Lipids aren’t great
But not necessarily end of world either. Many middle aged men on a western diet will have lipids similar to this
How is your diet? If super clean and you live a very healthy lifestyle I’d be slightly, albeit not overtly concerned.
My lipids are bad because I’m on testosterone and my body isn’t utilizing cholesterol to make endogenous steroids.
Androgel for a month has been meh. I’ve only been using 2-3 pumps per day, not 4 as prescribed. No change in libodo, feels lower, but I feel more stable.
However my lymph node in back neck has been swollen for 3 months.
And I’m waking up covered in sweat every morning since being on Androgel.
Testosterone doesn’t drop in isolation or due to aging alone, it declines due to developing medical conditions, or diseases. So by going on TRT you’re trying to circumvent the disease and your body wasn’t fooled for long.
TRT has reduced my cholesterol and greatly improved my lipids. You have other issues going on.
I don’t disagree. The first year of TRT I lost 40 pounds and my lipids actually improved. I don’t know what happened after a year. I started to feel inflamed, lipids went whack, hypertension, all downhill. I believe my business partner was poisoning me as I went into hypertensive crisis a few times and my doctor said I should have gone to the ER with BP of 226/119. I was passing out during the day, my hair was falling out, slurring my speech, I thought I was losing my mind.
I thought it was heavy metals or visine more likely. I don’t know, something broke 1.5 years ago and it hasn’t been the same since. Permanent tinnitus now. Brutal headaches for over a year and a half.
All the years I’ve been on these forums, I’ve learned that TRT isn’t going to work for everyone.
It’s frustrating that once a doctor makes a diagnosis, they won’t change their mind. I keep thinking something is wrong with my thyroid given family history and my symptoms, but my TSH is never 2x limit, it’s been 4.23, but that’s only slightly high.
TRT worked for me for a year but idk maybe it was just a band aid to another issue.
There’s nothing that says TSH has to be above range for there to be a problem, often there is a problem early on that processes over time. I remember someone with a TSH at 2.7, low Free T3 and had full blown hypothyroidism.
Pre-TRT his thyroid was fine.
Your symptoms seem to point to a thyroid problem. People with thyroid problems get puffy faces, bad lipids and swelling in general. I had a friend once who had a thyroid problem and thyroid resistance and was puffed out like a balloon.
The waking headaches, facial swelling, edema, anxiety, bad lipids are all signs of thyroid disease.
That’s what I’ve always felt. Dark circles around eyes, tired and depressed at 14, been depressed and fatigued for 20 years.
Puffy and swollen. Mother has hypothyroidism and hyper-parathyroidism, had that out. All women in my family on mothers side have hypothyroidism. Mother, grandmother, great grandmother, great aunt. Cracked nails.
But, I have hyperhydrosis and have since I was a kid.
Weird thing was first year of TRT my TSH dropped from 4.23 to 1.27, lowest it’s ever been in its life, and TSH seems to track with my TT levels at blood draw points.
Me as well, pre-TRT TSH was 0.89 and now 0.45 and has remained low. My thinking is TRT is like a lead foot on the metabolic gas pedal forcing the pituitary gland to dial things back.
So how I see it is when your TSH was 1.27, median value <1.5. You responded well to TRT and regressed once TSH returned to a higher value. Some thyroid problems are intermittent and not detectable on labs values and lab values alone never tells the whole story because it’s a snapshot in time.
I think it’s time for a trial of thyroid treatment.
Doubt my endo will give it to me as he says my TSH isn’t above range. I’ve seen plenty of journal articles stating you can have hypothyroid symptoms without abnormal ranges, there can be issues with genes that won’t allow the hormone to do its work correctly. I had/have metabolic syndrome.
Can’t you order Armor Thyroid yourself?
I guess I can try to see if he’ll give some low dose. I don’t know. Now that I’m on gel, everything’s mixed up. I don’t even know what to ask for. Gels are easy to put on, I wasn’t able to give myself injections weekly as I started to freak out after a while.
If he refuses to allow you to try thyroid treatment, then you need to look elsewhere for treatment.
I wonder has your endo ever tested Free T3?
When this happens measure the circumference of your two calves to check for blood clot. Both should be more or less the same size. If one swollen get medical advice.
What are your baseline test, e2 & SHBG levels? If they are workable it’s time for you to get off TRT by the sounds of it.
No
Your lipids are bad because they’re bad
Has your endo seen your pictures of facial swelling or commented on what’s causing all your symptoms?
I mean if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it’s probably a duck.
1 month on 2 pumps a day at 6’3" 250 pounds of generic 1.62% testogel 20.1mg per pump. So ~40 mg a morning. $150 a month with insurance sucks but I’m prescribed 4 pumps a day, i told doc i’m starting at 2.
Taken 24 hours later morning of before application of gel. Hematocrit and RBC came down. TT trough also came down. Headaches are less but I still feel congested and get neck pain and wake up in a sweat. I have sleep apnea now the past 2 years, no idea where it came from.
3 pumps of 20.1 mg per pump applied to arms daily for 2 months. 60.3 mg applied, blood drawn 2.5 hours after application via endocrinologist request.
This is BAD. My levels were 145 ng/dL 2.5 hours after application on 60 mg gel. I Didn’t shower that morning but…does that really cause that much of a difference?
I’m on 2 pumps @ 20.1 mg each day.
I apply on the mornings, shower at night before bed. But not each night, it varys.
2 pumps have me at 690ng/dl test taken 3 hours after application.
I guess this is where gel is so inconsistent, as it the ammount your skin can absorbe is so individual.
Yeah my first test on 2 pumps, I had 340 ng/dL 24 hours later at 9 am next day. Maybe it takes more than 2 hours to fully absorb? I don’t know. But i’m sweating like a pig and feel super depressed and tired. Might go back on injections, whole thing sucks.
You need to make sure you’re testing at 2-4 hours after your application. I’m on Jatenzo which has an equally short half-life and my doctor had me testing at the wrong times, so my numbers always came back low, even after two big dosing increases.
The difference was 1052 ng/dL at 4 hours and 289 ng/dL at 12 hours.
I tested at 2.5 hours after application. My endo said for whatever reason, I’m not absorbing it anymore.
He asked if I wanted to go back on injections.
I think I’d like to.
I was on 100mg/120mg/140mg per week. I felt the best on 140mg/week but that started to maybe fall apart as HCT and RBC started to go over the line?
I’m wondering where I should start back up now…100mg/week IM? I hate IM injections.
