You have any estrogen or estradiol labs?
TSH better near 1.0
Thyroid lab ranges are rather useless and “normal” means little.
fT3 should be mid-range or a bit higher, 4.20 is low.
fT3 is the active hormone
fT4 level is OK, T4 is reservoir for T4–>T3 conversion.
Evaluate overall thyroid function via oral body temps as discussed below.
T status appears good - so far.
Thyroid affects metabolic rate of every cell in your body and organ system and brain.
Cortisol is made in the adrenals. Should look at other adrenal related hormones. DHEA for one and you do labs for DHEA-S to eval DHEA. Do not test DHEA directly. If you have a lot of stress, which can be many things, the adrenals can suffer and leads to elevated rT3 that interferes with fT3. Do labs for progesterone with is an adrenal hormone in males and note that progesterone–>cortisol. In the long term, higher cortisol levels can drop from adrenal fatigue. Stress can be financial, relationships, death of loved ones, unemployment, acute or chronic infections/inflammation etc.
Please read the stickies found here: About the T Replacement Category - #2 by KSman
- advice for new guys - need more info about you
- things that damage your hormones
- protocol for injections
- finding a TRT doc
Evaluate your overall thyroid function by checking oral body temperatures as per the thyroid basics sticky. Thyroid hormone fT3 is what gets the job done and it regulates mitochondrial activity, the source of ATP which is the universal currency of cellular energy. This is part of the body’s temperature control loop. This can get messed up if you are iodine deficient. In many countries, you need to be using iodized salt. Other countries add iodine to dairy or bread.
KSman is simply a regular member on this site. Nothing more other than highly active.
I can be a bit abrupt in my replies and recommendations. I have a lot of ground to cover as this forum has become much more active in the last two years. I can’t follow threads that go deep over time. You need to respond to all of my points and requests as soon as possible before you fall off of my radar. The worse problems are guys who ignore issues re thyroid, body temperatures, history of iodized salt. Please do not piss people off saying that lab results are normal, we need lab number and ranges.
The value that you get out of this process and forum depends on your effort and performance. The bulk of your learning is reading/studying the suggested stickies.