So , been very physically active all my life; military, rugby, boxing, judo, jiu jitsu, etc, and have always taken a day at most to recover from any exhaustion, always had a quick turnaround on injuries, etc.
These past two years I have noticed a drastic change in my ability to recover, have had loads of old, and i mean maybe 25 year old niggling injuries reappear , and it all seems to be at the same time. Finger joints, wrist, elbow tendons, foot bones, knees, shoulders, the whole nine yards, all gone at the same time.
Now I dont notice any mental degradation, if anything I’m a bit mellower than usual which ha s been quite eyeopening as to how much of a feisty little arsehole I have been in the past.
Bits of research have suggested maybe a drop in my testosterone levels. There is a good reason to believe this might be the case without going into details.
Anyone else felt this way when they hit mid-late 40s? Thought asking other active people might get a more targeted and true response than asking someone who has gone up the club for 5 pints every night since he was 20.
How did you deal with it? How did you go about remedying it? Do I just have to suck it up and accept I’m not 20 any more? Am i broken for good? The missud going onto HRT has got me wondering whether a similar thing works for men?
Lets hear what youve got then…

Low testosterone ?
More bananas ?, an increase in Zinc and getting out more exercise more. More better sleep. I know stress can limit that, im suffering the same I reckon, which im putting down to being stuck in for the most part of the last year and a half.

I’d suggest popping down to see your doctor and telling them you think theres testosterone issue. Im sure they’ll be a better help that stw
Take a look here and be honest with yourself if you reckon any or most of these symptoms apply.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322647#when-to-see-a-doctor

My experience is that as you get older muscles take longer to build, the clear cut feeling of muscles being tired then repairing in a day or so turns into a few days of feeling a bit stiff and not much progress, just my experience but I think you also lose muscle performance faster, and if your body is working harder exercise can aggravate old injuries, it’s all a bit of a longer game.

I’m 58.

I was very active in 20s and early 30s, club running (many marathons, hill running, fast 10ks etc.) And lots of body weight exercise. Never got injured and took a day to recover at most, even from over 20 mile runs. As i got slightly older I transitioned to cycling but still big distances (80+ mile sportives on the roadie and lots of endurance mtb).

Now in 40s and still very active but really noticing getting older. I hurt all the time, dont recover quickly from big days out but also i dont heal! Pedal strikes on my shins take weeks, sore knee which wont go away, cuts and bruises take days to heal.

My city (Stirling) held a marathon in 2018. I trained properly but cramped at 20 miles and struggled for the last 6 (still did a 3.45..) but it took me 3 days to recover, i couldnt walk down the stairs for 2 days!)

I have found ageing very obviously hurts and cant remember my last totally pain free day!

That sounds like aging and wear and tear, sadly. I’m finding a bit more recovery time and including some more yoga is helping prevent and ease the aches and pains I picked up from a very active 20s – now 50s. And a good physio.

TRT I’m assuming needs a proper diagnosis, presumably to rule out anything more serious.

Impressed if anyone who rides hard, and has a desk job, can escape the attentions of the physio as they hit their 40s.

Recovery has never been something I’ve been especially strong at, so not noticed big changes there. But musculo-skeletal stuff has definitely become more challenging. Never saw a physio before early 40s, now I talk in terms of having a physio, or ‘my’ physio (I’m 47).

Friend in my club at a similar age does 3 times my mileage, races, and has no significant injuries or even issues at all, AFAIK. So I guess some people are just built for it – he is very slim which prob helps.

A trip to a physio(mine is £40 for an hour) is worth it just to find out all your weak points and issues, they find and identify things that have bugged you for years and sometimes correct just with awareness of it and a few exercises.

It took a serious leg tendon problem(6 months on sticks) for me to go to a physio after the doctor came up blank, months of pain and pills, the physio spotted the problem within seconds of starting to investigate.

Currently on glute exercises to strengthen my core, I thought a million sit up’s would get rid of my belly, took me 20 years to realise it doesn’t, but don’t put the pizza down just yet, turns out a few daily, and strangely mild exercises to tighten your arse is more effective, walking like an oiled leopard now.

strangely mild exercises to tighten your arse is more effective, walking like an oiled leopard now.

There’s a mental image I wasn’t expecting

Yup. Been on it about 8 years.

Short story. Really badly done snip, doc severed blood vessel in vas too and just stitched it up. Ongoing pain and bad pulling. Year later had left epididymectomy (nut out, epidiymis removed stitched back in). Off bike for a while and bloody painful. Within six months noticed a real lack of energy commuting. Easy to track as did same route but was struggling coming home and time lower (all on Garmin).

Still under urologist as in pain. GP eventually did bloods and I came in at nine nmol. Took ages to see specialist, by then dropped to 5 nmol. Normal is between 10 and 30. Ave around 20 nmol.

Eventually started treatment, but bi weekly injection led to hobbling for 5 days out of 14 and feeling knackered, so went onto gel. It unfortunately burns the skin.

Over years taken blood tests and if i dont take gel before a test I’m back at 5 nmol overnight. So its swings from over 30 back to 5 every day. Afternoon tests come in around 13-15.

