Bloodwork Shows Low T. Endo Says It Is Normal

I wish I had 500 !

You had to overdrive your pituitary to stimulate the testicles to go to maximum output, which still wasn’t that great for that level of stimulation imo. I’d say that you probably are primary, but may have had a little pituitary fatigue going on there as well?

I think that you were wise to start injecting. Pushing your pituitary that hard for so long to try and get your testicles to make just enough T sounds to me like a recipe for pituitary failure in your future.

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How did I overdrive my pituitary? Sorry, I don´t understand…
Edit : Ok, because LH and FSH are 3.47 and 3.

I was replying to Charlie there.

Ups…

Your doctor has elected to skip necessary testing and is common because endocrinologists typically don’t specialize in this area of medicine, no thyroid hormones or SHBG were tested. A hormone panels absent of SHBG is a red flag you’re dealing with an incompetent doctor, all sex hormone evaluation should include sex hormone binding globulin which binds testosterone, estrogen, thyroid hormones and insulin.

Of the 89% of men diagnosed with low testosterone, only 18% are the causes known and 71% are unknown cause, the 18% are either testicular failure or pituitary tumors. You have secondary hypogonadism, pituitary failure and the most common. In the meantime you are at high risk for cardiovascular disease!

Testosterone levels have been declining for decades and the cause is unknown, we have hit a tipping point and it will only get worse from here on out. It is happening worldwide and no one knows why.

Clinical studies are showing cardiovascular disease <440 ng/dL. An Endocrinologist typically do not specialize in this area of medicine and the lack of proper testing reflects it. Spend some time on these forums, read the latest clinic studies and you’ll see that your doctor is inept in this area of medicine.

Unless you want to figure out your dosing and injections frequencies on your own, then you will need to locate someone who specializes in TRT (privately) because endo’s usually do not. You won’t recover your natural testosterone production scoring your numbers as you are profoundly hypogonadal. The harvard experts have stated men scoring below a certain point will not recover naturally, you’re well below the point of no return.

I share your assessment. I feel good knowing this.
One of my testicles is heterogeneous echotexture. I believe this one is not producing testosterone efficiently. Can be proven. Echotexture suppose to be homogeneous.

Well, I had an appointment today with my family doctor.
She said the Endocrinologist has made the right tests and my Pituitary and testicles appear to be fine.
One of the things the doctor said was that probably I never really had a high testosterone level after puberty. Perhaps 400? 500? Impossible to tell now. But with 345 total T and with my current LH and FSH levels, she guarantees I am not “dysfunctional” in that regard.

Anyway, I found old bloodwork of my Thyroid, back in 2015 when I had alopecia in my beard. It´s been a while now, but it appears to be fine back then, i guess :

Free T3 : 3,89 pg/mL (2,00-4,40)
Free T4 : 1,12 ng/dL (0,9-1,7)
TSH : 1,770 uU/mL (0,270-4,200)

Most of my “energy” symptoms of this topic, are, however, after 2017.

Anyway, she passed a load of new blood tests that I´ve never even tested before to continue checking all the variables and obviously I am repeating the Testosterone test to see how it is going 6 months later. Unfortunately, no other hormones included.
Waiting for results.

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Your doctor is making a lot of assumptions and excuses. Most men do not know why testosterone is low, no pituitary dysfunction is ever found, no causes are ever found, but testosterone is low nonetheless.

Most doctors have no training in sex hormones or the HPTA and are scrambling to make sense of an area of medicine they have little knowledge, so we often hear nonsense in an attempt to make sense of what’s going on with men worldwide and why testosterone has been declining for decades.

All the new studies that are coming out are showing men with high normal testosterone live the longest and suffered the least cardiovascular issues when compared to those in the middle ranges and below.

Your Free T is below ranges and these levels are associated with cardiovascular disease and the most aggressive forms of prostate cancer. The clinical guidelines state men with consistently low levels of testosterone and the symptoms of androgen deficiency should be considered for TRT, all I see are excuses and a bunch of nonsense that you have always had testosterone in the lower range without a shred of proof and are gambling with your life because they are biased against TRT.

Testosterone Threshold for Increased Cardiovascular Risk in Middle-Aged and Elderly Men:

These data showed that a testosterone threshold of 440 ng/dL was associated with increased Framingham 10-year CVD risk in middle-aged and elderly men. Poor sexual performance, decreased morning erection, and loss of libido had an impact on the testosterone threshold for CVD risk. The threshold level was higher in men with sexual dysfunction.

This is my first post here but my experience was kind of the same. My levels were “normal” and the endo gave me a book to read on diet. Thanks but no thanks, there is something not right.

I then went to a different doc, T level was 400’ish BUT when he factored in the SHBG it had me at an effective T level of 100, which is very low obviously. I saw another reply mention SHBG. I do want to add that all these complications came after I had a vasectomy. I do not know what my T level was before getting snipped. I just know everything went downhill after getting snipped. I wish I had never had the procedure done. But I was having issues with sex drive and would a lot of times come to work and just sit for hours and do nothing. I would have to really force myself to get up and do something. I think I was depressed when I look back at it.

Been on injections for over a year now. I’m still trying to find the right balance though. But it has helped alot.

Well, I have made the bloodwork again and as said, only total T was tested.
This time, Total T is 271.

