When does Inpotence (Ed) begin?

[Addigo]

What do you think? You may choose TWO (2) Items, and feel free to leave a comment below.

[AndyJ]

Erectile Dysfunction is when you have occasional failures to get it up or keep it up. Impotence is when you can't get it up at all.

Most men see some level of ED between 35 and 40, sometimes getting worse as they age, but outright impotence isn't very common.

[DFWGrizzly]

Any of you been down this path? I'm 72 and have a testosterone count of 190. What has been your experience? I am using gel and started this morning.

[AndyJ]

64 here. It took a couple of months before I felt much change, and it mostly manifested as making it easier to lose weight and a generally improved sense of well-being. A lot of guys describe their reactions as "life-changing."

If you're like them, you'll know in a few weeks. If not, you're in the more subtle group.

Your doc or edocrinologist will usually adjust the dose by looking at the hematocrit and red blood cell counts in your lab work. The T-Nation forum has a ton of stuff about that. Get copies of your blood work from your doc; go back three or four years. It will usually be in cryptic medical abbreviations, so plan on spending a few evenings with your favorite search engines. Make a cheat sheet, and note that different labs sometimes use different abbreviations, and some much use the same abbeviation for two different things. You have to look at the "range" column to determine which one you're looking at. Doctors do this a dozen times a day, so it's second nature to them; it takes a little more effort for us.

Be aware there are no hard minimum/maximum numbers for lab results, including testosterone. The ranges vary according to the lab that does the work, the doctor's personal opinions, guidelines from his partnership or associations, and (most often) your insurance carrier, who determines a lot of that.

It's kind of scary once you see how, despite massive amounts of diagnostic technology, there's not much consistency in what the medical industry thinks the test results mean.

[DFWGrizzly]

Thanks for your insight. Three days in, I am feeling more "Myself". The old me is coming back. It may be the placebo effect that I am finally doing something about it, but I woke up with a raging erection and find very little manipulation is required to get it back up again. I'm also taking 10 mg of Tadalafil per day. That probably has a lot to do with it. I'll check out the forum you suggested.

[AndyJ]

It's probably the taladafil giving you the morning wood; I take 10mg twice a week for that!