Blood results back...likely starting TRT soon.

[copacetic25]

I have for years tried to raise testosterone through diet, weight lifting and hacking every aspect I can including cycling testosterone boosting herbs religiously. For the last 8 years I have essentially stayed between 300-400 TT range. At 44 years old, 13% body fat, I think starting TRT is my best solution at this point. I have been resistant to start, but at this point I just want to feel better, have energy and get my life back. I have Hypothyroidism and am tweaking my dosage up a bit based on my latest numbers below...I try to keep TSH closer to 1. As, you can see below...my free test is barley existent.

Recent Bloodwork-

Iron and Total Iron Binding Capacity (TIBC) -
Iron Bind.Cap.(TIBC) 267 ug/dL (250 - 450)
UIBC 195 ug/dL (150 - 375)
Iron, Serum 72 ug/dL (40 - 155)
Iron Saturation 27 % (15 - 55)
Pregnenolone - 130 (<150)
DHEA-S - 127 (102 - 416)
DHT - 25 (30 - 85) ******* Low
Complete Thyroid Profile -
T4 - 1.03 ( .82 - 1.77)
T3 - 3.1 ( 2.0 - 4.4)
Vitamin D - 41.6 (30 - 100)
Hematocrit - 46 (37 - 51)
Cholesterol -191 (100-199)
Triglycerides - 71 (0-149)
HDL - 52 (>39)
TSH - 3.69 (0.45 - 4.500)
PSA - 0.3 (0.0 - 4.0)
Total Test. - 391 (348 - 1197) ***** Low
Free Test. - 1.4 (1.5 - 3.2) ****** Low
SHGB - 39.4 (16.5 - 55.9)
Estradiol - 18.4 (8.0 - 35)
LH - 5.7 (1.7 - 8.6)

 

[Nelson Vergel]

You definitely need to fine tune your thyroid. By the way, your iron values are on the low side which can be a factor in your hypothyrodism. Have you got your ferritin, free T3, reverse T3 and thyroid antibodies measured?

I would fine tune your thyroid first to see if you total and free testosterone improve. If that fails, starting TRT may not be a bad idea.

Chris will probably add some of his thyroid wisdom here.

 

[copacetic25]

Thanks Nelson, I will order some more blood work for my thyroid.

 

[Vettester Chris]

Yes, you need the Reverse T3 lab, and hopefully the antibodies (TPO & TgAb). Your T4 & T3 are both "free serum" results, I can see that by the reference ranges, so those will work. Your FT3 is is a bit higher in relation to where it sits with the reference range compared to FT4, which sits noticeable lower. This to me is a possible indication of T3 pooling. The lab that sticks out to me for this subject "pooling", is your Iron Serum. 120ug/dl to 135ug/dl would be an ideal (IMO) area to aim for with your Iron serum, as it is "critical" with getting T3 to the cells of the body.

As noted by Nelson, we need ferritin, and I would also like to see your B12 if you can get it? Also, look at increasing your Vitamin D; possibly getting that number up in the 70's to 80's, as it is also critical with thyroid productivity. Look at including selenium in your diet, and even a little kelp/iodine.

What is your thyroid dosage protocol? What type of medication? T4 "could" be converting excess Reverse T3 to compensate "if" T3 is pooling, so adding exogenous thyroid medication could be problematic until you know for sure that T3 is function, and within an exceptional ratio with RT3. If you're taking a T3 only, like Cytomel, that could explain the deviation with your reference range variances, being T3 is sitting higher (under 50% of range).