The docs still won’t admit the snip and repairs (also had two additional procedures to try and stop pain – failed).

Gel is a bit easier to deal with as injecting is a visit to GP every two weeks, or every 2 months, but your levels peak and trough.

Getting blood tests is hard enough, never mind treatment.

Could also be vitamin deficiency. Oh and when on TRT you can’t stop as it shuts down natural production. It won’t make you the new Gee Atherton, but you can’t ‘compete’ as you’ll fail blood tests.

See if the GP will do full bloods and testosterone – you will have to ask.

Its a nightmare getting treatment.

@fossy
Very interesting to read this, mine is a similar story, had a bollock out due to something, cant remember as I was only 6, and the old girl wont or cant tell me what it was.
Also had a dodgy vasectomy after 3 kids, not quite the nightmare youve had but I definitely wouldnt have it done again, its wrecked my remaining bollock which is now w ay more sensitive than it was.
I’m guessing that the remaining bollock ticked along nicely , giving me all the test I need, until its started dropping off due to age, and what with there only being one doing the work of 2, I’m now lower than I should be. My symptoms sound identical to yours,no energy and lethargic for no good reason.
So , it seems getting a GP to listen and not fob you off is half the battle then? My surgery is useless, took about 3 years of badgering to get my missus’ HRT, and then only after a locum said it was a clear cut case of needing HRT.
So, do you feel re-energised following the treatment, or are you still lethargic ? Any undesirable side effects you’ve noticed?

And have you noticed any difference in injury healing or at least recovery from injury? It’s really starting to piss me off now, I’ve never been like this and I really hate it.

The doc will take ‘lethargic’ etc and start with a blood test, covid test etc, could be a number of very normal common things, but the tests should alert for testosterone, I’d start there.

I had a heck of a battle, switched GP practices and the GP took one look at the results and put me on TRT straight away, before seeing the consultant. Other GP was a woman, and her ‘husband’ was other GP I saw about the snip saying how simple the snip was (yet he wouldn’t get one). The GP doing the procedure made a mess. My pain consultant said he sees many blokes with permanent pain – still in pain 9 years later I am.

You need to get a full set of bloods, and you need to ask for testosterone – they will poo-poo it, but let them know you’ve got one nut and the other might be struggling. The specialist just put the cause down as unknown, but it’s funny how this all started with the snip, and then ‘extensive’ repairs, then shortly after that could feel knackered (and depressed). It was quite obvious from my GPS logged commutes I was slacking – I even mapped out all the average speeds for them – I was going slower in summer than winter.

It’s still a bit of a battle but I’m glad I’m on gel and not injections, especially with covid. When I broke my spine I explained I needed my next jab shortly. Let’s say the majority of the nurses wouldn’t do it because it’s a big needle. Only the ‘matron’ would do it. The injection itself doesn’t hurt, but because it’s a slow release ‘oil’ it ‘bruises’ your muscles. This left me hobbling for 5 days – literally couldn’t walk. The final straw was when I ended up with a spud sized bruise.

I’m on the top dose – again that takes time to work out what works, as not all the gel is absorbed. I’ve found splitting the dose, morning and night helps keep levels better. I was wiped out all weekend, then only last night realised I’d not put gel on since Friday morning.

I’d be getting down to see the GP and get a full bloods. Could be other things, but given your history, i.e. one nut and the snip !

With regards injury healing – I’m 51 now. Can’t say I noticed at the time, mainly as I picked up the ‘knackered’ effects quickly as I’d had quite a bit of surgery. I can say I heal slow from surgery. The second nut surgery was actually less painful than the snip, but it took over a year to recover – bike riding was very painful, but I was back on within a month. Then noticed the speed start to drop off. That said, a mate of mine is in his early 30’s and got a twisted nut 18 months ago, and hasn’t been on his bike much since – very keen MTB’er – my second op was ‘similar’ (invasive).

Given your medical history, it seems entirely reasonable to get your levels tested OP.

If it were me, I’d go with the mindset of investigating the issue rather than having already decided you need TRT.

It may well be something else anyway, and IME doctors don’t like being told what they have to prescribe.

Best of luck. I’m just 48 myself and this last year or two I’ve noticed I have more “off” days and I’ve lost a bit of the snap I had before. Really stuggle in the heat now as well.

Hoping that resuming strength training (after an 18-month Covid break) will help.

Yeah, I’m not absolutely convinced its low test, but all the research I have done at least suggests that its a strong option. I will defo try and get an appointment with the GP, but I think I’m hoping there.
If I can avoid starting it then so much the better, as it does appear to be a lifelong commitment.
The heat has absolutely battered me this year, but I hate the summer anyway. Im hoping the heat is part of why I feel so shit at the moment.

Over 40’s MOT – just get full bloods and ask for Testosterone too. VitD can be a big issue too.

+1 for vitamin D, I take pills in winter now, I was tired, trouble sleeping, knock on effects of being worn out all the time, seemed to much for a simple vitamin deficiency I thought, doc said two thirds of Scottish people are deficient, result came back ‘low’, changed eating habits and some pills and within a few weeks noticed a significant change.

These are common things they will check though, if you can get past video and telephone appointments, so sooner booked in the better.