Stellar lipids, so I’d rule out a bad liver function or poor cholesterol metabolism. The issue may be downstream ergo, DHEA testing and Cortisol.
Free t3 is rather low, should be mid range like t4. Free t4 isn’t bad, tsh is good but it means little when it comes to peripheral (hypo)thyroidism, could be suppressed by deiodinases. Looks like you may have a high t4>rT3 conversion. Can’t be sure without direct rT3 labs.
Thyroid labs, and Glucose being close to 3 digits point towards high Cortisol (which is consistent with the rather low T and rather high shbg).
Can you talk to your doc about how you’re feeling extremely stressed, very anxious and can’t sleep, whatever you can make up that sounds plausible which would lead to at least a blood Cortisol test? The ideal being saliva testing (or maybe urinary)
Another guy from this forum had high SHBG (but was a lean and big guy avoiding carbs aka easy fix imho…) and among the zillion of blood tests he had done the urinary Cortisol came back high iirc.
That’s good atleast. Always wondered about thyroid stuff, but wasn’t sure what else to check. I had to talk her into the free t3 and t4 with the anti bodies. My little brother has hyperparathyroidism or hypercalcemia
I could ask her for rT3, DHEA, and Cortisol. Was looking on Discount Labs and Cortisol Saliva is pricey $227. Blood isnt too expensive, is saliva just the more accurate test? The only thing I see for DHEA is DHEA - Sulfate, so I assume that is the right one. rT3 isn’t too pricey either, but would be better if I could just run them all through insurance I’m sure.
This would probably just increase SHBG even further. I tried it for a month. I felt better for a few days and then started feeling terrible on it. My SHBG went up 25% and free T actually went down a bit. Everyone reacts differently though. I have read a couple of accounts of guys with high SHBG doing ok on Clomid. Probably quite rare though.
I wouldn’t really want to recommend it to anyone as I’m no doctor. I am only at the start of my own TRT journey so yet to see how it pans out for me. I’ll update my thread periodically so you can see my progress there if you’re interested
True, was just curious what some others thought about it. Didn’t see too many success stories from it, couple guys talked that it helped free test, but who knows.
Understood, was just looking for opinions. I’d like to rule out everything I possibly can before committing to something like that. I like asking other guys who research and are interested in their health and such. Especially considering its very tough finding a knowledgeable Dr around me. Not saying they aren’t smart, but when it comes to hormones and all of that they’re just not very knowledgeable there. Definitely will check out your thread.
standard forum doses are way too high, not adapted to males. Many studies use high doses too. Some Doctors these days starts people on 25mg MWF, reassess after 3 weeks. I never needed more than 25mg e5d.
since Clomid will most definitely get SHBG further up I’d strongly consider SHBG lowering drugs, ahem proviron may not be legal but you know, it can be found. I think some herbs like Tribulus, Stinging nettle root, kinda lower SHBG. Or an ever higher intake of fruit/fructose.
Indeed salivary Cortisol is pricey. Blood isn’t useless so maybe try it out. DHEA sulfate is proper.
I think you’ll have trouble with most endos because your bloods aren’t THAT far off at all, and that isn’t justifying going straight for TRT either. It’s nice that you have the mindset of digging deeper trying to find what’s wrong.
But then at some point if you really feel like you can’t take it anymore, feeling low T even with decent bloods it could be a receptor issue. In which case TRT is the only thing that always does what it’s supposed to do 100%. Keep in mind TRT is a last resort therapy… I have in mind a case where the endo met a guy whose bloods were absolutely perfect but he felt like ass. Patient was training hard every other day eating “clean” and working a high stress job… this all screams high Cortisol but the doc never tested dhea, thyroid, none of that… straight gave them 200 mg/wk “TRT”.
First off, thank you for all the thorough responses, much appreciated.
May avoid Clomid all together due to that. I’d just read a instances where people stated it helped free test, but it may cause me harm than good.
I have come quite close to buying something like Testabolan (as it has 3,4-Divanillyltetrahydrofuran in it. It also has ALCAR in it, so not sure how I feel about that. I’ve had major anxiety issues before, which I finally got control over, so anything that hits on the mental side concerns me as I dont want to bring that back), or really anything with quality Stinging Nettle in it and seeing if that helped. Haven’t found actually studies or anything showing it does indeed work. Just testimonials and claims from others, but if there are no negatives it could be worth trying. I want to say I read it decrease DHT or could cause libido issues, that may have been something else though.
I’ve read up some on Proviron as well. I’m sure I can manage to locate it somehow. Safety profile looks good, only major thing with it would be the affects on HDL and LDL, but other than that it sounds quite safe.
I reached out to my Pdoc and asked for those three labs. I said if she cant order Saliva, then Urinary would be my next choice. If she is unable to help at all, then I will go order the labs myself and not fool with insurance. Tried getting her to dig down on things before and she just blamed my anxiety and thought all those labs I wanted were unnecessary. Which it is my body, I would like to know how things are functioning. Not sure why Drs here are so difficult.
Right, I figured trying to see an Endo would just end up being a waste of time. At this point I am better off researching on my own and talking with others like you who are passionate about health and wellness. Then I can get labs I need done and show them the results.
Exactly, I have filled the TRT scripts just to have, but that is last resort. I respond well and to low doses of things, so I’d keep it very minimal if it came to having to go that route. Would much rather resolve it without going there though. My urologist was like take 200mg every other week… I said that is a terrible route and told him if I did it I’d be breaking it up with 2 injections per week and not even doing 200mg. Also, have a compounded cream, as I thought maybe if I did jump on, then I’d prefer not sticking myself for life and running low dose cream daily. Figured this would help avoid highs and lows. Granted not everyone responds well to creams/gel.
Again, that is all a last resort thing as it is a major commitment.
Millions of people living at altitude with high hematocrit readings. Some guys do not see much change anyway, and if you do, it’s easy enough to donate blood.
True, as I said not against TRT, but that is last resort, just since it is basically lifelong commitment. I’m waiting to hear back on getting labs ordered for rT3, DHEA, Cortisol. As tontongg said, my free T3 is rather low, so that is why I was going to do rT3 and those others based on what you all have said.
Do you have any recommendations for actually boosting free test and lowering SHBG some? I mean there may not really anything that is proven to work. I may try to locate some proviron, I had considered clomid, but it sounds like a bad option due to boosting SHBG.
sorry to jump in. i have high shbg. current diet containtd 380-400 ish carbs from potato bread pasta oats. fats are pretty high too. what should i look into for lowering it?
None of the foods listed above will lower SHBG consistently. Androgens that specifically bring SHBG down (oral AAS like proviron) and fructose will do. SERMs will raise it. Overtraining as well.
I’d remove a good amount of fats and sub in 5-10 fruits a day. The most active and health concerned guys avoid fructose the most even though they deplete liver glycogen the most. Leads to troubles.
i do eat around 5-6 servings of fruits. i still have 75 ish shbg. i strongly need to lower that. my alt and ast are a bit high but not that impressive. just by a few points.