Hair Shedding, Low Libido

[FLguy123]

Hello,

I've been on and off TRT for many years. I spent a few years on Androgel from 2 pumps daily to 4 pumps daily. I used to get it for free from my wife's insurance, and felt the best on 4 pumps daily, but discontinued due to switching insurance about a year and a half ago. Also, the daily application was becoming cumbersome, and i play volleyball and surf so those days would get messed up due to applying in the morning and having it sweat or wash off after.

About a year and a half ago i switched to test Cyp injections after being off androgel for couple months and T level came in at around 180. I started on 200mg weekly divided into two injections Monday AM Thursday PM and HCG 500IU X 2 one day prior to each T injection. I felt amazing (honeymoon period) for a couple months and then the high estrogen sides kicked in and my T level came back over 1600. I reduced to 120mg weekly on the same schedule and still had high E (around 60) with libido and erection problems, however supplementing with cialis did help that and i also added in .25mg anastrazole 2x week. Overall at that time I felt mostly good, but with a lower mental libido and was OK supplementing with cialis. But around October of last year is when i noticed the massive shedding while shampooing my hair and on my pillow in the morning. I tried the Ketoconazole shampoo, minoxidil, even the crushed up finasteride mixed with minoxidil but the shedding never slowed down. I tried to wean off and go back on a low dose of the generic androgel in January but the shedding didn't slow, so i went back to the injections of 100mg weekly (Monday AM Thursday PM) and 250IU HCG twice a week one day prior to each T injection around late March. I have felt mostly decent on this protocol, although still low mental libido and hair shedding has stayed consistently bad. Erection quality is still good and haven't been supplementing with cialis.

That long history goes to my questions that I know many others have posted on but i haven't seen consistent feedback/answers. What component of this protocol could be affecting my hair shedding and lowering my libido? even before using androgel i craved sex daily, now it's just a couple times a week i really crave it. I don't get morning wood anymore either. also, the shedding is very bad, to the point my hair has gotten quite thin. I have always had the thickest hair and MPB doesn't run in my family. I have also had DHT tested and it was within normal range even on the low side. my labs posted below were taken the morning of my T injection prior to the injection. I also know i'm consistently low on SHBG and contemplating going to EOD injections per recommendations here and elsewhere and possibly why i seemed to fare somewhat better on Androgel? I have also read that hair shedding is not necessarily a high DHT issue but other hormones can contribute to this (cortisol, thyroid, etc)

TT: 773 ng/dL Range 280-1100
FT: 24.5 ng/dL Range 1.9-27
E2 sensitive: 25.2pg/mL Range 0-39.9
DHT: 30.5 ng/dL Range 11.2-95.5
SHBG: 14 nmol/L Range 14-95

T3 Free: 4.2 pg/ml Range 2.3-4.2
T4 Free: 1.18 ng/dl Range .89-1.76
TSH: 1.688 u/ml Range .55-4.78

Thank you.

 

[Gene Devine]

Can you please add lab reference ranges?

 

[FLguy123]

added to original post

 

[Nelson Vergel]

I would try zinc supplementation with one of these twice per day. I would also check my thyroid.

https://www.amazon.com/Jarrow-Formulas-Supports-Antioxidant-Protection/dp/B0001VKDDM


Zinc Deficiency Associated with Hypothyroidism: An Overlooked Cause of Severe Alopecia

 

[FLguy123]

Thank you Nelson, I do supplement with zinc. Currently taking fish oil, vitaminD, a good multi, and B complex.

Is there another way to check thyroid besides blood labs? I believe I did have a mri on thyroid years back when I first started to rule out any potential issues and it came back fine.

 

[Nelson Vergel]

Excess zinc or copper can also cause hair loss. How much are you taking?

The only way to check your thyroid is to run a basic panel like this one.

THYROID Panel (TSH + Free T3 + Free T4)

 

[FLguy123]

It’s a 50mg cap and i take one per day in addition to the multivitamin which has 20mg.

What are your thoughts on the thyroid panel I posted on the first post?

 

[Cataceous]

Zinc Dangers

 

[Appassionato]

Hello,

I've been on and off TRT for many years. I spent a few years on Androgel from 2 pumps daily to 4 pumps daily. I used to get it for free from my wife's insurance, and felt the best on 4 pumps daily, but discontinued due to switching insurance about a year and a half ago. Also, the daily application was becoming cumbersome, and i play volleyball and surf so those days would get messed up due to applying in the morning and having it sweat or wash off after.

