Your TSH value is complete shit. You should have a TSH value of 1.0, anything that is over 2.0 is usually sub clinical hypothyroidism and that can easily explain why you are feeling down and tired even with good testosterone level.
Do you have ft3, ft3 and rt3?
You should read the sticky on the thyroid thread since you might be deficient in iodine and if you are then you can fix your energy problems.
The free hormone theory has also a couple of flaws that.
The article is free to access. Below a couple of excerpts
…although pharmacological theories evolved, FHH persisted in Endocrinology making a remarkable transit from a simple, illustrative heuristic to quasi-axiomatic status without ever undergoing critical empirical testing.
Experiments of Nature involving genetic modifications of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) and analogous circulating binding proteins also shed doubt on the plausibility of the assertion that FT represents the most active moiety of circulating testosterone. The rare mutations inactivating human SHBG (7–9) convert all circulating testosterone to “free” or “bioavailable” form but display no distinctive phenotype. As possible artifacts of ascertainment bias, further evidence is required to distinguish an authentic phenotype of human SHBG deficiency if one exists. Similarly, increasing reports of genetic polymorphisms of SHBG that alter testosterone’s binding affinity to SHBG may influence measurement of circulating testosterone but without necessarily any reproductive or other health detriments.
Yet, the absence of circulating SHBG in mature rodents has no apparent reproductive or other phenotype indicating that SHBG, and by implication FT, is redundant in mammalian reproductive physiology. This is reinforced by experiments humanizing mice to express transgenic human SHBG in the mature mouse liver so that SHBG then appears in the bloodstream. The main effect was that SHBG reduced clearance rate and prolonged half-time of circulating testosterone, confirming analogous evidence in nonhuman primates (12), as well as dampening the extreme pulsatility of circulating testosterone in mice (13), an effect without known adverse impact. Despite dramatically elevated (200-fold) circulating testosterone, there were minimal changes in serum luteinizing hormone, seminal vesicle, and levator ani muscle weights consistent with a minimal hypogonadal phenotype (2, 14)…
I do appreciate the studies and articles that you link. Some of them are pretty interesting.
Also an interesting read. Unfortunately you need a subscription to have full access
In conclusion, the results of our study show that in male neonates and in healthy adult men levels of SHBG, if at all, barely contribute to variations in non‐SHBG‐T.
SHBG vs. total testosterone (open symbols) and non‐SHBG‐T (closed symbols) in newborn boys and adult men.
My doctor said that I’m fine. I specifically asked about hypothyroidism because of my TSH level being at 3.7 and she said that I do not have hypothyroidism and that this level will fluctuate and I am within normal range".
Keep an eye on the TSH level. It fluctuates correct but at 3.7 you are in the top ~ 7% of the population distribution. Maybe worth to remeasure in a month.
Subclinical hypothroidism isnt recognized and treated by many physicians as it is a highly controversially discussed topic
I don’t trust any of my doctors.
I’m going to try iodine replenishment. I took my body temperature after I got up this morning and it was 98.0. Not sure yet if my body temp is running low but I’m going to see if iodine replenishment helps my TSH level come down.
Problem is, I haven’t actually tested my iodine levels.
Please read the thyroid sticky and you will realize that the reference values that the doctors are using are complete bullshit.
Absolutely agree, I read it.
I ordered some Iodoral 12.5 mg tabs and some selenium 200 mcg tabs.
Have you tried your DHEA-S level?
The thyroid sticky is full of nonsense last time I checked, best to ignore it and do your own research.
Google stopthethyroidmadness and check out the website before you take iodine. It’ll give you a lot of info on thyroid
Which part is nonsense?
Can you post the exact link so I can see we are looking at the same sticky?
Amazing how confusing things can get
Don’t eat almonds because they can raise SHBG.
Take Boron to lower SHBG.
Foods containing Boron: Almonds!
Furthermore, don’t eat too much fiber, it will raise SHBG but eat plenty of complex carbs.
Complex carbs: oats and other various foods containing high fiber…
Don’t use Olive Oil because it can raise SHBG, but make sure to get plenty of healthy fats to raise Testosterone.
W…T…F
Staples in my diet are:
Old fashioned Quaker Oats - 1.5 cups every morning since I was a teenager.
