An increasing number of men show up at StoneTree each year with a common complaint: I feel like my testosterone might be low.
What they mean is that their drive—their physical, mental, sexual, and emotional motivation—has been declining.
Those are indeed signs of low testosterone, and many men want to get their T measured. The interesting part, however, is that FEELING “low T” may not mean what you think it does.
Here’s why.
1. You Can Have Lots of T, but Still FEEL Low-T
It’s entirely possible to have lots of testosterone, but the testosterone isn’t able to do its job.
There are a number of ways in which this can happen, but a lead culprit here is blood sugar problems. When your body stops responding normally to the insulin produced by your pancreas, it’s referred to as insulin resistance. As your insulin resistance grows, proteins in your blood “trap” your testosterone, so it can’t actually do anything.
There are other possibilities, too—stress, inflammation, toxins, and mental health challenges, to name a few. But the lesson is this:
You don’t necessarily have low T. You just FEEL like you do.
2. You Need to Measure More Than Your TOTAL Testosterone
Our first job is to actually measure testosterone. But here’s where it gets more interesting still.
Traditional testing approaches to testosterone measure your total testosterone. That’s a measure of all the T floating around in your blood. But, per above, a lot of that testosterone can be “bound” up by proteins, which means it’s just not available. It’s like the money used to buy your house or an investment—you know the cash is there, but you can’t really use it.
To deal with this, we:
- Test your total AND your available testosterone to help us understand whether you ARE low or you just FEEL low; and
- Test other markers like your insulin resistance and SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin) to help us find the functional problems that are causing your testosterone to be trapped in limbo.
Once we understand what’s really happening, we can help fix it!
Some men truly have low T, and that requires a specific approach. But if you’re in the large group of people who just FEEL low, we use a different treatment plan. That often involves lifestyle change, and our Performance IV treatment to help free up that trapped testosterone so you can feel that drive again!
If you’d like to learn more about your testosterone levels and understand why you might be feeling a lack of drive, you can book a complimentary meet-the-doctor visit here.