Extremely confusing blood test results

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Dec 4, 2020
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238
Prolactin: <10 mIU/L | (85-500) Low
Estrogen E2
: <50 pmol/L | (<160) Low
Testosterone
: 16.2 nmol/L | (11.5-32.0) Normal
25-OH Vitamin D
: 102 nmol/L | (50-140) Normal
DHEA-S
: 14.3 umol/L | (3.0-16) Normal
PTH
: 3.2 pmol/L | (1.6-6.9) Normal
TSH
: 1.5 mIU/L | (0.40-3.50) Normal
Cholesterol
: 5.0 mmol/L | (3.9-5.5) Normal

Haematology
: Normal
Biochemistry
: Normal (except slightly elevated triglycerides and ALT)
Iron Studies: Normal (except ferritin slightly on the low side)
Copper: Normal (on very low side)
Vitamin B12: High
Albumin
: Normal
1,25 Dihydroxy Vitamin D:
Normal (on very low side)

I am incredibly shocked to see these results, regarding the current state of my health. They don't make sense to me (especially the prolactin) seeing as I have the following symptoms:
- depression, anhedonia, derealization/depersonalization, low motivation, adhd, ocd, brain fog, inability to visualize, lack of creativity, generalised anxiety, social anxiety, poor memory, poor sleep, random bouts of crying, trouble finding words
- acne, very low muscle mass, fat gain in belly, puffy face, puffy nipples - not quite yet man-boobs
- low libido, inability to orgasm, non-responsive to erotic visual stimuli, genital anesthesia
- fatigue, tremor, nerve pain/problems, hot flashes

My diet is generally as follows: milk, juice, gelatin, oysters, liver, coke, haagen dazs ice cream, eggs, cheese, potatoes, mushrooms, eggshells, lots of salt
All I take at the moment is: pregnenolone, progesterone, aspirin, cyproheptadine, vitamin e - I have experimented with other supplements in the past such as bromocriptine and ondansetron
I get plenty of sunlight/ red light
Afternoon temperature is 98.6 degrees, pulse is 90

Is it possible that blood tests are simply inaccurate?
 
Last edited:

stsfut

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Dec 12, 2017
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Maybe you are too high on the zinc:copper ratio driving down estrogen/dhea too low? just a stab...but you are right, your health looks great on paper
 

Elast1c

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I think there's still room for more information regarding what thyroid is actually doing. RHR and temps probably help to paint a picture over the day. Cortisol can artificially elevate temps and HR (not saying it is but good to check) Wound healing and general muscle tension, and things like that probably help. Sounds nervous. How coffee/caffeine, thiamine and saturated fats like coconut might give some info.
 

Gustav3Y

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I am incredibly shocked to see these results, regarding the current state of my health. They don't make sense to me (especially the prolactin) seeing as I have the following symptoms:
- depression, anhedonia, derealization/depersonalization, low motivation, adhd, ocd, brain fog, inability to visualize, lack of creativity, generalised anxiety, social anxiety, poor memory, poor sleep, random bouts of crying, trouble finding words
- acne, very low muscle mass, fat gain in belly, puffy face, puffy nipples - not quite yet man-boobs
- low libido, inability to orgasm, non-responsive to erotic visual stimuli, genital anesthesia
- fatigue, tremor, nerve pain/problems, hot flashes

I am sorry to see this is happening to you. Have you always been like this as far as you remember or this happened slowly?

This is what I was saying that many here say they "feel" Prolactin is high, when most of the time it is not.
I have done many Prolactin tests and none were high even if some would quickly jump to call Prolactin on most of the issues when someone just describes them.
 

S-VV

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Jul 23, 2018
Messages
599
High B12: possible indicator of small intestinal overgrowth. Breath test for H2 and CH4

High-ish DHEA: possible adrenal hyperactivity. Measure 24hr urine cortisol and ACTH.

Low copper: measure plasma ceruloplasmin, 24hr copper in urine and plasma zinc.

Additional tests: SHBG, free T3, LH, FSH
Exotic test that may help: IGF-1, urinary neurotransmitter & their metabolites, S16 microbiome test
 

Wilfrid

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What are the dosages of the different supplements you are currently taking?
And how often are you taking them?
 
OP
deliciousfruit
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Maybe you are too high on the zinc:copper ratio driving down estrogen/dhea too low? just a stab...but you are right, your health looks great on paper
possibly... if it means anything I had a hair test last year, and my copper/zinc levels and ratio looked normal
 
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deliciousfruit
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I think there's still room for more information regarding what thyroid is actually doing. RHR and temps probably help to paint a picture over the day. Cortisol can artificially elevate temps and HR (not saying it is but good to check) Wound healing and general muscle tension, and things like that probably help. Sounds nervous. How coffee/caffeine, thiamine and saturated fats like coconut might give some info.
My RHR and temps are ideal, but yeah I think my cortisol is really high, despite everything I do to reduce it. I feel a lot worse on thyroid supplementation, even at 3mcg t3 / 6mcg t4 daily...
 
