Help with Testosterone Results?

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
1

Hi Guys,

I’m hoping you geniuses can help me figure out what’s going on with my testosterone levels.

Brief background:
Im 27, until recently I never particularly watched what i ate and therfore at 6’3 I’m still slightly overweight (mostly big hips) I used to heavily binge drink alcohol from around 17 but completely stopped drinking some years ago.
I smoked from around age 15 and only quit around 6 weeks ago, and at that time I was smoking 30 cigarettes per day.
I take 80mg of propranolol daily, venlafaxine 225mg and I am currently on a Diazepam taper and am on 20mg, all for anxiety.

I had my testosterone levels checked a few years ago and my total test early AM was around 11 nmol/L
My previous doctor tried me on T-Gel and then for some reason 5 consecutive weekly injections of sustanon 250. What he was doing I have no idea

I went back after my test levels hit the ground but was now under a new doctor. I was referred to an endocrinologist who put me back on to sustanon 250 every 10-12 days.
I stopped the trt around a year and half ago due to wanting to regain my fertility which came back within 3 months.

I had some bloods done a week ago:

Testosterone: 6.4 nmol/L 9.0-----29.0
FSH: 3.9 IU/L 1.5-----12.4
LH: 5.1 IU/L. 1.7-----8.6
SHBG: 14 nmol/L 16------56

Vitamin D: 94 nmol/L

My endo diagnosed me with idiopathic hypogonadism previously, but on these results it says hypogonadotropic hypogonadism.
I had an MRI on my pituitary which showed as fine and had my testicles briefly looked at by an endo.

So can anyone help me understand if my results tally up with my diagnosis?
Does only my SHBG and Testosterone being low make sense to my diagnosis?

Thanks in advance guys

2

Not only is your test low but your blood pressure medication is known to cause sexual dysfunction. Basically ALL the medications you are taking are cause your low T symptoms, and on top of that you are low T. The fact that you’re withdrawing off Diazepam makes things worse, if you can get off these medications great because they will destroy your mind and hormones the longer you’re on them.

I’m speaking from experience as I was on Klonopin for 30 years and damage is done, the real kicker is I didn’t even need to be on it! These sedatives medications sedate and damage your pituitary gland over time damaging your hormone production. You may feel fine now but over time as your hormone fall you won’t feel alright at all, that’s when you’ll be faced with difficult decisions, talk to your doctor about coming off now and fix your hormones now while you have a chance.

TRT will be difficult if not ineffective with SHBG that low, thyroid function, obesity and insulin resistance can lower SHBG. Your doctor should have given you HCG together with TRT to increase fertility, taking you off TRT for fertility reasons was stupid when HCG is the answer. If your doctor believes coming off TRT was the right move then he must also believe stopping all medication is as well because testosterone helps with anxiety and the ability to control yourself mentally and often guys with low T have anxiety. Note I haven’t even listed the side effects of the other medicine you’re on, pile that on top and you have a cocktail of pain and suffering. How did you feel on TRT?

Propranolol side effects:
nausea,
vomiting,
diarrhea,
constipation,
stomach cramps,
rash,
tiredness,
dizziness,
lightheadedness,
sleep problems (insomnia or unusual dreams),
vision changes,
deceased sex drive,
impotence, or
difficulty having an orgasm.
shortness of breath,
blue fingers or toes,
swelling ankles/feet/hands,
mood changes,
numbness or tingling of arms or legs,
slow or irregular heartbeat,
low blood pressure,
fainting,
sudden weight gain,
increased thirst/urination,
chest pain, bleeding,
bronchospasm, and
glaucoma.

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4

Your doctor is insane, we have guys here where HCG is apart of our weekly protocol. There’s no reason to stop HCG, is this through NHS? If so perhaps they do not want to continue paying for it.

6

The reason most have high E2 symptoms is because no one who is fat has the testosterone levels of a teenager, it’s unnatural and these guys will convert more T->E2 until such time they lose weight. Lots of guys have been able to reduce or eliminate their AI once the weight is dropped because the bodies are more efficient when one starts working out and gets in shape. Another reason for the high E2 conversion rate is naturally your body would never get these large doses of T all at once, that’s why it’s important to inject smaller doses so E2 doesn’t peak nearly as high, more injected T mean T peaks higher therefore E2 peaks higher.

I’ve been on TRT for 8 months and I’m still not 100% but slowly getting there, improvements every few months. It’s clear your healthcare system refuses to pay for HCG long term, things will change for you real fast once you start paying for everything.

8

We have had some low-T guys here who seemed to have anxiety and panic attacks that resolved by addressing thyroid issues.

Low thyroid function can be a result of iodine deficiency. Iodized salt is available there, but not in most shops. Many in UK are deficient and the idea is that one gets enough iodine from seafood, dairy and eggs. Please eval via oral body temps as discussed later on.

Note that most young low-T guys who come here have a degree of low thyroid function and iodine is the most common factor. Cause and effect? Hard to say.

Please read the stickies found here: About the T Replacement Category - #2 by KSman

  • advice for new guys - need more info about you
  • things that damage your hormones
  • protocol for injections
  • finding a TRT doc

Evaluate your overall thyroid function by checking oral body temperatures as per the thyroid basics sticky. Thyroid hormone fT3 is what gets the job done and it regulates mitochondrial activity, the source of ATP which is the universal currency of cellular energy. This is part of the body’s temperature control loop. This can get messed up if you are iodine deficient. In many countries, you need to be using iodized salt. Other countries add iodine to dairy or bread.

