Hormones
Testosterone, total
216 (286 - 802) ng/dL
Testosterone, free
34.17 (34.51 - 107.78) pg/mL
Testosterone, bioavailable
138 (138 - 430) ng/dL
SHBG
16.0 (14.5 - 48.4) nmol/L
E2 (Estrogen)
32.6 (7.6 - 43.0) pg/mL
LH
4.0 (1.7 - 8.6) mIU/mL
FSH
3.5 (1.5 - 12.4) mIU/mL
Prolactin
16.7 (3.46 - 19.4) ng/mL
Cortisol (AM) (had sex a little less than 48 hours prior to testing)
8.30 (3.7 - 19.4) ug/dL
IGF-1
160.3 (150 - 350) ng/mL
Thyroid Panel
TSH
4.54 (0.27 - 4.20) uIU/mL
T3, free
3.6 (2.0 - 4.4) pg/mL
T4, free
1.24 (0.93 - 1.70) ng/dL
Lipid panel
Cholesterol
216.1 mg/dL
Desirable: <200
Borderline: 200 - 239
High risk: >240
HDL
32.7 mg/dL
Low: <130
High: >60
LDL
139.5 (<130) mg/dL
VLDL
27.90 (<40.0) mg/dL
Tg (Triglyceride)
219.5 (<200) mg/dL
CBC
HB (Hemoglobin)
12.5 (14 - 18) g/dL
Hematocrit
45.1 (42 - 50) %
RBC
4.79 (4.5 - 6.2) x10*6/uL
WBC
5.60 (5.0 - 10.0) x10*3/uL
WBC & diff / Lymphocyte
40.6 (20 - 40) %
MCH
26.0 (27 - 31) pg
MCHC
29.5 (32 - 36) g/dL
MCV
94.2 (80 - 95) fL
RDW
10.1 (2 - 20) %
Platelet count
250.0 (150 - 400) x10_3/uL
ESR
(up to 10) mm/hr
Clotting time
(2 - 6) mins
Bleeding time
(1 - 6) mins
CMP
-General
Glucose (fasting)
98 (65 - 99) mg/dL
Calcium
8.60 (8.40 - 10.2) mg/dL
-Liver
ALP
82.0 (40 - 130) U/L
ALT (SGBT)
40.2 (Up to 41) U/L
AST (SGOT)
24.9 (Up to 40) U/L
Bilirubin, total
0.80 (up to 1.1) mg/dL
Bilirubin, direct
0.20 (up to 0.25) mg/dL
Bilirubin, indirect
0.60 (0.1 - 0.75) mg/dL
-Kidney
Urea Nitrogen (BUN)
43.5 (<50) mg/dL
Creatinine
0.862 (<1.1) mg/dL
-Electrolytes
Potassium
4.60 (3.60 - 5.5) mmol/L
Sodium
141.0 (135.0 - 152.0) mmol/L
Chloride
99.0 (98.0 - 110.0) mmol/L
-Proteins
Albumin
4.40 (3.6 - 4.6) g/dL
Protein, total
7.30 (6.4 - 8.3) g/dL
========================================================
Why I’m here:
Interested in starting TRT due to very low testosterone. Looking for advice.
Stats:
Age: 33
Height: 6’5
Weight: 264 lb
Body fat: %27
Waist: 44"
Body temp before sleep: 96.98 F
Body temp after wake up: 96.98 F
Body temp mid afternoon: 98 F (this was taken right after climbing a flight of stairs)
Iodine intake:
I would say normal, but that’s solely based on how much iodized salt I eat. I put more salt on my food than the average person. Always been like that since I was a kid. My food can be too salty for most people.
All the salt I eat is iodized, been that way since childhood so definitely had had long term use of iodized salt. Never seen any other salt around here anyway. Restaurants and pretty much everyone around here uses iodized table salt.
And yes I know… The amount of iodine in iodized salt, is really only enough to tread water.
Body and facial hair:
Got a full on beard and mustache. If i shave now, 3 weeks later i would have a thick, combable beard and mustache.
Body hair I would say is “normal”. I got hair on legs and arms and chest but nothing major, just fair amount I guess.
Where I carry fat and how changed:
Hips, thighs, buttocks and then belly.
Got a gut, now that I’m out of the gym. Something I never had when I was working out and dieting. The hips, thighs and buttocks fat have always been there though, although to a much lesser degree when I was working out…which was most of my life prior to 4 years ago (more on that in a little bit).
I was never able to “lean out” in those areas even at single digit body fat. That was extremely frustrating. Whenever I tried to shed fat, I would reach skeleton proportions everywhere else but those areas would still be far from lean.
Health conditions, symptoms [history]:
None.
Past 3 years…don’t drink. Don’t smoke.
Before that…smoked for 17 years. Drank for about 14 years or so but just during weekends and socially.
And yeah, no history of head trauma or whiplash as far as I recall.
Rx and OTC drugs, any hair loss drugs or prostate drugs ever:
Yes! Propecia about 4 years ago.
Quit a few weeks in due to feeling completely lifeless downstairs. Things got back to normal shortly after I quit.
Diet:
Used to be 6 meals a day, well thought out, strict, daily diet plans for most of my life until about 4 years ago when I started eating like the average American.
