Labs of a 24yr Old

24yr old male
5foot11
192.3lbs, ~20% BF(Guesstimate)
32-33inch waist (1-1.5 inch above navel)

Full beard with only tiny twin patch missing. Only slightly coarser than hair (fine, but dense. Receding.)

Body hair on chest, abdomen and legs. Dark hair and moderate density, soft/fine to the touch. Lower arms and some small of back. Normal armpit/pubes.

History of asthma and rhinitis. Use of albuterol inhaler as needed (typically 3-4 uses a week, never had an attack), steroid spray for sinuses. Both began around 11-13yrs old, separately.
RX histoy is mostly for depression, AHDH, acne and asthma. Very accident prone as a child.

Took one dose of finasteride, 1.25mg, recently. Remembered bit I read here about hair loss drugs and quit immediately.

Fat stored almost entirely on abdomen, lower back and ass. Much less on arms, legs and chest. Little or unnoticeable gynocomastia.

Diet: 1.2-1.4g Protein/lean lb. 150-225g carbs/day, 2600-2900+ kcals/day. Eating mostly beef, fatty cuts of chicken, whole milk, whey, nuts and rice. Veggies 3-5x/wk, sometimes in large servings. Tuna/salmon 2-3x/wk. I don’t salt much, but use iodized salt exclusively.

Training: Focusing on 2 bigger lifts per training day. Eg, Squats+OHP, Bench + Pendlay Rows. Try for 10x10(@10RM), typically not finishing completely. 1-2x/wk due to slow recovery and time constraints. Goal is 3 times a week.

Testes have ached before. I typically associate it due to inseams always getting uncomfortably tight when I sit. Left testicle slightly more sensitive to touch than right.

Supplement with calcium, d3, fish oil and a multi, all daily. Mg and Zn sometimes (never with calcum or daily) and Vit C on occasion.

Do not drink or smoke, used marijuana for a short period in the past.

Symptoms:

Fatigue: I feel sleepy, lethargic and somewhat heavy most times of the day. Caffeine keeps me from my usual energy crash around 4-6hours after waking and more alert the rest of the time.

Slow recovery from workouts.

Social withdrawal: Don’t go out and withdraw from conversations/stresses.

Low motivation, apathy, easily depressed, low confidence, anxiety (a few panic attacks when overdosed on stimulants), some brain fog.

Feeling of being sick to my stomach after adrenaline surges. My adrenaline rarely kicks in like that, but when it does I feel like I might vomit or shit myself. Lesser effect when I can’t escape a mild/moderate stress like usual.

Low libido.

Weak/absent morning wood, some nocturnal erections. Can prove difficult to even get aroused till near mid day. Used to get morning wood a lot and wake up from uncomfortable nocturnal erections.

Lower waking body temp (96.1-96.7 avg) and lower active body temp (97.3-97.7, feeling of overheating at 98-98.3.)

All but erectile problems have been persistent since around 14-16 years old.

LABS:

Total Test: 336ng/dl (Lab Range 168-746)
Free Test: 10.4pg/ml (Lab Range 9.3-26.5)
E2: 9 pg/ml (Lab Range 3-70)
TSH: 0.45uIU/ml (Lab Range 0.35-5.60)
Drawn 9/2/11

LH, FSH, fT3, fT4 (drawn pre test injections).
Results
fT3: 3.41pg/ml (Lab Range 2.5-3.9)
fT4: .77ng/dl (Lab Range .61-1.12)
FSH: 3.32mIU/ml (Lab Range 1.27-19.26)
LH: 3.12mIU/ml (Lab Range 1.24-8.62)

8am(ish) Cortisol drawing soon.

Doctor has prescribed me 100mg/EOW of IM Testosterone Cypionate in the meantime to see how I react. First dose is 9/22/11 in the afternoon. Will speak to her about hCG and an AI if needed.

And so ends the wall of text. Anything I should bring up with you, the doc or get tested? I’m hoping to find a more permanent (and less needle-y) solution than TRT, but will try anything that might help.

Well your fsh and lh will be off since you took the T, but it wasn’t a terribly high dose. Ask her about using clomid first (depends on your lh/fsh). If your lh/fsh are low, then maybe clomid will be better because you won’t have to take it forever and it can restart natural production. Also test prolactin—it is just ‘routine’ though I think you are probably fine.