KSman is simply a regular member on this site. Nothing more other than highly active.

I can be a bit abrupt in my replies and recommendations. I have a lot of ground to cover as this forum has become much more active in the last two years. I can’t follow threads that go deep over time. You need to respond to all of my points and requests as soon as possible before you fall off of my radar. The worse problems are guys who ignore issues re thyroid, body temperatures, history of iodized salt. Please do not piss people off saying that lab results are normal, we need lab number and ranges.

The value that you get out of this process and forum depends on your effort and performance. The bulk of your learning is reading/studying the suggested stickies.

14

We don’t use the words fine or okay, please share your labs because lots of guys coming in here using those words when in fact their not fine, in fact often the doctor is just incompetent or has been trained to wait until you reach disease status. That’s why these ranges exist, normal stops being normal when you fall below these ranges, they decide where normal is even though you have symptoms.

If your thyroid labs show borderline okay that is a cause for concern, how bad to things have to get before their bad? The fact that your thyroid is low already suggests your doctor is waiting till things get real bad before acting, this is concerning! If in fact your thyroid function is low then we would expect SHBG to increase with thyroid treatment.

16

Just let him know if he puts you on TRT when your thyroid is already lagging it won’t do much for you. We have lots of guys that say TRT doesn’t work for them, lagging thyroid holds back all other treatments because the body relies on your metabolic rate to process food, medication efficiently. If he won’t listen it’s time for a doctor that will listen to reason. My dad’s a type 2 and so am I, but not for long as I’m reversing it. My dads 83 years old, he’s low T as well.

Make sure the iodine has selenium in it, they work as a team.

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23

Deleting posts after you get advice is actually pretty disrespectful to members and to the forum. So, don’t.

24

he’s not an employee of the forums. He gives his time and efforts freely to people who ask for it. I doubt he has the time or energy to reply to every single post in every single thread. Maybe a better attitude towards his service to the community would be more appropriate than this.

2 Likes
25

I think the way that sentence came across made it easily misinterpreted and I apologise for that and no disrespect to KSman.
What I should of said was it’s a pity there aren’t more people with the knowledge KSman has, as it’s very pointless in posting labs etc that don’t get looked at.

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27

Before you give up post a response in link below, KSman will eventually get to you.

32

Hey KSman,

Just wondering if you could give me some advice please regarding iodine and my upcoming thyroid test.

After checking temps and supplementing 4.5mg/day iodine, my temps have improved to a point where I am now reaching 98.0 - 98.4F late afternoon, so a big improvement. Also my libido is probably better than it has ever been.
I have been supplementing the 4.5mg/day iodine through kelp as I cannot take potassium at the moment and also taking selenium, zma, grapeseed extract, vitamin D + C and a multi.

Im wondering now that I have such an improvement whether a test for TSH, T3, T4 and RT3 is still recommended?

Also as my libido has increased, can i expect my testosterone levels to have greatly improved?

Thanks

33

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to update from my last post.

The effects of kelp and selenium on my libido appeared to be a temporary thing.
I am still getting much better temps due to the iodine.
I have an appointment with my GP tomorrow and my plan is as follows.

Try and get my GP to do a full thyroid panel
If hypothyroidism is diagnosed, address the issue, and then check levels of Test, SHBG etc.
If SHBG has increased, Bank sperm before starting back on TRT.

I was wondering if my GP agreed to the full thyroid panel, should I stop the iodine intake, and how long should I leave it before getting the bloods done?

34

So I seen my GP today in hope of getting a full thyroid panel done but ended up leaving with an appointment for Thursday to have TSH, T4 and some other tests including iron etc.
I believe over here T3 is not taken initially as you can have normal T3 levels even with hypothyroidism.
Also I was informed FT3, RT3 etc is not recommended over here by endocrinologists.

I have stopped IR as of yesterday as I don’t know how this is going to affect the results.

35

I have questions about the diazepam taper. How long have you been on it? Is the goal to no longer take it? Does your doc know that getting someone off of benzos is potentially more difficult than getting people off of opioids? Benzo withdrawl is no joke. I hope you’re being cared for by a psychiatrist for that specific medication. That stuff is way more complicated than most people know.

36

This is my 5th month tapering diazepam. Started off reducing from my original dose of 40mg at 5mg per month until I reached 20mg and now reducing 2mg per month until im completely off it.
Nah, not under a psychiatrist. I was taken off 2mg clonazepam within a couple of weeks and left with massive withdrawals, so ended up self medicating diazepam.
I of course am to blame as far as my GP is concerned even though I was put on a stupidly fast taper.

37

Back to the blood test, is it likely I will gain any insight in to my thyroid status just from my GP checking only TSH and T4?

And as your thyroid stores iodine and I have been supplementing 4.5mg /day will this affect my results

38

TSH is rather useless without checking free thyroid hormones and is like only checking Total T leaving FT to the imagination.

39

Yeah I guessed I’d probably end up needing to pay private for a full thyroid panel.

Do you know if my thyroid blood test is likely to be inaccurate on Thursday due to me recently supplementing 4.5mg /day of iodine?

Thanks

40

It will be accurate but it will show a worse condition in a better light.

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