I’m hopefully getting my T levels taken this week, and before I talk with my doctor I want to do some reading on what I should press to have included in the test. I remember reading a basic primer in an article here some time ago, but can’t find it now. I believe it was TC, but I could be wrong on that.
TT
FT
E2
SHBG
LH
FSH
Those are the main ones. Also get cholesterol, CBC, etc.
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For first time testing you should run the gamut…
- Hormones: TT, FT, SHBG, E2, FSH, LH, DHT, TSH, PSA, IGF-1
- CBC w/lipid panel
- CMP
Might be worth getting a prolactin test if you have the option.
Your doctor may push back, especially if you are using insurance. Labs are used for overall health purposes and as a guideline or baseline for follow-ups. Keep in mind that for the most part (obviously a PSA of 15 is not to be ignored, regardless of the absence of symptoms), any treatment should be based on symptoms, and not particular lab numbers.
Lipids
CMP
CBC
FSH
LH
prolactin
IGF-1
VitD
TSH
free T4
free T3
total testosterone
free testosterone
estradiol
SHBG
PSA
Thank you everyone, definitely useful! And those articles linked were exactly what I was thinking of.
Don’t expect you doctor to know anything about sex hormones or what constitutes normal levels.
Also a lot of healthcare providers are hesitate to initiate men on TRT due to the belief that these treatments increase the risk of cardiovascular (CV) events.
I found an andrologist so I’m hoping it goes well…I guess I’ll see.
This is a follow-up to my previous post looking for an article on what I should be asking my doctor to test for. Unprompted he actually recommended I get pretty much all the levels that were suggested in the thread. I got some of the results back, but I don’t know how to interpret them. In other words, if something is slightly low or slightly high, what does that mean, etc.
Post them. Either take a pic without your identifiable info. Or type with ranges
Will depend entirely on what that ‘something’ is
Post them. It really depends on the particular situation. Slightly low T and symptoms that match… probably an issue. Slightly high good cholesterol with no other issues… probably not an issue. Easiest way to get better feedback is to either post the values (AND normal ranges) or a picture of the results with your personal info hidden somehow if preferred.
Free Test: 10.4 ng/dL
Total Test: 652 ng/dL
TSH (0.90 uIU/mL)
FSH (5.8 IU/L)
LH (4.3 IU/L)
Prolactin (7.7 ng/ml)
Estradiol (19 pg/ml)
…it looks like my Estradiol is way low, TSH is low end of normal, and everything else is normal. I looked up low estrogen in men and it looks like I have a bunch of the symptoms…Not really sure what to do here though.