Well I would supplement Vit D a little more (optimal is 70-90), and I would look into your thyroid more. Your Free T3 should be at the upper range. I don’t know why your TSH isn’t higher, but there’s a good chance low FT3 is the cause of your fatigue.
Your test and DHT are obviously below optimal, though I’ve seen worse on these boards. Maybe rebooting your thyroid will jumpstart your system. I would ask the doc for one final round of labs and if everything looks the same, try to get my hands on some t3 meds. That is what I would personally do, with the usual disclaimer that I am not a doctor.
Guys, I went in to get my annual panel of bloodwork and wanted to share with everyone to get opinions on anything that may stand out. Keep in mind I have been off AAS (t replacement) since May 2011 and have been using a supplement regimen consisting of tribulus, dhea, vit d, fish oil, multi vit, and zma. Don’t feel too bad but would like to get my t up a bit more into the 600’s. Blood work is from 12-23-11. thanks in advance!
b12: 1184 (201 to 1093)
hemoglobin a1c: 4.9 (4.2 to 6.3)
glucose: 93.93 (?range)
cortisol: 17 (5-25)
free t4: 1.08 (.76 to 1.8)
tsh: 1.79 (.358 to 3.74)
homocysteine: 7.2 (3.2 to 10.7)
estradiol: 28 (18-42)
fsh:12.8 (.7 to 11.1)
lh: 5.5 (.8 to 7.6_
cmp: alk phosphatase was low: 46 (50-136)
lipid profile: total chol=161, triglycerides=79, hdl=43, ldl=102
vitamin d,25 oh: 79 (30-80)
dht: 241 (106 to 719)
crp: <.2 (.1 to 3.0)
ferritin: 388.1 (26 to 388)
dhea sulfate: 321 (280-640)
insulin: 5 (3-19)
somatomedin c/growth hormone: 259 (112-402)
free t3: 3.8 (2.4 to 4.2)
sex hormone binding globulin: 39 (11-80)
total test: 374 (300-1080)
free test: 62 (47-244)
have you ever tested for thyroid antibodies? you seem to be fluctuating which could be a sign of Hashimotos (i think).
have you ever tracked your daily temps recently? waking, 9am, noon, 3pm. also do they vary day to day?
low ferritin or high ferritin can interfer with thyroid functions. what was your hemoglobin and hemacrit numbers?
your T keeps getting lower and lower, but FSH/LH look pretty high. Seems to indicate primary hypogonadism potentially.
something is messing you up, but I can’t see a pattern. I’ve had similar cortisol results but nothing ever above 13 and as low as 5, but I have low ferritin (like in the 50s).
I show that ideal homocysteine is under 6.3, so there is some increased risk there, but not sure what it means.
If I had to hazard a guess I would put money on your RT3 being sky high or your thyroid antibody tests coming back above range… but I’m not sure how much I would risk… but can you get those tests relatively easily?
[quote]PureChance wrote:
are your symptoms the same? any changes?
have you ever tested for thyroid antibodies? you seem to be fluctuating which could be a sign of Hashimotos (i think).
have you ever tracked your daily temps recently? waking, 9am, noon, 3pm. also do they vary day to day?
low ferritin or high ferritin can interfer with thyroid functions. what was your hemoglobin and hemacrit numbers?
your T keeps getting lower and lower, but FSH/LH look pretty high. Seems to indicate primary hypogonadism potentially.
something is messing you up, but I can’t see a pattern. I’ve had similar cortisol results but nothing ever above 13 and as low as 5, but I have low ferritin (like in the 50s).
I show that ideal homocysteine is under 6.3, so there is some increased risk there, but not sure what it means.
If I had to hazard a guess I would put money on your RT3 being sky high or your thyroid antibody tests coming back above range… but I’m not sure how much I would risk… but can you get those tests relatively easily?[/quote]
My symptoms are very much the same. One piece of info to add is I recently tried a bried stint with an anti anxiety med called buspar. Only took 10mg/day and discontinued after 6 wks. mainly because it wasn’t really making things much better plus brought on a bit of depression and sexual sides. Original reason for starting it was to improve mental focus and increase energy, plus alleviate minor anxiety.
