[quote]KSman wrote:
It would be better if your liver was clearing more E2 from your blood. That can be impeded by some Rx and OTC drugs, alcohol and weed.
Speaking of liver, your AST and ALT are elevated. That could be from sore or bruised muscles, or problems with your liver.
You would do better with more FT, however, your E2 levels are interfering with your FT as well as making FT lower. You need to reduce E2, but you also need to ID an reasons for elevated E2 and address those [drugs and/or liver].
4000-6000iu vit-D oil based caps
50mg DHEA
fish oil
high b-vit potency multi-vit with a good selection of trace elements
Iron: most meat eating males have higher iron levels. Women have lower levels from blood loss. Your lower iron levels might be from a disease or condition, with blood loss, if you are otherwise getting a normal amount of iron in your diet. There are probably other related labs that you should do.
You have described ‘adrenal fatigue’, get Wilson’s book. You could have a chronic condition or parasites.
Your TSH is a concern. Are you getting iodine in your diet from iodized salt? Sea salt and kosher salt do not have any iodine. You can find some sea salts that are iodized.
What is your waist size?
Where do you carry fat?
Any problems with skin, hair or nails?
Serum glucose?
Do you ever feel cold when that does not make sense?
Do you run out of energy every afternoon? Salt or sugar cravings?
List supplements.
Check your body temp when you first wake up, before getting out of bed. Any pattern near 97F or lower is indicative of low thyroid levels. A temp of 97.8 is ideal. Check your temp for a few days and write down the numbers.
You need to test TSH, fT3, fT4, rT3, ferritin; and do a 4 sample saliva cortisol test. Do the latter after taking the suggested supplements and DHEA for 6 weeks. If you have not been getting enough dietary iodine, fix that and perform the thyroid labs 6 weeks later.
Your low hematocrit last year may also be indicative of a medical condition that is responsible for iron loss. While hematocrit seems to be resolved, there may still be an underlying issue.
Your lipids seem too good to be true. Anything to say about that?
How and when did all of this start? Include accidents, illnesses[include the drgs] and stressful crisis.[/quote]
Wow…thanks KSman for this response…I’ll try to answer your questions last to first:
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Yes I had several severe life-crisis-type events stacked up one after another( lost significant girl, lost significant job, lost father after 2 year struggle) which put me in a big hole, physically and mentally for about four years: Physically i went from a lean 170 to a flabby 200 …a lot of that on my belly. Mentally i went through long stretches where it took all my energy just to get up and live one more day. I’m not going to write a blog on it but if you need to know more just ask. I am doing much better now and am back to regular workouts for about a year. I’ve dropped most of that fat which had me up @ 200 though there is still a good amount on my belly/ can pinch about 2 inchens worth…i can also pinch maybe 1/4 inch on pecs/tris/quads.
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Lipids …I don’t understand your “too good to be true” response - The lab report flags me with high cholesterol though the numbers have improved from last year a bit when my doctor gave me a choice of drugs or diet to get it lower. I cut out most of the meat from my diet for about a year now…( could this be the cause of low iron ? ) I’ve always had a very clean whole food diet to begin with though I will say I was eating a few dozen eggs per week @ the time.
Last years :Chol = 237 mg/dl [200-239 borderline high]
HDL = 40 mg/dl [40- 999999]
LDL = 176 mg/dl [ < 100 optimal; 160-189 high]
Triglyc = 104 [< 150 normal]
Looks like I have more HDL this year and less LDL which is good (?) but isn’t it still too high ? Clearly I have some learning to do…
- TSH …I don’t understand this either…isn’t my number within normal range ? are you saying it’s too high or too low / under or oveactive ?
NO I do not have a source of Iodine in my diet …wow…thanks for this valuable tip. There were times in the past years when I definitley felt cold and was especially intolerant to cold water. This seems to be resolving with my improving health. I will begin logging my body temps . Thanks again for the tip.
Skin and nails are good. Hair is much dryer and brittle than ever. All of my life I’ve had to shampoo every day for oily hair/scalp. now both are pretty dry. waist size is shrinking and currently @ 33. again most of my fat is belly and tire.
Current Serum Glucose = 83 mg/dl [65-99]
I’ve ordered Wilson’s book on Adrenal fatigue… I think this will be very helpful…thanks…I don’t know if this is related to AF or depression but I have noticed the lack of any kind of adrenaline or fight or flight response since all of this started…close calls on the highway , close calls skiing, and a couple dust ups in a bar have not released any adrenaline for me and that is for sure not normal.
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I’ve cut meat and other animal proteins dramatically for a bout a year now- since my doctor advice changing my diet of=r going on drugs to lower my cholesterol numbers. Could this be the cause for low iron or it could still be blood loss somewhere ? I’m going to add some more meat to my diet and supplement iron.
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I’ve been taking 5,000 d3 since last years test showing low levels. I’m also getting A LOT of sun and my current level is 69+. Doctor told me last year to take 2000 per day but everything I read on vitamin d council website said take at least 5000 especially since storage doesn’t even begin in the body until levels around 50 are reached.
I Picked up some DHEA and am taking 50 per day on your rec. …can you explain a bit about what this does and what levels I should shoot for ? I had to show ID to get this which even though it was right there on the shelf.
I’ve been on fish oil, tablespoon or so a day, for about 2 years now, which is probably helping my triglyc. number ?
other supps are creatine,coQ10, tyrosine, alcar, and various protein powders.
I will get a multi with good b complex potency.
No prescription drugs. I’m using about 30 mg tadalafil /wk…I would like to stop this.
I do love weed and hit it 3-7 times a week. does this compete with E2 clearance a lot ? Also in the past I was using alcohol daily; I stopped this regular use last year.
Is my E2 high/Free T low in your opinion ? should I try some adex or look for it to improve with my continually improving health ?
I realize my Liver #'s are a concern here and may be affecting the E2/FT levels. Here are some other current liver levels:
LDH=180 Iu/l [100-250]
ALP= 66 Iu/l [25-150]
GGT= 11 Iu/l [0-55]
Bilirubin = 0.4 [0-1.2]
All seem to be good ?.. could the AST and ALT be elevated from deadlifting the day before the blood draw ?
Last Years ( when I was in much worse health) numbers are :
AST = 23 Iu/l [10-41]
ALT = 20 Iu/l [10-49]
what do you think ?
Thanks so much for your interest in this topic and sharing your knowledge. The insight I’ve gained just from googling the questions you’ve asked me is great and I look forward to having and actual discussion about this stuff with my doctor -rather that the usual 7 minutes of face time.