The advent of the internet has brought us a treasure trove of information and rapid access to things that may have once taken a lot of time and effort to find. We can go online to order just about anything we need from Amazon. We can order dinner from just about anywhere while sitting on our couch by simply picking up the phone and using one of the delivery apps. If picking up the remote to turn on the tv is too much for you, you can even open a streaming app from the same phone to watch a movie.
Much like the current fight about misinformation and disinformation that has spawned from social media and this new onslaught of information, the ease of access to everything we need has also brought about a shadow economy of tricksters and scam artists.
Some of these scam artists will take your money, never ship a product, and claim that it was mailed to you if you complain. Others sell fraudulent products, as a recent WHO report showed that at least one out of every ten pharmaceutical products from the third world are fraudulent or substandard. Other fraudsters will promise a simpler, cheaper way to get products that may normally require authorization or prescriptions at the click of a button with no verification at all.
The last two will be the focus of this article, as they not only run the risk of stealing your money but also could potentially lead to serious harm in certain situations, as with medical products that should require a prescription. The best part about this article is that we will also tell you how to prevent this from happening to you if you are in the market for Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT).
Summary
There are many men today who have and others who will find great benefit from taking Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT). Many men who suffer from low testosterone levels will never seek treatment, although there is a simple, easy and legal way to be evaluated and prescribed a treatment for it.
Although anti-aging clinics provide a simple process for being prescribed and supplied with Testosterone Replacement Therapy, some men will choose instead to use over-the-counter supplements which provide no relief for their low testosterone levels. Other men will choose to try shady online pharmacies to order testosterone, but because these online clinics do not require any initial blood labs, evaluation or provide continuous monitoring of your treatment, they can be a very dangerous option.
The best thing you can do is work with an anti-aging clinic, and in most cases, you can do the whole process online, outside of getting blood work and a basic physical.
Testosterone Replacement Therapy
One of the types of medications most targeted by online scam artists and fake pharmaceutical pushers is Testosterone Replacement Therapy. The demand for TRT has greatly increased in recent years due to a preponderance of factors. For one, a major cause of early reductions in testosterone production for males is stress. When you are under a massive amount of stress, which is quite common for any working-aged male today, your body produces cortisol to help you deal with that stress.
That cortisol production can have disastrous effects if it remains elevated for too long, however, as your body is not built to react to that hormone for prolonged periods of time. As mentioned above, one of the negative effects of increased cortisol levels for too long is hypogonadism, or a reduction in testosterone being naturally produced by your body.
This may not seem like such a big issue to the casual observer, but men who are victims of this syndrome feel quite differently about that. Testosterone is a powerful hormone that essentially controls all of our “manliest” bodily functions. A lowered testosterone level in healthy men can lead to the following symptoms:
- Low sex drive (libido)
- Erectile dysfunction
- Fatigue and poor energy level
- Decreased muscle mass
- Body and facial hair loss
- Difficulty concentrating
- Depression
- Irritability
- Low sense of well-being
These symptoms are no laughing matter, and can negatively affect men’s lives in a major way. Men who have families may find themselves too tired to play, practice or study with their children. Husbands or men in romantic relationships may find the desire to be intimate with their partner completely gone, and we haven’t even touched on the negative effects on physical attributes that can lead to hair loss, weight gain, and muscle loss.
Looking for love in all the wrong places
There are many different reasons that men may try to seek out Testosterone Replacement Therapy in the wrong places. A recent study found that only 12% of men who are suffering from the symptoms associated with low testosterone production will even seek treatment, and that is out of an estimated population of over 36% of men who had the issues.
Some men may falsely believe that the symptoms they are experiencing are simply a result of aging, even if the symptoms are appearing at a far earlier age than would be normal. Other men may be too manly or stubborn to admit that anything is even wrong. As a man writing this I can personally attest to being guilty of this on more than one occasion in my own past.
