asked my doc to test by test and thyroid due to low libido and energy despite dropping 30 pound and getting in good shape and brain fog that didn’t go away even after going from drinking 8days a week to about twice a month
cbc and chem panel normal liver function good
tsh 1.38 normal.4-5.6 so im happy
free test 21 l f1 pg/ml. normal 47-244-
total test 1.57 ng/ml
I had a small meal and it was a work day so no exercise before labs drawn. labs were drawn before work stress had occurred. discontinued the tribulus the day before.
on a side note I was on a low carb 100-150g/day and higher fat diet for the few weeks leading up and do feel better since I bumped up my carbs to the 250-300g/day range. libido remains the same. the test number are low but most of my reading on the forums use a different testosterone range. what are your thoughts
It doesn’t matter at what time a say you drew labs, a total T of 157 is pathetically low even for a 90 year old man. TSH isn’t a thyroid hormone, it’s a stimulating hormone, you need Free T4, Free T3, Reverse T3 and antibody testing is you wish to check your thyroid hormones and thyroid health.
Any doctor who only tests TSH only is incompetent in the extreme, I wouldn’t allow this doctor to actually treat me for TRT or thyroid for that matter. TRT is much too complicated for state healthcare doctors, most have no idea how to do TRT and follow guidelines that are grossly outdated, so doctors have nowhere to turn to for knowledge or guidance.
I’m still interested in seeing your CBC panel.
Are you taking any medications or hair loss drugs (Finasteride/Propecia)?
Google OPTIMAL VS NORMAL THYROID LEVELS FOR ALL LAB TESTS & AGES
i’m a Nurse and under stand the tsh lab/t4 process. i have lost weight with ease so i know i don’t have a thyroid problem. it was more to rule out it as a problem. I don’t know that I would want my doctor running trt on me anyways. but figured if my labs were off it could get me to a specialist.
now that ive started thread I will use my phone to post pics of all labs
meds are orange triad mvi, zyrtec, k2+ds,krill oil, creatine and the occasional singular.
labs were drawn at am. wow if the labs are that shitty and I manage to loose 30 pounds in 3 months and have improved from 3 pull ups to 10 in 8 months. I can only imaging what I could of done with adequate levels
As I suspected, CBC results are in on the lower end on the normal range, I felt like death slightly higher which means only one thing, you are very sensitive to androgens. I could barely climb a flight of stairs and without TRT I would pray for death.
What’s normal for you may not be as high as it is for everyone else. Most men with those levels would feel more than half dead. You may do very well below 500 or midrange levels.
didn’t even think about it until you said lower than normal system lord. I dontated blood 23 days before this blood draw. could that effect the test levels. and how much of a effect could low carb diet effect the levels
I didn’t feel like death but I felt pretty crappy when I was low lo carb during the draw people at work even complained about my performance and my personality being off. now that I feel better with more carbs i just assumed i had depleated all my glycogen storage . I was assuming my test levels would of come back normal. I don’t see my doc for a few more weeks I went to the hospital to get a copy of labs
Donating blood may see slight decrease in CBC results, but you wouldn’t see testosterone budge at all, you’re not donating testosterone, only things that make up blood.
A few months after starting TRT my family noticed personality changes in a good way, the fact that your coworkers are noticing negative personality changes is telling.
Be sure you mention all us this to your doctor, doctors tend to overly focus on lab numbers and ignore symptoms as this is how managed health is managed, by the numbers which should get you treatment easily.
The not so easy part is finding a doctor that know what their doing, if your doctor offers you 200mg every 2 weeks, walk don’t run out of the office. The odds are your doctor won’t know the first thing about how to do TRT.
TRT is not part of mainstream medicine and never has been, it has existed in sports medicine and anti-aging for decades outside of traditional medicine. It’s why doctors are so ignorant.
Cool. Thanks. Talked to a coworker who uses a more liberal pcp. And he got put on gels and is very happy. Mine wouldn’t even order me a mri when I was missing 6-10 days a year with back pain. Which I exercised the problem away. But it still pissed me off
Back pain is common among low testosterone men, TRT will fix the back pain. When somebody other than you are paying the medical bills, doctors will always push back on testing, especially state healthcare insurance where coverage is minimal.
Called the docs office to get a earlier appt than next month. If he can’t get me in. Should I ask for more from follow up labs and if so which ones. Sgbh. Estrogen or any others that would speed up to process when I ask for a endocrine doctor.
Would you describe that, the type of pain, other symptoms, etc.? I’m wondering what is different about E2 LBP compared to the many other reasons/causes.
I pulled my back bad for the first time in my early 30s. Had epidural shots that helped. Am 42 now.
Prior ( when younger in my teens and since I use to complain about my back to my parents) to pulling my back and after I was get LBP on a regular basis. It was tolerable. Not bad. I would feel in the mornings to when I get up.
When my t crashed last year my e2 was 15. Around that time and weeks before the crash I remember soaking in the tub, foam roller etc. It was constant LBP.
I’ve been on trt for a year. My back rarely hurts now. When I think I crashed my e2 6 weeks ago, (lab confirmed low e2) my back started to hurt again. with clicking joints.
I think the im Injections I switched to are keeping my e2 low most of the days. My shbg was 26 last. Not sure why.
Am not changing back to subq yet because I expect to be given thyroid meds tomorrow and that can change how I metabolize.
Now that you mention this my LBP came back a few weeks ago as well but not for too long and I too believe I crashed my E2 since my shoulders and knees were both very painful. I didnt attribute the LBP to this however. Now this makes sense and I hadnt had LBP in years.
