[quote]sinnaman18 wrote:
I will make this to the point.
I am currently being treated for hypothyroidism after a long search for causes of general fatigue, dysphoria, and mild cognitive impairment.
My doctor thinks that the rest of my test results were okay, but I noticed that a few of my hormones, namely testosterone, IGF-1, and aldosterone, looked low for a young man in otherwise excellent shape (take my word for it).
Here are the results:
IGF-1 (BL) 225 ng/mL (reference range for 19-20y: 281-510, mean: 371 with SD 75)
Testosterone: 527 ng/dL (reference range 280-800)
Aldosterone: 11 ng/dL (reference range 7-30 upright)
Also:
Prolactin, Serum (ICMA): 9.2 (reference 3-18)
FSH, serum: 3.6 mIU/mL (1.5-12.4)
LH, S: 2.8 mIU/mL (reference 1.7-8.6)
Iron, serum: 180 ug/dL (40-155) – “high”
More results available upon request.
For a group of lifters who understand that being at the low end of reference ranges (or below in the case of IGF) is unacceptable, what should I make of these results?[/quote]
Everything is within the normal range.
You lift and train in my experience heavy training programs can induce large decreases in testosterone (I have no experience measuring IGF) both total and free. I have seen training programs lower total T levels by over 50% in a very short period (around 3-3 weeks). These levels rebound to higher than original within a month of decreasing training volume and maintaining intensity. Longer bouts of high volume training may induce troughs in T that take longer to super compensate.
What does your training program look like in terms of days per week, lift, sets, reps etc?
I would also ask the following questions about your nutrition;
- Are you eating enough calories?
- Are you eating enough carbs (high protein, low carb will decrease T)?
- Enough fats, total, monosat and sat?
- Junk food with sugar - this will cause a decrease in T both acute and chronic?
If training program is high volume ie heavy sets of 10 plus reps and numerous days per week my first port of call would be 2-3 x per week low volume, strength and power work - maybe for 3-4 weeks and retest.