Analyzation of My Labs

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
1

In May of this year I had a blood panel done to find out my TT,FT, and E2 levels. I did it because I had been going through what I felt was more tiredness and moodiness than in years prior with no change in stress in my life. I noticed a slight drop in strength and significant loss of motivation. Sex drive was so so. Its like some days I can’t get going, all I want to do is sit around and sleep(which i cant do at work).Most days I have a good 2-3 hours of good concentrated energy before I tire and feel like I need to take a nap.

I am 31, 5’10 and 170lbs @14%BF. I started lifting about 3 1/2 years ago (started at about 130lbs), and have been doing it consistently till this day. Considering the two labs, the second one more importantly, it doesn’t seem like I can blame test. production. Is there any redflag area that might point to my problems.

First Blood Panel:

TT 469ng/dl 280-800
FT 8.2ng/dl 5.00-21.00
FT% 1.75% 1.5-4.2%
E2 38.5 7.6-42.6

I realized that after doing the initial panel, that not a whole lot could be told from such a small amount of information. On top of that I felt like I needed to put into practice some of the nutritional and supplemental things to see if that helped me out, especially before I asked for help of any sort.

So, since 5/29/10, I changed some things, or at least became more consistent with them. This is what I started taking on a daily basis up to my second blood panel and currently as well:

-liquid B-complex(taken in the morning before breakfast)
-4000iu Vitamin-D(split into 2 doses,oil based caps)
-superfood or greens plus
-Carlson’s liquid fish oil(twice daily)
-ZMA(at bedtime)

In addition to that, I cut out ALL consumption of alcohol. I wouldn’t say I drank a lot, but I would say I drank beer consistently enough that I started to wonder if it was possibly a root of the problem. So I haven’t had anything since May. I would have to say I feel better. but still lack a good bit of the drive and good mood I had in the past couple years. I have days where I feel completely flat, like its hard to get my heart pumping or even break a sweat.

I went and had a second more complete blood panel done on 8/2/10. I went to Labcorp and had the blood drawn at 7am after having fasted 12hours. I just got the results back and would love to get your opinions/advice on them. There are some areas that confuse/concern me, specifically the glucose, EOS, and IGF-1 levels which Labcorp flagged as high. These don’t make sense to me as I wouldn’t expect them to be high being that I am lean(diabetes does not run in the family)and I hadn’t eaten or drank anything in over 12 hours when the blood was taken. I was pleased to see the TT and FT levels had gone up and the E2 had gone down, either in response to the supps. or lack of alcohol.(would you consider those levels satisfactory?)

Second Blood Panel:

TT 708ng/dl 280-800
FT 16.14ng/dl 5-21
FT% 2.28% 1.50-4.20%
E2 29.50pg/ml 7.6-42.6

IGF-1 314ng/dl 115-301 (this was high according to Labcorp)
Glucose, serum 100mg/dl 65-99
BUN 19mg/dl 5-26
creatinine, serum 1.12mg/dl 0.76-1.27
eGFR >59 >59
BUN/Creatinine Ratio 17mmo/L 8-27
sodium 140mmo/L 135-145
Potassium 4.5mmo/L 3.5-5.2
Chloride 103mmo/L 97-108
Carbon Dioxide 27mmo/L 20-32
Calcium 9.2mg/dl 8.7-10.2
Protein, total 6.6g/dl 6.0-8.5
Albumin, serum 4.4g/dl 3.5-5.5
Globulin, total 2.2g/dl 1.5-4.5
A/G ratio 2.0 1.1-2.5
Bilirubin, total 0.5 0.0-1.2
Alkaline Phosphatase 75iu/L 25-150
AST(SGOT) 24iu/L 0-40
ALT(SGPT) 30iu/L 0-55

Cholesterol, total 162mg/dL 100-199
Triglycerides 40mg/dL 0-149
HDL 71mg/dL >39
VLDL Cal 8mg/dL 5-40
LDL Calc 83mg/dL 0-99

TSH 3.010uIU/mL 0.450-4.500
Thyroxine(T4) 7.7ug/dL 4.5-12.0
T3 Uptake 39% 24-39
Free Thyroxine index 3.0 1.2-4.9

PSA, serum 0.4 0.0-4.0

WBC 4.9 4.0-10.5
RBC 4.89 4.10-5.60
HEMOGLOBIN 14.90g/dl 12.5-17.0
HEMATOCRIT 45.90% 36.0-50.0
MCV 94fL 80-98
MCH 30.5pg 27-34
MCHC 32.5g/dL 32-36
RDW 12.9% 11.7-15.0
Platelets 197 140-415
Neutrophils 45% 40-74
Lymphs 33% 14-46
Monocytes 11% 4-13
EOS 10% 0-7 (Labcorp flagged this as high as well)

