Hey, I’m a 19 year old college freshman. It sounds hard to believe coming from a 19 year old guy, but please hear me out. I suspect that my testosterone levels have been depressed by severe, chronic stress.

I’ve experienced chronic stress day in and day out for the last 3 years (junior through senior years of high school) because of a case of undiagnosed and untreated ADHD (it was diagnosed a couple months ago). I did well freshman year and managed to survive sophomore year, but junior and senior years got the better of me. I couldn’t concentrate, I couldn’t get my homework done; the last two years of high school were miserable… The chronic stress definitely caused some depression and anxiety, although the depression wasn’t severe enough to be ‘clinical’ depression. Fortunately, I went to my college’s counseling center and they diagnosed the ADHD, which in retrospect was blatantly obvious.

Since then, I have done much better because I understand why I did so bad in my junior and senior years. I had assumed that your successes earlier were simply because I was a big fish in a small pond, and when I went to the big pond (last couple years of high school), I couldn’t cut it. Now, all of the pieces have been put together…almost. I had always assumed that I had suffered from depression and anxiety due to the stress that the undiagnosed ADHD had caused. I didn’t think of my testosterone levels.

But I stumbled upon a site that listed the possible symptoms of testosterone deficiency:

* A lack of energy;
* Low libido (sex drive);
* Depression;
* Irritability;
* Fatigue;
* Postural problems;
* Increased blood pressure;
* Loss of muscle;
* You exercise consistently but can’t add any lean muscle;
* Loss of muscular strength;
* Loss of muscular endurance;
* Physical height reduction;
* Your erections are not "rock hard";
* Sleep disorders.

I suffered from pretty much all of the above, and still do to a large extent. Even though the depression and the anxiety have been 85% quelled, I still have suffer from irritability, fatigue, loss of muscular strength and endurance, and most pronounced, sleeping problems.

Undoubtedly, I born with a high level of ‘endogenous testosterone.’ My ring finger is significantly longer than my index finger (This isn’t BS, the digit ratio is affected by the testosterone levels in the womb, and the ratio remains constant throughout the lifespan). I know from experience what it’s like to have high testosterone. You’re uninhibited, fearless, active (and want to be active), focused (in spite of the ADHD), have a thick skin, are hardly ever tired, and sleep soundly (the opposite of what’s going on right now!!!). Whole groups of girls would be into me…I won’t lie. And I’m guessing girls subconsciously know if you have high levels of T. I definitely feel like I’ve lost the "it" factor. Especially in sports – I earned a varsity letter in track and field as a freshman and I was overall good at sports and in good shape, but now I’m somewhere between average and couch potato, and 10 pounds overweight.

I know that I’m only 19, but I have read on many reputable health websites that low testosterone can happen at any age, especially if you have experienced chronic stress (I was close to a nervous breakdown for two years.) I feel like there’s something wrong with my body, and I don’t feel like the same person I was when I was younger.

My diagnosis of ADHD has taught me an important lesson: if there is a change in your behavior, school performance, and whatever that cannot be accounted for, make sure you get help and find out what’s going on. I suspect that my testosterone levels might have been depressed from its natural level due to chronic stress. When my academic performance changed dramatically, it wasn’t because I couldn’t ’swim with the big fishes.’ It was because I had ADHD (and now I am doing MUCH better in school). Along the same line of reasoning, when my personality has changed this dramatically, perhaps I shouldn’t just say: ‘oh, this is how you really are, just accept it.’ Maybe there’s a definite cause (low T), just like there was a definite cause for my drop in academic performance (undiagnosed ADHD).

What do you guys think? Should I make an appointment with my family physician? Thanks very much for your help and advice.

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Tags: chronic stress, clinical depression, college freshman, counseling center, depression irritability, erections, freshman year, lack of energy, lean muscle, low libido, muscle loss, muscular endurance, muscular strength, retrospect, sex drive, sleep disorders, small pond, sophomore year, strength loss, testosterone levels