Hormones and Prostatitis

In depth explanations of urogenital and sexual problems are needed. We need to understand the physiology of sex. I tried some supplements, and many other recommendations. I became interested in prostatitis, frequency of ejaculations and depletion of hormones. In short, I had a complete hormone panel done to get a base line and correlated my prostatitis symptoms with the numbers. My testosterone levels both total and free were borderline on the low side. My DHEA was very low as was my growth hormone. I explained this to my doctor, and he suggested that I could go 2 ways. First I could use testosterone supplementation, DHEA supplementation and HGH supplementation or I could try herbs and high doses of the B vitamins, Niacin and Zinc.

I opted for a combination of herbs and supplementation. To make a long story very short, I found that injectable testosterone was a bit harsh on the liver causing the AST to rise out of the normal zone. I also tend to make a lot of DHT from the testosterone via the 5 alpha reductase conversions. Although DHT is necessary to power the erection, too much of it can have a deleterious affect on prostate growth and hair loss. So after about 1 year of trying to find the right combination and frequency of sex I came up with an ideal solution for the problem.

I take 5gms of Androgel each morning along with 5mg of Proscar. I also take 50mg of pharmaceutical grade DHEA (made by a compounding pharmacy) and a subcutaneous injection of HGH every day for 6 days. I was able to get this VERY expensive medication through the Veterans Administration since my body failed the stimulation test for the production of the hormone. I don’t know if the HGH is doing much of anything, what I do know is that the IGF-1 reading is in the normal range along with all the other hormone levels. My body operates pretty well with a testosterone level of about 450, which to some physicians is on the low side. The free number which is most important is at about 2 ½% of the total which is ok. If I let the levels go higher, I get too sexually active and my prostate “complains” with your typical Prostatitis symptoms. As of today my symptoms of Prostatitis are virtually absent. However, if I abuse it with too much sexual activity- i.e. more than 3x per week, my symptoms start to appear. The explanation of the “burning of DHT” and the role of all the neurotransmitters is quite remarkable. This explanation of non-bacterial Prostatitis slaps traditional views of CPPS right in the face. I must tell you that I have not been on antibiotics for over 3 years. So there you go! This is what is working for me. I don’t know if it is the answer but I’m quite happy I stumbled on to this and had the discipline to see it through. You cannot believe how many times I have had blood drawn to check LFT and all the hormone levels. I’m glad that that is done.

There seems to be an explosion of these so called “longevity centers” which turn out to be pseudo endocrinologists that know a little about hormones. They can be dangerous. I would encourage people to read nationally recognized studies on the relationship of these hormones to each other, the feed back loops that are in place, the risk of over stimulation of the various players in the system. I found that the most interesting information I obtained during my investigation was the wide variation in hormone levels from one person to another. You absolutely must correlate these numbers with people’s symptoms.

Contributed anonymously via e-mail