So, 03/2018 I had 289, then in 09/2018 I had 345 and thought I was on the right path after VIT. D, Selenium, and D-aspartic acide. But, now 271 ? Maybe I have to repeat the supplementation.
I have increased my meat intake (including fats) but didn´t make a difference. I am actually eating more and more and my weight doesn´t change at all. I am absolutely stuck at 70kg and the easiest thing will be to loose weight, not gain.

A lot of other things have been tested (imunology), parothid gland, prostate, but all seem normal. I am unsure about C3 and C4 complement :

Imunology :
C3 = 89,95 (90-140)
C4 = 19,40 (10-40)

Parothid : PTHi = 64.9 (11-67)

Ferritin was 300.9 and now is 272. I heard a too high ferritin level is not good for T. I am within the limits (30-340), but read somewhere than 100 was good enough.

I mean, I have low T, but unlike the majority of people, I look like a fit guy, just skinny. There is people skinnier than me for sure and with less muscule mass. But I look like a 18 year old boy almost at 40 !
Obesity is linked with low T and high Esterogen. I understand my Esterogen should be on the low side as well ??

Should I be tested for Esterogen, SHBG, IGF-1, DHEA and Prolactin ?

Sometimes I feel more normal and do the regular stuff. But, most of the times, I feel like I am hangover and my running endurance is crap. But I do still exercise, go to my training sessions and so on. But it feels like a challenge when it used just to be a normal thing.

You can keep testing levels for the rest of your life and get no where. Maybe its time to just do something about it and get the ball rolling on feeling good. If TRT doesnt improve your life then quit and go back to doing loads of blood work and taking vitamins

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Jimmy, what I fear the most is what could be causing the low T. I have to understand what is wrong. And, on top of that, that long-term TRT could do more harm than good.

I am very responsible about everything that I take into my body. So, before going to the TRT route I have to be really sure of what i´m doing. and I need a doctor´s full support. No one is really open minded around here.

The last thing I´m affraid of, is that TRT doesn´t work on my body and when I come off, I am actually WORSE than I am right now with a total shutdown.

It could be premature to play with my hormone levels ?..

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Sounds like maybe you have an anxiety issue. I bet if you sought treatment for that wether it be medication or psychotherapy you would have a much easier time with the rest of your medical issues. Just a thought.

Your levels are never going to increase by a meaningful amount, sure maybe you’ll see a fluctuation here and there, but your levels will never see optimal levels to where symptoms are completely gone.

You are wasting time with these endo’s, most are puppets and the insurance companies are pulling the strings to deny medical coverage for profit. Even if your doctor prescribes TRT you are still in for a rough ride because the protocols they like to prescribe are dated.

Low testosterone is screwing with your head, motivation is low, doubt is filling your head with doom and gloom talk because your hormones are screwed up. I see this in men who come here often, how do I know? Because I was the same as you, a doubter and thought I would never be normal again, I was a broken man.

A world doesn’t exist where you feel optimal and aren’t on TRT. The only thing that can make TRT fail is the doctor.

You are afraid long term TRT could be harmful. Well just for the sake of argument let’s say it is. So ask your self this, would you rather have 20 great years or 40 shitty years that just get progressively worse from where you are now?

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Hi,
Well, I guess you´re right. Quality of life is very important condition and we need to take it into consideration. And I´m not even saying that TRT isn´t healthy. Low T is unhealthy for sure, otherwise we wouldn´t feel bad sometimes.

I havent tested my levels since the last time i scored 271.

Meanwhile I had some good rest while on vacations and reduced my running sport a little bit. I believe too much cardio exercise (even though i´m a sprinter) and slow recovery at 38 don´t combine too well together.
I feel quite OK at the moment. No more brain fog. Energy is fine but not super. Libido is fine and it increased while on vacations. Not U20 levels, but i believe to be on the average for an almost 40 guy.

I´ll try to measure my levels soon and see if I can make a correlation between type of training , resting and T.

Honestly, there´s no doctor support for T. My regular doctor and the Endo clearly rulled it out. Both say it´s just me and my genetics and that my pituitary and testicles are both working just fine. I dont fully agree, but both say i´m on the low side, but not super-low side to require TRT.

All in all, I also still feel it could be too soon to think of TRT as long as i´m brain fog free and don´t feel super tired like I already did. I mean, as long as i´m symptoms free. Maybe i´m not ready too. Many of us are not ready until we are so i know i´m not alone.

But at this pace and if any of those symptoms come back, I may need it sooner than later.

Regular doctors and endos will never assign you TRT because they are morons, its social security thing and many other complex reasons.

Test of 271 ng/dl is low and suboptimal beyound any reason. You want your testosterone at the high end of the scale, especially the free one.

I have t of 500-600 and plan to start TRT in a couple of months. Another guy with 600 total here has started and feels much better now. We need to make it so we feel good and live quality life.

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His levels are below the threshold according to the endocrine society and these doctors are just uneducated and incompetent, if you look closely at the studies these levels are causing heart damage over time.

The OP is a victim of western medicine and it’s politics. It’s almost like your doctors are saying your levels are low, but not that low and I just want to slap them upside the head and ask what is wrong with them that they think it’s alright for a man under 40 to have the same T level as an 80 year old man.

If you look at the averages for men his age, they are all 600>, even 70% are over 500.

Reference range is all the knowledge most doctors have on normal T status which includes young men with strong pituitary glands and 80 year old men with the diseases of aging.

Well yes, I mean for sure not everybody can have 1000, but seems most men feel well there especially if SHBG > 30. If the testosterone resistance syndrome is so common thing then we have a logical explanation