Can my Testosterone be too High?

[wig surf]

Hi,
I just got my blood work done with Quest Diagnostic and wanted to share some results.
I inject Enanthate every day (10cc) subq, (170mg a week total), and take .5mg Anastrozole Mon/Wed/Friday.
Total T: 1442
Free T: 524
E2: 32 (just a little high).
My blood pressure is high, so I went to my doctor and told me to just not take my injections on Sunday to lower my blood pressure.
I do resistance band training 6 days a week (no heavy lifting since I hate wearing a mask in a gym) and see some results.

The issue I'm wondering is that I find myself almost out of breath during the day and was wondering if my high blood pressure is causing it.

Can my Test. Levels be too high?
What can be the down side of my high Test?
I don't really get Acne and my mood is pretty stable.

 

[Vince]

How high is your blood pressure?

First thing I would do is stop the AI (Anastrozole). If you let your E2 run up, you may feel better. My may concern with your high testosterone level is, high HCT. That could be causing your high blood pressure. Do you know what your HCT levels are? Did you get a complete blood count panel?

 

[wig surf]

My E2 is above the normal (based on the range on the blood panel). I did run a full test but I didn't see HCT.

 

[Vince]

My E2 is above the normal (based on the range on the blood panel). I did run a full test but I didn't see HCT.

Your E2 not normal for your high testosterone levels

 

[Vince]

High Estradiol Blood Level in Men: How High is Too High?

I decided to do a video on what the highest levels of estradiol should be for men on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). There's a lot of confusion on the subject since LabCorp and Quest have very narrow sensitive estradiol test ranges. Those estradiol test ranges were derived mostly from...

www.excelmale.com

 

[wig surf]

 

[wig surf]

correct, my E2 is not normal, but it's not ultra high....
what would be an appropriate E2 with my high Test level?

 

[Vince]

correct, my E2 is not normal, but it's not ultra high....
what would be an appropriate E2 with my high Test level?

If you're not having symptoms, 60 should be fine.

 

[wig surf]

I'm confused. Can you please tell me why having a higher E2 is better for me at my Test Levels?
I'm concerned that if my E2 levels increase, I will get side effects.

 

[Anonymon]

I'm confused. Can you please tell me why having a higher E2 is better for me at my Test Levels?
I'm concerned that if my E2 levels increase, I will get side effects.

With E2, it’s more about the ratio to Free T. You could have a 32 E2 and a 20 free T and get E2 sides. Your Free T to E2 ratio is bananas. That’s quite a high dose of that AI too. Your free T level in general is also bananas. Lowering the AI would lower the free T though and adjust the ratio. It’s something worth exploring. I don’t personally like AI’s.

My E2 is usually around 52-56 without an AI at that same test dose.

 

[wig surf]

Wow, I've never heard this before, thank you.
What's crazy is how my Free and Total Testosterone is at 170mg a week!

I'm a little concerned that if I stop or decrease my AI to .5mg, my E2 will shoot up and I'll get some side effects. But...If you think that I will feel better, I'll give it a shot.

I thought that with this high of Test, I would feel amazing, but I don't. I have shortness of breath, my energy level is good but not amazing and I don't get erections like I use to.

So...My game plan is to: drop my AI to .5mg.
Is there anything else I should do?
Thank you!!

 

[madman]

Hi,
I just got my blood work done with Quest Diagnostic and wanted to share some results.
I inject Enanthate every day (10cc) subq, (170mg a week total), and take .5mg Anastrozole Mon/Wed/Friday.
Total T: 1442
Free T: 524
E2: 32 (just a little high).
My blood pressure is high, so I went to my doctor and told me to just not take my injections on Sunday to lower my blood pressure.
I do resistance band training 6 days a week (no heavy lifting since I hate wearing a mask in a gym) and see some results.

The issue I'm wondering is that I find myself almost out of breath during the day and was wondering if my high blood pressure is causing it.

Can my Test. Levels be too high?
What can be the down side of my high Test?
I don't really get Acne and my mood is pretty stable.

You are missing critical blood markers.....RBCs/hemoglobin/hematocrit?

With a TT 1400+ ng/dL and more importantly absurdly high FT there is a good chance that your hemoglobin/hematocrit is high!

Mind you some men may notice less of an impact on estradiol and hematocrit when injecting daily but keep in mind that it is not a given and many may still struggle due to running too high an FT level.

170 mg T/week split into daily injections is still a fairly high weekly dose which can easily result in high TT/FT levels.

Have no idea where your SHBG sits but with a TT 1442 ng/dL your FT would most likely be absurdly high even if you had highish/high SHBG.

As you can clearly see your FT is absurdly high (judging by the 524 pg/mL posted) you most likely had it tested using one of the most accurate assays Equilibrium Dialysis (Quest Diagnostics reference range 35-155 pg/mL).

Although many tend to blame estradiol when it comes to bloat/water retention keep in mind that androgens increase sodium/water.

Excess water/bloat can easily drive up BP.

How is your diet?

Your estradiol is far from being considered really high.

I would not be too concerned with where your TT and more importantly FT levels sit on daily injections if you feel great overall, minus sides, and overall blood markers are healthy.

 

[madman]

Wow, I've never heard this before, thank you.
What's crazy is how my Free and Total Testosterone is at 170mg a week!

I'm a little concerned that if I stop or decrease my AI to .5mg, my E2 will shoot up and I'll get some side effects. But...If you think that I will feel better, I'll give it a shot.

