Another Bloodwork Thread, High SHBG

Hello all,

This is my second time getting blood work done. I basically just wanted to get an update on where I stand hormonally. In the past, I’ve had estrogen issues especially when letting my body fat get too high, even experiencing “idiopathic” gyno 2 years ago (on top of having some leftover from puberty). I’ve never been a very driven person, and usually feel tired with a fairly low libido.

I was thinking about trying DAA and low dose of adex but decided it would be best to get blood work before I do anything that could significantly change my hormones.

When I got my blood work results, I noticed very high SHBG. I know SHBG is intertwined with estradiol and T but I don’t know exactly if my levels should be alarming, and if so, what I can do to lower it.

Anyway, I’m going to answer a few mandatory type questions so anyone reading this can get an idea about me, then post up my blood work results. I appreciate any feedback anyone can give. I’ll continue to do research on my own as well as well check back on this post. Thanks!

-age
25, turning 26 in april

-height
5’11.5’’

-waist
33-34in

-weight
200 lbs

-describe body and facial hair
mustache and chin/neck hair, could never grow a full beard- I’m half Korean. have pretty thick pubic area hair and underneath arm pits but pretty sparse on legs/ arms and none on torso

-describe where you carry fat and how changed
fat is mostly on lower stomach and love handles, limbs are fairly lean. quads have very visible striations. visible top abs…i would say i am a legit 15% body fat.

-health conditions, symptoms [history]
no major health concerns. pubertal gyno, got it again 2 years ago when I let body fat get too high. have tinea versicolor- just got prescribed fluconazole which I’m supposed to take twice a day, once a week for 3 consecutive weeks.

other than that, i don’t have much sex drive, and don’t feel very driven to do anything.

-Rx and OTC drugs, any hair loss drugs or prostate drugs ever
will be taking fluconazole soon. smoke marijuana a few times a week, always at night- maybe why i’m not driven? never taken anything for hair loss- full head of hair.

-lab results with ranges
see below

-describe diet [some create substantial damage with starvation diets]
at least 200g protein a day coming from lean sources, higher carbs such as rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice cakes, oats, occasional wheat products on high activity days (400g+), moderate fats (50+) coming from nut butters, olive oil, fish oil, coconut oil)

i should also mention that i can eat ALOT in one sitting and about twice a week, i gorge on something like pizza, ice cream or frozen yogurt or some other junk food.

-describe training [some ruin there hormones by over training]
i followed a 5 days a week bodybuilding split for quite some time. the last few weeks i’ve been lifting 3-4 days a week, and have been playing a lot of high intensity basketball.

-testes ache, ever, with a fever?
no

-how have morning wood and nocturnal erections changed
i get morning erections about 50% of the time, but many times i attribute these to just having to piss in the morning?

-Please describe your diet [and quantities] and supplements
macros can be seen above. i try to eat at least 1-2 servings of vegetables a day and 1 serving of fruit. I drink a lot of strong coffee, 3-4 cups a day. I take fish oil, creatine, beta alanine, whey isolate, EAA, zinc glycinate, vitamin d3 (5000iu), glucosamine/ msm/chondroitin, ocassionally take cissus, curcumin and a probiotic.

-Do you get cold easily?
I actually do get very cold, hands and feet especially

-Any one in your family have same build as you?
I’m easily the biggest in my entire family at 5’11.5’’ 200 pounds.

-Do you eat sea food, use iodized salt, have iodine in your vitamins?
every once in awhile, have some kelp but never take it. when i remember, i salt my food with iodized salt.

-How do you react to major stress?
not well at all. i try to avoid stress as much as i can. stress exhausts the hell out of me. i find lifting and training to be good for relieving stress and also feeling pretty dull afterwards.

Here is my blood work results with ranges:

free test- 13.4 pg/mL — range 9.3-26.5
test serum- 828 ng/dL— range 348-1197
TSH- 4.480 uIU/mL .450-4.500
DHEA- sulfate- 234.5 ug/dL— range 160.0-449.0
estradiol- 21.6 pg/mL— range 7.6-42.6 (much lower than 2 years ago)
SHBG serum- 88.7 nmol/L— range 16.6- 55.9
vitamin d, 25-hydroxy- 70.7 ng/mL— range 30.0-100.0

i also have BUN result of 34 mg/dL (range: 6-20) and BUN/creatinine ratio of 37 (range: 8-19). Is this something to be alarmed by? I do take creatine and eat a lot of meat.

My main question here is should I be worried with my high SHBG reading, especially with my T, total T and estradiol levels? If so what can I do?

To everyone who read all of this, I really appreciate the fact that you took this much time to read my information and any feedback you may have!

your tsh is shit. That should be your main concern. I’ll let other more knowledgeable comment on that, but you are probably going to hear that you you need some testing there. If you want to be a bit more proactive you can check out stop the thyroid madness site.

There are a few things you can try to lower SHBG. Nettle Root (urtica dioica) is probably the most popular. Boron and Avena Sativa also have some research behind them. Getting this down will probably make a noticable difference. Kind of strange that SHBG is hight but E2 is fine.

DHEA is a bit low. You could check pregnenolone, supplement DHEA directly, or try transdermal Magnesium.

thanks for the reply!

i suspected my TSH level was a red flag as well considering it’s basically at the upper limit. i’ll check out the thyroid site.

when you say getting SHBG down will make a noticable difference, what do you mean? i suspected my e2 would have been elevated a bit more, because 2 years ago it was at about 40. like i mentioned before, i have gyno and even re-aggravated it sometime after puberty.

how does DHEA play into all of this?

looks like i’ll need more testing.

Getting SHBG down with increase bio available T. Anything bound up now is not available for use.

Transdermal mag should increase DHEA. You can also supplement DHEA directly. You also test pregnenolone. Low pregnenolone can mean low DHEA and progesterone.

I would chase down possible thyroid issues before worrying about anything else.

Alright, I did some reading on stopthethyroidmadness. Based on what I read, I’m fairly certain that i have poor adrenal function which may be contributing to high TSH. I won’t know for sure until I do some more tests.

I feel like the following symptoms of struggling adrenal function describe me spot on:

  1. Do you have a hard time falling asleep at night?
  2. Do you wake up frequently during the night?
  3. Do you have a hard time waking up in the morning early, or feeling refreshed?
  4. Do bright lights bother you more than they should?
  5. Do you startle easily due to noise?
  6. When standing from sitting or from lying down, do you feel lightheaded or dizzy?
  7. Do you take things too seriously, and are easily defensive?
    8 ) Do you feel you don?t cope well with certain people or events in your life?

Gonna continue doing research and see what I find.

Any other input?

Get the testing they recommend over there. Free T4, Free T3, Rev T3 aren’t that expensive if you have to pay out of pocket. That’ll give you a bunch more info. If your insurance is covering testing, get 24hr cortisol, ferritin, B12. Did your last round of testing include 8am cortisol or iron? Those are pretty common.

Got this latest round of blood work from lef.org. Much easier that way. Insurance isn’t great plus my PCP never wants to do any tests.

The male panel didn’t include 8am cortisol but iron I think: Iron, Serum 114 ug/dL range: 40-155.

is 24 hour cortisol testing done with saliva?

yep. Not cheap.