Nathans Hormone Restoration (28yrs old)

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
1

age- 28
height- 5’4
waist- 28-29 inches
weight- 144 (probably around 15% body fat)
body and facial hair- Hairy legs and a decent amount on chest and arms, nothing like a gorilla though…
fat- Around waist mostly. Can’t seem to ever get completely visible abs.

[b]Lab Results[/b]
Total Test- 420 ng/dL (250-1100) LC/MS
Free Test- 70 pg/mL (46-224)
SHBG- 23 nmol/dL (10-50)
Albumin- 5 g/dL (3.6-5.1)
TSH- 9* (0.40-4.50)

Will be getting a full thyroid panel in about 2 months probably along with more hormones.

*About the TSH…5 days earlier I had blood work done that showed it at 14. Just 2-3 days before that was when I stopped Dr. Brownsteins iodine protocol. Apparently the iodine was causing my TSH to become higher. I had worked my way up to taking around 45mg of lugols a day. I took it for around 4-5 weeks but started at just one drop and increased from there. It was hurting my throat but I stuck with it for a while since I read it was just my body detoxing bromine and stuff. Finally had enough and stopped though.

Diet- I eat a very strict diet and don’t each much grains/gluten/dairy. Lots of protein and am not scared of fats. I eat beef liver 2-3 times a week for the retinal and b12. My biggest mistake recently was probably when I did the 16 hour intermittent fasting. I did this for over a year and noticed my libido went down even more than it already was.

I’m now eating more frequently and making sure I’m in a calorie surplus or at least even everyday.

Training- I’m a powerlifter and have been doing 531 for the majority of the past year. Was still getting stronger for the most part, but my t levels caused me to rethink my training. Haven’t stepped foot in the gym in about 11 days now. I will probably be taking off at least one more week and possibly a couple more before resuming light training.

Basically, I’m giving myself 2-3 months before I go back to get more detailed blood work done. I want to see if I can get a good improvement without RXs first. I started to do a number of things this last week to try and heal my hormones and possible adrenal issues as well.

Taking an hour nap after my daily 45 minute walk with my dog.
Relieving stress in various ways and trying to laugh more.
Trying to get more sleep at night…this is tough considering I have to be up at 515 for work.
Eating more frequently and getting plenty of calories.

testes ache, ever, with a fever? - Only time something aches is if I get off to closely together. Its been like this for years before my non existent libido.

Morning wood- I rarely have morning wood, and if I do, its pretty pathetic. Also, while I can manage to get an erection, it hasn’t been solid in at least 3 years. In fact, I can only get off by masturbating. I have never been able to reach orgasm with a woman.

Sleep- I suck at sleeping. On average I usually make it to around 5-5 1/2 hours before waking. Many times I do not get any worthwhile sleep the remainder of the night. Sometimes I will make it to 6-6 1/2, but thats rare. Its probably been at least 5 years since I’ve been able to sleep 8 hours.

Motivation- I don’t get excited about things like I used to. Pretty much have no drive and am not very ambitious. Although when it comes to diet and my powerlifting I’m somehow driven to do those.

And lastly, I have that varicocele thing on my left testes. Been there since I was in my early teens at least.

I understand a more detailed test would be helpful, but this is all I have for now.

2

Temperature this morning averaged about 97 at 530. Yesterday afternoon is was around 98.4-98.6. Not sure how accurate the thermometer is since it gives a different number every time. I take it 3 times and average it.

This is off around 3 hours of sleep so not sure that makes a difference or not. Only reason I got so little is because of a late playoff hockey game.

Also, I should point out I have no insurance and got my blood work done at one of those walk in centers. Anyway, after only seeing my TSH at 9, and perhaps not knowing it was 14 just 5 days ago, one of the doctors put a RX in for synthroid. I of course never went to pick it up.

And was told my t-levels were “normal” too…

3

Just logging my first temp of the day. Need to keep better track. at 330pm it was 97.9. The other day it was regular at 98.6 by now. Maybe the lack of sleep and not enough food yesterday.

4

Why are you taking body temps?

And how was the playoff game?

