First a little background. I’m 53 years old. I’m 5’11" and weigh about 190. Went through a divorce last year after 18 years of marriage. The divorce was long overdue in my opinion. One month after our separation (Jan 20,07) I met a wonderful woman, whom I am still with today. Looking back, I was merely existing for 6-8 years as my marriage was pretty bad during that time. My girlfriend turned all that around. I went on a diet and lost 58 pounds last year and she was the motivation behind it. I work-out 4 days a week for one hour. I’ve been on a semi-strict diet since.
But some things didn’t get better. I feel all the symptoms of low T, from what I’ve been reading.
Just had a physical a couple weeks ago. It was a routine physical that was long overdue. While I was there, I told the doctor how I feel. He wanted to rule out thyroid before checking into hormone issues. I reluctantly went along with it. Had a follow-up visit yesterday. Everything checked out better than good. We again talked about my other issues and he agreed to check T levels. I asked about all the other tests involved and he said he just wanted to check Total, Free T and E2. He didn’t want to test for all the other things as that “confuses things”. I asked about LH. Well, on my way upstairs to the lab, I looked at the tests that he had requested and it was all on there. So, my “oh shit, here we go” attitude changed. He even checked B12 and folate. PSA was done last visit. He even had LH, FSH, and SHBG on there and I didn’t mention the latter two, so he knows what to look for.
This physical is the first time I’ve seen this doctor. So far I’m happy with him, but we’ll see what happens if my results come back normal low scale. I don’t usually get enough sleep and my blood draw was at 4:45pm. That should help with low T results.
Thanks to ksman, happydog, knb, headhunter and others, I have learned much and will continue to learn from your experience and wisdom. My hat is off to all of you.
Sorry for the long post. I have been mostly lurking and learning on these forums, but this is by far my favorite one.
Just got off the phone with the doctor. I’m disappointed. He said everything was “normal” except LH which was a little low but ok in his opinion. I asked for the numbers and he went through them as follows:
TT 457 250-1100
FT 72.5 35-155
LH .5 1.5-9.5
Then he told me estrogen was normal at 95 and that anything under 130 was good. I told him that I should have been tested for E2 on not total estrogen. Total estrogen was fine for women. He said that if my estrogen is under 130 then the E2 would also be normal.
I also said, “LH tells the testicles to produce, correct?” and he said they are producing or my TT wouldn’t be 457. Low normal is what I DIDN’T want to see.
I didn’t pin him down as far as treatment, but didn’t suggest anything either, except to start taking Vit D as that would help with my symptoms.
He asked if I would like a referral to an Endo and I said yes.
He is also going to send the results to the urologist that I have an appointment with Friday morning. My appointment with him is for trace blood in urine. It’s been that way for many years. I saw a doctor about 15 years ago about it and he said it’s probably normal for me.
Any thoughts? I’m looking for some direction please.
The more I think about this the more pissed I get. Maybe that’s the moodiness kicking in. I’m thinking about calling him back and telling him that I don’t want to be low end normal range, I want to be high end normal range.
I told him about the symptoms I’m having. The ED, moodiness, fog, can’t concentrate, etc. I have the desire for sex, but I’m running out of Aspire 36.
Idon’t know how total E relates to E2, but I sure as hell would want to know what my E2 number was, mine’s high, it sucks, but I’m preparing for battle. Im calling fubar on your Doc not testing for E2, I’m not trying to get you more upset, its an important component of our health.
Regards,
crosdaddy
What does Aspire 36 do to your T and other lab numbers? Anyone know that is in the bottle? Does the product claim to increase T?
If E2 was high, LH could be low. But then T should be low as well.
Your labs may be tainted by the Aspire 36… Hopefully someone here knows what it does. Is it now out of production?
Your hypogonadism symptoms seem solid.
If you cannot get this resolved by the endo, you may find that adex will provide great benefits on its own with your not so awful T numbers. Elevated E can create those symptoms even with high TRT T numbers.
With E2, a level around 40% of the upper range seems very good. You are at 73% of your Total E upper range 130.
Any signs of muscle loss?
Vit-D. You need 2000iu every day. If you get sun exposure, that will do. 20 minutes of sun exposure to a large amount of your body creates 10,000iu. If your skin is white, you get that easily. If your skin is dark, you will have less vit-D in a northern climate. Your body stores Vit-D during the summer and uses this into the winter, then your levels drop. Vit-D is changed into a hormone that is vital to well-being.