Wild blueberries
Almonds
Olive oil
Eggs
Chicken
Sourdough bread
Cheese
Apples
Metabolic Drive protein
Superfood
Pinto Beans
White Rice
Mixed veggies
No soda/juice
I think the stickies are now gone. However, that link from @dextermorgan is good. The whole waking body temperature, body temperature throughout the day thing - total nonsense from a lunatic named Dr Wilson. Iodine and selenium deficiency - super unlikely. TSH should be 1.0 or less - I think someone confused it with PSA and spread it around. Reverse T3 being a problem - nothing out there to back up that claim in the way of a study or research. The truth is, science currently knows about nothing regarding these things, in spite of it knowing a million times more than it did 10 years ago. Same goes for TRT honestly. some stuff worked, some doesn’t, many people have theories as to why or why not, but it’s all theories. What we think we know is nothing really, even if it’s a million times more than we knew 10 years ago.
@KeepAwaySheeple
Dude if you want to have a full understanding of thyroid go to stopthethyroidmadness. A testosterone forum isn’t going to be the one stop place for it. Most of what’s on a majority of the stickies even the TRT ones are from a while ago. Within the last 5 years or so many things have changed. In the 3 or so years I’ve been reading here majority consensus on many major issues is totally different now than it was even 3 years ago.
Edit: You’ve been here since '05 so I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.
That website lays things out in a way that is easy to understand. I had major thyroid/adrenal issues when I first started TRT and looked at all of the iodine, temperature 8 times a day stuff and it’s not legit. Until I found STTM I was doing shit that made things worse.
My TSH is 3.7 and my SHBG is very high.
Where do you suggest I go from here?
I forgot to mention. I had been taking 100 mg of caffeine every morning for the last year.
Prior to the TSH and other tests, I did take my regular 100mg of caffeine which was about 2.5 hours before they drew blood.
Not sure if that would have had an effect on anything.
I drink strong coffee all day long, and it has zero effect on me. That may not be the case for you, but I doubt 100 mg is bothering anything. My TSH runs around 2 - 2.5 normally, when I started TRT it shot up to 4 and stayed there for a month or two before dropping back down. I’m taking 60 mg a day of Armour right now as an experiment - so far it may as well be a sugar pill. Don’t freak out about the numbers. A more likely issue is mineral deficiency, like iron or magnesium, but definitely read that site. You know you better than any of us, when you read things you’ll find something that “clicks” in your mind and gets you to the problem.
The reference ranges are not normal, I’m afraid your doctor is just going by what she was taught in medical school and will forever be operating in the dark. In managed healthcare reference ranges determines normal status and you must be below these reference ranges to get treatment approved by your insurance company.
Your symptoms are part of the diagnosis and are being completely ignored because your doctor knows that if she provides you with treatment, because levels are within normal which are not really normal, the insurance company will refuse to reimburse your doctor for medical treatment.
It’s not your doctor saying no to treatment, it’s your insurance company, doctors are mostly robots now unable to take action unless insurance companies change and acknowledge that the reference ranges are wrong.
I doubt the insurance institutions will allow this changing of reference ranges, they will fight it because they stand to lose billions as people previously considered normal would now be eligible for treatment and it would cost insurance companies dearly.
Healthy people with no medical problems have a TSH between 1.0-1.5, this is the range for healthy people. Those people with medical problems is what’s considered the normal these days, because it’s normal for people these days to be unhealthy.
You want to strive for a health state that is optimal and your insurance will have no part of it. You need to quit wasting time with these sick care endocrinologists because they believe these ranges are normal and therefore can’t help you.
Reference ranges for TSH and thyroid hormones
Though TSH remains the most commonly used endocrine test in clinical practice, the issue of an appropriate TSH, and to a lesser extent, free T4 and free T3 reference ranges is still under debate. First of all the distribution of TSH reference range is not normal, with median values (also depending on population iodine intake) usually between 1-1.5 mU/. On the other hand, upper TSH reference limit is (assay-dependent) usually around 4.2-4.5 mU/L. There is also an argument that significant number of patients (up to 30%) with TSH above 3.0 mU/L have an occult autoimmune thyroid disease.
The evidence for a narrower thyrotropin reference range
It has become clear that previously accepted reference ranges are no longer valid as a result of both the development of more highly sensitive TSH assays and the appreciation that reference populations previously considered normal were contaminated with individuals with various degrees of thyroid dysfunction that served to increase mean TSH levels for the group. Recent laboratory guidelines from the National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry indicate that more than 95% of normal individuals have TSH levels below 2.5 mU/liter. The remainder with higher values are outliers, most of whom are likely to have underlying Hashimoto thyroiditis.