Lack of strength. Muscle loss?

Hi Andrew

Did you have any chemo after your surgery? If so it does take a bit of a push to break the fatigue cycle and lifting weights is a good way to do it.

If you didn't then it's possible your testosterone levels might have dropped a bit. Again, lifting weights can boost testosterone by about 20%. Mine went up by 18% quite quickly after I started doing some dumbbell workouts in my spare room.

Worth having a good effort to get in shape, and if you don't start feeling better then get your testosterone levels checked by your GP.

Best wishes

G

I didn't have chemo. And tbh I haven't felt any different after surgery. My libido has been pretty good. Don't feel like I'm less active than before. Could maybe be a slight loss of testosterone though. Maybe just with haven been off work for a few months and doing very little/ putting on some weight I just loss some muscle strength. Just wanted to see how other people had got on with getting back moving. Thanks andrew

Hi Andrew
I think this is a sign of low testosterone. I do not believe when they say that testosterone remains the same after the removal of one testicle - the number of Leydig cells becomes two times less and testosterone goes down, it cannot be otherwise.
In the first month after the orchiectomy, I gained 4 kg, and during following year, I gained 10-12 kg. My testosterone at the lower limit is 16 nmol / l, I'm 36, this is not enough. My beard and body hair thinned out.
Perhaps the gym will partially solve the problem, but I'm already thinking about hormone replacement therapy.

My advice is to get your testosterone levels checked in a lab

Where do I go to look at getting checked? Just the go?

The gym might actually help with this quite a bit. I was inactive in hospital for about two months during which I lost a lot of musle and my testosterone dropped to 4nmol/L. When I raised it as a concern, the doctors mentioned it wa due to my inactivity and when I am active again it would return. 3 month later when I wa lifting more, albeit much less than I had done pre-cancer, it went up to 12nmol/L. Not a lot, yes but the excercise helps. Just waiting for another blood test to see what it is now.

Thing is I'm back at work and have been for months and I work on a farm. So very physical labour all day. I thought with going back to lifting and shifting all day I would start to lose some weight again but no luck. I've never been told by the doctors about my testosterone levels. Did they mention this to you guys or did you have to ask? My next bloods are coming up next month so I'm gonna ask 

You have to ask. They won't even test for it in your normal bloods. Ask your specialist nurse to add it to the booking, or just tell the phlebotomist to do it when you go for the tests. I've done this a few times and they just add it without problems.

But if you're going to add it get the blood drawn early in the day and skip breakfast for an accurate reading.  I try and get it done around 8.30 but I live close to the rest center.

Best wishes 

Unfortunately, I cannot advise in this case. I'm from Russia. I hope this is not a problem for you guys. I'm here because we don't have good forums to discuss this issue.
In our country, medicine is free, but you can get tested in private clinics for relatively affordable money.
Apparently, for some men, the loss of a testicle goes unnoticed and they quickly restore their previous testosterone levels. And for some like me or you, it becomes noticeable. But I am convinced that the reason for the weight gain is the loss of testosterone. This is a known fact - the more testosterone, the man is more slender and resistant to weight gain.

No concerns with you being russian. One of my friends is russian. I'm going to ask for tests at my next meeting and if not then I'll go through my GP. I just want to know how I am. You would think that when you lose a ball that checking testosterone would be part of the tests

This morning I went for my regular bloods and told the phlebotomist at check in that they must have missed my testosterone by mistake. They just added it there and then. So if you get no joy from your GP just do that. It's the fourth time I've done it I think.