Well I got sick about a month ago and the DOC wanted to do some bloodwork. Since I read Will Brink’s article “It’s In Your Blood” recently… I decided to get all my level’s checked… test and whatnot.
My results -
total testosterone: 383
free test: 1.84
test free: 70.3 (Not sure what this is??)
Estradiol: 39
DHEA: 265
Thyroid:
1.39 tsh
no t4 or t3
IGF-1: not taken(Doc didn’t know what it was and I didn’t either at the time)
I’m a little concerned at the Testosterone levels. 383 is low/normal. And the free test just looks crazy low unless I’m looking at it wrong.
Estradiol might be high normal?
Anybody with more experience in this stuff that can offer some advice? Are these levels something to be concerned about?
One thing to keep in mind is that I was sick just prior to the testing(don’t know if that makes a difference) and I was not lifting at the time either. I had been out of the gym for a few months.
I’m thinking I’ll lift for a few months and then go back and get tested again before supplementing. Sound like a good plan?
The lab report should have reference ranges on it along with your values. Ranges can vary by method of test. Did you get a photocopy of the actual lab report?
This isn’t meant to be medical advice, I am not a doctor, etc. but your values all look to be in normal ranges from what I have seen.
The biggest problem with hormone levels is the wide range for “normal” values. If your testosterone was 800 when you were 25, then you’re low now. If it was 400 when you were 25, then you’re doing good. Have you tired any of the questionnaires for low testosterone symptoms that can be found on the HRT sites?
ok, i should say that a large portion of the patients we service at the practice i’m employed by come to us for hormone balancing.
so consequently we run a ton of hormone panels. ordinary normal ranges for hormones are ridiculously wide, so the doc i work for has come out with what he feels are the ‘ideal’ range for various hormones. for example ‘total test’ 700-900…free test 130-190…DHEA 350-500…ESTRADIOL 10-40…IGF-1 250-320…this is much more reasonable than telling a man with a total test level of 200 that he still falls within normal parameters which, believe it or not, happens all the time.
I found this site really helpful for figuring out what lab results me. Explains the test, explains the meaning of results, etc. Helped me talk intelligently with my doctor. I’ll link to the testosterone page, you can take it from there.