Hi Nas,
There are many things that can be done to help optimize your testosterone level. This has been looked into a lot, especially by the fitness community. If you make a critical review of many medical and fitness websites, you wiil find the following consensus:
- maintaining appropriate level of vitamin D ( 1000ui of Vitamin D a day is a safe dose and appropriate dose). The form usable by humans is vitamin D3
- maintaining appropriate levels of zinc ( zinc supplements often causes nausea, my favorite source of zinc is, by far, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds - and they make a great snack - and organic, for sure, whenever possible
)
- losing excess weight
- intensity and strength exercises ( it is the "use it or lose it" principle)
- avoiding all refined sugars ( a good thing in itself, it is no good for anything, healthwise)
- eat healthy fats, that are used as building blocks for testosterone ( olive oil, coconut oil, avocados,...) and avoid bad fats.
These are scientific based recommendations, and ways to optimize your own testosterone production. For example, it is known that hypogonadism can be caused by a zinc depletion. If you make sure you have enough zinc, you support your testosterone production.
(For a sample of website with a list of such recommendations, see
http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/07/27/increase-testosterone-levels.aspx . )
On the supplement side, some members report relief with a herb called tongkat ali ( go to forum homepage and put "tongkat ali" in the upper left search box). I don't know much about this one, but good results have been mentioned, especially if combined with zinc.
On the prescription only side, clomiphene ( Clomid) is an alternative to TRT. Less side effects, but it is quite hard on the liver, and if you read my latest post on liver detoxification, you will know that any med toxic for the liver is not optimal for anyone, and surely not for someone with POIS ( see at
http://poiscenter.com/forums/index.php?topic=2431.msg20521#msg20521 about liver detoxification) . Note that clomiphene is known for treatment of infertility, but chances are your general practitioner may not know about it boosting testosterone levels. On the long run, you have to decide which one between TRT and clomiphene would be a "lesser bad". After all, that's why prescription only drugs are prescription only, don't they?
Raising the immune tolerance, as testosterone does, to whatever antigen we have in either the prostate or seminal glands or bulbourethral glands, is what I think is effective in TRT for POIS. So raising T should help. It's not the only issue in POIS, but one way to attack this multi-headed beast.