After taking an 8 year break from lifting and getting back to working out I decided it was time to get my fat ass back into shape. I am 35 and was up to 315lbs at 6"1 as of Mid November 2017, my diet was fucked and I ate like shit and a lot. I cut back carbs not totally, usually stay around 150g or less a day, and eat a high protein diet. I eat a lot of meats and try to stay around 2600 calories a day. I work out lifting and cardio 4 days a week, and as of today I weight 254. I am happy with the rate at which the weight is dropping off and would like to walk around at about 215-220lbs. I obviously feel a lot better, but decided after talking with a buddy of mine that I should get my test levels checked. I followed the doctors instructions and went and got tested. My total test levels came back at 373 ng/dl. Doctor says that is normal, but my buddy says that is really low for my age. What do you guys think? I am considering T replacement. From my research and what I have found for my age it seems I am low. I think I should be in the 500-600 ng/dl range. Thoughts?
Just kill the doctor. He dosen’t care about your symptoms until your test will fall below lab range.
Post lab work with lab ranges, we need more than total testosterone.
LH
FSH
PROLACTIN
ESTRADIOL
SHBG<- VERY IMPORTANT
TOTAL TESTOSTERONE
FREE TESTOSTERONE
Test is low enough to make you feel like shit, your buddy is right. Also do not neglect the thyroid.
TSH
fT3
fT4
rT3
It is definitely on the low end but if you aren’t presenting any other symptoms doctors generally won’t treat.
Yeah, I don’t have any ED issues or anything like that. I don’t feel as good as I did when I trained hard 8-10 years ago thats for sure.
It seems your in a less healthy state all around so may not be related to T.
In reality your testosterone is way below average for your age group, your doctor failed to account for age related testosterone levels and that you’re scoring where healthy elderly people are landing. Your doctor doesn’t really know what normal testosterone levels are for you since you didn’t have your testosterone levels checked when you were in your prime.
So he can’t really state that your levels are normal for you. What troubles me is he didn’t even run SHBG or free T, the free hormones are what matters more than a bound up hormone that your body cannot use. He has no training in male hormones and should keep his nose out of stuff he knows nothing about.
IMO GP’s shouldn’t be making these kinds of decisions because they aren’t trained in male hormones and don’t understand these ranges very well, their only looking at the numbers and are ignoring the symptoms. They don’t understand that these ranges need to account for age, you can become more informed than most doctors in a few hours of reading.
It’s the sad true about the majority of doctors, their knowledge is surprisingly limited within their area of expertise, if most knew most would never look at a doctor quite the same way or trust them again!
In short you need a complete hormone panel and only a select few know what to even order as far as labs or even how to interpret their meaning. You will go through several doctors before you find one that knows what their doing.
Most doctors get TRT wrong, educate yourself as it’s the only way to know if you’re wasting your time with your current doctors. I’ve been on TRT for a year and been through many doctors who just don’t know what to do in regards to my symptoms or how to balance my other hormones while on TRT.
I’ve had to figure it out all by myself. When I’m having problems I don’t go to my doctors, I come here.
Do you purchase your test yourself or do you still rely on the doctor for your script?
Doctor prescribes the test and I pay for the labs since doctor refuses to test for estrogen which is mission critical for TRT’s success. The problem is the guidelines don’t say anything about estrogen management, so like robots they must obey.
Non-insurance doctors can do what’s necessary and this allows them the freedom to truly shine, insurance doctors have one hand tied behind their back. I figure in 10 years insurance based doctors will have more experience in TRT, but forgive me if I chose not to wait that long for them to learn on unsuspecting guinea pigs.
Please do not neglect the thyroid and oral body temperature issues referenced below. This is way more important than most can imagine.
Post the oral body temperatures before you do thyroid lab work. If temperatures are good you do not need those labs.
You can do lab work on your own in most USA States.
We need:
supplements
health problems
height
weight=315–>254
waist size
Labs:
TT=373
FT
E2
LH/FSH ← cannot be done after TRT starts
prolactin
CBC
hematocrit
AST/ALT
Normal: Lab ranges are derived from a large number of samples from a sample population [of unknown ages] that is fitted to a bell curve or “normal distribution” and the ranges are what captures 95% or the sample group, throwing out the top and bottom 2.5%. The statement that “your are normal” is false or grossly misleading. The range thus only allows for 2.5% of the population to be low and that is meaningless. The statistical meaning of “normal” has been perverted through institutional ignorance.
Your cholesterol is getting too low. 180 is ideal. Cholesterol is important and is the foundation for creating your sex hormones, cortisol and supports whatever Vit-D3 you make from sun exposure.
What lab company did that lab work?
Where are you located?
Please read the stickies found here: About the T Replacement Category - #2 by KSman
- advice for new guys - need more info about you
- things that damage your hormones
- protocol for injections
- finding a TRT doc
Evaluate your overall thyroid function by checking oral body temperatures as per the thyroid basics sticky. Thyroid hormone fT3 is what gets the job done and it regulates mitochondrial activity, the source of ATP which is the universal currency of cellular energy. This is part of the body’s temperature control loop. This can get messed up if you are iodine deficient. In many countries, you need to be using iodized salt. Other countries add iodine to dairy or bread.
KSman is simply a regular member on this site. Nothing more other than highly active.
I can be a bit abrupt in my replies and recommendations. I have a lot of ground to cover as this forum has become much more active in the last two years. I can’t follow threads that go deep over time. You need to respond to all of my points and requests as soon as possible before you fall off of my radar. The worse problems are guys who ignore issues re thyroid, body temperatures, history of iodized salt. Please do not piss people off saying that lab results are normal, we need lab number and ranges.
The value that you get out of this process and forum depends on your effort and performance. The bulk of your learning is reading/studying the suggested stickies.
We need:
supplements- Just taking C4 pre workout 4 days a week, and a Mens Health Multi Bit
health problems- none
height- 6ft 1
weight=315–>254
waist size- 46 inches at my gut and 42inches at my hips.
I was under the impression that my cholesterol was ok, I will research this more. What things can I do to make this better?
I just took my temperature with an oral digital thermometer and it was 98 degrees, I will check when I first wake up tomorrow morning.
I am in the US, and the lab that did the work was Kaiser.
I will have to go to a lab to get the other things tested.
Thank you for your time.