Case study: 'I generally feel so much more positive about life'

Published on Monday 13 June 2011 15:54

George Abercrombie, 41, from Bannockburn has been taking Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) for a year and, he says, it has changed his life.

Mr Abercrombie had been suffering from the symptoms of low testosterone since he was 30 when he had to have one of his testicles removed because of cancer.

At the time he thought it was the chemotherapy treatment that was making him feel so bad, as he explained.

"After the chemo I became a different person - moody, bad tempered and depressed.

"My libido plummeted and I couldn't handle any kind criticism.

"I was crippled with anxiety, couldn't sleep, and had hot sweats at night."

The situation got so bad that Mr Abercrombie had to give up his job as a manager of a tool hire firm.

He was prescribed the anti depressant drug, Seroxat, which helped a little but he said he was "seeing the world through a foggy haze" so he weaned himself off them.

He asked the GP to test his testosterone levels but because the results came back as acceptable, Mr Abercrombie was sent away much to his annoyance.

"All too often GPs don't look at the symptoms a man is suffering from," he said.

"As long as the blood tests comes back OK, that is all that seems to matter."

After searching on the internet about the Andropause (male menopause), Mr Abercrombie paid to see a private doctor who concluded that he was suffering from a testosterone deficiency and immediately wrote to his GP suggesting that he received TRT on the NHS.

"Once we worked out the correct levels for me, I felt fantastic," he said.

"I have the libido of a 17-year-old, I don't jump off the handle, I have more energy and go the gym regularly, I sleep better and my relationship has improved.

"I generally feel so much more positive about life," said Mr Abercrombie, who now works as an engineer fixing lorries and has a ten-year-old boy, George, and a 15-year-old daughter, Christy.

He met his wife, Julie, just as he was diagnosed with cancer.

"I don't know how she has put up with me, because I wasn't easy to be around, but life is good now and I feel so much more positive," he said.