New here and fairly new to TRT, about 4 months. Look I will be honest up front, my total T 4 months ago before I started was 561 but my free was low. I did have some symptoms but my GP said I did not need T injections because I simply have age related normal reducing T. I decided to see what Peteruncaged MD might say and they gave me cyponaite. Been doing ok with it and feel pretty good but my E2 seems to get a bit high…70 on a scale that tops out at 44. Nips a little tender I must say.
Anyway, ended up at endocrinologist today to talk about my thyroid being a bit under active and of course this subject came up. He wants me to cease T as he also says 561 total T was just fine…free T being a bit low is of no concern. I am 57 btw, in good shape, eat well and have always taken good care of myself.
Yup, that’s not good. My original labs were the same way… lower than yours but in range TT with pitiful Free T. I can’t tell you want to do, but I wouldn’t feel wrong for pursuing TRT. It’s not getting any better as you age.
The Free T is the most important biomarker to be focusing on because it’s the unbound portion of testosterone that affects tissue changes and clearly your doctor is out to lunch!
I have seen other members posts where they were closer to midrange for the Free T and still benefited from TRT.
There is no Total T or Free T concentration threshold that reliably distinguishes those who will respond to treatment from those who will not.
You have the about the same Free T levels I did when I was diagnosed with low-T (->Type 2 diabetes/obesity), only my Total T was 91 and SHBG 11.
Damn man thats impressive for your age, makes me feel better jumping on TRT at the age of 33 with a T level of 400 and an untraceable E2 on a non sensitive read. For a long time I still had this guilt of jumping on T with that level.
Considering your age i would be more open minded regarding symptoms in the decision of jumping on TRT or not.
@tareload@anon18050987@highpull Do you guys notice any correlation between SHBG and T levels in natural dudes? Like say lower SHBG guy having lower TT.
Awesome ok so my SHBG was 22.7 before TRT, hence maybe the lower end TT. Interestingly my SHBG has remained pretty much the same since TRT, with the lowest dip being 19, but that wasn’t even on the highest dose of T I have done. Actually checking back through blood work that was one of the lowest doses per week I did and EOD injections, also going along with the 2nd graph in that there does not seem to be a correlation once on TRT.
My endo without hesitation put me on TRT. The problem for you is you’re waiting for doctor to catch up and understand guys with high SHBG can have a high Total T but low Free T.
Your estrogen will most likely mirror your Free T result.
The high SHBG is confusing your doctor into thinking your testosterone is fine.
My Total T as of yesterday is 1052 ng/dL and Free T almost at the top!
TESTOSTERONE, TOTAL
1,052 ng/dL
221 - 716 ng/dL
TESTOSTERONE, FREE, CALCULATED
33.6 ng/dL
7.0 - 36.7 ng/dL
Jatenzo at 237 mg twice daily and at age 50, a typical day off is spent riding 10 miles to the beach, swimming for 2-3 hours, then returning home for a shower, then straight to the gym and still have energy left to keep going and feel sleepy right before bedtime.
Interesting. I felt bad about 4 years ago and had my T-tested and was around 230 total and 2% free. I cut afternoon caffeine completely and reduced morning to 2 cups, and in 60 days I was at 530 and still about 2% free (free is pretty good) and I felt fantastic, virile, got strong, gained muscle. People don’t just vary in their Total and Free T but can vary a lot in their T-sensitivity, and T-sensitivity can vary from week to week as well. I know plenty of hard training 40-50 somethings who are in the 500s and have no negative symptoms whatsoever. I feel really good in the mid 500s but with a little above average Free to total ratio.
I may go in and get checked again. Reducing my caffeine in take to about 1/3 of where it had been was having very positive benefits on my sleep and seemed to raise my T-levels. I’ve also lost about 12 pounds of fat since then.
I cannot say I particularly pay attention to that, but it does seem that I do not see many with lower total testosterone levels and higher SHBG levels. Also, it does not seem that guys with high total testosterone have lower SHBG. Those are general observations.
TRT can’t work well when iron is low because there are all sorts of metabolic abnormalities in iron deficiency. Whenever my ferritin and iron were low, I didn’t feel the effects of TRT at all and didn’t even feel like I was on TRT.
The same goes for vitamin D, my muscles went soft on me when vitamin D dropped low.
I needed 200-250 mg iron split 3x daily for 2-3 months, then had to reduce to 140 mg.
I use the Vitamin Shoppe brand iron, the 25 mg is for sensitive stomachs and the 28 mg version isn’t.