I will start to track body temps and see what may come of that.
If hemoglobin is found under cbc as acronym hgb mine was 15.2 (13 to 18), and hematocrit was hct, 45 (39.8 to 52)
I would not really know where to start in order to get my RT3 and thyroid antibodies tested. But can look into it.
When I look back, the moment that things spiraled out of control was when I was dieting down for a bbing comp and was injecting ug tren enanthate. After my 3rd shot of the stuff I got very disoriented and had my first anxiety attack and waves of anxiety that persisted throughout the remainder of the contest prep. I’m not sure if some kind of infection occured or if I injected into a vein or lord knows what but I never had anything like that/this prior. Thanks again purechance for chiming in!
This is an update on my body’s ability to recover from my history of AAS use. I have been on 50mg clomid/day for 2 months now and have noticed an improvement. I have more energy, don’t need as much sleep, recover quicker, have better workouts, have gained 4-5lbs. lbm and have kept body fat down. I’ll post some blood work prior to starting and then after the 2 month mark…check it out!
Interesting. Your LH/FSH were excellent before so that would have made me think you were primary hypoonodal and I would not have recommended a SERM challenge based on that.
Also notice that you are driving your LH/FSH through the roof. These levels are not sustainable once you come off, I don’t think, so then what?
Also, while you got an excellent increase in TT, your Free T response is much weaker. I would have thought this would be due to an increase in SHBG, but they are near identical in both sets of labwork. I do not have an explanation for that.
Bro, thanks for chiming in…I wanted to try the clomid one more time before exogenous T simply because I’m only 28 and don’t like the idea of having to take a drug the rest of my life…I do have a varicocele on my left teste that could be part of the problem with the low T levels.
My symptoms are much less than before, but know that I do not feel as if everything is 100% spot on…perhaps with time and possibly look to taper the dose down a bit…what do you think about the e2 and supps to boost free testosterone?
MK
[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
Interesting. Your LH/FSH were excellent before so that would have made me think you were primary hypoonodal and I would not have recommended a SERM challenge based on that.
Also notice that you are driving your LH/FSH through the roof. These levels are not sustainable once you come off, I don’t think, so then what?
Also, while you got an excellent increase in TT, your Free T response is much weaker. I would have thought this would be due to an increase in SHBG, but they are near identical in both sets of labwork. I do not have an explanation for that.
I think the supps to increase Free t are worth a shot, but probably not the permanent solution. If its cheap enough to do, then go for it.
It looks to me like you are converting a good amount of your Total T to E2 (and perhaps DHT). This could be a result of the SERM dosage. Since it is drivin your Lh/FSH through the roof, it might be a good idea to talk to your doctor about reducing your dose (perhaps by as much as half). This may result in less conversion (and will certainly result in loewr LH/FSH) and free up more of your available T for use.
I actually started off w/ 25mg clomid/d for the first 2.5 weeks but did not notice much improvement of symptoms. The past 6 weeks I’ve been doing 50mg/d and have noticed some relief of symptoms…I think the high e2 could be contributing towards weakening my sex drive though…I think I may back off to 37.5mg/d and get bloodwork again…The doc has seen the numbers and as a GP she wasn’t too sure if it was reason for concern and is supposed to be talking to an endo friend of hers.
[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
I think the supps to increase Free t are worth a shot, but probably not the permanent solution. If its cheap enough to do, then go for it.
It looks to me like you are converting a good amount of your Total T to E2 (and perhaps DHT). This could be a result of the SERM dosage. Since it is drivin your Lh/FSH through the roof, it might be a good idea to talk to your doctor about reducing your dose (perhaps by as much as half). This may result in less conversion (and will certainly result in loewr LH/FSH) and free up more of your available T for use. [/quote]
Then perhaps look at Aromasin to control E2 levels (Adex has been shown to not play well with SERMs, resulting in reverse synergy between the two). WOuld not be a bad idea to get your DHT tested as well as you may have a high amount of alpha-5 reductase enzyme converting you to DHT.