I have been positive now for 5 years. I have been taking Zerit, epivir, viramune for 6 months months now. T-Cells are 620 32 and viral load undetectable. I have been having a problem with some fatigue and LOW sex drive. My testosterone levels were checked 2 years ago when I wasent on any therapy and they were barely in the normal range. I had them checked again in may 2002 and they were pretty much unchanged. I have not shown any evidence of anemia on my lab counts although my red blood cell count was in the normal range it was not an impressive number. Would I benefit from some kind of hormone replacement therapy? Would it help any with low energy and low sex drive? Is this being caused by my meds?

Hello,

Low sex drive and fatigue are two very common symptoms associated with hypogonadism (low testosterone). Would you benefit from bumping your level up to the mid- to upper-normal range? I'd guess there would be a good chance you would. Topical testosterone replacement therapy with AndroGel is convenient and usually quite effective. Talk with your HIV specialist. I'd definitely say it's worth a try. You might want to check you blood level of testosterone once again before starting, and see how it matches up for "age-matched" controls. In other words, if you're a 20-something Italian Stallion, your "normal" range is going to be quite a bit higher than, say, Strom Thurman's. Good luck. Hope things will be perking up, literally and figuratively, for you very soon.

Dr. Bob