Looking at the Quest ordering page the E2 test is $80 and then $70 is the cheapest that includes Free and Total T and the test includes Testosterone, Free and Total, LC/MS/MS. Add a CBC for $25 and we are up to $175. The Anti-Aging test collection above is only $9 more with a the addition of DHEA (among a few others) which Id like as well.
I will bring the test to the Endo in a few weeks but Im not hopeful I can convince any doctor of the labs I want/need anymore. I couldnt convince my PCP for anything more than Total T. Im willing to pay a bit out of pocket for peace of mind and knowing Im on the right track. Heck I have a script for T which is already saving money compared to having to pay for all from a T clinic. WHICH I would do if I had too.
Also wanted to update here that I have been taking a multivitamin that has 75 mcg iodine and 100 mcg of selenium along with a kelp supplement that has 150 mcg of iodine in it. This has been my protocol for the last 6 months or so.
Temps are always the following for the last 4 months:
AM (5:15am) = 97.9
PM (3:00pm) = 98.6
Also switched to iodized salt last October and use it pretty liberally in all my cooking. Two of the four other family members in my house have switched too. Still working on my wife. Pink salt almost goneā¦its her go to. I told her no more. Its not healthy. We shall see.
She likes link salt. Tastes great and it natural. She needs to know that hypothyroidism, retarded children and goiter used to be the natural state in most places on the planet. We crawled out of the see millions of years ago, but we evolved in the sea where iodine was ubiquitous.
present, appearing, or found everywhere.
"his ubiquitous influence was felt by all the family"
synonyms: omnipresent, ever-present, everywhere, all over the place, pervasive, universal, worldwide, global
I do not know about her temperature, I will talk to her about it tonight. Her energy is better after fixing really low iron (for a year or so) that she/they are now monitoring. Mood is fairly irritable with a lot of ups and downs. I have been getting her to eat iodized salt when I cook with it. She has polycystic kidney disease so she has has to watch her sodium content to not overtax the organs. She isnt great about taking her multi and I need to check it for contents. Again, another conversation I need to have with her. She doesnāt like it when I play doctor like this
Tested my digital thermometers last night to see how accurate they are.
I brought water to 98Ā° F (whole number settings on machine only) and verified with a meat thermometer which read 98.3Ā°ā¦close enough to test.
First up my āreliableā VIcks digital, 100.1Ā°. Two degrees off. I verified this again bringing the water to 99Ā° and again verified with meat thermometer at 99.3Ā°. Vicks digital read 101.1Ā°, again 2Ā° off.
New CVS digital thermometer with water @ 98Ā° gave a reading of 99.2Ā°. One degree off. Again raised the water temp to 99Ā° and the CVS digital thermometer gave a reading of 100.2Ā°. Again 1Ā° off.
So I believe this means that my consistent morning reading of 98Ā° is really 96Ā° which is really low. Im going to try and get a glass thermometer and start getting readings before I jump to any conclusions. My multi has 50% RDA iodine and 100% selenium and I also take kelp supplement every day which has an additional 150mcg (100% RDA). I am also liberally using iodized sea salt (mortonās) liberally every day and have been for the last 6 months.
Does anyone have link or brand of glass thermometer they use? Amazon has nearly nothing and the one they do have get horrible ratings.
New labs taken last week in between shot days (not trough) to stay consistent. For reference I do SQ E3.5D w/ 62.5mg Test C along with .65mg liquid anastrozole @ same time. This has been consistent for the last 7 weeks.
I neglected to get my SHBG tested so will add that to my next test.
E2 is still high, and Im symptomatic, so I am wondering how I should proceed. Also, is there anything glaring from these tests?
Thanks charlie12. Doc upped me from 200 every two weeks to 250 every two weeks to see if I would feel any better. I was doing weekly injections of 125 for a bit but quickly switched it out to split that up to twice a week hence 62.5.
1180 is just barely out of range and its not my trough day so it dropped for another day and a half. I assume we are all near or above that high range number 24 hours after an injection. Not sure where I drop to on injection day but my average T is probably right around the high end of normal.
Im not sure if we have the full picture here without the SHBG measurement.
Itās difficult to advise without knowing your SHBG levels, I have no idea what your free hormones are or if this protocol is right for you. If SHBG comes in low than numbers are wrong.
The Endo yesterday said that because I had the LC/MS/MS Free and Total test measured there is no need for an SHGB measurement. I told him I wanted it measured and he said due to the one I ordered it would be useless. Im trying to find more info on that but you think he was just talking out of his ass?
Your doctor clearly doesnāt understand why SHBG should be measured, very troubling. Are you sure this is an endo we are talking about here? Even my clueless Kaiser endo ran SHBG.
The fact remains protocols need to change based on total t and free t. If they are right does not matter what shbg is. It is good to know. But even those with high shbg can inject 2x a week.
