Long story short:
I just received the results of my hormonal panel which left me baffled, especially the elevated FSH which appears inconsistent with low testosterone. DHT appears to be within the range despite the low level of circulating testosterone.
I was perplexed to learn that estrogen is an issue in spite of low t levels. We can pretty much rule out aromatisation caused by testosterone ‘overspill’ but of course this indicates that liver might unable to deal with the estrogen load.
Why would androstenedione be borderline low?
In the email I received in the lab they said I should include 25 mg zinc on on top of the other supplements they recommend. I already take this much on a daily basis, do you think I should add another 25 on top of that? In the past, whenever I took 60 mg of zinc (very occasionally might I add) my libido was very high the following day. Zinc’s potential as a aromatase inhibitor is particularly intriguing.
I also came across this when doing research on zinc:
4 weeks supplementation of 3mg/kg zinc sulfate to elite wrestlers was able to preserve circulating testosterone and thyroid hormone concentrations, which declined in placebo due to the exhaustive workload.
In male patients on end-stage renal hemodialysis with an apparent zinc deficiency, supplementation of zinc at 250mg zinc sulfate daily for six weeks was associated with an increase in testosterone and LH but no apparent changes in FSH or prolactin.
This makes it an interesting potential line of treatment precisely because my FSH is already high.
The other ‘supplements’ the lab suggested is DHEA (doesn’t it convert preferentially to estrogen and not testosterone?) and DIM (plenty of cruciferous vegetables in my diet already but perhaps not plenty enough).
Overall, I am in two minds about this results: on one hand I am worried that my testosterone is clearly not where it should be for someone with my lifestyle/diet but on the other hand I am proud to have built a respectable physique despite having my hormones sabotage my results (relatively high bf% to lifestyle/diet) .
As I am typing this, I have a box of testosterone gels staring at me, however I am reluctant to go down this route. I truly believe that I can get my t to at least mid-range (if I am not genetically blessed) or even the top quarter percentile without resorting to TRT.
Or am I just being naive…?