Interpreting My Lab Results

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
1

Re-posting this from Get a Life. Have never done TRT or taken steroids. I am 25.

Hi, for the first time ever I got my blood work done through WellnessFX. I’m wondering if any of you could help me out with what some markers mean, and how I can change them for the better. I’m only going to list the markers that are ‘moderate’ or ‘high’ risk for simplicity.

Triglycerides to HDL Ratio: no units, just a radio.
High risk is > 3, moderate risk is 1-3, low risk is < 1
I am at 1.

Cortisol is in microgram/dL.
High risk is > 19.5, low risk is 2.5-19.5, high risk is < 2.5
I am at 20.

Estradiol is in pg/mL.
High risk is > 39, low risk is 12-39, high risk is < 12
I am at 50.

Total testosterone is in ng/dL.
High risk is > 1301, low risk is 290-1301, high risk is < 290
I am at 1786.

SHBG is in nmol/L.
High risk is > 51, low risk is 10-51, high risk is < 10
I am at 104.

[I’ll mention free test here. I am at 216.3 pg/mL].

BUN is in mg/dL.
High risk is > 21, low risk is 6-21, high risk is < 6
I am at 24.

Everything else seems to be in the clear, low risk zone… markers such as vitamin D, folate, insulin, CRP, electrolytes, B12, etc. I have those values available if anyone needs them.

So here are my first thoughts. I’m not too worried about the cortisol/BUN levels, as my blood work was done in the morning after a 12-hr fast, and I should have drank more water. The Triglycerides to HDL Ratio is likely due to the bit of excess fat I have, which can be changed with just eating less crap/carbs.

As for my reproductive hormones, they seem all screwed up. I’m not sure if the total test of 1786 is good or bad, I mean, more is better, right? But it is labeled as high risk. And my estradiol/SHBG are way too high. Is this due to excess body fat, or something else? Are there dietary/lifestyle/supplemental changes I can make?

2

want to add some more lab stuff if that will help:

TSH is in mIU/L.
High risk is > 4.21, low risk is 0.45-4.21, high risk is < 0.45
I am at 2.79.

DHEA-S is in microgram/dL.
High risk is > 450, low risk is 160-450, high risk is < 160
I am at 173.

ALT/SGPT is in IU/L.
High risk is > 55, moderate risk is 41-55, low risk is 8-41, moderate risk is 0-8, high risk is < 0
I am at 24.

AST/SGOT is in IU/L.
High risk is > 40, low risk is < 40.
I am at 22.

3

Also, although the DHEA-S is considered ‘low risk’, it’s still on the low end of the spectrum. I’ve read that taking fish oil and vitamin E can lower the reading. I take Flameout and vitamin E tocopherols/tocotrienols.

4

total and free test look great, which is causing estrogen to be somewhat elevated, if it were me i would not be complaining about that. Are you taking any natural supps to increase testosterone?

5

[quote]eatliftsleep wrote:
total and free test look great, which is causing estrogen to be somewhat elevated, if it were me i would not be complaining about that. Are you taking any natural supps to increase testosterone?[/quote]
Here is a list of all the supplements I’m taking.

Biotest Brain Candy 4-5x a week
Biotest Creatine Malate
Biotest Curcumin
Biotest Elitepro Minerals
Biotest Flameout
Biotest Indigo-3G
Biotest Micro-PA
Biotest Rez-V
Biotest Rhodiola sparingly
Biotest Superfood
LEF CoQ10
LEF Methylfolate
LEF Gamma E Tocopherol/Tocotrienols
LEF NAC
LEF PQQ
LEF Probiotics
LEF TMG
LEF Vitamin D/Iodine mix
LEF Vitamin K

If I had to guess, the testosterone support in these would be from the zinc in Elitepro Minerals, Curcumin, Flameout, and Resveratrol. I’ve been taking Biotest supps for a long long time so maybe they have added up. I’m young (25), have lifted 5 or more times a week since I was 16, and generally have eaten healthy. No allergies, never been on any meds, etc. Still have a bit of fat to lose, especially in the glute/thigh area, which could be a reason for the high estrogen.

6

How long have you been taking the Vit-D3+1mg iodine? Total mg’s iodine taken?

Your TSH should be near 1.0, reference ranges are stupid. See the thyroid basics sticky.

Need ref range for FT!

E2=50 is very high and increasing your SHBG which inflates your TT with more T+SHBG.
You should try 1mg anastrozole per week in divided doses. If you get near E2=22pg/ml, you will feel a lot better.

