Dr Says I Have Borderline Low Testosterone

[ecstatichamster]

I agree about low thyroid as a strong possibility. Also high estrogen levels create the easy fat gain scenario.

 

[Iron Man]

Here are some results from my last blood test;


TSH - 0.5 mIU/L ( Reference range - 0.3 - 3.5 )
Free T4 - 14.9 pmol/L ( Reference range - 9.0 - 19.0 )

Prolactin - 110 mIU/L ( Reference range - less than 500 )

Total PSA - 0.29 ug/L ( Reference range - 0.25 - 2.2 )

Cortisol - 267 nmol ( Reference range - 100 - 535 )

Chemistry (serum)

Sodium - 141 mmol/L ( Reference range - 135 - 145 )
Potassium - 4.7 mmol/L ( Reference range - 3.5 - 5.5 )
Chloride - 107 mmol/L ( Reference range - 135 - 145 )
Bicarbonate - 21 mmol/L ( Reference range - 20 - 32 )
Anion Gap - 13 mmol/L ( Reference range - 5 - 15 )

Ca (corr) - 2.34 mmol/L ( Reference range - 2.10 - 2.55 )
Phosphate - 1.1 mmol/L ( Reference range - 0.8 - 1.5 )

Urea - 5.6 mmol/L ( Reference range - 3.0 - 8.0 )
Urate - 0.40 mmol/L ( Reference range - 0.20 - 0.50 )
Creatinine - 73 umol/L ( Reference range - 60 - 110 )
eGFR - >90 ( Reference Range - >59 )

Fast Glucose - 5.6 mmol/L ( Reference range - 3.6 - 6.0 )
Random Glucose - 4.7 mmol/L ( Reference range - 3.6 – 7.7 )

Total Protein - 74 g/L ( Reference Range - 66 - 83 )
Albumin - 47 gL ( Reference Range - 39 - 50 )
Globulin - 27 g/L ( Reference Range - 20 - 39 )
T Bilirubin - 12 umol/L ( Reference range - 4 - 20 )
ALP - 60 U/L ( Reference Range - 35 - 110 )
AST - 40 U/L ( Reference Range - 10 - 40 )
ALT - 66 U/L ( Reference Range - 5 - 40 )
GGT - 33 U/L ( Reference Range - 5 - 40 )
LDH - 193 U/L ( Reference Range - 120 - 250 )

Cholesterol - 6.7 mmol/L ( Reference range - 3.9 - 5.5 )

Haemolysis Index - 11 ( Reference Range - 0 - 40 )


Androgens

Testosterone - 8.5 nmol/L ( Reference Range - 11.0 - 40.0 )

Anaemia Profile

Iron - 25 umol/L ( Reference Range - 5 - 30 )
Transferrin – 2.3 g/L ( Reference Range – 1.9- 3.1 )
TIBC - 57 umol/L ( Reference Range - 45 - 72 )
Saturation - 44% ( Reference Range - 20 - 55 )
Ferritin - 367 ug/L ( Reference Range - 30 - 300 )


My cholesterol was down from 8.9mmol/L and I believe the triglycerides have improved too.

 

[Iron Man]

I agree about low thyroid as a strong possibility. Also high estrogen levels create the easy fat gain scenario.

I have managed to gain muscle (and I am a non-steroid taking male). It is frustrating for sure... My Doc just seems to be casual about it all. We spoke about seeing an Endocrinologist last time I was in his office, but wow.... I do not want to see one of these guys...

 

[redlight]

With your age and the fact you have been peating or at least been researching for over a 1.5 years, its unlikely your going to have a major increase in testosterone... you would have to increase your levels by 200% to be normal.

 

[schultz]

Your labs seem relatively normal, other than the T and cholesterol. Hard to figure out anything from the TSH and T4 since they both appear to be normal and the TSH is nice and low. T3 and rT3 might be helpful.

Your cholesterol @ 6.7 mmol/L (or about 260 mg/dl) is pretty high for your age. You said it was 8.9 mmol/L (344 mg/dl) on the previous test? That to me indicates a thyroid issue, especially given the low T. It appears you're not properly converting cholesterol to the steroid hormones and as a result your cholesterol is high. Thyroid is the co-factor in this conversion. I believe vitamin A and sugar are also necessary.

If I were you I'd be aiming for 400g carbohydrates a day, minimum.

 

[marteagal]

I am a big salad eater.

Reading that you are a big salad eater, the following came to my mind:

RP: Reducing intestinal inflammation is the quickest way; low thyroid is probably a factor in high serotonin, but simply avoiding slowly digested foods like resistant starches or undercooked vegetables - salads are very bad for irritating the intestine and producing it.

[KMUD, Longevity, 2014

Yep, pregnenolone, aspirin, and avoiding irritating foods, especially legumes and raw green salads. Those are very irritating.

[KMUD Iodine, Supplement Reactions, Hormones and More 2-19-16]

 

[marsaday]

High cholesterol usually sits with low thyroid function. Your TSH is good at 0.5, but ft4 could be a touch higher. FT3 needs to be done to see where this is. If lower in range i would say trial some T4 and see what happens. Start on 25mcg dose. My testosterone was low, but when i got onto thyroid meds it jumped a lot. 11 nmol/l to 17 initially. My tsh was 3.7 and ft4 was 12.

Do you have any other sex hormone results = LH and FSH. These are also brain signalling markers like the TSH and if these are low it could indicate your brain is not communicating with your endocrine system very well. A low sperm test could also back this up.

 

[Iron Man]

Thanks again for the replies and thoughts on what is going on.

