I’m a 34 year old man, 6’4 225lbs roughly 14-16%BF that recently(6months ago) began treating my T levels under the auspices of a physician. I have been on 25mg of clomid daily 5x a week along with magnesium/zinc, boron, DIM, calcium glucarate, multivitamins and glutathione. For diet I follow the RP program, for exercise I spend 30mins-1hr a day running or rucking are varying intensities along with lifting 3-4x days a week.
My TT levels have increased from low 400s to 917.
As of my last panel my levels that were high were:
Liver/kidney functions within normal limits along with all other tests. I’m trying to figure out how to bring down my sgbh and estrone levels and was wondering if anyone had any experiences similar and if and how they were successful in doing so.
I have since quit smokeless Tabacco and energy drinks while reducing my caffeine consumption. I have been in the military since I was 18 so I’m thinking workplace exposure and stress might be contributing. I make an active effort to avoid exposure to plastics and eat clean. Drink beer recreationally/socially. Thanks again for any and all input!
It would be helpful to see the normal ranges of the labs in addition to your actual results. You always need to interpret a particular lab’s results within their own normal range, as these ranges differ from lab to lab. Also, in the case of SHBG, the ranges are typically age specific, as SHBG tends to increase with age.
However, even when comparing your SHBG results to my (LabCorp) normal ranges for a 60+ year old person (17.3-65.8 nmol/L), your SHBG is high. So, I think we can safely assume you are out of range for your age group within your lab.
I too have high SHBG (average of 77 over the past 10 labs). I’ve researched this topic in depth and here are my conclusions.
The OTC products that are touted to reduce SHBG are for the most part worthless for guys like us that have ver high SHBG.
There appears to be both an environmental and a genetic component to why SHBG is so high for us. The environmental components are generally some sort of liver damage, which can be ruled out with liver labs (mine are normal). There are probably some drugs that increase it but I’ve not done any research on the topic other than with thyroid hormone supplementation, which has been shown to increase SHBG in people that are not overtly hypothyroid. The genetic component is linked to increased glycosylation (addition of sugar molecules) to the SHBG protein. This increases the half life of the protein, so it is slower to eliminate from the body, effectively increasing the concentration.
There are certain synthetic anabolic hormones that are very effective at reducing it. Stanozolol (Winstrol) and oxandrolone (Anavar) are two of them that I have tried and found to be extremely effective. However, they also feedback negatively on the HPTA and dampen normal production of T. So, unless you are on TRT, you may end up with even lower free T levels. Not sure what will happen with clomid enhancement of T levels such as with your protocol.
Low vitamin D levels are linked to high SHBG levels, so having your D3 levels checked and supplementing to get them within the desired range might help. I take 8,000 IU daily and that keeps me around 84 ng/mL with 30-100 being the targeted range (there are no ‘normal’ ranges set for D3).
Thank you for the reply, that makes sense to me. I am assuming my D3 is super low due to limited sun exposure etc, I ordered SFH fish oil with 10,000iu per serving D3 and am going to start taking it daily. Do you think i would be better off just running Test E with HCG instead of the clomid? My doctor has prescribed me 75mg of danazolol po daily for 45-60 days and re do labs to see if SHBG responds, check thyroid etc.
First off, thank you for your service. I assume the military is not managing your low testosterone?
Are you having symptoms that can be caused by elevated estrogen? Was estradiol checked?
While SERMs are anti-estrogenic in some tissues, Clomid is also estrogenic as increasing testosterone will increase estrogen. Stimulating LH will stimulate aromatization within the testicles. Plus, an isomer of clomiphene acts as an estrogen.
Personally, I think Clomid is a short term solution, at best.
Thank you all for the replies, The military is not running the protocol, I am paying out of pocket for it to circumvent a lot of Bureaucratic BS. Also taking BPC 157 orally and will be getting on cjc1295/ipamorelin blend this next week.
estriadol was last checked at 22.6 pg/mL
FSH was 3.6 mIU/mL
LH was at 5.6 mIU/mL
Never used anabolics before in my life except for a 4 week protocol of ostarine and sr9009 about 4 years ago, only did it for a month and stopped due to side effects. Really wondering if using Copenhagen/600-900mg of caffeine per day had anything to do with toxicity and raising shbg levels as well.
Do you all think I’d be better served with just switching protocol to test e or test cyp?
Again, thank you all for your time and effort.
I did not like the effect clomid had on me, so my answer would be negatively biased. There are others here in the forum with more experience in long term clomid use that may be able to give you a better answer.
You’ve got age to think about with starting TRT at the age of 34. It’s a difficult treatment to come off of once you start. Potential fertility issues would be high on the list even if you run HCG.
I’ve not personally tried Danazol (danocrine), but I’ve communicated with guys that have had very good results with it. The effective dose form those guys is closer to 20 mg per day. You might over shoot the mark at 75 mg and there is greater possibility of it cause feedback inhibition of T with higher doses. I would have tried a lower dose to start (e.g., 20 mg) and then do labs in about 4 weeks to assess T levels (total and free) and SHBG levels. Then increase the dose if necessary.
I think the fish oil/D3 supplementation is a good idea, but combining it with Danazol is changing 2 variables at once. I would have started with the D3 supplementation and then layered in the Danazol after understanding the amount of SHBG suppression you get from D3. What if your next labs come back with low SHBG? I suppose back off on the Danazol would be the logical next step, but you’ve missed the opportunity to study the effectiveness of D3.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen estrone part of a hormone panel before, you don’t need to test it again. Your doc might have meant to test estrogen, not to be confused with total estrogens.
If I had a choice I would choose cypionate, however I have heard of the years enanthate produces less water retention. This is my personal experience as well, but feel better on cypionate.
I’ve been pretty hesitant to jump on TRT seeing as I’m only 34 years old but if there’s anything better for me at this time that will work better with my body other than clomiphene and danazol then I’d def be open to try it. My job requires me to be a borderline professional athlete so I’m an old man in a young mans game with only a limited time left to go, at this point I’d rather cross the finish line a stud and break shortly after rather than not be able to run with the big dogs and get put out to the pasture.
Have you looked into Enclomiphine? It’s Clomid without the estrogenic isomer, and I’ve read of a couple guys having success raising their TT and feeling better. I’m not sure if it’s impact on SHBG is different than regular Clomid tho