See the advice for new guys sticky.

How have you been feeling?

  • sleep
  • energy
  • libido
  • temper/tolerance
  • noise sensitivity
  • feel cold easily
  • digestion OK
7

[quote]KSman wrote:
How long have you been taking the Vit-D3+1mg iodine? Total mg’s iodine taken?

Your TSH should be near 1.0, reference ranges are stupid. See the thyroid basics sticky.

Need ref range for FT!

E2=50 is very high and increasing your SHBG which inflates your TT with more T+SHBG.
You should try 1mg anastrozole per week in divided doses. If you get near E2=22pg/ml, you will feel a lot better.

See the advice for new guys sticky.

How have you been feeling?

  • sleep
  • energy
  • libido
  • temper/tolerance
  • noise sensitivity
  • feel cold easily
  • digestion OK[/quote]

I’ll check out the thyroid thread right now. I’ve been taking vit D for years, but I included the iodine since I read TC’s iodine epidemic article, so maybe 1.5 years. It has been 1 mg near every day (organic kelp and bladderwrack extract, potassium iodide).

Free Test is in pg/mL.
High risk is > 224, low risk is 46-224, high risk is < 46
I am at 216.

Sleep: usually on point. Don’t really remember any of my dreams much, but once I’m asleep I stay asleep. I feel a lot better on a full 9 hrs than say, 7 hours, in terms of grogginess. Some days I feel like I slept kind of light, however. Generally sleep from 1:30 or 2:00 AM to 10:00 AM.

No problems with energy during the day or during workouts, although I seem to dwindle sometimes at work.

Libido is so-so. To be honest I feel like I should crave women more, if that makes any sense, but morning wood is almost a daily thing so that is good.

I’m pretty tolerant of people, however I feel like I get a high temper (even though I don’t show it, I can kind of feel it build up), but I’m not sure if that is because of my job or not.

Noise sensitivity. I don’t jump/frighten at sudden or loud noises around me. People flinch but I rarely do.

Cold sensitivity. I get cold easy as hell. Especially when I wake up, my hands are always freezing.

Digestion is A-OK.

8

Your FT is decent, but low relative to TT and your high E2 and high SHBG explains that.

If you lower your E2 with anastrozole, you may feel transformed. "You should try 1mg anastrozole per week in divided doses. If you get near E2=22pg/ml, you will feel a lot better. "

Cause of high E2 is unknown and AST/ALT do not suggest any liver issues as a cause. While all of those supplements seen innocent enough, perhaps all of those together are creating a load on the liver where the enzyme pathways use to clear E2 and T+SHBG are loaded up dealing with the supplements. Other things that you “take” can be factors.

You are not iodine deficient. But TSH is elevated. Make sure that you have selenium in your supplements to prevent toxic processes that can occur in the thyroid when selenium deficient, and that effect gets increased with larger iodine intake, especially continued intake. And you might get thyroid antibodies checked. I would not suggest that to all because of costs and insurance kick-back, but I don’t think that you are concerned with those issues.

Check body temperatures!!!

Elevated E2 can make some guys bitchy. You seem to be doing OK. Your are quite estrogen dominant. Lowering E2 will greatly alter your estrogen dominance and T:E2 profile.

9

Found an interesting article.

“On the other hand, chronically elevated levels of estrogen can actually induce depression and anxiety by causing functional hypothyroidism. When thyroid hormone cannot be adequately assimilated into the cells, cellular oxygen declines. This is bad news for the brain, which uses a full 25 percent of the oxygen you breathe. Hypothyroidism also results in a slowdown of cellular metabolism, which causes a drop in levels of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutric acid (GABA). GABA is a calming neurotransmitter, which prevents the brain from being overwhelmed by stimulation. Extremely low levels of GABA can cause epileptic seizures, but even moderately low levels are linked to mood swings, anxiety, and panic attacks.”

“The brain is highly sensitive to progesterone. In fact, progesterone is found in brain cells at levels twenty times higher than in the blood serum. Here, as elsewhere in the body, progesterone counterbalances the effects of estrogen. Whereas estrogen has an excitatory effect on the brain, progesterone?s effect is a calming one. Women with estrogen dominance sleep restlessly, whereas progesterone replenishment enhances sleep.”

