Free T percentage

[mooseman109]

I have not been bale,to get my free to much more than 2%. Over several protocols, it has gone from 1.8-2.2%. Shbg average runs right at mid range, 48on labcorp. E2 is up with 35being top end, that is up from typical 16. Added hcg 6 months ago and dhea 3 months ago. Dropping dhea. Regardless of E2,free t was never higher than 2.2% when E2was great.

 

[Vince Carter]

Whats your total T...post your labs. If your SHBG is that high you'll need a higher TT to get that to come up. Besides the rambling paragraph is hard to understand what you've got going on any way.

 

[mooseman109]

Let me put it simply VC, what is folks average Free T percentage.
There is no rambling in that is there?
Mine stays 1.8-2.2% regardless of what protocol i run or levelof total T.

 

[MarkM]

Moose, the average runs between 2% and 3% on the upper end. Of course we always want our Free T to be as high as possible, as close to 3% as we can get it but sometimes getting Free T that high one ends up with high E2 so there is a give and take. Somewhat of a compromise I might say.

DHEA can convert mainly to E2 in men, depends on the person. 35 is at the top end of the range but I would not call it terribly high. It depends if you have high E2 symptoms. My E2 is 35.3 and I am fine with no AI. You could try to increase your testosterone dose about 10 mg and see how you feel?

 

[mooseman109]

Thanks MarkM. I have defy appt tomorrow and will discuss. I have been somewhat symptomatic at this level of E2. Nipples always hard, anxiety reared it’s ugly head manifested by chest tightness and breathing issues, and a little bit more emotional. So apparently i can not tolerate E2 at this level. I dropped DHEA last week. E2 never really changed much with different protocols over last 5 years, so I apparently am blessed with not much T converting over E. Yes, for sure a trade off.
Thanks again for input

 

[Vince Carter]

You're going to have to run a total that moves your FT, what TT have you been up to that still keeps your Free T under what you'd like it to be? What dose of Cyp/Frequency was your latest try? Basically you'll need alot more Cyp to overcome the SHBG balanced by what you can tolerate for E, of course.

 

[mooseman109]

VC,
My dose is 25 mg 3 days a week shallow IM.
This has kept total T at 700-800.
As I stated my estrogen was always low, or mid range I should say, before hCG and the DHEA. The DHEA was the last thing I added to the protocol.I have removed that from my protocol which should give me some room to raise TT
It could be that my SHBG May require less frequent dosage

 

[Vince Carter]

Ya you'll have to get off E3D shots, your TT is way too low, or up the dose...lots of possibilities here including one larger shot per week. Possibly the least invasive is just up your dose from 25mg E3D (or 75 total per week). to 100mg/W split 3X

 

[DragonBits]

The lab only included free t % one time, but I guess this is a calculation of FT/TT.

So then my % has varied from 1.44-3.09%, I think it may have something to do with diet and TT. My % went up from 1.89 >2.1 when I supplemented with 6 mg boron, and when it was 3.09 I had spent several months in Thailand and my TT was 902 ng/dl, so my diet was a a lot different. But who knows for sure, I had also been on TRT for several years when it got to 3.09%, maybe that had something to do with it. I wasn't on TRT at all when %F was below 2%.

I don't pay any attention to free T, just TT, FT and sometimes E2. EDIT: (I don't pay attention to my percent free T)

Right now my TT is 1389, FT 28.4, E2 56.2 and thus my FT percent is 2.04%.

 

[MarkM]

The lab only included free t % one time, but I guess this is a calculation of FT/TT.

Right now my TT is 1389, FT 28.4, E2 56.2 and thus my FT percent is 2.04%.

When you get a Free T percentage from a lab such as LabCorp or Quest it is a simple mathematical calculation of taking the Free T and dividing it into the Total T. Example - Free T of 24 and Total T of 1,000 = 2.4% (24/1,000=0.24)x 100 = 2.4%).

