Over the past handful of years or so I’ve had this conundrum of having sky-high SHBG (and typically the low Free T that accompanies that). Libido hasn’t been what it should be (though it comes and goes), and no one, from endocrinologists to general practitioners to anyone else seems to have a solution, other than possibly going on TRT, which I’m hesitant to do if I can avoid it.
Historically (going by blood work I’ve had done a few times over recent years), my Total T has been toward the high (or at least mid-high) end of the normal range, with SHBG sky-high (out of normal range) and Free T low-ish (near the bottom end of normal range). E2 has at times been spot-on and at times been high.
But I haven’t had blood work done in a while, so I just did again, and the mystery continues. As background, I am 40 years old, 5’11", 205, muscular (but always had trouble getting “better than ok” ab definition and always have that tiny bit of extra fat on the umbilicus I can’t fully get rid of). Nowadays I lift twice a week (mostly full or almost-full body workouts, leaning toward compound and functional stuff) and do muay thai training (which is like HIIT cardio, in a sense) 3-4 times per week. Diet lately is loosely Paleo-ish 5-6 days per week, with cheating 1-2 days/week.
The doctor just now, frustratingly, didn’t do all of the hormonal tests I requested, only very few basic ones. But in the past, thyroid hormones, DHT, FSH, LH, etc. have all been normal, with DHEA being toward the low end of the range. Also, this recent round of blood work was taken at 3:00 in the afternoon (not ideal), but anyway, as of 3/20/15:
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Testosterone, Total: 377.95 ng/dl (175 - 781)
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Free Testosterone: 22.01 PG/ML (4.25 - 30.37)
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Estradiol: 14.8 pg/ml (10 - 42)
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Estradiol Non-Preg, Serum: 1.0 pg/ml (0 - 47)
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SHBG: 78.9 nmol/L (13.3 - 89.5)
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PSA, total: 0.6 NG/ML (0 - 4)
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HDL cholesterol: 110.0 MG/DL (>40)
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LDL cholesterol: 107.8 MG/DL (<100)
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Triglycerides: 61 MG/DL (<150)
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Total cholesterol: 230 MG/DL (<200)
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Vitamin D, 25-OH: 46.9 ng/ml (30 - 100)
All of the other CBC stuff was just fine. (BUN and creatinine were a tiny bit high, but that’s probably just from heavy lifting.) UNFORTUNATELY the doc didn’t order the tests for Thyroid stuff or other related male hormonal stuff, so this is what I have at the moment. I’m trying to get more testing done shortly.
But, question:
How the hell can SHBG be so damn high (although at least it’s not officially out of range this time, whereas it’s been even worse in the past) and Total T be so low, with Estradiol being on the low-ish side of ideal (I understand that 22-ish is ideal), and yet FREE T be so apparently good? Does any of this make any sense?
Still experiencing typical “low T” symptoms, which is frustrating. Does anyone have any input, or thoughts on how to right this ship?
Thanks.