5

Taking temps to see if my adrenals/thyroid are off. I’m really hoping that overtraining is the cause of my hormone issues. So maybe the main cause is my adrenals and cortisol.

Lost game 3-5. We hung with them even though they had some great players who didnt belong in this particular division!

At 735pm temp was 97.7. Guess its starting to drop for the night.

6

8/27 Temps

805am- 97.8 (waking)
335pm- 98.7
550pm- 97.7 (after nap)

8/28

530am- 97.7 (waking)
315pm- 98.7
535pm- 97.9 (after nap)
720pm- 98.9 (about 30 minues after eating)

At 315 today, I began using a liquid thermometer. Got the same readings as my digital one. Only thing is with the digital it has to warm up. I don’t really get an accurate reading till the 3rd or 4th reading. I’m thinking this is all pretty normal and rules out any major thyroid issues…I hope.

Now a question. Can I be overtrained without any adrenal issues? I was under the impression that adrenal fatigue would cause some sort of abnormal temps somewhat like thyroid issues. I’m really hoping my t-levels are low from overtraining. If not it looks like I may have a long road ahead.

7

Mighty Mouse,

Do you have any history of AAS use?

I only ask because you have 900 posts on T-Nation, and from the context of how you refer to TRT, it sounds like it would be new to you.

No one is here to judge. It just gives us more information on maybe which direction to look.

Read through advice for new guys sticky, things that damage your hormones sticky, blood testing sticky.

We need more information and blood tests.

STTM’s page on interpreting temperatures:

EDIT: MM, see link below as well concerning varicoceles.

8

Thanks for the response. Nope, no AAS ever. I do realize I need a better detailed test. I guess I’d just like to give it another 6-8 weeks to give my t-levels a chance to go up with my lifestyle changes and break from the gym.

Thanks for the links. I have read a decent amount of the STTM, but had not come across that particular varicoceles study. Until the blood test I’ll probably just update here occasionally with how I’m feeling and if my libido is raising any. Not a whole lot to post now that it seems my temps are okay.

Main reason I have so many posts is because I’ve kept a training log on here pretty religiously for over a year now. Then I mainly post in the powerlifting forum.

9

You need a full thyroid panel.
TSH, fT3, fT4 plus thyroid antibodies.

Did you check temperatures prior to IR? Prior TSH? Prior temperatures?
Was was prior iodine consumption?
Assume that you read the thyroid basics sticky.
You probably do not need any more iodine for a while. Stay off for a few weeks then do the labs.
Doc should be all over TSH, you did labs on your own?

10

[quote]KSman wrote:
You need a full thyroid panel.
TSH, fT3, fT4 plus thyroid antibodies.[/quote]
Do you think I should test for rT3 as well?

[quote]KSman wrote:
Did you check temperatures prior to IR? Prior TSH? Prior temperatures?[/quote]
I did check my temps before iodine and they were a little below normal, but that was also before I realized it took 4-5 readings sometimes to get an accurate reading on the digital thermometer I was using.

I was ignorant and did not check my TSH before iodine. I actually did quite bit of research about how to properly use it, so I thought I’d be safe even if it didn’t work.

[quote]KSman wrote:
Was was prior iodine consumption?[/quote]
As for food I eat tons of eggs and beef liver 2-3 times a week, which have some iodine. Supplementation wise I took Lugols 2% and worked my way up slowly to around 45mg.

[quote]KSman wrote:
Doc should be all over TSH, you did labs on your own?[/quote]
Had TSH of 14 in first blood test. Told them I had just stopped taking iodine several days before, so they let me test that again too (They had screwed up my testosterone test which is why I got two done). Five days later second TSH was 9 and doc called in a t4 script for me. I eventually called the pharmacy and told them to release it. I think it would be stupid of me to take t4 before letting by body recover from the iodine and taking a full thyroid panel. Dessicated thyroid would probably be better anyway.

Will be ordering own blood work next time to make sure I get everything I need. At minimum I’m thinking…

Total T
Free T
E2
LH
FSH
DHEA-s
Full thyroid- TSH, fT4, fT3, rT3, and antibodies.

I wonder if I might need a saliva cortisol too?