[quote]Retinoid wrote:
Well your fsh and lh will be off since you took the T, but it wasn’t a terribly high dose. Ask her about using clomid first (depends on your lh/fsh). If your lh/fsh are low, then maybe clomid will be better because you won’t have to take it forever and it can restart natural production. Also test prolactin—it is just ‘routine’ though I think you are probably fine.[/quote]

As I understood it, his LH/FSH were already taken before the test injections so that’s not a problem.

Your thyroid result surprised me, but I won’t draw any conclusions until I see the rest of your labwork. I’m not against seeing how you react to exogenous T but you may have some other problems so don’t expect anything miraculous yet.

[quote]scj119 wrote:

[quote]Retinoid wrote:
Well your fsh and lh will be off since you took the T, but it wasn’t a terribly high dose. Ask her about using clomid first (depends on your lh/fsh). If your lh/fsh are low, then maybe clomid will be better because you won’t have to take it forever and it can restart natural production. Also test prolactin—it is just ‘routine’ though I think you are probably fine.[/quote]

As I understood it, his LH/FSH were already taken before the test injections so that’s not a problem.

Your thyroid result surprised me, but I won’t draw any conclusions until I see the rest of your labwork. I’m not against seeing how you react to exogenous T but you may have some other problems so don’t expect anything miraculous yet.[/quote]

You’re right I read it wrong he took the test on the 21st and is taking T on the 22nd. I was surprised at his tsh as I would have guessed a thyroid problem.

Lab results from last blood draw is in.

fT3: 3.41pg/ml (Lab Range 2.5-3.9)
fT4: .77ng/dl (Lab Range .61-1.12)
FSH: 3.32mIU/ml (Lab Range 1.27-19.26)
LH: 3.12mIU/ml (Lab Range 1.24-8.62)

These were drawn before Test Cypionate shot. A correction from above is that it seems the prescription is now 100mg EOW, not the weekly shot I could have sworn we talked about.

[quote]SHRN10726 wrote:
Lab results from last blood draw is in.

fT3: 3.41pg/ml (Lab Range 2.5-3.9)
fT4: .77ng/dl (Lab Range .61-1.12)
FSH: 3.32mIU/ml (Lab Range 1.27-19.26)
LH: 3.12mIU/ml (Lab Range 1.24-8.62)

These were drawn before Test Cypionate shot. A correction from above is that it seems the prescription is now 100mg EOW, not the weekly shot I could have sworn we talked about.[/quote]

From my understanding, splitting the dose up for every week would be best so you can remain pretty constant. Though I do not know that much about the actual mechanics of TRT since I never did it myself…

Your thyroid looks pretty perfect…

I was figuring thyroid as well, but pituitary was a distant concern since I’ve had head trauma in my childhood (at least one possible concussion and one weird/hard to describe injury.)

[quote]SHRN10726 wrote:
I was figuring thyroid as well, but pituitary was a distant concern since I’ve had head trauma in my childhood (at least one possible concussion and one weird/hard to describe injury.)[/quote]

This is probably why your body isn’t asking for more T (low FSH/LH) and why your TSH is so low (which isn’t a problem because your FT3 is rock solid). Might be worth it to check Reverse T3 though, given your fatigue symptoms (as well as ferritin).

You mentioned you were drawing cortisol soon but didn’t post the result. What was it?

I would not be surprised if it was my pituitary since I nearly pierced the brain case through the mouth as a kid. Struck the sphenoid sinus or damn close to it, probably causing the rhinitis.

I haven’t been able to get the cortisol draw done yet. The place I get my blood drawn at doesn’t do the testing there and have told me the test for cortisol is done quickly after the draw or something along those lines. I did get a list of some good endos nearby, so I will probably call them and see if they have experience with TRT and these tests before making appointments.

Time, transportation and cash are all a bit short right now, so I might just wait to see how the Test effects me before proceeding.

Test injections are going well. Some improvement on some symptoms, others are night and day at times.

Only downside so far is possible acne increase/shift towards cystic acne on my back, which has always been a constant thing anyway. The effects peak around 3rd day(feel good, not great. A good 6-7 out of 10 vs typical 3-4) and returning to just my “Normal” around 5th and hovers there. Went ahead to 100mg/weekly. Will inform my doctor and seek an endo for full treatment. May up/split dosages to see how well that works until then. If I could keep a constant 6-8, I would be extremely pleased.

Keeping a log of injection dosages, times and how well I feel. Keeping an eye out for signs of testicular shrinkage/scrotal tightening and E2 elevation.