However, if you use the Free T and Bioavailable T calculator it calculates the Free T percentage a little differently because it uses what is bound to SHBG and Albumin. You can see it at http://www.issam.ch/freetesto.htm.

 

[DragonBits]

When you get a Free T percentage from a lab such as LabCorp or Quest it is a simple mathematical calculation of taking the Free T and dividing it into the Total T. Example - Free T of 24 and Total T of 1,000 = 2.4% (24/1,000=0.24)x 100 = 2.4%).

However, if you use the Free T and Bioavailable T calculator it calculates the Free T percentage a little differently because it uses what is bound to SHBG and Albumin. You can see it at http://www.issam.ch/freetesto.htm.

One time 5 years ago I selected TT and bioavailable T as a blood test, I did get a percent free T of 20% (9-46%) with bioT of 127 ng/dl. Those were the only two tests I bought, so no idea of shgb or alumin.

 

[MarkM]

You are unaware of what your SHBG is? What type of TRT protocol are you on Dragon?

 

[Vince Carter]

Howd we go from mooseman to dragonbits here...im confused

 

[MarkM]

Oops!

 

[mooseman109]

LOL, no worries, and still good info.

 

[Deleted member 16042]

Dr Saya calls my SHBG (usually around 48) "higher".

Curious why you find the percentage particularly important compared to actual Free T level itself. Percentage can vary widely depending on SHBG. With SHBG at about 48, I have a lower free T percentage compared to lower SHBG guys as would be expected.

Regardless of percentage, what is your Free T level?

With SHBG 48 and total T 700-800 I'd expect your free T could be lower than optimal. My Free T is only around 18 with total T above 1000

 

[mooseman109]

I was looking at ratio,percentage, because as my TT goes up FT does move with it too much at all. My free T on last labs was 18, TT was 793. Free T low is 14 and 18 is high

 

[sh1973]

Really free t is all relative to how you feel. I have shbg in the 60-70 range and have been on trt well over 8 years and feel best with free to in the 10-12ng range with total t in the 6-700ng range. I’ve had free t as high as 45ng at one point and for me anything north of 18-20ng makes me feel like complete shit no matter what other labs are. I can tell you from years of mistakes that fixating on a certain lab value isn’t prudent. If you feel great with 1.5% free t then why on earth would you want higher.

 

[Deleted member 16042]

I was looking at ratio,percentage, because as my TT goes up FT does move with it too much at all. My free T on last labs was 18, TT was 793. Free T low is 14 and 18 is high

I think/do you mean "FT does (NOT) move with it...?

 

[Deleted member 16042]

Really free t is all relative to how you feel. I have shbg in the 60-70 range and have been on trt well over 8 years and feel best with free to in the 10-12ng range with total t in the 6-700ng range. I’ve had free t as high as 45ng at one point and for me anything north of 18-20ng makes me feel like complete shit no matter what other labs are. I can tell you from years of mistakes that fixating on a certain lab value isn’t prudent. If you feel great with 1.5% free t then why on earth would you want higher.

This is a tough one to find out among the typical recommendations and outlooks regarding optimal levels. I am really glad you found this out about yourself and shared it!

In retrospect I really wish when I went on injection I was started MUCH lower and increased until I felt well. I was started on 150mg/week after gels were not doing the trick, and went supra right away. Peaking and having to reduce dosage due to hematocrit absolutely sucks! But in the process, I felt best with free T somewhere between 39 and 23 while it was a moving target during dosage reduction, though Free T may not have been the sole reason for feeling well. Reducing dose a lot farther for the subsequent 8 months has been nightmarish. For me, to think about attempting to reach Free T of 10-12 just to find out seems like a recipe for disaster!

Seems it would have been much better to start injections at even sub optimal so that levels on gel would be tweaked slightly higher incrementally rather than blasting too high and having everything too high as well: HGB/HCT, E2 etc.