Please look at my recent Blood Work

[meanbreen]

I have posted screenshots of my labs (also available at http://imgur.com/a/7boGI if there are viewing issues on mobile devices).

I had bloodwork peformed 6/15 and switched up my protocol from:
-TEST-CYP 70mg E3.5D
-HCG 500iu E3.5D
-MG Citrate

To:
-TEST-CYP 50mg EOD
-HCG 280iu EOD
-MG Malate
-Fish Oil Pills
-25mg DHEA (GNC Oral, taken in evenings)

The attached blood work was taken on 8/11, approximately 6 weeks after I altered my protocol. I am very concerned! Below I listed important variances from labs on 6/15 compared to the labs performed 8/11:

*TSH increased from 1.260 to 1.330
*T4, Free decreased from from 1.29 to 1.19
*Lipid improvement (LDL decreased from 151 to 135, HDL decreased from 45 to 44)
*Testosterone Increased from 648 to 949
*Free Testosterone increased from 24.7 to 29.9
*DHEA increased from 191.9 to 366.4
*Prolactin decresed from 24.4 to 14
*Estradiol increased from 27.1 (sensitive) to 40.8 (non-sensitive). This was an error by Lab-Corp, the Dr's orders were sensitive Estradiol. Nonetheless, looks like an increase of E2.
*Reverse T3 increased form 14.9 to 17.2
*Free T3 decreased from 3.5 to 3.2
*Progresterone only .2 (range is 0-.5); not tested on 6/15
*SHBG decreased from 15.4 to 11.7 (was in 40's before starting TRT in March, but was on CLOMID previously however)

Symptom wise - I have felt like hot shit for the past couple of weeks. I attributed that to poor sleep. I would wake each morning feeling like I had not slept all night. Very sensitive to light. I have had no morning erections for the past couple of weeks. I have had extreme bloating. Anxiety all together not too bad surprisingly. Very little energy.

I stopped taking DHEA two nights ago. I had immediate improvement the next day. I am wondering if taking DHEA had a poor effect on me. If I suffer from low cortisol, perhaps the DHEA made the cortisol even lower. This would explain the decreased FT3 and increased RT3 in my opinion.

My low SHBG keeps decreasing. This is pretty disturbing. I have known I had mild O.S.A for about a year now but could not sleep with a CPAP. I will be receiving a Dental Appliance which might improve my O.S.A. Perhaps that would in turn increase my SHBG.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, and let me know if there is any information that I neglected to include.

 

[Vince Carter]

When you sit there at LabCorp with the tech, they hand you a sheet and ask you to verify your personal info, but look at the bottom where your tests are listed, if it's wrong hand it back to them. I have to do this with Quest about 50% of the time.

Otherwise I don't see anything alarming, some of your changes are due to your protocol change which I think is appropriate given your SHBG, which that is on no concern, it will be whatever it wants to be and you're dealing with it well with EOD shots. Otherwise some of the other changes are just about statistically insignificant; very minor.

 

[Vince Carter]

Adding that a number of us guys do not tolerate DHEA well, it's one of those things that IMO is being treated because it's a number on a piece of paper and not do you need it or not. You can consider dropping it to 5 or 10mg/D, a transdermal cream perhaps.

 

[meanbreen]

Yeah I remember signing something but didn't think to look at the tests being administered. Won't let that happen again! She was also supposed to check for B12 and DHT.

Yeah perhaps I am overthinking things. There were definitely a few improvements in some areas. I am just upset that my SHBG keeps dropping. Before beginning about 5 months ago my SHBG was over 40 (was on Clomid though so that may have raised it). Also, being only 26, I find it odd that my DHEA (before supplementation) and Progresterone are so low. I highly suspect my cortisol to be pretty low as well. Looks like I definitely have adrenal shit going on, which seems to be the hardest thing to treat.

I think I am just going to drop DHEA all together. I have felt like shit the last two weeks and I think its because of the DHEA. I am hoping once I get my dental appliance and improve my sleep apnea, maybe all the other pieces will fall into line.

 

[Vettester Chris]

If you have low cortisol, you probably need to talk with the physician about HC therapy, or some form of treatment to get this balanced. Do you have a circadian profile of your cortisol results? If you're at one of the later stages of adrenal fatigue, then yeah, DHEA is counterproductive. Usually, the adrenals will start ramping up DHEA production (Stage 5, Stage 6 ..), so adding more can just be problematic.

Please look into this a little more ... It will be crucial to get this sorted, as the productivity of your thyroid hormone is depending on it. Also, take a look at donating some blood, which will help lower your iron serum a bit.