What drugs are you taking… these can shift your T: ratio.
Aspire 36 was recalled as it had a derivative of Cialis in it and was not approved by the FDA. I don’t know what it does to T levels, but it had been several days since using it. I don’t believe is stays in your system that long, but I suppose it could do something to T levels.
Other than 1 dose of Aspire, I stopped all supplements prior to the blood work.
No signs of muscle loss. In fact, just the opposite. I have been working hard to make it so. I train 4-5 days per week for an hour. I lost 58 lbs last year, but still have this very stubborn roll in the mid-section that is driving me nuts.
No drugs at all. Not even aspirin and I rarely drink alcohol.
I have had trace blood in urine for 25 years. The doctor I saw about 15 years ago wasn’t concerned, but my current doctor referred my to a urologist because I work at an oil refinery and am exposed to compounds that are not the most healthy things to be around.
Just got a copy of the lab results in the mail. I misunderstood the LH number over the phone, but it’s still below range.
The results are as follows:
TT 457 ng/dL 250-1100
FT 72.5pg/mL 35.0-155
% FT 1.59
FSH 3.4 mIU/mL 1.6-8.0
LH 1.1 mIU/mL 1.5-9.3
SHBG 25 nmol/L 18-47
Estrogens 95 pg/mL 130 or less (I know it should have been E2)
Folate 21.2 ng/mL >5.4
Vit D 23 ng/mL 20-100
My doctor was not inclined to prescribe any treatment.
Went to a Urologist. He would not do anything because FSH was normal. I asked him why I had to be low normal on TT and not high normal. He said because I’m not 20 years old. I said, “I’m not 80 years old either.” He moved on to another area.
I’m considering trying Adex on my own. I’ve been told that it could lower E2 and raise LH at the same time. Start with .25-.5 mg/week?
You have 1/2 the TT of a high range TRT result. As adex dosing is proportional to T levels, then 0.5 mg/wk would be a reasonable start. You could start with 0.25 and work up from there, 10 days for the first phase then 7 days for each change. I am sure that you have seen my info about adex over-responders before and know the negative effects to watch for.
Try to get into a dose that feels right before you lab test, then you can fine tune based on that result. If you wanted E2=22 and the labs were E2=26 and were taking 0.5mg/wk at the time. Alter your dose like this:
26/22 * 0.5mg/wk = .54mg/wk
If you were taking 14 drops per week [4 drops EOD], that would change to 16.55 drops per week. That would be 4.73 drops EOD. Round that up to 5 drops EOD [.625mg/wk] - which scales to E2=20.8. Actual changes will not always be a simple linear adjustment. However, this is many times better that dose increments of 1/4 tablet.
Some seem to count 28 drops/ml with the supplied dropper, I seem to get 30 drops/ml. This does not matter much as long as you stick to that number and do the math as above to make lab base dose adjustments.
If you want to change the dosing by increments that are not 3.5 drops per week, you can use less drops or more drops on some particular days. It is easy to do this on an EOD day that falls on a weekend. Example: 8 drops EOD and 10 on Sunday [30 drops per week].
Thanks for the response KSman. Yes I have read with great interest, your info on over-responders and negative effects. I will pay very close attention to this.
This may sound like a silly question, but how would one get blood drawn for LEF? Am I to do this myself?
Call 1-800-208-3444 or place your order online, and we’ll send you a requisition form. (NY, NJ and RI residents see disclaimer at end of this page)
Visit one of the LabCorp draw stations closest to you to have your blood drawn. (You will receive a list of the 3 labs closest to you via mail).
Blood test results may take up to two weeks to be completed. Results will be mailed upon completion of all tests.
There is a LabCorp draw station about 15 minutes from home.
LEF sends you a labcorp blood sheet and you just take it to any local labcorp. they draw the blood and send you the results. this is definitely the way to go. also a big thanks to ksman for turning me on to this, it has been awesome and i have since purchased several lab sheets for friends and family. LEF is definitely a good organization that i don’t mind supporting.
[quote]muttley wrote:
Thanks for the response KSman. Yes I have read with great interest, your info on over-responders and negative effects. I will pay very close attention to this.
This may sound like a silly question, but how would one get blood drawn for LEF? Am I to do this myself?
Ordered Adex yesterday. Should be here in a couple days. 1/2mg per week is only 2 drops per day. This must be some very potent stuff. Does it matter if I go 2 drops ED or 4 drops EOD? Should I keep a log as to how I feel after week 1, week 2, etc?
