10 years of low T, Recent Blood Results

[Am6767]

Hello everyone, I’ve had low T since college but no doctor ever wanted me to do anything about it. I had all the symptoms from lack of energy, depression, fatigue, low libido, brain fog. I was skinny, ate well, exercised a lot and my numbers have been between 200-400 tested every couple years for 10 years and now I am 30. I finally found a urologist wanting to help and I see him tomorrow. My fasted morning blood work from last week is below:

Total test - 273 ng/dl 241-827 ng/dl

Free test - 7.9 ng/dl 3.06-15.20 ng/dl

SHBG - 13.98 nmol/L 14.55-94.64 nmol/L

LH - 4.1 MIU/ML 1-5-9.3 MIU/ML

Estrodial - 18.1 PG/ML

Thoughts? He mentioned before more serious TRT if I wanted to maintain fertility to do Clomid + HCG. Thoughts on that?

Thanks for any info!

 

[tareload]

Hello everyone, I’ve had low T since college but no doctor ever wanted me to do anything about it. I had all the symptoms from lack of energy, depression, fatigue, low libido, brain fog. I was skinny, ate well, exercised a lot and my numbers have been between 200-400 tested every couple years for 10 years and now I am 30. I finally found a urologist wanting to help and I see him tomorrow. My fasted morning blood work from last week is below:

Total test - 273 ng/dl 241-827 ng/dl

Free test - 7.9 ng/dl 3.06-15.20 ng/dl

SHBG - 13.98 nmol/L 14.55-94.64 nmol/L

LH - 4.1 MIU/ML 1-5-9.3 MIU/ML

Estrodial - 18.1 PG/ML

Thoughts? He mentioned before more serious TRT if I wanted to maintain fertility to do Clomid + HCG. Thoughts on that?

Thanks for any info!

hCG or AI/SERM monotherapy for a borderline case like yours if you want to learn some valuable info up front before jumping into the wonderful world of exogenous Testosterone.

You'll probably see a significant bump in TT levels with hCG 500 IU twice weekly. Whether that will ameliorate symptoms is another matter as well as whether you are hypogonadal (borderline secondary it appears).

Reads as though you have a thoughtful provider. Good luck.

 

[Systemlord]

Thoughts? He mentioned before more serious TRT if I wanted to maintain fertility to do Clomid + HCG. Thoughts on that?

Clomid most likely isn't going to relieve your symptoms, but at least you'll be fertile.

TRT will decrease your SHBG into the single digits and may make it challenging to feel good, so I would recommend a topical treatment first because they don't affect SHBG.

I would recommend you educate yourself as far as protocols go because a lot of doctors are still prescribing outdated protocols (200 mg every 2 weeks) which can prolong suffering of those getting treatment for low-T.

You can maintain fertility using HCG in conjunction with TRT, except few doctors are up to date on current medical literature.

 

[Systemlord]

Total test - 273 ng/dl 241-827 ng/dl

Free test - 7.9 ng/dl 3.06-15.20 ng/dl

SHBG - 13.98 nmol/L 14.55-94.64 nmol/L

The healthy range for Free T is 16-30 ng/dL using the Tru-T calculator, yours currently is sitting at 8.74 ng/dL. So your Free T result is pretty close to the Tru-T results and may be spot on if using matching albumin values.

 

[Am6767]

Clomid most likely isn't going to relieve your symptoms, but at least you'll be fertile.

TRT will decrease your SHBG into the single digits and may make it challenging to feel good, so I would recommend a topical treatment first because they don't affect SHBG.

I would recommend you educate yourself as far as protocols go because a lot of doctors are still prescribing outdated protocols (200 mg every 2 weeks) which can prolong suffering of those getting treatment for low-T.

You can maintain fertility using HCG in conjunction with TRT, except few doctors are up to date on current medical literature.

So a topical plus HCG would be the smarter choice in maintaining SHBG and fertility while also hopefully feeling better? The more research I do the more confused I get on what to do. I’m only 30 so that plays into it as well but I sure as hell don’t want to keep feeling like crap like I have for years.

 

[Systemlord]

So a topical plus HCG would be the smarter choice in maintaining SHBG and fertility while also hopefully feeling better?

HCG may cause side effects at any dosage, response is unique to the individual, usually TRT in isolation is best due to the side effects and then starting fertility treatments when looking to have children.

When you think you've done enough research, you haven't even scratched the surface.

 

[Systemlord]

When I was diagnosed with low-T, I also had diabetes which was suppressing my SHBG to 11, so when I see another person with low SHBG and low-T, I can't help but wonder where your A1C currently sits.

If a diabetic, TRT is expected to increase SHBG.

Do you have any fasting glucose or A1C results?

 

[Am6767]

When I was diagnosed with low-T, I also had diabetes which was suppressing my SHBG to 11, so when I see another person with low SHBG and low-T, I can't help but wonder where your A1C currently sits.

If a diabetic, TRT is expected to increase SHBG.

Do you have any fasting glucose or A1C results?

I don’t have any form this blood panel but last year my glucose was 95 mg/dl (65-99mg/dl) also my cholesterols from this draw are below:

HDL 31mg/dl (23-92mg/dl)
Triglycerides 120 (<150mg/dl)
LDL 90mg/dl (0-130mg/dl)
Chol/HDL Ratio 4.9 (average in the range)

 

[JmarkH]

Thoughts? He mentioned before more serious TRT if I wanted to maintain fertility to do Clomid + HCG. Thoughts on that?

At 63 I'm on HCG + Clomid. And it seems a good place to start. I go through Matrix Hormones. I doubt I'll go on TRT because my baseline T was 573. For me, Clomid isn't for fertility as I've been clipped anyway. I'm trying to get all my ratios in balance and optimize.

 

[Am6767]

At 63 I'm on HCG + Clomid. And it seems a good place to start. I go through Matrix Hormones. I doubt I'll go on TRT because my baseline T was 573. For me, Clomid isn't for fertility as I've been clipped anyway. I'm trying to get all my ratios in balance and optimize.

How are you feeling on it?

 

[JmarkH]

How are you feeling on it?

I had all the ADAM symptoms before starting. I've been on 250iu EOD or 4x per week for 1000iu total. I take 25mg Clomid on HCG days. From day one, my brain fog began to lift, mood is much better and stress is lighter. For the first two weeks, every injection was like a boost in energy/motivation and mind clarity. Now it is steady throughout the week and I'm seeing a remarkable difference. What I don't understand is my labs weren't that out of wack but this has even made food taste better. I'm on week five right now and will retake labs on week eight.