Obligatory "Need Help with My Results"-Thread

Hi guys!

I am a 29 years old male from Germany. Since about 2 years I have very low Libido and problems with getting proper erections, often tired, hair loss (but maybe it’s just inherited) and a few little things more. I train and run 5 times a week. Eat no sugar, no alcohol, no cigarretes, track my calories and weigh 82kg at a height of 185cm.
Lately I read a few articles on thyroid and realized, that this might be an issue as well (besides testosterone). Further I realized that I had a body temperature of 35,9-36,6 °C when I went to bed (about midight). And last one month ago I started supplementing iodine 200µg per day.
So I went to an andrologist and told him my story. Today I picked up my results. As expected, my values are “sublime”, but I am not too sure about that.
May someone be good enough to give it a short glimpse?

Take care!

Edit: Sry, failed on adding the results. Here they are.

My first glance ( and I’m no where near KSMan) but your TSH is pretty high and your Test and Free Test are pretty low.

Get those fixed and you will feel a world of difference.

Yes, I think that too. I read the tyroid sticky and therefore what bothers me is the following. Two month ago I had a small flu and my doctor checked my blood. While talking to him I looked at them and saw, that my TSH was quite high with 2,6. Sure, the TSH only is not enough to draw any conclusions, but I thought it would be appropriate anyway to start supplementing iodine. Now, after I have done that, as you can see my TSH got even worse and in addition my FSH is too low. I will try to get an appointment at my local endocrinologist, but to be honest, I am not too optimistic about any doctors appointments anymore.

I hear you brother. My faith in Drs has plummeted over the last 10 years. I’ll go for things like a cold or shit like that but I’ll dont trust anything they say on hormones.

If you can find someone to treat your thyroid, ask if you can get on Armour thyroid. It has both T3 and T4 and is made from dessicated pig thyroid glands (sounds horrible I know) but it is more closely related to human thyroid than the synthetic stuff.

You might look for an anti-aging doc. KSMan has posted stickies for finding a good TRT dr.

I called an endocrinologist today and got an appointment in 6 weeks :). But they told me to send my results in advance, so that they can decide whether it falls in an emergency category. I highly doubt that. I tried to read a lot about L-Thyroxin today, but had a hard time finding any positive reports. Anyway, I guess until that appointment I will stick to the iodine.

Thx once mre for your advice!

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Total cholesterol is too low!
180 is ideal, <160 is associated with all cause mortality.
Sex hormones, DHEA, cortisol, Vit-D3 all made from cholesterol
Problem with diet and training levels.

Suspect elevated rT3, blocking fT3, lowering body temperatures and increasing TSH.

Training/running with low T and/or low thyroid function is a cause of stress, adrenalin overcoming fatigue, and that stress can lead to adrenal fatigue elevating rT3. See the thyroid basics for references to highlighted words.

200 µg iodine is not very good if you have become iodine deficient. Too little, also must take 150-200mcg selenium.

TSH should be closer to 1.0
fT3, fT3 are mid range or better - good
fT3 is more than enough to support good body temperatures

Low thyroid function:
Can be caused by low iodine intake
Outer eyebrows sparse?
General hair thinning? - not male pattern baldness

Were you not using iodized salt?
Note that selenium is vital to thyroid health, selenium is available in vitamin products.

LH/FSH are low
E2, estradiol should also be tested to see if reason
prolactin is OK

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.

Does Thyroid affects T production???

I believe they are all inter-related…T, TSH, cholesterol, etc.

Dr seem to want to treat everything individually now instead of holistically.

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fT3 affects metabolic rate in all tissues and organs. Everything can slow down.

Body temps?

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That’s bullshit! TSH should be around 1 or less. Sounds like your Dr is incompetent

When taking higher amounts of iodine, TSH always goes up. That is normal and expected. It does not mean worse, you just did not know that. Many doctors might make the same mistake.

Hey guys,

2.5 years later I wanted to provide my updated bloodwork and once again ask for your opinion. To reduce scrolling, I’ll quote the levels from March 2017 as well (adjusted to consistent units).

Testosterone (total)

March 2017:
4.5 ng/ml

August 2019:
6.12 ng/ml

Testosterone (free)

March 2017:
0.123 ng/ml

August 2019:
0.117 ng/ml

Prolaktin:

March 2017:
11.3 ng/ml

August 2019:
9.8 ng/ml

FSH:

March 2017:
1.1 IU/l

August 2019:
1.2 IU/l

→ In Short: total tesosterone has increased by 36% whereas free testosterone has decreased by 4.9%. Prolaktin has decreased by 13%. FSH is still too low (lower end of the range was 1.5).

What do you think about the increase in total test accompanied by a decrease in free test? Further, what is your opinion on the low FSH levels. Both doctors (in '17 and now) have somewhat shrugged this off.
My current symptoms are still an almost absent libido, difficulties in gaining muscle, and increased sensitivity to gain fat although I’m eating, training, and sleeping like I would head to the olympics.

Is it me, or is your FT still really low?

It’s not you. His free T is 11.7 ng/dL.

You could use some more testosterone :slight_smile:

I don’t see reference ranges, I have no idea where you measure compared to the population. The increase in Total T and decrease in Free T can be explained by increasing SHBG which binds up your testosterone making it unavailable to your bodies tissues.

A lot of doctors shrug off stuff that don’t really understand, they believe in range is normal and the problem is even in the US the majority of doctors are just not educated enough to be making an assessment of your sex hormones because it’s been ignored for so long.

The majority of doctors who see testosterone levels in range with you complaining and lack of muscle gain and no erections are probably thinking you have some sort of mental problem. Male sex hormones are an area of medicine most doctors are just completely ignorant.

The worldwide medical systems is F***ed up, treatments are restricted for only those worse causes and the suboptimal people who are suffering are left to rot because insurance companies or state health care wants to save money.

You need to find a doctor that specializes in hormones and isn’t connected to these medical systems put in place by your governments sick care system, one that is private.

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Hi and thanks for the replies.

First the ranges:

testosterone total: 2.9-11.5 ng/ml
testosterone free: 0.057-0.178 ng/l (age 20-49)
SHBG: 20-55 nmol/l
FSH: 1.5-20 mIU/ml

The increase in total testosterone is with 36% really strange. Regarding the ranges, to my surprise, I’m really at the center of them. However, I have no idea how conservative they make these ranges.
The FSH value is a little worrying as it has apparently a major influence on testosterone and libido (not to mention fertility). Further, the reasons for low FSH I found mostly quote tumors. With that said, the shrugging off is really strange. But whatever.

I’ll try a few natural products and make another test in 3-4 month. I’ll give an update after that.