Like I said before, I wasn’t sure what to make of the Glucose and Insulin results. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

2

IGF-1 is actually related to growth hormone (GH). It’s created in the liver, I believe, and is an indirect marker of your GH levels. GH levels are very pulsatile and after you reach puberty, it’s hard to catch GH on a blood test. IGF-1 is a lot easier to measure since the blood serum levels are more constant. You’re barely out of range, which is perfect since a little extra GH didn’t hurt anyone. However, too much can cause a condition called acromegaly=bad.

Your glucose is a little high, but nothing to be worried about. You would need to be in the 200+ range to be considered diabetic. Easy modification of diet can reduce this number.

Good use of the supplements. Main question is: how do you feel? These made your labs look good, but how do you feel?

EDIT: Total T4 isn’t nearly as useful as fT4 and fT3. See if you can get your doctor to order those tests.

3

need to test for ferritin, AM Cortisol (or 24 hour saliva test), free T3, free T4, Reverse T3, DHEA-S, and Pregnenolone.

read the stickies as they have a lot of good information in them.

your first test had pretty low Total T and very high Estradiol (that is a bad combination).

The second test looks better - but if you are still having symptoms then there is something else that is also off (hence the extra blood tests needed).

EOS or eosinophil is a type of white blood cell that helps your immune system. These white blood cells increase when you have allergies, parasite infections, asthma, and reactions to drugs such as inflammation.

Your high EOS and low overall WBC could mean a chronic infection, allergies, etc. that is wearing your system down. I have had doctors test for that in me, but that is about the extent of my knowledge. Not sure what the next steps are for tracking down the cause.

4

I would most definitely say I feel better as a whole but, that makes the bad days all that much more discouraging. I’d say that they are fewer and far between in the last couple months. Maybe I just need to stay on the path I’m on and hope to see and feel continued improvement.

As for the EOS, I have an allergy to most everything green to a small degree, springtime kills me. I also have mild asthma, which I havent had to treat in a very long time with the exception of the occasional mild attack once a year, but that is usually allergy induced. So that makes sense for the high EOS level.

With the extended Thyroid panel recommendations, what does that stuff tell you? Could my metabolism just be taking days off here and there accounting for the bad days? Does caffiene play any role in this stuff?

5

Total T4 tells us your thyroid is creating thyroid hormone correctly from iodine. Free t4 tells us how much is bound to thyroglobulin and ft3 gives us an idea of how much of the active hormone is circulating. These things tell us just how active your thyroid is and whether or not you suffer from hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism.

6

Yes, get more thyroid labs. TSH=3 is becoming a concern. If you are not using iodized salt in your home, switch to that before you do more labs. Many are becoming iodine deficient with kosher salt, sea salt and prepared foods which are typically prepared with non-iodized salt.

You would feel better if you could get E2 lower.

7

It’s almost funny that you mention the iodized salt thing. I haven’t used anything but kosher salt for cooking or flavoring in the last 3 months or so and before that it was only sea salt which I’m pretty sure was non-iodized.

I have plenty of regular iodized table salt. Is there a general amount of it that I should use/consume on a daily basis to get the necessary amount of iodide? Like a tablespoon or something?

I understand that 22ng/Dl is the target number for E2. Is 29 that much higher? Short of taking adex, is there anything else I can do to lower that E2 level further?

8

Just to make sure all the information on here is consistent, E2 is usually measured in pg/ml.

I doubt 29–>22 will make a DRASTIC change in how you feel. You can try DIM.

9

Thanks for all the feedback. I looked in my pantry and it turns out that even the non-sea non-kosher salt that I do have is iodine free. I might try and get a hold of Icelandic Kelp tabs as a daily iodine source instead of downing 1/2 tsp. of table salt. I’ll give that a try and see if that makes a difference in the way I feel.

I need to work on getting the measurements correct on things. A lot of it is hard to remember as most of it is still pretty new to me.

10

The thyroid gland hordes the trace element iodine and it can take a while to recover reserves. One can then have a need to take larger amounts if iodine for a while then drop to maintenance doses. Supplements that provide 100% of daily requirements are not going to speed things along.

Compare what you find to Iodoral: ← the big gun

5 mg iodine / 7.5 mg iodide per tablet

Contains both iodine and iodide for the most biological activity

You would not need to take the above for long term. You can take 1/2 tab per week later on.

google for sources