Finding the cause?

[Guest guest]

I have never posted before, but have been lurking for a while now, and

thought I'd ask the experts for advice.

My husband has had low testosterone for a few years, and while it hasn't

affected our sex lives so far, I am worried about him.

He started with injections, which worked okay, but his thighs got so sore

from them, and he didn't feel comfortable doing them anymore, so his endo

switched him to androgel. That didn't work, so he was switched to a cream

that the compounding pharmacy has to mix up for him. Well, he hasn't been

able to absorb it at all, I don't think, as his test result came back today

at a measly 163.

Mark is 50 y/o and has a bunch of health issues, including fibromyalgia,

celiac, osteoporosis, arthritis. He has had a cervical fusion in '07 and a

few years before that a fusion on his left wrist.

No one had questioned the fact that he has severe osteoporosis at such a

young age until the brain surgeon that performed his cervical fusion did.

Well, I've done some research since then, and I just don't get it. First he

was thought to have a pituitary tumor, but one MRI ruled that out. Now he's

just getting treated for the low testosterone, and neither his VA doctor nor

his endo seem to be trying to figure out what the heck is causing it.

Is this a normal occurrence? I am so sick and tired of telling doctors what

we want done, but I want my husband to feel better. He gets migraine

headaches, feels exhausted, lightheaded, foggy, and gets irritable a lot. He

changed to a gluten free diet due to the celiac dx back in April, and has

lost 20 lbs or so since then. He's probably at a good weight, but he looks

thin to me, and he has certainly lost muscle tone. I'm not used to such a

fragile looking man.

I just did a little checking, and one site I found suggested a life

extension clinic as the best place to start, with osteopaths as a 2nd

choice, and urologists and endos as the 3rd choice.

What do the experts here think about this?

My biggest question is this: What do we need to do to find what is causing

the low testosterone?

Guidance in the right direction would be great, as I have NO clue as to how

to proceed at this time. We just moved and we need to find new doctors,

anyway, so I'm looking at this as a good chance to find a GOOD doctor for my

husband.

Thanks for any suggestions anybody might have.

Marita in Heron, MT