Erectile Dysfunction that is Hormone related?

[willc06]

I'm a 38 year old male who has had ED and/or trouble with erections my entire adult life. I have used viagra (100mg) to some success recently but still often need oral stimulation to achieve a sufficient erection.

My penis just seems smaller than when I was younger, also, I've been having increasingly diminished sensations on the head of the penis since my early 20's.

I've experienced mood issues, depression/anxiety, skin blotches/redness, joint and muscle pain, foggy thinking, and just feeling tired/burnt out for many years now off and on. However, I've had good facial/body hair distribution, am muscular, deep voice, tall, etc. I am 6 feet tall and 205 lbs but more muscular than fat, people would say I'm fit though I do have some flab and love handles on my waist area.

I was always told up til 2005 that the ED was psychological, however, a urologist that year noted I had testicles "half normal size" and believed it was a hormonal issue, possibly requiring Testosterone replacement. I saw an endocrinolgist in spring 2006 who said I should do a biopsy of my testicles to check for tissue or other damage.

I've traditionally had elevated FSH levels since my first tests in my mid 20's but most other scores all have been normal until recently, March 2007, where both FSH and LH scored "High". I've had similar scores for FSH/LSH but it was when I was 27, not 38. As of March 2007, FSH is 17, LH 9, Testosterone 18.7.

I saw doctors at the Mayo clinic in the fall of 2006 and though they noted my testicles were "smallish" they said they weren't as small as noted earlier by the urologist in 2005. A ultrasound of blood flow was good by the Mayo urologist, the endocrinologist said just "freeze your sperm" if you want kids ... I had a low sperm count but things still looked ok. The endocrinologist basically said everything was ok except for the high FSH. One of the conclusions/diagnosis was listed as partial testicular germ compartment failure due to sertoli cell function issues. My lab test results are in the next post.

[willc06]

My lab results from Mayo in Fall 2006 were:
Total Testosterone: 480
Testosterone, Bioavail: 168
Prolactin: 8 ng/mL
LH: 7
FSH: 25

My Lab results from March 2007 were:
Testosterone: 18.7 nmol/L - reference range 7.3-23.5
Testosterone Free: 45 PMOL/L - reference range 31-94
DHEA-S: 5.3 umol/L - reference range 3.3-14
FSH: 17 (high) - reference range 2-8
LH: 9 (high) - reference range 2-6
Estradiol-17 beta: <100 - reference range up to 206
Prolactin: 6 - reference range 2-18
Sex Hormone Binding Globulin: 26 NMOL/L - reference range 13-71

I really need to get a handle on this. I've found Doctors to be usually very dismissive or either totally perplexed by my "condition" which again does not help me get the answers I need. I lost my marriage because of this condition and have suffered greatly from self-esteem and confidence issues, not to mention just having quality of life affected. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[BaronSamedi]

That's two men who've lost their marriage from libido and/or erection issues because of low testosterone.

But it seems like you need an act of Congress to get that treated.

[willc06]

What do you mean by "act of congress"?

[BaronSamedi]

Colloquial expression meaning major and near-impossible action.

Think "personal audience with the Pope" as a similar sort of idiom.

[willc06]

Why so difficult to get it treated?