Anyone have any experience with following up surgery with hormone replacement therapy? I would appreciate any thoughts or advice. Thanks in advance.

Hello and welcome.

Is this an issue since surgery, or before also? Can you share details of your situation?

I have had low testosterone my whole life, treat for a while about 25 years ago then faded off it. I don't remember much about it.

Tek

There are a lot of variables, but I was concerned after surgery and with my age (late thirty's at the time). I went work lab work on at 40 and all I had was low vitamin d. I think it's going to be an individual thing, but don't forget that there's a lot of hormones stored in fat and the rapid weight loss will release a lot of testosterone, it definitely did for me

I can share my experience. I had a sleeve as opposed to RNY, but in my case the two don't seem to be related. I'm 41 and essentially my primary referred me to an endocrinologist for low T back before I even had my first WLS consultation, but it took forever to get an appointment. I finally met the endo about a month before my surgery. He did some testing and confirmed that my low T wasn't related to a pituitary issue. I brought up my upcoming surgery and asked if he thought my weight was a contributing factor and he said he did not think it was after looking at the lab results. I had my surgery on the 16th and I started taking testosterone gel about 4 or 5 days later. I rub 2 pumps onto my shoulders each morning and need to keep my family from touching me there. I need to go get lab work done again probably next week to see how things are progressing. So far I can't say I've noticed any big differences either positive or negative, but I've also read that you need a minimum of 3 weeks to see any changes. I'm not sure if any of that answers what you're looking for, but that's where I am today.

Edited October 6, 20205 yr by maslman

I never had my T levels tested before surgery. I've had them checked twice since and they're right in the middle of the normal range. However, I've noticed that I'm much more aggressive and short-tempered now. Don't know for sure if this is related to any hormonal changes brought about by weight loss but that seems likely.

I had low t before surgery and have been using t-gel for atleast a year. I can't say it made any significant difference before the surgery because I didn't really exercise much. I did go to a wellness resort a few months before surgery and worked out 3-4 classes a day and my muscle tone came back nicely after that three week stay. Just finishing my second week post op and have not had followup labs yet but I will post back after. So I think T-gel will only help with weight loss if you exercise and more like strength training not running endless miles. More muscle mass burns more calories and low T allows you to hold fat and slow metabolism in males as I understand it.

I have low T and have done the T-gel before and now do shots every couple of weeks. With the signs of low T, I have always had it. I have been doing shots for 2 years now and it does help. Since I only had surgery a few months ago I can't comment long term on this but I haven't noticed any significant changes to the low T after surgery. I haven't had blood work recently but should do more labs in the next month or so to check where my levels are at.