Brandon Church

Founder & Host, TRT Community & All Things Testosterone Podcast

When I turned 30 it was like I woke up and someone flipped a light switch off. I was fatigued, taking naps after work, had no motivation, was anxious (couldn’t speak in a social situation), and gaining weight. I started googling my symptoms and decided to get my testosterone tested. When I went to my primary doctor, he said I was crazy and that my beard was way too thick to have low testosterone. I talked him into testing me and I was 377ng/dl. This number is technically within normal limits, which was 300-1150 on this particular panel, but it didn’t consider the fact that this range doesn’t take age into consideration. My great grandfather could have the same number and we’d both be considered “normal.” In addition to that, total testosterone doesn’t even matter. Bio available, or free testosterone is what your body can actually access and they didn’t even test this. I ended up being forced to try a local hormone clinic, pay out of pocket and visit the clinic every week for my injection.

There were no other online support communities so I started a facebook group to amass info and help myself and others avoid the mistakes I made. Starting TRT, even with a competent doctor can be difficult. Dialing in your protocol when your messing with hormones is tricky and a doctor visit once every few months isn’t usually enough to get this done quickly. After it became large enough to make an impact, doctors began reaching out to me to promote them and I began collecting data. My goal is to help as many men and women as possible connect with competent doctors.