Brain Fog, Fatigue, and Muscle Wasting

What’s up everybody. Looking to get some advice on my current health problems.

I’m 28, used to lift a few years ago (nothing crazy) but have neglected my health for the past few years (diet/corrective exercises, stress & poor metabolism – punishing my adrenals with caffeine) – and I want to figure out exactly what’s up here.

I’ll give a brief breakdown by year, with bloods.

December 2016 – Sudden onset of brain fog (CONTINUING to present)

Formerly tested positive for LYMES disease; took antibiotics and was dealt with in 2014-2015.

December - 2017 - Testes swelling (scrotum, I believe)
- ULTRASOUND showed testes structure normal and healthy; confirmed normal in repeat ultrasound in late 2018

January 2019 - I began hitting the gym hard (inspired), doing two a days on cardio and using heavy stair master.

February 2019 - Physical shows Low T for 28 yo.
Later in the month something triggers muscle wasting – first in legs, then later in shoulders/tris/bi’s/forearms. Now feel weak arms and legs in the AM. A little shaky too.

March 2019 - swelling appears below both knees, along with continued muscle wasting. Saw two rheumatologists; labs show no signs of rheumatological abnornality/diseases.

April 2019 - paid for tests of my own; noticed again low total test levels - elevated LDL (130). Additional bloods later with proper fasting showed LDL down at ~90.

May 2019 - Seeing a holistic eastern/western doctor who ran a full panel of bloods – indicating elevated TSH (~4), high estradiol (44), and high morning Cortisol. I was not fasted when i did these.

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She has me on the following: DIM, Ashwaganda Root Extract, D3, Magnesium, More sleep, meditation.

She believes that based on the labs, i have low grade systemic inflammation. Possibly stress induced or adrenal related . She also believes there may be a LEAKY GUT problem as well.

I have drank coffee every day for the past few years – the amount has varied. But i have relied on it heavily to get through working my office job.

I am currently 4 days into quitting the caffeine, in an attempt to restore normal working order.

What do you guys think?

Do note: My glucose generally rests in the mid 90’s – seems to be the same for my younger brother as well. A1C looks good at about ~5.

Really want to get my hormones back under control, clear my brain fog, and get back to killing it in the gym.

CHEERS

Josh

I definitely think you should incorporate basic big compound lifts as your main training regimen. Front and back squats, deadlifts, bench press, shoulder press, assisted pull-ups.

To get your hormones back up and going, I would try some growth hormone secretagogues (peptides or Nutrobal). A decline in natural GH release is probably also a contributing factor, GH can increase your life quality by a lot, although natural secretagogues take long to take effect and may be costly, they will be able to give natural hormones a kick.

Thanks Jim – I have also have minor disc protrusions in T7-T9 discs; so I had been putting that off – now I find I need to fix my poor posture so I can do compounds (especially deadlifts and squats, properly).

Is there anything in the bloodwork that stands out to you? Thanks man.

@jgainz
I had similar iron numbers and supplementing Iron really helped with the fatigue. Like within a couple days I could feel a mega difference.

At least 1 hour after caffeine, at least 1 hour before food or two hours after food.

Taken at once:
1 x Ferretts ferrous fumarate 325mg (Amazon)
2 x Nature’s made vitamin C 500mg (Amazon)
1 x L-lysine powder 1000mg bulk supplements (Amazon) in water

I’d be curious to know why they said your TSH is overestimated. It may be good to test your Reverse T3 next time you do thyroid tests.

Thanks Dex. Iron looks to be 92 on range of (38-169).

Re: TSH – she said that TSH of 4.14 is on higher end of normal – hence “overstimulated”.

Obviously Total T is at 305 which is low… and E2 is out of range using sensitive assay.

@jgainz
I was mainly looking at your ferritin in the 40s. On the labs posted it shows your iron in the 60s out of 195. Anyways, mine was basically the same and supplementing Iron help me a lot.