?Not tonight, dear . . . I have a headache,? is not a tired cliché. For many women in their midthirties and beyond, frequent headaches are the inevitable result of estrogen dominance. So is low libido. Sexual desire does not occur in the sexual organs?it occurs in the brain. Estrogen dominance can dampen sexual desire by increasing levels of sex hormone?binding globulins. These proteins attach to progesterone and testosterone in the bloodstream and inactivate them, just as thyroid-binding globulins do to thyroid hormones. Keep in mind that both progesterone and testosterone peak at ovulation, enhancing libido at the time when a woman is fertile. If a woman is estrogen dominant, with correspondingly high levels of sex hormone?binding globulins, she may be disinterested in sex even at the most fertile time in her cycle."

Some things to note here, and how it relates to me:

  1. Functional hypothroidism, which is what you eluded to KSman. I would classify myself as moody (not too bad, but there are definitely those days where I’m in a funk), and most definitely as an above average anxious individual. I feel like I worry about minor things more than I should, compared to other people at least. Could be because of the GABA relationship, L-theanine helps me a lot.

  2. Progesterone… maybe this little paragraph explains why sometimes I sleep good, and why sometimes I have very light/un-restorative sleep.

  3. SHBG… I did mention to your question that my libido is generally good, although I feel I should crave women more. Maybe this sexual desire (or lack of) is caused by high SHBG due to estrogen dominance.

10
11

[quote]EyeDentist wrote:
http://www.quackwatch.com/11Ind/hotze.html[/quote]
Shit. LOL

12

Temp this morning: 97.4
Temp mid-afternoon: 98.1

Have some worked to do. Got to do some more reading here:

Pretty interesting article, not far off from what you mentioned KSman.

Particular points that applied to me:

  • L-carnitine [I do take ALCAR] is an antagonist of thyroid hormone in peripheral tissues - it can prevent its entry into the cell. Excessive exogenous hormone may suppress the production of endogenous hormone.
  • The proper balance of T3 and rT3 is dependent on adequate selenium. Vitamin C enhances the absorption of selenium.
  • Vitamin C is an iodine transporter and protects against free radical damage caused by stress.
  • Potassium is important for proper functional of the adrenal glands. Potassium is required for conversion of blood sugar into glycogen and adrenal hormones can be depleted as a result of low levels.
  • Since this mechanism is responsible for mobilizing fat as an energy source for muscles and the brain, amino acid uptake into skeletal muscle, and the incorporation of amino acids into proteins by the liver, insulin resistance can affect this balance and contribute to nutrient deficiencies.
  • Coconut oil is a source of butyric acid, which helps the transport of T3 into the brain, and short and medium chain fatty acids, which help to modulate blood sugar and protect the mitochondria from stress.
13

how often do you guys get bloodwork done?

I had John Meadows write me a one-time base diet, and so far so good, fat is coming off easily. My goal is to get at 10% or so, and I’m wondering how this will affect my estrogen values. I’ve read a lot that excess body fat increases aromatase, which can cause elevated estrogen by aromatizing testosterone.

14

PB Andy,

Just curious why’d you use WellnessFX and not just go to your regular doctor? Which package did you use? Do you think it was worth it?

15

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
PB Andy,

Just curious why’d you use WellnessFX and not just go to your regular doctor? Which package did you use? Do you think it was worth it? [/quote]
Next time around for blood tests I will be going with my doctor (though I have no complaints whatsoever). The WellnessFX tests were just very convenient at the time… I saw an appt for the next morning at a place 5 minutes away, and I was being impatient, lol.

I used the Performance package. It is definitely worth it, the blood tests took less than 5 minutes and was professionally done, and I had my results the next week on the WellnessFX website. You can view them at any time. The only thing I was disappointed about was that the Homocysteine blood test is only in the Premium packge, I’ll just talk to my doc about that next time.

16

[quote]PB Andy wrote:

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
PB Andy,

Just curious why’d you use WellnessFX and not just go to your regular doctor? Which package did you use? Do you think it was worth it? [/quote]
Next time around for blood tests I will be going with my doctor (though I have no complaints whatsoever). The WellnessFX tests were just very convenient at the time… I saw an appt for the next morning at a place 5 minutes away, and I was being impatient, lol.

I used the Performance package. It is definitely worth it, the blood tests took less than 5 minutes and was professionally done, and I had my results the next week on the WellnessFX website. You can view them at any time. The only thing I was disappointed about was that the Homocysteine blood test is only in the Premium packge, I’ll just talk to my doc about that next time.[/quote]

Cool, I was eyeing the performance package after looking it up, but there aren’t any WellnessFX sites in MD yet.