Blood was drawn at 11.30am (I hadn’t eaten anything that morning but that is normal as I follow intermittent fasting as part of my diet).
My GP (I am based in the UK) referred me to get some blood tests and the results have come back. Here they are: http://imgur.com/vQ42kbj
I would be very grateful if someone with better knowledge than me could help me to interpret them please?
My GP has told me that my results are within the ‘normal’ range. However I understand their normal range is based upon men aged 18 to 85 so whilst I might be at the lower end of the ‘normal’ range across this age range I wonder if I am in the normal range for my age.
I have looked at an article on Art of Manliness and according to the study I have the same testosterone as an average 85 year old man. That is clearly not good.
By way of background:
My wife and I are trying for a baby and my semen analysis results are all good. My sperm content, motility etc are all very high and towards the upper ranges.
I have recently come stopped a cut where I leaned out from 187lbs to 168lbs (with no loss of strength in the key lifts which are all in the intermediate strength ranges). I have been reading some of Lyle McDonald’s work where he has written about negative hormonal effects of dieting.
352 ng/dL is low normal, you’re still considered low if you were in the US. Doctor didn’t test Free Testosterone, you have an uphill battle on your hands because you’ll likely become even lower in the coming years.
President Trump has higher T levels (441.6 ng/dL) than you and he is 71 years old!
You need to test LH and FSH to determine if problem is pituitary or testes. Resist the tendency to only test LH there.
Many in UK are iodine deficient. TSH and T4 are good, fT3 is the active hormone. Body temperatures are more conclusive than thyroid labs in many cases.
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.