24, High Estradiol, Normal Test, Did Tribulus Do This


Quick back story, I’ve been training for 2 years, I’ve gained about 50 pounds of mass (Was very very skinny).

After puberty, my libido has always been so/so. I always thought I had low testosterone, but it always came back in the 500+ in my young adulthood.

Anyway, recently I had some blood work done. I had gone to the doctor because I’ve had some gynecemastia for a while and finally decided to do something about it.

Fast forward, the results come back. To this. Yep, an estradiol level of 50.

Here’s where it gets tricky. About a little over a year ago, I started taking tribulus and D Aspartic Acid. One after the other. I took it for a very long time. The result, was extreme gains. I wracked up 30 pounds of mass like no ones business. However, I had some sides. Very sensitive nipples, nipple swelling, anxiety and high blood pressure. I did not know what was going on at the time, so I just kept on keeping on, and continued to take these supplements for a good 3 months straight EACH. I have now been off both for a solid 8-9 months.

Fast forward to now. I’ve had my adrenals scanned, and they have come back negative for anything (Thank god) and now my doc wants my pituitary scanned. He refuses to believe that these supplements could have caused this.

What the hell’s going on here? My free test is actually pretty high, although my total test could be better. Should I be taking Aromasin? Or some other AI? Would my hormones have balanced out by now? Or would high estrogen continue to dominate?

Thanks for the help guys.

Were you taking tribulus and D Aspartic Acid before/during lab work? That could be the problem.

FSH is rather high and that can drive a lot of T–>E2 aromatization inside the testes. Note that anastrozole or other competitive AI drugs do not work inside the testes. Because LH is released in pulses with short half life, FSH is a better indicator of LH than LH itself.

TSH should be closer to 1.0 and other thyroid hormones should be near mid-range, perhaps a bit higher.

These are the thyroid labs that are important:
TSH
fT3
fT4

You can check your overall thyroid function by checking body temperature. See the thyroid basics stick and ^F “98.6” there.

Please read these stickies:

  • advice for new guys
  • things that damage your hormones

No, I’ve been off of the tribulus and d aspartic acid for quite a while now. 5-6 months. Is the TSH really that high. It seems well within range. Then again, I don’t get much salt in my diet. Unless you count the salt that’s already in bacon and meat.

Also, would a small testicular hydrocele cause a lot of aromatase? It does cause ache.

Just one more update. Temps are sitting at a nice 98.5 - 98.6. I don’t have any of the symptoms of iodine deficiency, or thyroid issues. I don’t get cold easily at all. Still, I have some iodine tabs I’ll give a try.

You may have low AM body temps.

TSH range is 0.5- 5.0
So docs think that a 10:1 range is normal when in fact the ranges captured the variations in the sample population that had varying degrees of thyroid problems. See the sticky if you want more on that.

So you have cancer? Some T cancers produce FSH and oddly high FSH can be a symptom of cancer. So I may have been caught by that.

No, a small hydrocele. It’s a fairly common occurrence. I’ve had an MRI done on both testes.