Hello everyone, first time poster, but I've been lurking for a while, gathering as much information as I can. I've been looking into hormones and TRT for roughly a year and a half now, and with all the results I have, it's time to move forward. I'm looking for a second opinion about my blood test results and for advice.
I'm a 27 year old male living in Europe. I've been dealing with symptoms related to low testosterone for roughly 6 years. They started as mild libido symptoms, something you quickly disregard, but they gradually became worse and started spreading to other areas. The symptoms include becoming completely asexual (no attraction to women) and even completely apathetic (no emotions, drive, motivation, etc.) in the last year. I'm also worried about potential issues with bone density and heart problems that can be caused by low testosterone.
All this time I've already had an optimized lifestyle. For example, weight lifting 5x a week, 11-12% body fat, little alcohol, no drugs, no PEDs, good sleep, etc. I went through various lists and supplements for increasing testosterone, that you find on the internet, trying to further optimize my lifestyle, but it brought no results. The last thing to check were hormones. I went to the doctors multiple times, but the best I got out of them, even after paying for private doctors (urologist and endo), were a couple of decent blood tests, and them telling me that I'm "in range", despite all my symptoms and low numbers.
For the first two tests I was completely optimized as described above. The third test was done during the lockdown, during which I gained a little fat and exercised less. I saw this lockdown as the perfect opportunity to get tested, so that I could see if more rest, a higher body fat percentage and a higher caloric surplus would affect my hormone levels. It doesn't seem like they were affected too much, or at all.
All blood tests were done before noon. The first test was done around 2.5h after waking up, the second test 30 minutes after of waking up and the third test a good hour after waking up. I think that the better testosterone results are purely because of the time it was taken, rather than any changes that I made.
In the second test (February 2020) I have also tested Free T3 (5 pmol/L; 2.5-5.7 pmol/L) and Free T4 (11 pmol/L; 9-19 pmol/L). I tried to get Reverse T3, but they didn't have that option. I also tested cholesterol, and various vitamins and minerals. All these values were good, so I don't think I have any dietary problems. I also take corticosteroids for my allergies, not sure if they're the cause of my higher cortisol results.
Since I've been having trouble for years ,and have tried everything that I could to fix this, with no results, I'm leaning towards self administered TRT. I know that I will get no help from the medical system unless my results become much worse. I was thinking about starting Test E 120 mg per week split into two doses, but before that I have a few questions regarding my results.
DHT is not often discussed, but does it significantly increase when you're on TRT? Asking because mine is very low.
My Estradiol has crashed in the third test, do any other results indicate what could've caused this?
Another thing I'm interested in is Progesterone. Based on the test they're quite high, but I read that the reference range was significantly decrease some time ago. I also heard that high Progesterone can tank DHT. Are my Progesterone values ok?
When I looked at the results in the spreadsheet I noticed that my TSH value is getting higher each test, while LH and FSH values are getting lower. While it's true that hormones fluctuate, I find it rather strange that the values are moving towards one direction. Are they fluctuating and this is a coincidence, or are they actually getting worse? Hard to tell. Does anyone have information on what would be considered good values for TSH, LH and FSH? It'd be good to know if these levels are alright or not, but that is hard to determine with just the reference range. For example, for testosterone we know that higher levels are better than lower, and that the average man in his 20s has levels of roughly 650 ng/dl. With all this extra information it's a lot easier to know if you're levels are good or not.
I appreciate any information, suggestions and advice. Thanks.
I'm a 27 year old male living in Europe. I've been dealing with symptoms related to low testosterone for roughly 6 years. They started as mild libido symptoms, something you quickly disregard, but they gradually became worse and started spreading to other areas. The symptoms include becoming completely asexual (no attraction to women) and even completely apathetic (no emotions, drive, motivation, etc.) in the last year. I'm also worried about potential issues with bone density and heart problems that can be caused by low testosterone.
All this time I've already had an optimized lifestyle. For example, weight lifting 5x a week, 11-12% body fat, little alcohol, no drugs, no PEDs, good sleep, etc. I went through various lists and supplements for increasing testosterone, that you find on the internet, trying to further optimize my lifestyle, but it brought no results. The last thing to check were hormones. I went to the doctors multiple times, but the best I got out of them, even after paying for private doctors (urologist and endo), were a couple of decent blood tests, and them telling me that I'm "in range", despite all my symptoms and low numbers.
For the first two tests I was completely optimized as described above. The third test was done during the lockdown, during which I gained a little fat and exercised less. I saw this lockdown as the perfect opportunity to get tested, so that I could see if more rest, a higher body fat percentage and a higher caloric surplus would affect my hormone levels. It doesn't seem like they were affected too much, or at all.
All blood tests were done before noon. The first test was done around 2.5h after waking up, the second test 30 minutes after of waking up and the third test a good hour after waking up. I think that the better testosterone results are purely because of the time it was taken, rather than any changes that I made.
In the second test (February 2020) I have also tested Free T3 (5 pmol/L; 2.5-5.7 pmol/L) and Free T4 (11 pmol/L; 9-19 pmol/L). I tried to get Reverse T3, but they didn't have that option. I also tested cholesterol, and various vitamins and minerals. All these values were good, so I don't think I have any dietary problems. I also take corticosteroids for my allergies, not sure if they're the cause of my higher cortisol results.
Since I've been having trouble for years ,and have tried everything that I could to fix this, with no results, I'm leaning towards self administered TRT. I know that I will get no help from the medical system unless my results become much worse. I was thinking about starting Test E 120 mg per week split into two doses, but before that I have a few questions regarding my results.
DHT is not often discussed, but does it significantly increase when you're on TRT? Asking because mine is very low.
My Estradiol has crashed in the third test, do any other results indicate what could've caused this?
Another thing I'm interested in is Progesterone. Based on the test they're quite high, but I read that the reference range was significantly decrease some time ago. I also heard that high Progesterone can tank DHT. Are my Progesterone values ok?
When I looked at the results in the spreadsheet I noticed that my TSH value is getting higher each test, while LH and FSH values are getting lower. While it's true that hormones fluctuate, I find it rather strange that the values are moving towards one direction. Are they fluctuating and this is a coincidence, or are they actually getting worse? Hard to tell. Does anyone have information on what would be considered good values for TSH, LH and FSH? It'd be good to know if these levels are alright or not, but that is hard to determine with just the reference range. For example, for testosterone we know that higher levels are better than lower, and that the average man in his 20s has levels of roughly 650 ng/dl. With all this extra information it's a lot easier to know if you're levels are good or not.
I appreciate any information, suggestions and advice. Thanks.
