Normal T, Normal E2, Low-ish Free T

Hi all. 29 on TRT (Androgel) and feel great overall. Surprised though to see how low my Free T was in recent reading.

Testosterone (Serum): 843 ng/dL (348 - 1197)

Free Testosterone (Direct): 10.2 pg/mL (9.3 - 26.5)

Estradiol: 15.0 pg/mL (7.6 - 42.6)

Alkaline Phosphatase, S: 32 IU/L (39 - 117) LOW

AST (SGOT): 27 IU/L (0 - 40)

ALT (SGPT): 28 IU/L (0 - 44)

Can posts more labs, but nothing else really seemed off.

Reading was taken late afternoon, 8 hours after applying gel. Had low carb intake that day.

As I said, I feel good overall. Get morning wood, and have high sex drive. Is there any reason to be concerned about the low Free T?

Worth my money to test Bio T and SHGB? Vit D Etc. Thanks

With transdermal T, FT spikes with application then falls off a lot. FT levels are not steady. With injected TRT, we encourage injecting SC/SQ twice a week or EOD to achieve steady FT levels to allow anastrozole to work properly when used to manage E2.

Bio-T would provide a steadier lab level as albumin+T is a reservoir of available T. You could drop FT lab and do Bio-T instead.

SHBG could be lowering FT by creating SHBG+FT.
Your E2=15 is very unusual as transdermal T has the highest potential for FT–>E2. But low FT would mean less FT–>E2
Lower E2 should normally come with lower SHBG.
As you can see, this does create some doubts.
But your sexual function says that things are good.
Try applying your T-gel twice a day and note any changes.

Vit-D3? Why test when for the ~same cost of lab you can get a year’s supply of 5,000iu Vit-D3.

You were here two years ago. posting stickies here.

Please note last paragraph for something to eval yourself.

Please read the stickies found here: About the T Replacement Category - #2 by KSman

  • advice for new guys
  • things that damage your hormones
  • protocol for injections
  • finding a TRT doc

Evaluate your overall thyroid function by checking oral body temperatures as per the thyroid basics sticky. Thyroid hormone fT3 is what gets the job done and it regulates mitochondrial activity, the source of ATP which is the universal currency of cellular energy. This is part of the body’s temperature control loop. This can get messed up if you are iodine deficient. In many countries, you need to be using iodized salt. Other countries add iodine to dairy or bread.

How much androgel do you apply? 1% T gel?

Appreciate the quick reply! The reason to get these labs was that a new clinic requested them before they can prescribe me TRT. I may be switching from the Androgel 1.62% 2 pumps ed to weekly injections soon, in part because this clinic also offers injectable vitamins and aminos that I want to try.

I would be willing to pay for a Bio-T test, and maybe vary time of day to see if there’s a difference. About 5 years ago, I recall my free T was high in addition to my Total T at an AM reading. I was probably healthier back then at closer to 180 12% versus 220 20% now, but my liver panels and other blood work were more or less the same.

It also occurred to me that E2 was low-ish considering the circumstances and that it’s always been low-ish as far as I can tell. When my total T was >1500, my E2 was ~10 pg/mL using same ref ranges. This has been of minimal concern to me as I know that E2 and IGF-1 play a role in muscle growth. But I’ve never taken steps to see what happens when my E2 goes up.

I do take 5000-1000iu Vit D ed and use iodized salt as had been suggested in the past.

Do not bother with tests driven by T-gel issues.

Suggest that you go for those injections.

With injections, FT can be steady and no need for SHBG or Bio-T.

  • self inject 50mg T cyp/eth twice a week with #29, 1/2" 0.5ml insulin syringes
  • No AI to start with
  • 250iu hCG SC EOD to preserve testes and fertility - needed at age 29#

Inject blow skin on upper leg. Pinch up skin and inject into end of fold, needle parallel to tissues underneath. After injection, press finder on injection site for 1-15 seconds to prevent bleed-bruises.

Thanks, I was thinking I’d try T Cyp at 100-200mg per week, split over two shots, only no hCG as I’m primary with partially damaged testicles. I had low T, high LH/FSH, small testes and sperm count of zero before TRT. While on Androgel my LH/FSH have remained high, perhaps in part due to its short half life.

It is my hope that free T would be more stable on T Cyp. On Androgel, I do feel good for most the day, but feel a little lower in evening.

Why no HCG?

I’m on TRT for life with zero practical chance of having children unless my testicles are experimentally removed/biopsied. When my sperm count came back as zero on multiple occasions prior to TRT, I had extremely high FSH. When my T was initially tested as low, my LH came back extremely high and continues to be high even on TRT.

Taking HCG would possible increase my LH further and stimulate more natural testosterone production, but it’s unclear this is desirable when I may have cellular damage in my testicles. It also makes little sense to increase the volume of my testicles from penny/dime size to nickel size. For cosmetic purposes, I would be better off removing them and getting prosthetics. But women have never seemed to care much and I’d rather spend my money on other things.