DragonBits
Well-Known Member
My recent experience with boron.
I did blood tests on 1/5/2018, 2/20/2018 and 4/21/2018. The only thing I changed was taking the boron supplement late February.
The first month I mixed up my own boron from 20 mule team borax, so I was probably taking 7-10 mg daily, since I would take a cap-full of borax concentrate I mixed up. The next month I took 6 mg of boron daily from a supplement, calcium borogluconate.
My SHBG, C-reactive protein, free testosterone, total testosterone levels and PSA levels all changed substantially.
I attached the last two labs. My SHBG likely declined from 42 to 35.9 nmol/L. I say likely because the last time I measured SHBG was in 2015, so I don’t have a good baseline. but it’s the only way to explain the increase in free testosterone. And as I have read, SHBG normally doesn’t change much.
C-reactive protein declined from 3.38 > 2.01, though I don’t have a baseline on c-reactive, these two tests were the only time I measured it.
Free T increased from 5.5 ng/dl > 7.5 ng/dl. I have measured FT numerous times, it has never been as high as 7.5 without either clomid or Nebido. Usually it is around 5.5 ng/dl.
Total Testosterone decreased from 390.01 ng/dl > 348 ng/dl. Not sure why. Question, if more TT is converted to estradiol, does this then mean TT will go down? Or is the change in SHBG the main factor in an increase in estradiol?
Estradiol increased from less than 5.0 pg/mL > 11.1 pg/mL. I do note that the first estradiol test was ECLIA method, the second was sensitive LC/MS/MS version.
PSA decreased from 2.8 > 2.4 ng/mL. This was interesting, I have 4 other measurements for PSA dating back to 1996, there has been a small increase in each test from 2.1 in 1996 to 2.8 in Jan 2018, then a decline to 2.4 ng/dl in 4 months. I think that was the most surprising blood test change.
Anecdotally, I believe I am absorbing magnesium more effectively. When I do 2 sets of 60 abdominal crunches, in the past I would always get some ab cramps when I would stand up. I would have to carefully stretch out my abs to get it to go away. Amazing, I didn’t get any cramps at all this time.
Now I do have a Vitamin D level of 46.1 ng/ml. which is in the middle of the range, a lot of people have low vitamin d. And I do take two types of magnesium, so I have more than adequate intake of magnesium. Serum MG was 2.1 mg/dL (1.6-2.3 mg/dl range).
I mention this because boron works synergistically with calcium, magnesium and Vitamin D. The USDA says boron reduced excretion of calcium by over 40% in the kidneys, and helped activate vitamin D.
So, I suspect that if one does not have adequate levels of Vitamin D or magnesium, or if you take less than 6 mg of Boron, or if you already have adequate blood levels of boron, your results will differ. I can see there are a lot of possible confounding factors.
(FYI, I orders the last blood test in 4/21/2018 to enroll in TRT, and I wasn't really expecting any significant changes. Though I did order tests I never did before, like IGF-1.)
My experience has been that I will always include at least 6 mg of boron in any future supplements.
I did blood tests on 1/5/2018, 2/20/2018 and 4/21/2018. The only thing I changed was taking the boron supplement late February.
The first month I mixed up my own boron from 20 mule team borax, so I was probably taking 7-10 mg daily, since I would take a cap-full of borax concentrate I mixed up. The next month I took 6 mg of boron daily from a supplement, calcium borogluconate.
My SHBG, C-reactive protein, free testosterone, total testosterone levels and PSA levels all changed substantially.
I attached the last two labs. My SHBG likely declined from 42 to 35.9 nmol/L. I say likely because the last time I measured SHBG was in 2015, so I don’t have a good baseline. but it’s the only way to explain the increase in free testosterone. And as I have read, SHBG normally doesn’t change much.
C-reactive protein declined from 3.38 > 2.01, though I don’t have a baseline on c-reactive, these two tests were the only time I measured it.
Free T increased from 5.5 ng/dl > 7.5 ng/dl. I have measured FT numerous times, it has never been as high as 7.5 without either clomid or Nebido. Usually it is around 5.5 ng/dl.
Total Testosterone decreased from 390.01 ng/dl > 348 ng/dl. Not sure why. Question, if more TT is converted to estradiol, does this then mean TT will go down? Or is the change in SHBG the main factor in an increase in estradiol?
Estradiol increased from less than 5.0 pg/mL > 11.1 pg/mL. I do note that the first estradiol test was ECLIA method, the second was sensitive LC/MS/MS version.
PSA decreased from 2.8 > 2.4 ng/mL. This was interesting, I have 4 other measurements for PSA dating back to 1996, there has been a small increase in each test from 2.1 in 1996 to 2.8 in Jan 2018, then a decline to 2.4 ng/dl in 4 months. I think that was the most surprising blood test change.
Anecdotally, I believe I am absorbing magnesium more effectively. When I do 2 sets of 60 abdominal crunches, in the past I would always get some ab cramps when I would stand up. I would have to carefully stretch out my abs to get it to go away. Amazing, I didn’t get any cramps at all this time.
Now I do have a Vitamin D level of 46.1 ng/ml. which is in the middle of the range, a lot of people have low vitamin d. And I do take two types of magnesium, so I have more than adequate intake of magnesium. Serum MG was 2.1 mg/dL (1.6-2.3 mg/dl range).
I mention this because boron works synergistically with calcium, magnesium and Vitamin D. The USDA says boron reduced excretion of calcium by over 40% in the kidneys, and helped activate vitamin D.
So, I suspect that if one does not have adequate levels of Vitamin D or magnesium, or if you take less than 6 mg of Boron, or if you already have adequate blood levels of boron, your results will differ. I can see there are a lot of possible confounding factors.
(FYI, I orders the last blood test in 4/21/2018 to enroll in TRT, and I wasn't really expecting any significant changes. Though I did order tests I never did before, like IGF-1.)
My experience has been that I will always include at least 6 mg of boron in any future supplements.
