High T, FSH, SHBG, Low E2 No Libido. My Lab Results (pellets)

It’s tough to get right. There are other settings too, depending on the machine. Mine lets me increase or decrease the force I need to exhale separately from the pressure. I find that when I am “Home”, which currently is Nicaragua, I don’t use the humidifer and don’t need it. In the US or a climate controlled setting I absolutely need it. (No A/C in the apartment here)

No AC in an apartment in Nicaragua? I hope you’re close to the ocean, god damn.

Nope. In the capital, Managua. It’s hotter near the water.

1 Like

I realized my humidifier was not heating the water and have submitted it for a replacement based on being defective. My luck …

Wel that sucks.

It is time to make updates to my journal. In the next week, I will be uploading new information which changed everything I had been doing.

About the CPAP: Even though I received a new one to replace the defective, I never enjoyed wearing it and it did not help me sleep. I made the decision to learn to sleep on a side (most of the night) and that has been the most helpful. I still feel as though I sleep terrible all night, but fitbit confirms that I am sleeping – and most importantly, I am not awakened in the middle of the night choking.

A kind reminder … In a few days, I will begin uploading new blood results and my status, which is a major change from before. I am not posting this information in an effort to get good or bad comments about my treatment. I share all of this data in hopes that someone might find the detailed journal helpful – rather than looking for comments that agree or disagree with what path I have chosen.

So be kind, and don’t tell me “bad decision, buddy”.
:slight_smile:

1 Like

Im a side sleeper as well, like you said mostly as sometimes I wake on my back, and have been for years. I wear a dental device too that has helped tremendously. No more snoring and no more choking.

“To maintain full disclosure, I previously stated that my doctor had a zero extrusion percentage.”

It’s nice to read through a thread about pellets. I started on pellets and absolutely loved them!! I felt the best I’d ever felt. I was on them for 3 years and two things caused me to change over to injeections……

  1. I had 3 different instances where a pellet (or two) came out(extrusion). I didn’t have enough fat on my backside to hold them in very well.

  2. Also, I’d have to get them every 3 months because I’d burn through them quickly doing a lot of aerobic exercise. It was getting costly.

I went to injections and it’s been difficult to figure out over the past 3 years. Injections are good, but that slow release of testosterone from the pellets is by far the easiest to manage.

I don’t understand how one “burns through” pellets by exercising. Is that an actual thing? It sounds like people who I’ve seen say they’ve “used up” all their T by working out and need more. I don’t believe that’s quite how it works.

What is the device if you don’t mind me asking?

It looks like this. Custom fit by my dentist. Basically it juts the lower jaw out to keep my throat open thus keeps me from snoring/choking.

1 Like

Ah I saw a drug store version of one of those once… looks like it’d help

1 Like

I used those for a few years and they do work but they are cheap and they wear out. I went through 3 a year even with proper care and daily cleaning. The one from the dentist fits very snug and is very solid. It cost me $700 but should last me a while.

Cool. Just forcing my jaw forward it makes a huge difference in breathing but obviously it doesn’t stay that way when you sleep without something holding it… but pretty neat that something that simple can help if needed. My issue is more the whole completely f’ed sinuses thing, haha

1 Like

Yep. I have mild sleep apnea due to having my tonsils and a large uvula. It just closes up when on my back. ENT doc said he could remove them but only 40% chance it will fix it…not sure why but he gave me those numbers. Dental device has been pretty miraculous. Zero snoring.

Nice, I’m close to having sinus surgery. I sleep on my side which fortunately is one of the only times I can breathe out of my nose (well, one side). Otherwise I’m pretty much mouth breathing like 85% of the time. They want to do all kinds of stuff… sounds like the recovery is going to suck for a week or two but should make a huge difference after that. I honestly don’t know what consistently breathing through both sides of my nose even feels like, I’m not sure I’ve ever been able to. Hopefully it helps my sleep as well, not that it’s bad, but I still think it will help some.

Yes I recall you mentioning this situation, I think I saw MRIs? Gonna clean you out like a pumpkin eh?

Pretty much. All sorts of stuff. Balloon thing or worse for all but one sinus, fix deviated septum, turbinate reduction, it’s like 8 things

1 Like

3-6 months and you’ll be a new man

1 Like

I am no longer on TRT. That is the big change.

1. Almost 24 months ago, my doctor made a comment that he would like to treat me in an alternative way, but it would require I get off of TRT completely. The thought of pulling back from exogenous TRT was enough to say “no thanks”.

2. Then Covid hit. I assumed that I would only be unable to fly back to Asia for a few months, so I post-poned my TRT insertion in order to plan for a full six months of being on TRT while out of the country.

After the 3rd month of delay, I realized that the travel ban wasn’t going to change; and I was not suffering the withdrawals that I anticipated. I decided to continue and withdraw completely from TRT.

MY BLOOD TESTS:
The overall results are interesting to me.

Hemaglobin and Hematocrit dropped to pre-TRT levels of 15 and 46, from highs of 18 and 53.

Alkaline Phosphatase – that weird item that no one could explain – returned to a normal 37 from a consistently low 30.

Ultrasensitive Estradiol dropped to 12 - down from a regular of 35-38.

FSH/LH: Prior to TRT treatment, I had crazy high FSH that no doctor had ever been able to understand when combined with the remainder of blood results. During TRT, FSH & LH were zero as expected. But FSH returned to high levels of 25.8 after TRT stopped.

Thyroid results were close to previous results, although I am still waiting on T3reverse, and TBG.

Free Testosterone was 82.3pg/mL – which calculates to 1.78% on the Issam calculator – lower than during TRT, but higher than Pre-TRT.

Testosterone was 426 – which is considered “low”; and is the lowest I have ever registered.

SHBG was 39, which was the highest it has been for a very long time.

I am still taking Danazol daily (and have been doing so for more than 2 years). I am also taking Pycnogenol and L-arginine; vitamin D (not in the sun much); Men’s vitamins; and an Omega 3-6-9.

HOW I FEEL:
That is the weird part of all of this. I do NOT feel bad. I’m “tired” often and tend to complain about it. There were times when I was past due for a TRT insertion that I wrote in this journal that I “wanted to die” because I felt so bad.

I have not had those feelings at all as I stopped TRT.

Looking back at my journal when I started, and how shitty I felt prior to TRT, it is very interesting to me that I am not feeling that way now. Without TRT, the only difference is the Danazol still being taken to control SHBG.

NO DOCTOR VISIT YET:
I have not visited the doctor yet and will not until the final results are in.

The goal will be to review how I am doing now; and where to proceed. I am willing to try a different therapy now that TRT has stopped and I feel ok.

Problems that I never solved are Anorgasmia and low ejaculate volume when I do ejaculate.

This has been – and continues to be – a journey.

2 Likes