Long time lurker here, the stickys and info for newbies has been very helpful. Thanks to KSMan, VTBalla and others for sharing experience and expertise. Here is my case, hopefully I have not left out anything requested for first posts:
Age: 30
Height: 6 foot
Weight: 190
BF: Tested a few months ago as 17.5% with BodPod (but I wasnt holding a shoe, so accuracy in questionâ?¦)
Fat storage: Almost all stomach and low back, but have been that way forever
Facial/Body hair: Hairy chest, arms, legs, etc. Grow beard easily, though greying in late 20s.
Exercise: T-Nation approved 3x a week Total Body Training, 75 minutes with foam rolling/warm-up, 1 day a week swimming or boxing
Diet: 5 meals a day, probably close to 40% protein, 30% carb, 30% fat. Eaten this way for a long time, eat LOTS of meat and eggs which has me curious about Cholesterol result below:
Supplements: Glucosamine, Vitamin D, B vitamin complex, Flameout, Creatine, Probiotic
Medicines: No long term prescription meds
Body temperature: Should have better data soon (am in third day of keeping track), but appear to start day in low to mid 97s and get to upper 97s or 98.0 by end of day. Need to double check thermometer. Will have more data posted here shortly as I log more days/times.
Iodine usage â?? Just started using for cooking after reading sticky, previously no supplementation or usage of iodine. Depending on temp readings plan on looking at a couple weeks of use to see how that effects temp.
Symptoms:
Fatigue
Brain Fog
Social withdrawal a little
Decreased libido
Decrease in morning wood
Scrotum up tight, especially right one
Feel cold all the time in winter, especially feet. Hot all the time in summer (more extreme than others like my gf. Disagree on house temp constantly)
Lab Tests with my thoughts on result
Free Testosterone = 7.7 (8.7-25.1) LOW
Total Testosterone = 262 (348-1197) LOW
DHEA-S - Sulfate = 292.9 (160-449) LOW
Prostate-Specific Antigen = .3 (0.0-4.0)
Estradiol = 12.7 (7.6 â?? 42.6) GOOD or too low?
DHT = 22 ng/dl (30-85) LOW
SHBG, S = 24 nmol/l (16.5-55.9) GOOD
Pregnenolone = 118 ng/dl (<151) ?
Vitamin D-25 = 61.4 (30-100) Not bad, could be a bit higher (Have been taking 5,000IU a day for last year and still only at 61.4?)
TSH = 3.31 uiU/ml (.45-4.5) Appears high, optimum around 1.5?
Total T4 = 7.4 ug/dl (4.5-12.0)
Free T4 = 1.22ng/dl (.92-1.77) Appears to be good
Free T3 = 3.3 pg/ml (2.0-4.4) Appears to be good but what about rT3?
Cholesterol total = 127 mg/dl (Too LOW?)
Triglycerides = 34 mg/dl
HDL Cholesterol = 61
Iron: 134 ug/dl (40-155)
CBC:
One thing stuck out on CBC, Neutrophils of 76 (Range 40-74)? All others appeared be midrange
Other labs to get
LH/FSH
24 hr. Cortisol saliva test, ACTH
rT3, TPO, AB
Possibly:
B12
RBC Magnesium
So my initial thoughts on everything
- Cholesterol, and Test markers are low (DHT, Total T, FT, even E2). Need to check LH and FSH immediately.
- Adrenal fatigue. Got into this whole Hormone study due to what I thought was Adrenal fatigue after reading Dr. Wilsonâ??s book. I did not opt to do the 24hr cortisol test because my doc said â??All it will do is confirm what we already suspect, that you have some sort of adrenal fatigue.â?? Now, I will get 24 hr. cortisol done this week. Do symptoms of fatigue, etc. come from low T, or originally from Adrenal issues, which then leads to low T? Assuming cortisol test will help show this.
- Thyroid. Still confused with thyroid info and involvement of pituitary gland, am re-reading stickys. TSH is elevated, but fT3 and fT4 appear ok. Check on rT3 and provide better detailed temperature log but it looks like this is part of the Equation as well.
Am I heading down the right path? Any other tests I need to look at? Thanks for reading and for any advice and direction.