I found the Doc's notes from last visit and these are the terms he is using to describe my situation -

Hyperlipidaemia and Borderline low testosterone
In the past medical history, he is saying Hypertriglyceridaemia

My original cholesterol level was indeed 8.8 nmol/L. I have gotten it down to 6.7 nmol/L. Hopefully it has gone down a bit more since last blood test.

I researched high ferritin and it's relationship with cholesterol, but was my ferritin all that high at 367 ug/L? The thing that concerned me most was my ferritin kept jumping up each blood test ( 242 - 287 - 367 ).

The Doc didn't test me for anything else that I can see?

Does anyone have an idea on what I need to address this? Increasing carbs by 400g a day? What would this look like? I have never been into the macros side of nutrition. I just focused on protein and staying away from junk food, hormones in meat etc.

I am keen to trial some things and then see how my blood tests results go next Doctor's visit.

Thanks again

 

[Iron Man]

Pregnenalone - What do people do if I cannot legally purchase this?

 

[Iron Man]

Another thing I just remembered... Thinning hair... I have this issue as well. No recession, just thinning...

Thanks.

 

[Agent207]

I agree you should check ft3/rt3, lh, fsh, shbg...also HOMA-IR and HbA1c. I don't understand how they didn't get you t3/rt3 already...

You can buy pregnenolone at healthnatura

 

[Iron Man]

I am still confused on the way forward. I have been taking Vitamins D3, A, K2 and Zinc for a long time. I added Taurine, aspirin and Niacinimide maybe a year ago. Does anyone know what dosages I need to be taking? In looking through the forums, I wonder if estrogen is my issue?

 

[Iron Man]

With what I eat and the amount I eat, I really think that I should be leaner.

 

[skycop00]

I would suggest that you run Ultra Sensitive Estradiol and SHBG with Free Testosterone. Your T could be bound and causing the problem. AnabolicMen.com are a great resource for sure by the way!

 

[invictus]

I tend to agree with the consensus that you might have an underactive thyroid. I'm currently eating lots of carbs in the form of sugar, soda with sugar orange juice and fruit, along with a moderate amount of protein in the form of cheese and fish. I'm also taking low dose desiccated thyroid. The increase in carbs seems to be warming me up and increasing my libido. As for your doctor, you do need to find someone else, if that's possible. You didn't state your country and perhaps your medical system doesn't give you much flexibility but if you can find someone else, do so. The doctor you're seeing is an idiot. We have plenty of those kind of doctors, too, in the US, but we can shop around, even if we have to travel across the country.

One more note, on a bodybuilding forum, one guy says he eats 300 to 600 grams of carbs per day. I too have belly fat and hope that will disappear, along with the 25 extra pounds, as my metabolism increases. Stay in touch with us.

 

[Iron Man]

I would suggest that you run Ultra Sensitive Estradiol and SHBG with Free Testosterone. Your T could be bound and causing the problem. AnabolicMen.com are a great resource for sure by the way!

Thanks for your reply. Just to confirm that I understand this correctly... Are these things that I should be requesting tests for on my next blood test? The Doc only seems to test for certain things. I managed to get him to add a few other things last time, but didn't know about estradiol etc.

 

[Iron Man]

I tend to agree with the consensus that you might have an underactive thyroid. I'm currently eating lots of carbs in the form of sugar, soda with sugar orange juice and fruit, along with a moderate amount of protein in the form of cheese and fish. I'm also taking low dose desiccated thyroid. The increase in carbs seems to be warming me up and increasing my libido. As for your doctor, you do need to find someone else, if that's possible. You didn't state your country and perhaps your medical system doesn't give you much flexibility but if you can find someone else, do so. The doctor you're seeing is an idiot. We have plenty of those kind of doctors, too, in the US, but we can shop around, even if we have to travel across the country.

One more note, on a bodybuilding forum, one guy says he eats 300 to 600 grams of carbs per day. I too have belly fat and hope that will disappear, along with the 25 extra pounds, as my metabolism increases. Stay in touch with us.

Thank you for your reply. Over the weekend, I spent a bit of time researching all this. I think I came away more confused than anything. Well, maybe a little clearer... For the longest time, I thought my ferritin was causing the testosterone issues. It was not mega high, but it kept jumping big numbers each blood test. In the end, I started donating blood.
Looking up hypothyroidism and low testosterone, it made me think that you guys are probably right... I was taking iodine consistently for a while, but stopped some time ago. I have been on the vitamins A, D3 and K2 for a number of years though. I once tried the desiccated thyroid, but maybe didn't give it long enough?
My energy has been low for a good while and my hair is thinning. When I read all this, it seems to point to hypothyroidism.
I have been really tossing up taking DHEA and Pregnenalone for a while. Both my Doctor and sister inlaw and brother inlaw (both Doctors) have really warned me to not mess with hormones. I would like for my testosterone to come back up naturally, but am terrified about messing with the finely tuned body's design.
With being into bodybuilding, there is that part of me that would like to jack things up to the max, but being in my early 40's I probably need to tame it down a bit.
I am going to have another blood test early in the new year and see how things are going. I would like to try fixing my thyroid in the mean time and see how it all goes on the next lab results.
What is Hyperlipidaemia and Hypertriglyceridaemia? These were on the Doctor's notes.
Thanks!

 

[Iron Man]

I found this and am more convinced than ever that I am hypothyroid

http://www.functionalps.com/blog/20...oid-temperature-pulse-and-tsh/comment-page-1/

Will desiccated thyroid be ok and will I need to take this for the rest of my life?

 

[redlight]

I hope you keep us updated on your progress.... I hope you succeed.

 

[Iron Man]

Thanks for the well wishes. I had a few more questions I hope to get answered and then I think I will be ok. Just need a road map on the way forward.