, or my extended benefits but they arent.

 

[BobTheOldLifter]

 I'm not sure where you get the DHEA here but that's a dead easy one to get from the US for cheap if that helps you at all. 

Yeah thanks, I learned of this shortly afterwards, but I just didn't want to take a chance of 'rocking the boat' with the doc by buying his first script from an 'alternative' source  .

But yeah, it cost me more than $100 for the pharmaceutical stuff  - probably triple what it should be.