I would even say testosterone is not as important as metabolites of testosterone DHT and Estradiol.. testosterone is just a pre cursor to those 2 extremely important hormones.. and evidence for this is if you block one of them or both by using 5ar inhibitor or aromatase inhibitor you get baaad side effectsTestosterones metabolites estradiol and DHT both play important roles and are critical to experience the full spectrum of testosterones beneficial effects.
The variable is everyone is so different.At this point everyone should know to feel optimal you have to optimize all hormones, not just a select few, and that hormones work best in balance, not too much, and not too little. It’s not rocket science. We definitely over complicate things for sure.
The variable is everyone is so different.
I just got my old pal Dr. Shippen an invite to speak at the April 2019 AMMG conference in Miami. He is going to speak on HCG monotherapy and estrogen management. So we will have new lecture material to post from him.
I've had a slide in my lecture set for years which states: "If the patient has no symptoms of elevated estrogen, I do not add an AI".Exactly. What I said is still true, but you’re absolutely right, everyone has their own individual range(s) that their hormones need to fall into for his/ her body to consider itself “balanced”.
Some of us might have similar ranges where we feel balanced, but at the end of the day, it’s all very individualistic when it comes to hormones. That’s why it blows my mind when Dr. Nichols is recommending a range for total E2 of 50-70, I believe. He’s not only recommending a range, but a range for TOTAL E2, not free E2 which would make more sense. This is 2008 thinking, not 2018. In 2018 we should know by now that people are so different, and one guy’s ideal E2 can be around 20, and another guy possibly 90. And why we are not going by free E2 yet is beyond me. Unless I’m missing something, that’s like a doctor only going by total testosterone. We would look at him like he has an IQ of 80, max. So why are we still going by total E2? I must be missing something, because it makes zero sense to me.
I've had a slide in my lecture set for years which states: "If the patient has no symptoms of elevated estrogen, I do not add an AI".
If the patient feels good with a total E2 at 50-70, he probably is good. At least he hasn't been driven too low with inappropriately high AI dosing.
Having said that, I am concerned because there are no studies which show inducing high levels (as verified by proper LC/MS testing--not the invalid immunoassay technique; those studies are often misapplied to this dialogue) of estrogen is safe for men. It's one thing to acknowledge driving estrogen too low is always bad (which is what every single study purporting to show any AI use as dangerous did), something entirely different to claim estrogen should be as high as possible. We certainly can all agree "more is not better" with respect to testosterone dosing--is it different for estrogen?
I monitor SHBG levels (which can trend up or down) in order to get an idea for Free E2, just as we can do for T. Free E2 is, at this time, a very expensive test.
Is there a formula for calculating Free E2 based on E2, SHBG and Albumin? (There is such a formula for calculating Free T)