Low DHEA, Effected by TRT?

So I am at my second real attempt at HRT after visiting many doctors and finding one that seems for the most part like he knows what he’s doing.

In March, I had my testosterone checked and it was low [ 232 (241-827) ng/dL ] and was put on 60mg axiron T gel daily and it raised my T levels to [ 605 (241-827) ng/dL ] and I stayed on this for 5 months. However, even with raised T levels I continued to feel bad so I got more tests done with a different doctor who I was referred to.

My blood results in early July while still on TRT were:

ACTH 15 (0-46) pg/mL
Estradiol 28 (0-56) pg/mL
Test total 478 (332-896) ng/dL
FSH 4 (1.4-22.2) mIU/mL
LH 2.1 (1.7-8.6) mIU-mL
TSH 1.437 (0.4-5.0) uIU/mL
T4 Free 1.15 (0.7-1.5) ng/dL
Cortisol 7.7 (6.0-30) ug/dL
Prolactin 6.3 (1.6-18.7) ng/mL

This doctor thought everything was fine and then referred to me a GI specialist. I think he was trying to get me out of his hair. He told me to stop taking testosterone and I listened to him.

I recently found a new doctor and I got some labs done. I had only been off of TRT gel for about 3 weeks prior to this test so I am not sure if some results might be skewed from TRT.

T3 Free 3.1 (2.5-3.9) pg/mL
FSH 4.6 (1.0-19.0) mIU/mL
LH 6.5 (2.0-12.0) mIU/mL
T total 206.4 (249-836) ng/dL
Estradiol II 7 (8-43) pg/mL
DHEA-S04 47 (232-531) ug/dL

It’s almost relieving to see this super low DHEA result because it means there is something else I can try to fix in hopes it can make me feel normal again. Also, new DOC put me back on TRT with a 100mg per day compounded cream.

What I don’t know is if these results could have been affected by taking testosterone for 5 months. What tests should I have taken to find out if my low DHEA levels might have affected other hormones? And what tests can I take to see if there are other things that might be causing my low DHEA?

Mostly bump since I havnt really gotten to the bottom of this. But also a bit of an update here after going through some trial and error with the doc and some interesting new symptoms.

So new doc got me on DHEA 100mg a day for the past month and we have yet to check to see what hormones its effecting. The 100mg per day T cream bumped my total T levels from 200 natural to 270 with T… Once we noticed i didnt really go much higher he gave me a shot in the rump with what he called a heavy dose. Here is what happened…

The VERY NEXT morning after the shot, i woke up at around 4AM completely awake after to going to bed around 8-9 pm. This may not sound spectacular to most people but normally I have to drag myself out of bed at 5 am and if left alone I will sleep until 10. Not uncommon for me to sleep 12 hours just to feel rested. As the day went on i felt back to normal, tired and foggy. The next day was a repeat, but by day 3-5 i felt like shit again. I am not sure if this is a promising sign or not since I only really noticed a difference for the morning.

I have also noticed a trend to where if my T levels are increased or decreased I have increased nightly erections and just generally feel better. For example if i miss 1 or 2 days of T cream my nightly erections will increase and I feel a bit better for the 1-2 days. Then I just feel like absolute crap for any other days added with no treatment. Then when i put the cream back on it takes about 2 days before i start feeling slightly perky again followed with increased nightly erections. If i stay at the same level of T dosage, after 5 days my nightly erections are almost non existent and just feel very apathetic and foggy but still overall better than if I wasnt taking T.

Right now my doc is researching the options for home injections, but is still trying out the dosages and time between injections. I also pressed the idea of HCG but I feel he in unfamiliar with the study of 250iu weekly supporting male TRT because as soon as i bought it up he said “we used to use that stuff in high dosages a long time ago for inducing testicles to drop for people with disorders” or something along those lines. But with my DHEA being so low I am still not sure if this is the right path of treatment.

My DHEA is also very low like yours, but supplementing DHEA doesn’t work for me. I get achy all over (especially lower back) and problems urinating (prostate swelling) from DHEA.

From your descriptions of feeling better shortly after starting or stopping it sounds like your T dose is too high.

Seeing your low cortisol and low DHEA-s, looking at adrenals is probably not a bad idea. Get the 4x Saliva test from Canary Club.

I got a x4 cortisol test.

Morning : 8 Range(13.0-24.0) about 1/3 of the bell curve
Noon : 1.23 Range(5.0-8.0) about 1/6 of the bell curve
5pm : .83 Range(4-7) about 1/6 of the bell curve
evening .33 Range(1-3) about 1/6 of the bell curve

Doc looked over with this with me and all my tests were dead center of the LOW cortisol shaded area and the doc said I have stage II adrenal fatigue. Although my DHEA being super low not months ago might lead into stage III. Being the naturo he is, hes pushing me on some supplement but ultimately said he’s probably gonna have to put me on hydro-cortisone. He then said we might try and stop TRT and see if my body can sufficiently produce testosterone and all over hormones on its own… I’m not sure how I feel about this. I havn’t gained much ground in terms of feeling better on the medications i’ve been taking, but im afraid of giving up any grounds and just making my condition worse. I am not sure what the best approach to this is. Also, im not quite sure what condition I have. I dont know if it’s adrenal fatigue because my body is not producing cortisol, or if i have pans-hypopituitaryism or some other crazy deal.

Edit: Also to note I’ve experienced some symptoms of stage III adrenal fatigue

Hi mate / your post hasn’t attracted much attention, and I don’t have any answers for you… curious if you have made any progress?