I’ve been feeling in the slums for a while now, maybe a couple years all in all. Fatigue (never feeling “refreshed” and always wanting to nap), low libido, brain fog/slow brain, loss of muscle/strength, horrible recovery times from the gym, depression, loss of drive socially and professionally, feel “weak” not just physically but my personal attitude. I can clearly remember a few years ago I had none of these issues. So I started getting blood work done to try to hone in on what might be happening.
I‘ve tested my hormones in the past (like 2015) out of curiosity. Didn’t go crazy with the tests though; just testosterone, general thyroids, and estradiol. In 2015, it was 991 for testosterone, normal/in-range thyroid, and 18 for estradiol. Unfortunately, I don’t have the actual labs or details, just notes I made on my phone.
I did one test in July 2017, here are the results:
- Testosterone, total: 610 ng/dL (348-1197)
- LH: 9.2 high mIU/mL (1.7-8.6)
- FSH: 1.5 mIU/mL (1.5-12.4)
- Estradiol: 11.3 pg/mL (7.6-42.6)
- Bilirubin, total: 0.8 mg/dL (0.0-1.2)
- Albumin: 4.6 g/dL
Not sure why I didn’t investigate the issue then, but I didn’t. I remember making the appointment with my PCP but had to cancel due to scheduling conflicts. Flash forward to January 2018, still feel bad, get retested but decide to go more in depth. Here are the results:
- TSH: 1.990 (0.450-4.500) uIU/mL
- T4 total: 10.2 (4.5-12.0) uh/dL
- T3 Uptake: 27 (24-39%)
- Free Thyroxine Index (T7): 2.8 (1.2-4.9)
- Testosterone total: 730 (264-916) ng/dL
- Testosterone Free: 21.97 high (5.0-21.0) ng/dL
- % free testosterone: 3.01% (0-4.2%)
- Estradiol: 17.6 (8.0-35.0) pg/mL
- Albumin: 4.6 g/dL
- Bilirubin: 0.9 mg/dL
Walked away thinking that if everything looks fine, then it’s all in my head. My diet is clean and balanced, no drinking, lots sunlight, lowered stress from work, no environmental toxins, no drugs (except prescribed Adderall). Saw a therapist to maybe help mentally (but I haven’t noticed a change, to be honest). I still felt bad, maybe worse, so I did a more comprehensive series of tests. July 2018…
- TSH: 2.09 (0.4-4.5) uIU/mL
- T4 total: 11.1 (4.5-12.0) ug/dL
- T4 Free: 1.5 (0.8-1.8) ng/dL
- T3 total: 125 (76-181) ng/dL
- T3 Free: 3.4 (2.3-4.2) pg/mL
- T3 Uptake: 29 (22-35%)
- Free Thyroxine Index (T7): 3.2 (1.4-3.8)
- T3 reverse: 22 (8-25) ng/dL
- Thyroglobulin Antibodies: <1 (<=1)
- Thyroid Peroxidase Antobodies: <1 (<9)
- Testosterone total: 789 (250-1100) ng/dL
- Testosterone Free: 83.1 (35.0-155.0) pg/dL
- FSH: 1.6 (1.6-8.0) ug/mL
- LH: 3.9 (1.5-9.3) ug/mL
- Estradiol: 19.0 (8.0-39.0) pg/mL
- DHEA-S: 264 (85-690) ug/mL
- SHBG: 66 high (10-50) nmol/mL
- Ferritin: 41 (20-345) ng/mL
- Iron, total: 89 (50-195) ug/mL
- Albumin: 4.6 g/dL
- Bilirubin: 1.2 mg/dL
Following getting these results, I went to a doctor who I thought was a male hormone/health specialist but she walked in and told me that I was too young to be experiencing anything like what I described and mentioned the blood results were “strange but meaningless”. Not the best experience.
I’d love to hear what y’all think and/or recommend I do. I’ve started taking iron supplements to boost the related levels but that’s it. All the labs were done within 1 hour of waking up in the morning. The dramatic drop in free test from high to lower than mid-range is strange to me as is the high SHBG.
Personal info:
Age: 26
Height: 70”
Weight: 159#
P.S. I used a different lab for the third/latest tests which is why the reference ranges are a bit different