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Testosterone Therapy Sped Up My Recovery After a Serious Injury

“I’m feeling even stronger than I did before my accident.”

Timothy Furner before and after

One morning, as I tried to pry a bolt off of an electrical box, I felt my grip give. Twenty years of experience in the electrical industry had given me grip strength that could rival an Olympian. But on this particular day, I felt exhausted and unfocused. I wondered if my body was finally giving up on me as I neared 40.

It wasn’t a one-off. For months, fatigue and weakness had been creeping in. It was so hard to focus I feared I might get zapped—or worse. I decided to pivot into a less physically demanding role at an electric supply warehouse close to home with a shorter commute. But my energy didn’t improve. 

When I got home from work, I’d crash on the couch to nap and wake up in the middle of the night. My wife noticed and became concerned. She often asked, “What’s wrong? Are you sick?” I told her I was just tired from work. The look on her face said she didn’t believe me. Honestly, neither did I. But I didn’t have the energy, or the brain space, to go see a doctor. 

One day, as I scrolled through TikTok, I stumbled upon an ad for Hone. A man about my age talked about low testosterone, listing symptoms that felt uncomfortably familiar: low energy, mood changes, and constant fatigue. It was like he was talking about me. I ordered an at-home hormone assessment, and a couple of weeks later, I got my results. My total testosterone was 275 ng/dL, and my estrogen was 58 pg/ml. I didn’t just have low testosterone—I had high estrogen, too, which the doctor said might be contributing to my lack of energy and strength.

Editor’s Note: Normal testosterone falls between 300 and 1,200 ng/dL, depending on symptoms, age, and other health factors. Healthy estrogen levels are between 10-40 pg/ml.

My Hone doctor prescribed a combination of testosterone injections to boost my T levels and anastrozole to lower my estrogen. Within a couple of weeks, my energy skyrocketed, and my strength started to return.

But just a month into testosterone replacement therapy, a new problem cropped up. While grabbing a heavy control panel off of a shelf in the warehouse, I lost my balance, and the equipment toppled forward. I tried to steady it with my arm, but the weight was too much. It fell and crushed my arm.

I heard a popping sound and immediately felt excruciating pain. My colleagues rushed to hoist the machine off of my arm, which was bright red and swollen to twice its size. Fighting through the pain, I told the onsite nurse I’d see a doctor after my shift. An X-ray showed my arm wasn’t broken, but the accident had damaged the muscles in my forearm and bicep. The doctor recommended physical therapy, but appointments were booked for months. I threw on a sling and got back to work. 

Despite my injury, my energy kept climbing, and I felt cheerful and optimistic. I stayed up late to spend time with my wife after her work shift. My arm was also recovering well. After a month, it was notably stronger, and the tenderness had faded away. I wondered, was TRT speeding up my recovery?

Expert’s Note: Research suggests that testosterone may regulate inflammation (1). In this context, having healthy testosterone levels may have supported Tim’s healing process.

A month after my injury, I asked my doctor if I could remove my sling. He was shocked; he’d expected a guy my age to take months to recover. “You’ve healed so fast!” he exclaimed. He cleared me for light exercises, so I bought some dumbbells and got to work. Every day, I did bicep curls, Arnold presses, and tricep extensions My arm strengthened quickly. 

Now, just a few months after that horrible day at work, I’m feeling even stronger than I did when I was still in the field. I believe that getting treated for low testosterone was the key to my speedy recovery.

About the author

Tim is a Hone customer.