4 Months Post PCT. Very High SHBG. Advice Needed

Hi All,

I have cycled on and off since age 20 (28 now).

In November I finished a 6 week Tr3st cycle (HCG run throughout) 5 week PCT of nolva and clomid (10 days clomid) was run.

Was two days into an Ostranine run when I had these bloods taken and frankly they have left me worried that I’m a TRT candidate! For the record I am feeling a bit lethargic with low libdo.

Anyway the blood results.

DHEA sulphate 6.9 umol/l Range 0.44-13.4
FSH 3. IU/L Range 1.5-12.4
LH 6.5 IU/L Range 1.7 - 8.6
Testosterone 18.5 nmol/L Range 7.6-31.4
SHBG 68 nmol/L Range 16 -55
Testosterone to SHBG ratio 27.2 Range 24-104

Obviously the SHBG is costing me here. Are my testicles just not responding to the LH hence my body is producing the SHBG to hold on to it here?

I have just purchased Kelp Tablets, ZMA , vit d3 and Tongkat ali in an attempt to address any mineral imbalances.

Lastly perhaps of importance perhaps not I was also taking Saw Palemetto during this blood work.

Should I consider a HPTA restart or running some clomid? Any advice would be appreciated.

SHBG is made by the liver to scavenge sex hormones for clearance. SHBG bound to T, SHBG+T is not bio-available. Not a T carrier as wrongly described.

More estrogens increase SHBG and T decreases. I assume that your SERM doses were high and made LH too high, creating a lot of T–>E2 inside your testes. SERMs increase E2 and your liver sees it clearly. So you can see what happened. I believe that SHBG may be slow to respond to lower E2 levels. So this may take time.

If E2 is lingering high, that keeps your HPTA repressed.

If you do not taper off SERMs slowly, E2 shutdown is expected and predicable. You should have been using an AI during PCT and small doses afterwards like 0.5mg anastrozole per week in divided doses.

With your SHBG, FT will be low and you feel that.

You should never stack SERM’s and never stack SERM+hCG. Doses should be 25mg Clomid EOD or 20mg Nolvadex EOD.

Cannot believe that you did not know to test E2.

Please read the stickies found here: About the T Replacement Category - #2 by KSman

  • advice for new guys
  • things that damage your hormones
  • protocol for injections
  • finding a TRT doc
  • HPTA restart

Evaluate your overall thyroid function by checking oral body temperatures as per the thyroid basics sticky. Thyroid hormone fT3 is what gets the job done and it regulates mitochondrial activity, the source of ATP which is the universal currency of cellular energy. This is part of the body’s temperature control loop. This can get messed up if you are iodine deficient. In many countries, you need to be using iodized salt. Other countries add iodine to dairy or bread.

Thanks for the response @KSman I have read the stickys including the Thyroid one.

I definitely don’t get enough Iodine in my diet, hence the sea kelp purchase!

Blood work was done privately and I just ordered the “basic male panel” . I’ll attempt to get a more comprehensive panel done on the NHS in a month or so.

I have tested my oral temperatures during the day and first thing this morning.
97.16F late evening - 6pm
97.34F early in the morning 8am

Not really sure what to make of this.

Do you think there is a chance my SHBG will decrease gradually over time then or could this now be my permanent natural hormone levels ( hard to speculate I know!)

Thanks for the help!