Whatever the reason, we find a few main issues that arise in men who have the symptoms of lowered testosterone replacement therapy yet don’t follow the appropriate, simple, safe, and effective method of treatment. On the one hand, some men simply choose not to do anything about it and live with the symptoms for the rest of their lives, as their energy levels decline, mood alters and their body begins to age far too early.
Others may decide that going to see a medical professional may be too expensive, cumbersome or they just don’t want to admit to another human being that there may be something wrong with their body. If the men in this group do seek treatment, oftentimes they will fall into the traps set by the scam artists mentioned at the beginning of this article.
There are some over-the-counter supplements available online, some through reputable vitamin & supplement stores, that use terminology to fool men into believing they will cure the symptoms that they are suffering from. Others promise these men that they can receive medications that require an evaluation, medical evaluation, and prescription without going through any of those steps, simply by ordering it off of the internet.
In the first situation, you are risking your money and nothing more. Most of the supplements that purport to increase testosterone production are expensive, but they are full of ingredients that may be safe, but will not actually have any legitimate effects on lowered testosterone levels.
In the second situation, you very well could be risking your life on many levels. Let’s take a moment to look at why that may be the case.
Evaluation
For men suffering the effects of low testosterone going through the legitimate process of beginning Testosterone Replacement Therapy, the first step is always a visit with a medical professional. This can be your normal doctor, although most primary care physicians and even many specialists are not aware of the scale of how many men have low testosterone levels in our society today.
There are some old medical studies that have since been disproven which showed potential side effects of TRT, with many more recent studies showing that TRT may actually help various medical issues that were once thought to be caused by it. Because doctors are extremely busy and tend to only have time to focus on medical studies or information that relate directly to their practice, many of these new studies have not been read and understood by the general practitioner community.
Other doctors who are not focused exclusively on testosterone or the drastic effects of low testosterone may not understand just how negatively the symptoms can affect a man’s life. Because of these factors, a general practitioner or family doctor may not be able to accurately diagnose low testosterone or may brush it off as a normal sign of aging that does not need any medical treatment.
If you do recognize and feel that you are being affected by the symptoms listed above, it is generally recommended that you visit an anti-aging clinic. These clinics are staffed by medical professionals who have dedicated their lives and practices towards helping men suffering from low testosterone. They are up to date on the latest medical studies regarding testosterone and TRT, and have made it their life’s work to assist in any way they can.
Once a man makes an appointment and visits an anti-aging clinic, they must undergo an evaluation to ensure that they are in fact being affected by low testosterone levels rather than another underlying medical issue. This initial visit will consist of a physical evaluation by the medical professional treating you, as well as some blood labs.
The blood labs and medical evaluation are potentially the most crucial step in your Testosterone Replacement Therapy regimen, and the step that is missed if men seeking TRT choose to go online to order it from a shady third-world pharmacy rather than a legitimate anti-aging clinic.
These blood labs will not only determine if you are suffering from low testosterone levels but will also set a baseline of your body before the therapy begins, to be used as a benchmark for your future treatment. These labs will also be used to determine how much and how often you will be taking testosterone. Testosterone is a very powerful hormone for men, and there are a wide variety of ways to take Testosterone Replacement Therapy, how much to take, and even how often it is taken.
Once it is determined that a man does have low testosterone levels, the anti-aging clinic will write him a prescription for testosterone replacement therapy, supply him with his treatment, or direct him where to attain it and educate him on how exactly to take the treatment and how often to take it. But that is not the last step in the man’s journey towards reclaiming his life and once again feeling his youthful lust for a life full of new energy.
Prescription
As mentioned above, there are several steps to conduct before a man is even given a prescription for Testosterone Replacement Therapy by his anti-aging clinic. The prescription is a crucial step in this process for many reasons.
Firstly, as we mentioned there are many different ways to take Testosterone Replacement Therapy. TRT can come in pill form, gel, sprays, patches, sublingual tablets, or Intramuscular Injection (IM). Of all of these formats, IM injections are generally preferred, as they inject the TRT directly into your large muscle groups where it is absorbed and distributed throughout the body.
