I ran 100mg Test C weekly for a year and felt a lot better however I wanted to have kids so I took Clomiphene citrate for 4 weeks and restarted my natural production and have not taken testosterone in 3 years.
4 years later I am still having many of the same symptoms… Low energy, low libido, high anxiety, irritability, etc.
My blood work now is
Total Testosterone 464 ng/dl (264-916)
Free Testosterone 5 pg/ml (9.3-26.5) Flagged as low
Vitamin D 25 hydroxy is 38 (30-100) Doc says this is lower
Cortisol 5.5 ug/dl (6.2-19.4) Flagged as low
I have been chronically stressed for many years. my cortisol test was taken in the AM when cortisol is at its highest.
My 2cents on all of this…
My cortisol production is low which is obviously contributing to mood swings/anxiety/low fatigue
My free Testosterone is very low but my total testosterone is upper-mid 400s. Why is my free testosterone so low when my total testosterone is not extremely low. My SHBG is 25 so not high.
Clearly my vitamin D could be supplemented a little but I dont think this is the main driving force of my low Testosterone.
What are your thoughts? I have a double whammy here with adrenal fatigue/low cortisol and low free testosterone.
I still have not had any children and I want to avoid TRT for now if I can. How can I fix low cortisol and is it correlated to my low free T? Is my low cortisol causing low Free T or is it the other way around.
There’s a lot of issues with measuring free testosterone. More than likely, the method used was not accurate. You would be better off calculating this value using TT SHBG Alb
One hypothesis is your converting the testosterone (Free T) down, another pathway, excessively so. More likely, the Free T is a better indicator of how much testosterone your testes are producing.
Are you on a statin? Statins can lower testosterone.
@systemlord I am not on a statin or any medication currently.
To add to the list of symptoms I mentioned above, I have pretty bad brain fog throughout the day as well. My endo appt is not until two months from now… Im hoping I can get some info before then that will help me make some changes. I know that my long term chronic stress is most likely the reason for the low cortisol and cortisol dysfunction. But how can I fast track feeling better and fixing the cortisol rhythm?
For what its worth… B12 was 580, zinc was normal, and magnesium was normal. The only vitamin so far that was lower was Vitamin D at 38 (30-100). Just an FYI i do not eat veggies or fruits and have not for all of my life.
To add to that my total globulin is 2.1 (2.0-3.5) and my alk phos is 34 (40-90) marked as low. my A/G ration is flagged as high.
I wonder if i might be deficient in Vitamin C as I dont eat veggies or fruits for 28 years now… However no signs of scurvy. i know that Vitamin C plays a role in Cortisol production as well.
In the grand scheme of things, 38 isn’t really that low, my Endo says they like to see it above 30 but a lot of doctors aren’t seeing any bone related issues between 20- 30.
I can’t handle anything above 30, without pretty bad nausea.
The high A/G ratio, low alkaline phosphate can be thyroid related. Have you gotten a thyroid panel recently, checking TSH, Free T4, Free T3, antibody testing?
Hmm not sure what the course of action is… If my total test is at 464 and the free T that labcorp reported as low is inaccurate. I just calculated my free T at 244 ng/dl using my 4.5 albumin and shbg.
Im assuming now that my low energy levels, anxiety/mood swings, and symptoms are from the Adrenal Fatigue.
Do you know of how to fix low cortisol and a under active HPA axis.
As I said before I have been chronically stressed for many years. Long term elevated cortisol and now low cortisol as a result. I know sleep, diet, and exercise would help but I have zero energy for exercise and I sleep fine. Although I wake up unrested
Something is wrong with your units. I get 11.1 ng/dl which is still slightly lowish. You may be able to fix symptoms with lifestyle changes, but you already tried TRT and it worked so there’s that to consider too. I’m the last guy to push or bandwagon using TRT. I’m just mentioning it prob shouldn’t be thrown away as an option in your case.
The “fix” you need is to resolve the “chronically stressed for years” part. This is the root of your problem, which will not be resolved by chemicals.