Hi, some great info here - really hoping someone can help me out!
A bit of info:
Male, 35 Y/O
185 lb, 15% bf @ 5,9
PED usage on and off throughout my 20s, nothing for the past few years.
Okay, so looking back I’ve probably had issues for the past 10 years or so however the past 18 months have been absolute hell. Energy has become non existent, lifting is forced and a huge struggle, brain fog is making work difficult and is destroying my social life (can’t seem to make conversation, thought process’ are very slow, feel socially ‘awkward’ etc.).
Symptoms in addition to the above include tremors, tiredness, weight gain, non-existent sex drive, nut ache, difficulty sleeping, feeling of on-set of flu which comes and goes weekly, cognition and speech issues - everything is in slow motion and speech sometimes jumbled, non-existent concentration and poor memory, facial bloat and a general unhealthy look (looks like I’ve aged 5 years in 6 months), hair loss, thin outer eye brows, severe mood swings, low heart rate.
I’m sure there are more however those are the ones I can remember at present…
I’ve had low test for years which I put down to my PED usage in my 20’s, I had blood tests done about 3 years back results were that of a 70 y/o male - I’ve kept it at an acceptable level with a 25mg dose of Clomid eod since (levels below from 12 months back).
D.H.E.A. SULPHATE - 9.210 umol/L - 0.440 -13.400
FOLLICLE STIM. HORMONE - 2.38 IU/L - 1.500 -12.400
LUTEINISING HORMONE - 5.14 IU/L - 1.700 -8.600
TESTOSTERONE - 16.16 nmol/L - 7.600 -31.400
SEX HORMONE BINDING GLOB 40.35 nmol/L - 16.000 -55.000
FREE ANDROGEN INDEX 40.05 - 24.000 -104.000
About 2 years ago I made my first appointment with the doc when I really started suffering to see if he could make any sense of what was going on. On describing my symptoms he suggested there may be a thyroid issue and so had bloods done - all came back within ‘range’ (I haven’t access to these). I was then sent for an MRI to rule out a possibility of MS, this also came back clear. At this stage I felt the GP didn’t really know what avenue to go down and he told me to see how things progressed and to re-visit in another month.
Research still pointed to hypothyroidism so I had bloods done privately which showed high TSH and low T4:
THYROID STIMULATING HORMONE *4.58 mIU/L - 0.27 - 4.20
FREE THYROXINE 14.41 pmol/L - 12.00 - 22.00
TOTAL THYROXINE(T4) 70.0 nmol/L - 59.00 - 154.00
FREE T3 5.32 pmol/L - 3.10 - 6.80
THYROGLOBULIN ANTIBODY 13.9 IU/mL - 0.00 - 115.00
THYROID PEROXIDASE ANTIBODIES 15.1 IU/mL - 0.00 - 34.00
Having received these I went back to the doctors to see if I could be prescribed T4 (won’t prescribe Armour etc. in UK). He sent me for blood tests again and when the results came back he told me all was in range and there was nothing he could do.
Becoming frustrated, and unable to cope with the worsening symptoms I ordered T4 off the net and had private bloods done at 3 months in (T4 at 100mcg per day):
THYROID STIMULATING HORMONE 0.329 mIU/L - 0.27 - 4.20
FREE THYROXINE 20.91 pmol/L - 12.00 - 22.00
TOTAL THYROXINE(T4) 83.2 nmol/L - 59.00 - 154.00
FREE T3 4.93 pmol/L - 3.10 - 6.80
Although numbers had improved I didn’t feel much better - tremors eased, facial bloat was a little less significant and cognition must have improved slightly as my typing speed increased - strange one I know but something I struggled with when at my worst.
So, I’m now at a stage where I’m not sure what else to do. I have adrenal problems as cortisol is scewed, confirmed by a 4 point cortisol test which I now realise may have been the cause of the high TSH:
Cortisol (Saliva) Waking L 13.40 - 14.0 - 21.0 nmol/L
Cortisol (Saliva) 12:00 7.57 - 4 - 9 nmol/L
Cortisol (Saliva) 16:00 4.32 - 2.5 - 7.0 nmol/L
Cortisol (Saliva) 22:00 1.50 - 0.8 - 4.5 nmol/L
B12, Folate & Ferritin:
ACTIVE B12 > 256.0 pmol/L - 25.10 - 165.00
FOLATE (SERUM) >19.98 ug/L - 3.89 - 26.80
FERRITIN 393.9 ug/L - 30.00 - 400.00
Next step was going to be come off T4 and treat Adrenals to see if I could improve my Thyroid problems that way. I’ve also started I.R taking Idoral at 12.5mg a day increasing to 25mg next week - having slight flush in the morning following dose but nothing else noticable as of yet although I’m sure more hair is falling out!!
Other than that supplementation wise I take a multi, 3g vit C per day, 1000iu D3, B Vits, Brazil nuts, ZMA, Betaine Hcl for low stomach acid & NOW probiotics.
One thing to mention, not sure if it’s relevant - I was on Finasteride for about 12 months a couple of years back, stopped taking once I’d read all the horror stories
Any help on interpreting the results would be greatly appreciated, hoping I’m on the right track… I’ll be starting temp readings tomorrow.
many thanks