I’m 43, 5’8, 185, 10%. I’ve had some low t synptoms, but ignored them for years. I had infertility issues in my mid-30’s. Libido issues in my late 30’s (this was up and down). And, most recently i have been suffering lethargy as the day progresses. The lethargy is beating me up and is what prompted me to get blood work. Here are my numbers:
Total Test 343 ng/dl Range 249 - 836
Free Test 7.4 pg/ml Range 6.8 - 21.5
Pregnenolone 63 ng/dl Range <151
TSH 1.960 uiu/ml Range 0.450 - 4.500
DHEA 225.1 ug/dl Range 88.9 - 427.0
Progesterone .05 ng/ml Range 0.2 - 1.4
Any input or thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
welcome onboard.
have you read through all of the stickies? if not, start there, then come back here and ask about anything that doesn’t make sense.
your testosterone is low, but you need a number of additional tests (per the blood test sticky)
TSH is high - need to test for free T4, free T3, Reverse T3, 8am Cortisol, and ferritin.
Pregnenolone is very low - what are your CHOL numbers?
AM cortisol and/or temperature test every 3 hours after waking, FH, LSH, and E2 would be useful numbers to have. You have moderately low testosterone, but no way of knowing why without more tests.
Low progesterone could be part of low cortisol, which would explain lethargy at a particular time of day.
I would like to see a cortisol test done at the time of day when lethargy is greatest. Travel to the lab and blood draw might create a cortisol increase reflex which would mask the problem. If you find that lethargy is reduced when getting labs done, cortisol lab results may not reflect your normal levels at that time of day.
More cortisol: How do you react to major stress? If cortisol is low, rT3 may be elevated.
Thyroid: Do you get cold easily? What is your iodine intake? [vitamins, iodized salt]
DHEA levels change a lot, DHEA-S is a better DHEA status indicator.
These were the only tests ordered. My lethargy starts after lunch and goes down hill from there. I feel like I need a starbucks just to function. I’m not usually stressed. I’ve had recent bloodwork from my PCT and everything was perfect.
ahhh pct… nice to have that information in your first post…
also everything was perfect? or was it just within normal ranges? Normal range does NOT equal perfect.
[quote]welcome onboard.
have you read through all of the stickies? if not, start there, then come back here and ask about anything that doesn’t make sense.
your testosterone is low, but you need a number of additional tests (per the blood test sticky)
TSH is high - need to test for free T4, free T3, Reverse T3, 8am Cortisol, and ferritin.
Pregnenolone is very low - what are your CHOL numbers? [/quote]
They were in “normal” ranges. It wasn’t posted for i donot have them with me anymore.
“Normal” is a bad word here. “Normal” is not “perfect”. “Normal” means that your doc will not do anything. “Normal” ranges are a statistical ranges that does not mean healthy and the extremes of the ranges often involve pathologies*. A few ranges have been setup from a health point of view, such as cholesterol. Lower cholesterol ranges were recommended after statin drugs became available. Who championed those changed ranges? The drug companie$. So a doc will prescribe a statin drug when your cholesterol is out of range. Insurance companies went along with this because non-fatal heart attacks are more expensive.
- This reflects the fact that in the studied population of lab results, some of the people involved had health issues. The biggest example is how TSH normal ranges include results from people who have hypothyroidism of one sort or an other. The labs have ignored the calls from thyroid experts to lower TSH ranges.
Most docs do not understand that “normal” lab ranges are statistical results and do not indicate a normal state of health.
It would be helpful if you could request the lab work from your physician and list the numbers (with units of measure and lab ranges).