Unexplained High Testosterone Levels, Ideas?

Pharma
1

Hi everyone,

Wow it’s been a long time since I’ve posted on here. So I had some blood work done to investigate some issues with low libido. To my surprise, and the doctors, my total testosterone and free testosterone levels came back high, as in higher than the range (marginally). My doctor said they were the kind of results she would expect from a steroid user, which I am not. In fact I haven’t been using any test booster supplements at all, not even herbs like tribulus or ashwagandha. I’m 31 years old, 5’9" 165lbs and usually train 5-6 days a week. My training is nothing crazy as I’ve changed jobs recently and have been having to fit workouts into smaller time slots, so over training isn’t an issue. I sleep well, and other than doing intermittent fasting once or twice a week I following an “average” diet, meaning some quality food, some junk food, but overall balanced and nothing that would encourage a high testosterone level. I had blood tests done about 10 years ago (so around 21 years old) and I was in the normal range, but on the low end, as in closer to the bottom number than to average.

Normally I would be excited to have high testosterone, but since I was going in for low libido in the first place, and can’t think of any reason why my test levels would be better now at 31 than at 21, I’m starting to worry. I asked my doctor if any underlying health condition could cause high test levels, she said a tumour in the testes could cause this, so I’m going for an ultrasound tomorrow to see if there are any growths. Outside of that my doctor literally said “I’ll have to do some reading” and that she may just refer me to an endocrinologist if the ultrasound comes back clear. So, any ideas? It’s not that I don’t trust doctors, but I like to go into appointments as educated as possible, and make suggestions that maybe the doctor didn’t consider. My dad has cancer in the colon and liver, but he’s early 60’s and smoked since he was 17 and drank heavily enough since the same time that I’m fairly confident his is lifestyle based and not genetic. Other than that no health issues in the family. A standard google search is coming up short, can’t really find anything.

Anyone have any ideas, even out of the box ones that I could look into more? Thanks in advance.

2

The obvious thing to do is run another test. Then post all labs with ranges. Be sure E2 is tested.

3

Yeah, the obvious questions are:

  1. What are your SHBG levels?

  2. What are your E2 levels?

If those weren’t tested, then you need another panel at the very least. What are your LH, FSH levels?

Most obvious culprits are 1. or 2.

4

Tough to say with limited labs. Do:

E2
SHBG
LH
FSH
Scanning for testic tumor is a good idea

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I was dumb because I know to ask questions, or get a copy of the lab results, but I was kind of thrown off by the high test results and basically forgot. Doctor’s office is closed today so going to call Monday to see if I can swing by and grab a copy. I had the ultrasound done today, obviously the radiologist still has to look at it, but the ultrasound tech said they didn’t see anything abnormal in the scans. How common is it that labs screw up? My doctor didn’t seem to consider that as the mostly likely cause. I’m hoping that full panel was done, since I was claiming of low libido I assume they would have tested all of the relevant hormones. When I get a copy of the test results on Monday I’ll post up the numbers. Thanks.

1 Like
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It happens, but very very rarely. The reason os that all the assays are standardized and validated fully, and they typically have reporting requirements similar to a chain of custody in law enforcement. So if there was an obvious error it is usually reported with request to re-acquire blood, and smaller errors are exceedingly rare due to the near full automation of the the panel assays.