Some men may have an aversion to shots and worry about this part of the process, but tens of millions of men have been doing this for decades and are extremely happy with the results. Each of the routes to take TRT has some drawbacks, and taking a weekly or bi-monthly injection has the fewest.
Men may prefer to take the pill or sublingual tablet format, but each of these methods requires the TRT to be metabolized through the liver after being digested in your stomach, and prolonged therapy in that form may be very hard on your liver over a long therapy timeline.
Others may want to use the patches, gels, or sprays instead, but each of these has their own drawbacks as well. As with any medication, steady and even distribution is critical to positive treatment, and each of these methods provides far too many opportunities for hair, sweat, activity, or how long you leave it on to cause an uneven or inadequate uptake of the testosterone itself.
When an anti-aging clinic prescribes you with TRT, they will also educate you on how the medication is administered. The IM injections are given in two main areas, the buttocks or the Vastus Lateralus (thigh). Each of these locations is optimal because they are large muscle groups, and the areas in which the shot is given have less nerve tissue and fewer blood vessels which provide a safe and simple way to receive the medication.
Along with treatment dictated by your blood labs and education on how to take the IM injections, perhaps the best part of going through the anti-aging clinic to receive your TRT therapy is that you can rest assured that your testosterone is coming through a licensed, legal, tested and approved pharmaceutical manufacturer. If you are going to inject something into your body you shouldn’t want to have any worries in your mind about where it came from or whether it is legitimate, and following this process and visiting an anti-aging clinic is the only way to do so.
Along with the evaluation and labs, the anti-aging clinic will also determine and prescribe the frequency with which you take your TRT. Some men may take theirs weekly, others every two weeks, and still others once a month. Because it is such a powerful hormone, too much testosterone can have disastrous effects, and too little may have no effect. The only way to ensure that you are taking the correct amount is if your treatment has been prescribed by a legitimate anti-aging clinic, and by keeping regular appointments to have your labs checked to monitor your progress and treatment.
Continuous Monitoring
Would you be worried if your doctor put you on a medication that you would be taking for a long duration and they never wanted to check in to monitor your levels to ensure the medication was working appropriately? Testosterone Replacement Therapy is no different, and continuous monitoring is another crucial step in the process that you will not have if you choose to go through a shady online pharmacy that may be anywhere in the world.
Because it is a powerful hormone that affects many parts of a man’s body, it is extremely important that your medical practitioner monitor your progress to ensure that the TRT is working, that it isn’t causing any harm and that you are being given the correct dosage.
This is a simple process as the anti-aging clinic will have the baseline vitals that you took at the very beginning of the treatment to gauge your progress against. A simple blood lab can quickly show them if the treatment is working, and if so whether your dosages need to be increased or decreased over time. But again, if you choose to go the fast (and dangerous) method of not going through an anti-aging clinic, you are on your own and have no way of determining these factors.
The right way to get TRT
As with everything in life, there is a right way to be evaluated for, begin and take Testosterone Replacement Therapy and a lot of wrong ways. This process is more important than many other life decisions, however, as positive TRT can greatly increase your life and enjoyment of it, but choosing the wrong way to go about it can have very bad health outcomes for the reasons discussed above.
Thankfully, our team at Prolong Labs is here to help you along the way. Our team of professionals has dedicated our lives to assisting men who are seeking Testosterone Replacement Therapy, and we have helped many men from all walks of life get on the road to reclaiming their energy, love, and happiness.
Low testosterone is an issue that is far more prevalent in our society than most people realize. Some men may choose to let the issue go unresolved and choose not to do anything about it, and unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to help them.
If you chose to read this article until the end, then you have already taken the first step in educating yourself about Testosterone Replacement Therapy and the right way to go about beginning. Since you’ve made it this far, the next step is simple: reach out to our team at Prolong Labs so we can help you on your journey to feeling like yourself again.
