Having a whole heap of symptoms for a while (around a year) that I either ignored or just put down to getting older (Im 38) - low motivation, poor libido, shithouse sleep, low immunity. Went down the viral/low grade infection route ofr a while and nothing came back. I then started thinking it might be hormone related so I convinced my doctor to do some further blood tests.
Can anyone help me try and make some sense out of my blood test results.
Here is the gist of the results;
Total Test - low normal
Free Test - OK (higher end of the scale)
LH, SBGH, E2 etc - Normal
Cortisol - high normal
DHEA-S - very low
This is the 2nd time I had testosterone measured - almost identical numbers to the first test. Any ideas or comments on what might be going on would be appreciated.
From everything I read on this site and around the place, DHEA supplementation might be the go. But why would I bother, if according to the test results, my free test is fine. Would low DHEA be capable of causing the symptoms above? Thanks for any comments/advice.
[quote]Mr. Chen wrote:
Why did you have to “convince” your doc to give you a blood test?
What does he think of your results?
You probably should ask him to refer you to an endocrinologist.
Maybe your adrenal glands are run down:
Thanks for the response Mr Chen and the link, looks interesting!
In answer to your question, my doc initially diagnosed depression (without any hormone tests) - gave me a script for some depression drug and a DVD entitled “Bring back the sunshine”. After some research and thinking of my own, I went back to her and convinced her to at least try and see whether there was a physical cause for my symptoms.
Anyway, when the low DHEA test came in, she simply said she didn’t know what it meant - or how to treat it!
I do now have an appointment with an Endo but that is not for a few more weeks. The purpose of this post was to try and start some research of my own again and get some others experiences! Thanks again for the link.
[quote]swerven wrote:
In answer to your question, my doc initially diagnosed depression (without any hormone tests) - gave me a script for some depression drug and a DVD entitled “Bring back the sunshine”. After some research and thinking of my own, I went back to her and convinced her to at least try and see whether there was a physical cause for my symptoms.
Anyway, when the low DHEA test came in, she simply said she didn’t know what it meant - or how to treat it!
[/quote]
Is she a family physician? Did she script you an SSRI without tests? Very irresponsible. She is definitely not the doc you want to take you through to old age. You need a new family physician for yourself and your family.