[penguing]

So for the last couple of years I've had problem with erectile dysfunction, which I always thought was stress. I just turned 40. My wife, who works in medicine, decided that I should see my doctor about it. He ordered a free testosterone test (this was about 2 years ago). At the appointment he told me that the test was completely normal. He decided that I should have a stress test anyway, despite my being a long distance bicycle rider. That was normal.

I went to a urologist, who did a blood flow test, which was also normal. This seemed to confirm that this was all caused by stress. Fine, I'll try to decrease stress and exercise even more.

There were also a couple of other things that were bothering me, but in a very minor way. I have dry skin, especially my face and hands. I'm constantly tired, falling asleep after dinner and feeling very tired after lunch. My cycling began to suffer, I was tiring much earlier than I used to. Some of this my wife teased me about (in a nice, fun way) but we never thought much more of it.

Well, yesterday I found out the results of that free testosterone test. The range on the sheet that the hospital considers normal is 400-1000. Mine was 362, taken at 8 in the morning at age 38. This is what my doctor told me, who came in with symptoms, was normal. I am honestly amazed that this doctor told me that my level was completely normal. On top of that, the urologist apparently never even looked at the test.

I don't know what to think now. I'm getting an appointment with another urologist I'll post more as I know more.

[penguing]

So, I had an appointment with an endocrinologist today. When he saw the testosterone test from 2.5 years ago, he said it was definitely low for my age. He started asking me questions and said that he thought this was caused by stress. He's involved in research along these lines and based on what I was telling him it sounded likely. However, he was not prepared to let it go at that. He ordered several blood tests. He also gave me a prescription for Clomiphene. He didn't want to give me testosterone because of the possibility of loss of fertility.
Well, now things get a little interesting. First, from 2.5 years ago, I found out that my Total Testosterone was actually 368, and Free Testosterone was 337. Nobody knows why the Primary Care doctor told me these were normal and didn't order either repeat tests or followup. My LH was 3 and my FSH was 5 (normal range 1-15).
The test results today are almost startling. The tests 2.5 years ago were taken at 4:30 pm, and Testosterone is highest in the morning. Todays tests were taken about 9:45am. My Free Testosterone fell to 269. My LH fell to 1, and my Prolactin was 4 (normal 2-15). I'm sure I'm going to hear from the doctor tomorrow.
Based on these results, I suspect I may have a non-secreting tumor of the pituitary. At least I hope it's that - the prognosis is good. My wife knows an endocrinologist and we called tonight. They also suspect it's a non-secreting adenoma, but nothing will be known for sure until more tests are done.
Probably the next step is an MRI of the pituitary. That's going to tell us a lot.

I'll update more as I know more.