My wife recently started visiting an HRT/Weight loss clinic to have bloodwork done to look into treatment for the following issues:
-Somewhat slowish metabolism, and slow progress in changing body composition from diet and training.
-Lack of skin-suppleness in face with periorbital puffiness and facial bloating.
-Android bodyfat patterning. She stores bodyfat primarily in her stomach region and her hips and legs are extremely lean. This could be genetic due to her having a substantial Andean (South American Indian) admixture.
-Extreme moodiness.
She regularly weight trains (3-4x/week) and tends towards a low calorie diet that is very high in protein. She is around 112 pounds at 5’2". Since I met her two years ago, through proper weight training and diet she has gone from 28% bodyfat to 18% at the same weight. She looks great, and at this point, the only way I feel she could improve is by shifting her bodyfat patterning from an android to a more gynoid distribution.
The clinic did fairly extensive blood work, which I don’t have on-hand to post right now, but if needed I can include it in a follow-up post. The doctor determined the following from her round of blood work which was done during the luteal phase of her cycle:
-T4, T3, Total T4, and Total T3 - Low normal.
-Total and Free Testosterone - Low normal.
-Ferritin and Vitamin D - Low normal.
-Progesterone - Extremely low, out of range.
-Estradiol - Was out of range (low) based on the reference ranges for the luteal phase as indicated on her blood work sheet, but the doctor insisted that it was fine and should not be treated.
Based on this first round of blood work the doctor prescribed her:
-Oral Progesterone pills to be taken for two weeks starting at day 18 of her cycle (I think).
-Amour Thyroid.
After beginning this protocol we observed the following:
-Anxiety and bloating when beginning the Progesterone cycle each month. It also has made her cycle rather irregular.
-Increase in metabolism.
-She dropped 1% bodyfat out of nowhere after being stuck at 19% for quite some time.
-Much improved energy, mood, and irritability levels (although this comes back a bit when she begins her Progesterone cycle for the month).
-Improved vaginal lubrication.
-No change in skin quality.
-No change in body fat patterning.
We just had her three month follow-up blood work and she had the following results:
-Ferritin - 18 NG/ML (10-220)
-Estradiol (luteal) - 50 PG/ML (74-212)
-Folic Acid - 12.7 NG/ML (> 5.0)
-Progesterone - 3.8 NG/ML (1.84-30.2)
-Free T4 - .82 NG/DL (.73-1.95)
-Free T3 - 2.7 PG/ML (2.3-4.2)
-TSH - 1.6 UIU/ML (.5-4.7)
-Vitamin B12 - 867 PG/ML (250-1100)
-DHEA Sulfate - 152UG/DL (56-326)
-Testosterone - 44 NG/DL (17-76)
-SHBG - 77NMOL/L - (23-152)
-Calc Free Testosterone - .4NG/DL (.3-1.5)
-Vitamin D 54NG/DL (30-100)
Doctor suggested the following:
-Taking a Vitamin D, Folic Acid, B12, Iron, and DHEA supplement.
-Increasing the progesterone dose. She also suggested my wife take it on a daily basis instead of at just the end of her cycle to help minimize the anxiety and bloating side-effects. She also switched her from an oral to a sublingual.
-Increasing the thyroid dose.
-She also gave us the option of using a testosterone cream to improve libido, mood, and to further improve body composition.
-That her estradiol is fine, and there’s no need to supplement estradiol in a pre-menopausal woman.
So to sum things up, the thyroid has subtantially improved metabolism, energy levels, and mood for my wife. The progesterone has improved vaginal lubrication, but not much else. She still has issues with facial bloating and android bodyfat patterning.
What suggestions might you have based on what I have told you? Thanks so much for your time.