About %60 of my food is now fried. Every meal has white carbs. Drinking fruit juice all day.
Past sample diet plan:
Above is something I strictly followed for at least 10 years. Switched macros up every couple of months or so.
Training:
Now, zero.
4 years ago…a well though out, strict weight lifting regiment for 17 years.
Bodybuilding was my passion so I made sure I did everything correctly. I knew the harms of over training so I was sure not to over trained.
Testes ache, ever, with a fever?:
Nope.
How have morning wood and nocturnal erections changed?:
Well, they aren’t like when I was in my teens, that’s for sure.
I get them “sometimes” but can’t tell if it’s because I want to pee (which is always the case waking up) or if its a genuine “morning wood”. But they are definitely not like they used to be. Come to think of it, they are much less.
What got me to suspect low testosterone (before getting blood work done):
- Difficulty / inability to gain muscle.
- Easily gain fat.
- Almost all gained fat goes straight to hips, buttocks and thighs.
- Almost %100 of IMS symptoms.
- Loss of libido
- Jewels shrinkage
Thyroid:
Since my TSH is high and FT3 is in mid-range but body temp is low, I’m guessing my rt3 might be high…correct me if I’m wrong.
A little history:
I started bodybuilding when i was 13. Seriously when I was 15. So as far as I can remember, I’d been bodybuilding my entire life.
For 15 years, I religiously followed a bodybuilding and nutrition regiment. I knew so much about the two, I honestly felt almost all trainers, bodybuilders and nutritionists were idiots. So in a way, I felt similar to how KSman feels about urologists and endocrinologist . And similarly still, even though it wasn’t my profession, bodybuilding and nutrition was my passion…although KSman uses the word hobby.
But unfortunately, no matter how much effort and dedication I put in…it never really paid off. People that barely knew anything about bodybuilding, almost zilch about nutrition and were half assing their workouts, were making gains in less than a year what took me 15 years. And I’m not talking about your genetic freaks. I’m talking about your average Joe.
With clothes on, ppl couldn’t even tell I worked out. What’s more frustrating was when I told people about that, they said “you must be doing something wrong” “you gotta change your diet” “change your training” “you have to hit your muscles slower, faster”…etc. And all I could think was “Really dude? You really think in 15 years I haven’t tried every single variable? You think the reason I haven’t packed on slabs of muscle is because I didn’t go slower on the weights or that I didn’t eat an extra spoon of peanut butter?”
About 12 years into bodybuilding natty, I decided to start cycling. Unfortunately, I never done blood work beforehand.
I made nice gains, nothing spectacular, just satisfactory. But for the first time in my life, people were coming at me with “wow!” while checking out my physique. The compliments meant that results weren’t bad at all.
Cycle ended. Ran PCT. Went back to my natty regiment.
Unfortunately, I lost most of the gains I’d made in about 6 months even though I tried all I could to maintain and add to the gains.
2 years after my first cycle, I started another one. 6 months after ending it, like the first time, I was left with nothing to brag about.
Typical stats off-cycle:
Weigh: 214
Body fat: %16
1st cycle:
Week 1 - 4: D bol 35mg ED
Week 1 - 12: Test E 500mg EW (250mg x 2)
PCT (1st cycle):
HCG @ 1000 IU ED for 10 days, 4 days after last pin of Test E, then…
Clomid:
100/100/50/50
Nolvadex:
40/40/20/20
2nd cycle:
Week 1-2: Anadrol @ 50mg ED
Week 3-4: Anadrol @ 100mg ED
Week 1-12: Deca @ 500mg EW
Week 1-15: Test C @ 600mg EW
Week 1-16: Eq @ 600mg EW
PCT (2nd cycle):
HCG @ 1000 IU ED for 10 days, 4 days after last pin of Test E, then…
Nolvadex: 20/20/20/10/10
Clomid: 50/50/50/25/25
Yes I realize I might have been a victim of broscience.
About a year after my 2nd cycle, I moved, started traveling a lot, hence I wasn’t able to maintain my bodybuilding and nutrition regiment. I stopped going to the gym. And since I wasn’t working out, I felt dieting and 6 healthy meals a day was useless. So for the first time in my life (well, sorta), I started eating junk food. Plan was to get back on track soon as I settled down.
Settling down didn’t come till 3 months later. But by then, I’d already broken my habit. I was too lazy and too demotivated to get back to my healthy lifestyle.
4 years later, today, I’m yet to get back to working out and eating healthy. I’ve been leading a pretty sedentary lifestyle and my diet consists of a lot of fried food and white carbs. Needless to say, 15 years of gains went down the drain. I now stand at the above stats. Used to hover at around %15-18 body fat.
So now I’m looking into TRT and getting back on track with training and nutrition. I’m hoping TRT will enable me to see gains that I should have seen at the gym a long time ago. As well as fix all the other issues in “what got me to suspect low testosterone”
As you can see from the lab results, my testosterone is too low. Cause is something I’m yet to determine. I’m hoping you guys can chime in. Judging by the difficulty in gaining muscle, I really think I’ve always had below average testosterone levels, but then I can’t be sure since I’d never done blood test until now.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post and for any point in the right direction!