Year over Year Labs: Low-T symptoms still strong

Year over Year Labs: Please Advise

- 30yr old, 5'9" 175lbs 12% BF strength train/climb
- Low-t symptoms ON/OFF for the last last 7yrs. Issues w/energy, anxiety/nervous chest jitters, sex drive, and motivation, Hard to progress in weight room.
- Bilateral meniscus surgery 2009 & 2010 never healed correctly and I cannot train legs, jog, bike, etc (can walk/light hiking)
- Wife is currently 6months pregnant so stuff works, but not like it used to.
- Never taken any trt, anabolics, or drugs. Don't drink or smoke.


Anyways, here are the labs (AM taken fasted 9-12hrs). xxx represents labs not taken at that time.

I'm looking for advice based on these labs along with what other panels I should take in the future.

No thyroid tests (TSH, T3, T4, RT3, Antibodies) were run? Head injuries? Taking any medications/supplements (now or in the past, anabolics or opiates)? What is your TRT status? On a protocol? If so, what are the details? You're 30 now, but have been dealing with symptoms for seven years - very young to see this develop.

CoastWatcher said:

No thyroid tests (TSH, T3, T4, RT3, Antibodies) were run? Head injuries? Taking any medications/supplements (now or in the past, anabolics or opiates)? What is your TRT status? On a protocol? If so, what are the details? You're 30 now, but have been dealing with symptoms for seven years - very young to see this develop.

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No thyroid labs taken recently. Never taken any anabolics, meds, drugs, or trt stuff. Never been treated in any way. Light concussion in high school football.

TSH (3rd gen .450-4.5 uIU/mL) levels in previous years was:
2014: 1.46
2011: 1.81
2010: 2.63

Supplements, I take these weekly, but not everyday:
- SAM-E, magnesium, zinc/copper, ashwagandha(not often 1/2 dose), beet powder, citrulline/akg, creatine, Celery seed extract

I would not change a thing. Your numbers are great. May be just take 5 mg daily Cialis if your erections are not as hard.

Nelson Vergel said:

I would not change a thing. Your numbers are great. May be just take 5 mg daily Cialis if your erections are not as hard.

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Indeed, they don't look bad and I'm certainly not about to hop on any meds. However, what about my issues from recovery to mood/libido/anxiety/glucose control these surely are a sign my levels should be MUCH higher.

Is there not a reason Docs aim to put guys in the 700-900 range? Ahaha, I feel like you're one of "those Docs" that's like "you're fine, numbers look great. All those symptoms you deal with every week are in your head."

More regular sleep time and eggs, could do the trick, who knows?

I think nelson is just offering his opinion and didn't mean to offend. I'm not sure if a restart would help you but to me your levels seem low for your age. I also think the range is meant as a guideline but you should go by how you feel that being said you want to make sure there are no underlying conditions contributing to how you feel. just and idea but have you ever considered doing a nighttime blood draw to see how much your levels would drop?

Keep in mind although there are many positives to TRT there are also negatives even if the positive outweigh the negatives most of the time.

How your diet do you eat enough healthy fats?

PAUL-E said:

I think nelson is just offering his opinion and didn't mean to offend. I'm not sure if a restart would help you but to me your levels seem low for your age. I also think the range is meant as a guideline but you should go by how you feel that being said you want to make sure there are no underlying conditions contributing to how you feel. just and idea but have you ever considered doing a nighttime blood draw to see how much your levels would drop?

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Ha, yeah, no offense really(Nelson's doing a lot of good for trt folks), it's just a little maddening to hear "don't change a thing".

To be honest, I think there's probably a psychological bias out there towards someone presenting my total-t levels and complaining. While ya'll folks who had <300ng/dL are like "please, cry me a river!"

Interesting, see how low levels are at end of day. Gotcha, interesting thought I haven't had before. I'm not even considering TRT, just looking for dietary, advice of additional panels, or supplement based input from the knowledge base of members here.

PAUL-E said:

How your diet do you eat enough healthy fats?

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Diet is very "clean", eggs, bacon, veggies, meats/fish, coconut oil, avocado, potato/yucca/rice etc. Everything seems in order except for a bit more sleep, so I was hoping this panel or additional panels could show me where to look for a clue.

Total and Free Testosterone could be higher as you're not really in the "optimal" range and you still present with some symptoms.

I didn't feel good in the 400's either but when I got near 1000 everything changed.

I'd like to see more Thyroid labs and others like DHT as well.

I had low T symptoms for 3-5 years before I knew what to look for and when I had my levels tested they were in the 360s so I was most likely around the same range as you if not higher when I first started to have symptoms. I said I thought the range was a guideline not something set in stone, I hope you find the help you are looking for good luck.

Gene Devine said:

Total and Free Testosterone could be higher as you're not really in the "optimal" range and you still present with some symptoms.

I didn't feel good in the 400's either but when I got near 1000 everything changed.

I'd like to see more Thyroid labs and others like DHT as well.

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New labs after several lifestyle changes and DHEA/Pregnenolone supplementation, your thoughts?

How do you feel?

It seems you're using the standard estradiol assay, so you could still be low in estradiol. Which would account for some of your symptoms, I would recommend a sensitive assay.

Also your TSH is pretty high, especially compared to your other TSH tests. I don't see a free T4 on there, but your free T3 is pretty good. It's odd to see a TSH that high with a good T3, although I don't know much about thyroid function so maybe one of the other members who are better experienced with thyroid can comment on that.

You're supplementing with DHEA, but no DHEA-S test this time? Did you order these yourself, or did a doctor? I can't see why a doctor would put you on DHEA, but not do a follow up test.

socks

Are those glucose values during fasting? Are you getting early morning erections? Are you taking anything that is reducing your estradiol a lot?
TSH is inching upwards but your free T3 is OK.

I still feel "meh" but testosterone numbers seem to be trending positive as result of dhea/preg and lifestyle changes.

Glucose is after fasting 8-12hrs.

Taking 30-45mg Zinc/day along with 25mg DHEA/10mg Pregnenolone. When AM Erections occur they are weak and go away quickly before I get out of bed.

Only been on DHEA/Preg for 3-weeks, will followup test for DHEA-S in another 1-2months.