I thought that with this high of Test, I would feel amazing, but I don't. I have shortness of breath, my energy level is good but not amazing and I don't get erections like I use to.

So...My game plan is to: drop my AI to .5mg.
Is there anything else I should do?
Thank you!!

I thought that with this high of Test, I would feel amazing, but I don't. I have shortness of breath, my energy level is good but not amazing and I don't get erections like I use to.

You easily have room to lower your dose and bring down your FT if need be and there is a good chance that you may feel great overall let alone avoid the use of an AI.

I would drop the AI-first to see where your estradiol ends up and how you feel overall.

If things turn for the worse then it would be more sensible to lower your dose and bring down your FT as you easily have room to play with!

 

[madman]

Hi,
I just got my blood work done with Quest Diagnostic and wanted to share some results.
I inject Enanthate every day (10cc) subq, (170mg a week total), and take .5mg Anastrozole Mon/Wed/Friday.
Total T: 1442
Free T: 524
E2: 32 (just a little high).
My blood pressure is high, so I went to my doctor and told me to just not take my injections on Sunday to lower my blood pressure.
I do resistance band training 6 days a week (no heavy lifting since I hate wearing a mask in a gym) and see some results.

The issue I'm wondering is that I find myself almost out of breath during the day and was wondering if my high blood pressure is causing it.

Can my Test. Levels be too high?
What can be the down side of my high Test?
I don't really get Acne and my mood is pretty stable.

post #2

Another water retention issue

I am 55 and in good shape but had a 358 ng/dl T level and a FT of .46 ng/dl. I started TRT in January. I was prescribed .5cc Cypionate per week and quickly felt much better. However, over the first 4 months, I gained about 13 lbs, my pants were tight, and my ankles swelled substantially. I then...

www.excelmale.com

 

[madman]

Edema on TRT

I take 100 mg Test Cyp once a week. I seem to get edema around day 5 thru 7. Then when I take my next shot it goes away. I would have thought edema would be worse when test levels are higher but seems to be just the opposite for me. Any ideas why or anyone else experience this? Thanks

www.excelmale.com

 

[Anonymon]

Wow, I've never heard this before, thank you.
What's crazy is how my Free and Total Testosterone is at 170mg a week!

I'm a little concerned that if I stop or decrease my AI to .5mg, my E2 will shoot up and I'll get some side effects. But...If you think that I will feel better, I'll give it a shot.

I thought that with this high of Test, I would feel amazing, but I don't. I have shortness of breath, my energy level is good but not amazing and I don't get erections like I use to.

So...My game plan is to: drop my AI to .5mg.
Is there anything else I should do?
Thank you!!

When decreasing the AI, just be sure to do it gradually. If you dose every 3 days, for example, go to 4. Then 5. And so on until you hit .5, which I’m assuming is one pill in your case as that’s pretty standard. In your case on M W F, drop W. Then next week drop another day. Once a week dosing of an AI isn’t as good as twice a week of a smaller dose like .125, but a lot of docs don’t give those anymore. Mine used to but jumped to .5 since it was easier to supply. If it’s a tablet you can split it, but most are pills now it seems and that can be wonky to divide.

I’d suggest doing that before adjusting anything else to accurately assess it, but you will most likely end up lowering your dose a bit to something like 150mg if the lower AI doesn’t make you feel better. If it does, and you can ride a free T that high and feel better and the rest of your bloodwork is good, feel free to. That’s a hilariously high free T though.

You’d also want to train with some heavier weights at some point, but I get things right now being wonky with restrictions. I’m lucky enough to own a gym so I haven’t been impeded by the Covid hysteria.

 

[Systemlord]

E2: 32 (just a little high).

I'm concerned that if my E2 levels increase, I will get side effects.

You're worrying about side effects before they occur, this is a waste of energy.

Your E2 isn't a little high.

 

[Systemlord]

My E2 is above the normal (based on the range on the blood panel).

A lot of the lab companies aren't standardized and reference ranges can vary greatly depending on which lab company you use.


Labcorp has the reference ranges for E2 in males at 20-35 pg/mL and some lab companies have E2 ranges all the way up to 46 pg/mL.

 

[Cataceous]

@wig surf: I'll also push for a lower dose: I think you should consider operating at a sensible, physiological level of testosterone for a significant period of time. If you're not satisfied with that then you might explore higher levels. The average healthy young male makes 6-7 mg of testosterone daily. You seem to be taking over 17 mg per day. Using two to three times normal T production is a prescription for side effects. You can cut your dose in half and still have above-average serum testosterone—and that's compared to guys in their 20s. Lowering the dose is often unpleasant, and can temporarily make you feel bad as your body adapts to more normal levels. Still, I think it's worth doing before committing to a long-term experiment on your body's tolerance of non-physiological levels.

As a practical matter, lowering the dose means you're less likely to need an AI, and it's good to try going without. You can get some indication of whether estradiol is relatively high by looking at its ratio to testosterone. A normal range is around 0.3-0.6%. Your measurements above give 0.22%. You should monitor your SHBG. When taken with total testosterone it gives you a way to calculate free testosterone, which is good to have as a backup even when using an accurate test to measure free testosterone. It's even more important to monitor free testosterone when SHBG is high or low.

 

[TorontoTRT]

Your E2 is not slightly high, it’s extremely low for your total T. You’re setting yourself up for problems.