My Self-Medicated TRT Begins Soon

Alright here we go. After getting the run around from several doctors, “Mens health specialists” and the like, I’ve decided to put my own knowledge to use due to the fact I am over feeling like absolute hell. I get 7-8 hours sleep and 2-3 hours later I need to nap due to just constantly been exhausted, I have no motivation or able to concentrate for study. I’ve stopped going to the gym and when I do I get insanely sore not just my muscles but joints and bones. I coach 2 sports and really struggling to keep up with aspects of it and it just fatigues me. I have absolutely no libido and haven’t for the best part of 6 months and I have definitely put on weight the last year. Before I post my bloods, I attribute several things to my low levels but will mention I was on Finasteride for over a year about 6-7 years ago and since then I have battled depression and side effects on and off, by no means am I saying this is the cause 100% and may happen to others who are on the drug but I personally view it as poison and just wish I shaved my nicely shaped head earlier and got on with life.I had levels tested a year after I was off it and they were at 432 at the age of 27 and free test was at 45 P/mol (60-130) at this time I was working out 5-6 times a week and by no means small but muscles constantly looked soft and for a body type that should gain easy, wasn’t compared to others.

Anyway to fast forward to now, I will post all my blood work and stats, what I think my plan of attack should be but also want others to voice there opinion as there is definitely a lot of guys in here more knowledgeable than I am and a lot more knowledgable than the doctors I’ve seen who ask me what IGF-1 is and why do I need free testosterone tested when I already have the total…I’ll do my best to convert measurements for metric and etc

Age - 33
Height - 183cm (6 foot)
Weight - 99 Kilos (218lbs)
Body Fat % - Have to estimate around 17-18%
BP 118/80

Can’t say what my current lifts are as I have not been consistent for a while and also tore both hamstrings a few months ago, I miss deads :frowning:

Total T 201 (Taken twice at 8 am)
Free T 25 (60-130)
IGF-1 23 (14-40_
DHEAS 6.0 (4.3-12.2)
FSH 3 (<10)
LH 3 (<9)
Oestradiol 79 (55-165)
SHGB 17 (13-71)
TSH 3.3 (0.3-3.5) Keeping an eye on this as Thyroid conditions run in the family
Free T4 16.6 (9.0-19.0)
Free T3 4.4 (2.6-6.0)
Thyroid anti-bodies none

Sodium 140 (135-145)
Potassium 4.1 (3.5-5.5)
Chloride 104 (95-110)
Bicarbonate 30 (20-32)
Anion Gap 6 (<16)
Calcium 2.48 (2.10-2.6)
Phosphate 1.2 (0.8-1.5)
Urea 8.0 (3.0-8.0)
Urate 0.382 (0.200-0.500)
Creatinine 107 (60-110)
eGFR 78 (>59)

Fast Glucose 5,1 (3.6-6.0)

Total Protein 74 (66-83)
Albumin 43 (35-48)
Globulin 31 (23-43)
T Bilirubin 23 H (<21)
ALP 78 (35-110)
AST 22 (10-40)
ALT 26 (5-40)
GGT 14 (5-50)
LDH 215 (120-250)

Cholesterol 4.3 (3.9-5.5) I have had high cholesterol in the past and runs in the family
HDL 0.94 (0.90-1.50)
LDL 2.1 (0.0-4.0)
Triglycerides 2.6 H (0.6-2.0)

Hb 151 (135-180)
RCC 5.1 (4.2-6.0)
Hct 0.46 (0.38-0.52)
MCV 91 (80-98)
MCH 30 (27-35)
Plats 318 (150-450)
WCC 9.7 (4.0-11.0)
Neuts 4.2 (2.0-7.5)
Lymphs 4.4 (1.1-4.0)
Monos 0.8 (0.2-1.0)
Eos 0.19 (0.04-0.40)
Basos 0.10 (<0.21)

That’s most of it I think, I have a heap of bloodwork in front of me and if I have possibly missed something please let me know. I’ve had 1 doctor offer to put me on Clomid, 1 doctor was interested in my 2 low test readings, he wanted to do another one, it jumped up to 317 for that test and he wanted to hear nothing more about it because it was now within normal range, even though there was 2 previous tests at 201, so he wants to look for other causes to my fatigue and lack of sex drive?

Anyway once I receive my “script” the plan was to front load the first injection of 200mg of Test E, and then 50mg thereafter every 3 days and gauge how I feel and change the injection protocol if needed, or I was going to just scrap the front load and go 50mg E3D, but would like everyones thoughts as I’ve seen some great info getting posted on here.

I plan on getting bloods done monthly and then every 3 months after a while, I’d like to go to my long time doctor but I am living 6 hours away now and only head back that way every 3 months or so, so I am trying to find a doctor where I am currently who isn’t either going to give me an ill informed lecture or give me the run around re: Testing.

Sorry if this was a massively long post.

Your SHBG is low and TRT will lower it even more, lower SHBG men should inject multiple times per week since the Test spikes lower SHBG, the impact will be less on frequent dosing.

Cardiovascular disease occurs <440 so your doctors are just have no idea what they are doing, they are working in a sick care setting that is by design supposed to screw you over, it’s clearly obvious all of there’s doctors have a bias against TRT which is because of the falsehoods taught in medical school.

Your doctor broke the rules, you have two consecutive tests below 300 and therefore you qualify for TRT. As if 317 is any better…

As for TSH, thyroid isn’t optimal, TSH could be higher on other days you are not testing. I expect your thyroid is on the brink and TRT will take it a step further once the demand is greater. Reverse T3 wasn’t tested, if elevated could help explain high TSH. TRT will not work well when there are thyroid problems, TRT will work best when Free T3 high normal and Reverse T3 is optimal (<15 ng/dL).

Reference ranges for TSH and thyroid hormones

First of all the distribution of TSH reference range is not normal, with median values (also depending on population iodine intake) usually between 1-1.5 mU/L. On the other hand, upper TSH reference limit is (assay-dependent) usually around 4.2-4.5 mU/L. There is also an argument that significant number of patients (up to 30%) with TSH above 3.0 mU/L have an occult autoimmune thyroid disease.

he evidence for a narrower thyrotropin reference range

It has become clear that previously accepted reference ranges are no longer valid as a result of both the development of more highly sensitive TSH assays and the appreciation that reference populations previously considered normal were contaminated with individuals with various degrees of thyroid dysfunction that served to increase mean TSH levels for the group. Recent laboratory guidelines from the National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry indicate that more than 95% of normal individuals have TSH levels below 2.5 mU/liter.

Exactly right, 317 isn’t exactly setting the world on fire at 33 years old. I’m going to order another test and test all the thyroid values again + Reverse T3. My thyroid seems to be swinging a bit as 3 weeks prior it was 2.5 TSH but yes TSH doesn’t exactly prove anything without all the other markers tested, thank you for pointing out the reverse T3, I’ll actually double check my bloods from the last month or so but fairly sure o didn’t get it tested.

I dare say the reasons I’ve had cholesterol issues is due to the lowering testosterone and I’ve had to work like hell to get it back to a healthy range, which has been difficult given my energy and recovery problems.

I’m giving one endo one more chance, not sure when my appointment will be though and everyone else has jerked me around something shocking, it’s 2019 and Australia is still so far behind in this aspect of men’s health, I thought it may have improved somewhat but clearly not.

I knew you aren’t from the UK, you have complete thyroid labs, I knew you were from Australia because Canada is virtually identical to the UK and all three use the same metrics.

Lab testing almost has a fingerprint.