24/05/2026
Back in December, I hit a 270kg PB total. On paper, great. Behind the scenes, I was running on absolute fumes.
For months, I’ve felt completely off. Just because you’re still turning up and operating every day doesn’t mean you’re okay. I moved up a weight class, but instead of feeling good for it, I just felt flat and small. I couldn’t hold a pump for more than an hour. Other symptoms like mental fatigue which is an exhausting lag, really dry skin, bad recovery and sometimes so tired, getting out of bed is difficult.
I knew something was wrong, stopped trying to out-train it, and got bloods done.
My Prolactin was over 3,000 (normal is under 700), which jammed my system and crashed my Testosterone to 4.0. When Prolactin levels are this high, it sends a signal to your brain to completely switch off your testosterone, strength, and recovery. To put my levels into perspective, that’s basically rock bottom for a male my age. It’s the testosterone level of an 80-year-old man.
An urgent head MRI showed an 11mm swelling on my pituitary gland. It’s a benign buildup leaking hormones and causing a system overload.
It’s been very stressful. The hardest part wasn’t the training, it was the anxiety after being told it was urgent and getting scans scheduled. That wait completely killed my appetite and I lost weight just from the stress.
I’ve just started the medication to try and shrink it and turn the jammer off. It’s early days so I’m still not feeling any better yet, but the plan is in motion. The doctors have been great and are confident this will get me back to myself, but the reality is nothing is 100%, so there are back up plans.
I’m sharing this because as lifters, gym goers (and gym owners), our default is to just grind through and assume we’re just slacking. You cannot out-work a broken engine.
If your body is screaming at you that something is wrong, don’t ignore it. Go get your bloods done.
I’ll hopefully start to feel better soon and get on the right track. 👌
