SHBG Levels and Dosage

S1W · Mar 3, 2018

It seems that higher doses of T have a lowering effect on SHBG. If one were to then lower the T dose, would SHBG go back up again?

Systemlord · Mar 3, 2018

S1W said:
It seems that higher doses of T have a lowering effect on SHBG. If one were to then lower the T dose, would SHBG go back up again?

Overly high T dosages will drive SHBG down to a point, smaller doses might allow small improvement in SHBG levels and keep free hormones from getting out of control in low SHBG men. It also highly dependant on the person, some guys will never see their SHBG budge at all regardless of the dosage. What works for me won't necessarily work for you.

BillyJ03z · Mar 3, 2018

S1W said:
It seems that higher doses of T have a lowering effect on SHBG. If one were to then lower the T dose, would SHBG go back up again?

In my case... YES.... I have ran labs the day after inject and 3 days after inject.... The day after inject my SHBG has always been at it's lowest and then rises at least 20-30% by the 3rd day after inject... (I used to inject test cyp 200mg/ml @ .5ml 2x wk.... now I switched and just started .25 ml 3x week... Haven't run labs yet with this protocol..

BillyJ03z · Mar 4, 2018

S1W said:
It seems that higher doses of T have a lowering effect on SHBG. If one were to then lower the T dose, would SHBG go back up again?

My SHBG appears to be dose/injection dependent... Day after inject my SHBG is always very low end of range about 10 -14ish and approx 3 days after inject it is 18 to 22ish....

Systemlord · Mar 4, 2018

BillyJ03z said:
My SHBG appears to be dose/injection dependent... Day after inject my SHBG is always very low end of range about 10 -14ish and approx 3 days after inject it is 18 to 22ish....

If you're getting blood drawn within 24 hours of working out we would expect to see SHBG temporarily increased, then normalise days later after a period of rest.

S1W · Mar 4, 2018

Part of the reason I asked about this is because there have been several threads lately about short-term difficulties in adjusting to dosage decreases. It seems that it is normal to have a bit of lag period before things stabilize and we begin feeling better on the new, lower dose.

Logically, it would be easy to think, "the T levels are already there from my previous, higher dose protocol so adjusting down a little bit should be no big deal".

I was thinking that depending on how fluid SHBG levels are, this may be a contributing factor. The T levels may be there from the previous higher dose, but SHBG is lower as a result of that, and until SHBG adjusts commensurate with the new lower dose, the lower dose will be less effective than it would have been otherwise.