Hi there.
So I came back with reading for low Testosterone both one and two months ago respectively, having experienced the various nasty symptoms for around a year or two now. My guess as to the cause would be a prolonged low-cal diet mixed with stupidly low fat intake (I know, what a pleb). The initial test was just for total T, mainly due to my lack of knowledge, however the second was carried out by my GP and as such was a little more in depth. I don’t have the full GP test results at hand, but here’s a quick summary:
1st Test:
Total T : 9.04 nmol/L (8.05 - 29.8)
2nd Test:
Total T : 10.1 nmo/L (9.7 - 33.2)
Doctor told me that all other readings were ‘Bang on’. Since I didn’t really know what I was talking about at the time, I didn’t press any further, however was referred to an Endo that day. I’ll be taking a trip down to get a full print off of the results this weekend for reference.
Since receiving these results I have drastically changed my diet, lifestyle and supplement arrangement in order to try and address the issue. I’m around 14% Body fat and 165lb at 5’11, so not overweight and in reasonably decent shape. Very active in regards to both lifting and sports since childhood really. The main changes I’ve made since are:
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Addition of Fish oil / Vit D / Vit B12 / Selenium / Ashgawara (Spelling?) to daily supps.
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Increased Cal intake to 200 above maintenance, while Fat has raised to at least 100g a day from various healthy sources.
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Altered my lifting routine to a compound based program, lifting heavy for short sets.
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Moved from long-distance cardio to more HIIT work.
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Increased sleep from 6 - 8 hours a night on average.
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Cut out caffeine / sugar and incorporated yoga into daily routine.
Anyhoo! Just got my latest results back today, and by-en-large it feels like good news ! I’ve certainly been feeling much better in general, felt far more energetic and motivated as of the last few weeks. However my ED and Libido is still an issue.
Results are as follows (I’ll try to include only the relevant ones, as had a full ‘Sports Hormone’ panel taken privately):
Lipid Profile
TRIGLYCERIDES 1.62 mmol/L (0.000 - 2.299)
CHOLESTEROL 4.51 mmol/L (0.000 - 4.990)
HDL CHOLESTEROL 1.1 mmol/L (0.900 - 1.500)
LDL CHOLESTEROL 2.67 mmol/L (0.000 - 3.000)
Thyroid Function
THYROID STIMULATING HORMONE 1.19 mIU/L (0.270 - 4.200)
FREE THYROXINE 17.75 pmol/L (12.000 - 22.000)
Hormones
FOLLICLE STIM. HORMONE 1.75 IU/L (1.500 - 12.400)
TESTOSTERONE 14.05 nmol/L (7.600 - 31.400)
FREE-TESTOSTERONE(CALCULATED) 0.369 nmol/L (0.300 - 1.000)
SEX HORMONE BINDING GLOB 20.46 nmol/L (16.000 - 55.000)
17-BETA OESTRADIOL *<18.35 pmol/L (44.000 - 156.000)
Given that this change has taken place as a result of rougly 3 weeks of improved diet/lifestyle, I’m feeling good about the increase in total-T. The free T, FSM, TSH and Oestradiol however concern me a little with being so low.
Any idea’s on what all this tells me ? I’ve been digging through endless reams of research but could do with some direct advice from someone who has a good grasp when it comes to interpreting these sorts of results.
Cheers all.