About a year and a half ago i switched to test Cyp injections after being off androgel for couple months and T level came in at around 180. I started on 200mg weekly divided into two injections Monday AM Thursday PM and HCG 500IU X 2 one day prior to each T injection. I felt amazing (honeymoon period) for a couple months and then the high estrogen sides kicked in and my T level came back over 1600. I reduced to 120mg weekly on the same schedule and still had high E (around 60) with libido and erection problems, however supplementing with cialis did help that and i also added in .25mg anastrazole 2x week. Overall at that time I felt mostly good, but with a lower mental libido and was OK supplementing with cialis. But around October of last year is when i noticed the massive shedding while shampooing my hair and on my pillow in the morning. I tried the Ketoconazole shampoo, minoxidil, even the crushed up finasteride mixed with minoxidil but the shedding never slowed down. I tried to wean off and go back on a low dose of the generic androgel in January but the shedding didn't slow, so i went back to the injections of 100mg weekly (Monday AM Thursday PM) and 250IU HCG twice a week one day prior to each T injection around late March. I have felt mostly decent on this protocol, although still low mental libido and hair shedding has stayed consistently bad. Erection quality is still good and haven't been supplementing with cialis.

That long history goes to my questions that I know many others have posted on but i haven't seen consistent feedback/answers. What component of this protocol could be affecting my hair shedding and lowering my libido? even before using androgel i craved sex daily, now it's just a couple times a week i really crave it. I don't get morning wood anymore either. also, the shedding is very bad, to the point my hair has gotten quite thin. I have always had the thickest hair and MPB doesn't run in my family. I have also had DHT tested and it was within normal range even on the low side. my labs posted below were taken the morning of my T injection prior to the injection. I also know i'm consistently low on SHBG and contemplating going to EOD injections per recommendations here and elsewhere and possibly why i seemed to fare somewhat better on Androgel? I have also read that hair shedding is not necessarily a high DHT issue but other hormones can contribute to this (cortisol, thyroid, etc)

TT: 773 ng/dL Range 280-1100
FT: 24.5 ng/dL Range 1.9-27
E2 sensitive: 25.2pg/mL Range 0-39.9
DHT: 30.5 ng/dL Range 11.2-95.5
SHBG: 14 nmol/L Range 14-95

T3 Free: 4.2 pg/ml Range 2.3-4.2
T4 Free: 1.18 ng/dl Range .89-1.76
TSH: 1.688 u/ml Range .55-4.78

Thank you.

Another example of serum DHT being completely irrelevant for hair loss.
You may want to have a look here:

The DHT hair loss myth

Your thyroid looks optimal just from these values. If I was you, I would get your prolactin and DHEA levels tested, along with a salivary or urine cortisol test. HCG was spiking my prolactin levels really high, a killer for both hairs and libido.
Also, any mineral or vitamin deficiency/excess could trigger hair loss, with vitamin D and K2 being the most common on papers, along with iron.

 

[fifty]

Hair loss myths... sheesh. If anyone knew how to actually solve hair loss they would be the next billionaire. No one has a clue. If dht is a myth then why does finasteride work?

 

[captain]

Hair loss is caused by an Estrogen deficiency. Now where is my billion?

 

[Appassionato]

Hair loss myths... sheesh. If anyone knew how to actually solve hair loss they would be the next billionaire. No one has a clue. If dht is a myth then why does finasteride work?

There is no ONE solution because it's a multi-factorial problem. Hair shedding is the first symptom of something going wrong in the body.
It's the same thing as TRT. Many people don't benefit just from injecting testosterone, because there are many others underlying health issues that don't get tackled.

Finasteride doesn't work at re-growing hairs and the percentage of success in stopping hair loss are 40%, according to the data published. If the serum DHT was the problem, you would have had all the balding people re-growing hairs when castrating themselves with finasteride. That just doesn't happen.

The reason has been explained several times. DHT has an anti-inflammatory property. When there is inflammation in the scalp, the body signals to deliver DHT to the scalp in order to relief that inflammation. Problem is that DHT leads to calcification of the blood vessels and tissues in the scalp, leading to fibrosis, hence death of the follicles. So it's just a side effect of a defensive system the body has.
So, castrating yourself with the reduction of at least 80% of your serum DHT, will likely slow down fibrosis, hence hair loss, but will not address the main culprit (inflammation) and your hair loss will progress with aging.

It's not a accidental that higher concentration of DHT have been observed in inflamed prostates. Once again, it's a misconception of the cause-effect principle.

People want to pop a pill and solve their hair loss, but, as everything in life, it requires effort to re-balance the whole body, just as like TRT, so you will never have the one million dollar solution to hair loss.

 

[Vince Carter]

Tho I think the shedding could be much of anything like talked about here there's no answer and there's nothing glaring in your posts.

What I do think about your labs though is that your Estrogen in correlation to your SHBG may be a little too high given the libido complaint. My personal experience is where I draw that from. I like to see in the low SHBG guy an E2 that mirrors that number in the trough possibly a little less. Sometimes with E2 I think that you have to consider not how low it is in your trough but how high it goes post injection when your complain about high E symptoms like this. I say a peak number in that we know E follows T.