Blood Test Reading

[Steven]

Good Morning,
I’m hoping to get a little help about my blood test reading. I’m a 57 year old man in pretty good shape. I just started intermittent fasting which I really love. I look and feel so much better. I’ve lowered my dosage of cypionate to 75 taken in 3 25 shots a week. I’m on no AI of hcg. The biggest benefit since the fasting was that my red hematocrit dropped to 52.8. The lowest it has been in years. I also supplement with zinc and boron daily. My readings seem high for my dosage:

Total T 1440 - Estrogen 86 - SHBG 68.

All of my other numbers were great. Any thoughts or advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Systemlord]

Total T 1440 - Estrogen 86 - SHBG 68.

All of my other numbers were great.

Too many get tunnel vision and only focus on Total T, the Total T while still relevent, the Free T value is the deciding factor in treatment success.

 

[madman]

Good Morning,
I’m hoping to get a little help about my blood test reading. I’m a 57 year old man in pretty good shape. I just started intermittent fasting which I really love. I look and feel so much better. I’ve lowered my dosage of cypionate to 75 taken in 3 25 shots a week. I’m on no AI of hcg. The biggest benefit since the fasting was that my red hematocrit dropped to 52.8. The lowest it has been in years. I also supplement with zinc and boron daily. My readings seem high for my dosage:

Total T 1440 - Estrogen 86 - SHBG 68.

All of my other numbers were great. Any thoughts or advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

The strength of your T is most likely 200mg/mL.

You are injecting 150 mg T (.75 mL) split into 50 mg T (.25mL) 3X/week.

What days are you injecting (M/W/F) and when was blood work done?

If you are hitting a trough TT 1440 ng/dL then your trough FT would be absurdly high (most likely 45-50 ng/dL) even with a high SHBG 68 nmol/L.

Peak TT, FT, and estradiol levels will be higher.

You only posted your TT, estradiol, SHBG, and hematocrit.

Left out one of the most important blood markers FT!

Although TT is important to know FT is what truly matters as it is the active unbound fraction of testosterone responsible for the positive effects.

Knowing where your SHBG sits is critical as not only will it have a significant impact on TT/FT but can dictate what injection frequency may suit one best.

The only way to know where your FT level truly sits is to have it tested using the most accurate assays such as the gold standard Equilibrium Dialysis or Ultrafiltration (next best).

I would not rely upon the piss poor direct immunoassays which are known to be inaccurate let alone the older outdated cFTV when testing FT especially in cases of altered SHBG!

FT 5-10 ng/dL is considered low.

FT 16-31 ng/dL (top-end) is healthy.

Most men will do well with FT 20-30 ng/dL.

Some may choose to run higher levels.

Comes down to the individual.



I’ve lowered my dosage of cypionate to 75 taken in 3 25 shots a week. I’m on no AI of hcg. The biggest benefit since the fasting was that my red hematocrit dropped to 52.8. The lowest it has been in years.

I would say your elevated hematocrit has more to do with your absurdly high FT level (most likely 45-50ng/dL) let alone your TT, FT, and estradiol levels would have been much higher seeing as you recently lowered your dose from ?--->150 mg T/week.

Have a hunch that you were on that piss poor 200mg T/week protocol which would have most men's trough TT/FT levels very high and in some cases absurdly high depending on the injection frequency.

If you feel great overall, blood markers are healthy, minus any sides then stick with your current protocol.

If you were struggling with such protocol then you would easily have room to lower your weekly dose and bring down your FT level even further which would easily help bring down your hematocrit.

I would not be too concerned with hematocrit 50-53% unless it was causing sides but keep in mind you are still almost pushing 53% and it was most likely even higher on your previous protocol.

You were most likely struggling with elevated hematocrit due to the absurdly high FT levels on your previous/current protocol!

If anything I would have your FT tested using an accurate assay (ED or UF) so you can see where your trough FT level truly sits.

Critical to use accurate assays when testing especially in cases of altered SHBG!

Many that are struggling are running much higher levels than they think.

Unfortunately, too many men are using/relying upon inaccurate assays when testing FT.




Regarding those struggling with high hematocrit here is my reply from another thread:

When using exogenous T RBCs/hemoglobin/hematocrit will increase within the 1st month and can take up to 9-12 months to reach peak levels.

T formulation, the dose of T, genetics (polymorphism of the AR), age all play a role in the impact a trt protocol will have on blood markers (RBCs/hemoglobin/hematocrit).

Other factors such as sleep apnea, smoking can have a negative impact on hematocrit.

Injectable T has been shown to have a greater impact on increasing HCT compared to transdermal T.

3–18% with transdermal administration and up to 44% with injection.

In most cases when using injectable T high supra-physiological peaks post-injection and overall T levels (running too high TT/FT level) will have a big impact on increasing HCT.

Manipulating injection frequency by injecting more frequently using lower doses of T resulting in minimizing the peak--->trough and maintaining more stable levels may lessen the impact on HCT but it is not a given.

As again running very high TT/FT levels will have a stronger impact on driving up HCT.

Although injectables have been shown to have a greater impact on HCT you can see even when using a transdermal formulation that maintains stable serum concentrations that the impact it has on HCT is DEPENDANT ON THE DOSE AND SERUM LEVEL OF T.

Using higher doses of transdermal T and achieving higher TT/FT levels will have a great impact on HCT levels.

How high an FT level you are running is critical.

It is a given that most men on trt struggling with elevated RBCs/hemoglobin/hematocrit are running too high an FT level.

Sure some men are more sensitive than others as they may still struggle with elevated blood markers when running lower T levels but it is far from common and many may already have an underlying health issue contributing to such.

If you are struggling with such blood markers then in most cases finding the lowest FT level you can run while still maintaining the beneficial effects may very well be the solution.

Easier said than done as many men on trt tend to do better running higher-end FT levels within reason.

Mind you some are lucky and never have an issue or levels tend to stabilize over time.

Others will continue to struggle until the cows come home.

Unfortunately too many are caught up in running absurdly high trough FT levels due to the herd mentality spewed on the bro forums and gootube!

 

[Ch257]

Good Morning,
I’m hoping to get a little help about my blood test reading. I’m a 57 year old man in pretty good shape. I just started intermittent fasting which I really love. I look and feel so much better. I’ve lowered my dosage of cypionate to 75 taken in 3 25 shots a week. I’m on no AI of hcg. The biggest benefit since the fasting was that my red hematocrit dropped to 52.8. The lowest it has been in years. I also supplement with zinc and boron daily. My readings seem high for my dosage:

Total T 1440 - Estrogen 86 - SHBG 68.

All of my other numbers were great. Any thoughts or advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

Jeez that’s a high total T, is ur vial compounded?