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deliciousfruit
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I am sorry to see this is happening to you. Have you always been like this as far as you remember or this happened slowly?

This is what I was saying that many here say they "feel" Prolactin is high, when most of the time it is not.
I have done many Prolactin tests and none were high even if some would quickly jump to call Prolactin on most of the issues when someone just describes them.
the anhedonia, derealization/depersonalization began last year, pretty much everything else I've always had.

Yeah, I guess we think we know a lot more about what's going on inside our bodies than we actually do, re prolactin
 
OP
deliciousfruit
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High B12: possible indicator of small intestinal overgrowth. Breath test for H2 and CH4

High-ish DHEA: possible adrenal hyperactivity. Measure 24hr urine cortisol and ACTH.

Low copper: measure plasma ceruloplasmin, 24hr copper in urine and plasma zinc.

Additional tests: SHBG, free T3, LH, FSH
Exotic test that may help: IGF-1, urinary neurotransmitter & their metabolites, S16 microbiome test
Definitely have those first two, SIBO and adrenal hyperactivity. have measured ACTH before and it was high. I will probably do another test, with ceruloplasmin, plasma zinc, and those other ones you mentioned, thanks.
 
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deliciousfruit
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What are the dosages of the different supplements you are currently taking?
And how often are you taking them?
I take 1.7mg of transdermal pregnenolone twice daily, in the morning and noon
0.5mg cyproheptadine in the morning, 1mg at night
generally a bit of aspirin with every meal
120 IU of vitamin E daily.
just ran out of progesterone
 

Elast1c

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My RHR and temps are ideal, but yeah I think my cortisol is really high, despite everything I do to reduce it. I feel a lot worse on thyroid supplementation, even at 3mcg t3 / 6mcg t4 daily...
The temps vary, Broda Barnes talks about how to get readings but the difference between first morning numbers, after breakfast by an hour or so and in the afternoon. The changes in the numbers all mean different things. If you have SIBO there's usually a pattern of feeding it and that can result in artificial numbers or things like that. Helping maybe narrow the reactions. Some people have done 1:1 but everyone is individual. Finding quality protein at a constant rate seems near impossible but can be accomplished.

To me it sounds like you have had some stressor and it's constant but I don't know your history. It could be something very obvious or not. Even food additives or certain foods etc can have strong effects depending where it's from etc. How much calcium do you get per day? I think maybe looking at wbc might help. How is your teeth health? It would seem to be a high stressor which probabl ly is just leaning on your adrenal and thyroid but thats a total conjecture.
 

Andman

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I take 1.7mg of transdermal pregnenolone twice daily, in the morning and noon
0.5mg cyproheptadine in the morning, 1mg at night
generally a bit of aspirin with every meal
120 IU of vitamin E daily.
just ran out of progesterone
what happens when you quit the cypro for a few days? its awesome stuff but can def. lead to low motivation etc.
 
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deliciousfruit
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The temps vary, Broda Barnes talks about how to get readings but the difference between first morning numbers, after breakfast by an hour or so and in the afternoon. The changes in the numbers all mean different things. If you have SIBO there's usually a pattern of feeding it and that can result in artificial numbers or things like that. Helping maybe narrow the reactions. Some people have done 1:1 but everyone is individual. Finding quality protein at a constant rate seems near impossible but can be accomplished.

To me it sounds like you have had some stressor and it's constant but I don't know your history. It could be something very obvious or not. Even food additives or certain foods etc can have strong effects depending where it's from etc. How much calcium do you get per day? I think maybe looking at wbc might help. How is your teeth health? It would seem to be a high stressor which probabl ly is just leaning on your adrenal and thyroid but thats a total conjecture.
I am very careful about what I put in my body, my diet and supplements are as pure as I can get them to be. As a person who likes to do things properly, and the fact that I'm willing to do basically anything to get better, I have spent a lot of time learning from this forum, Peat interviews, Peat's articles, Haidut interviews, etc... and would say that I am doing basically everything I know of the best it can be done. I get calcium from eggshells and milk, my Ca:P ratio is high. I have small teeth which never grew fully, and my gums are quite recessed, but I don't get decay or bleeding or anything like that anymore. I know it's not always good to try and pin down health problems to one specific thing inside the body, but I really think my serotonin levels are very high, and that's holding me back, especially seeing as serotonin is the primary signal to the brain to release ACTH - I tried bromocriptine to lower serotonin but unfortunately the side effects are too great, so I couldn't up the dose. Though it does bug me that things I've tried which are meant to lower serotonin have seem to have little to no effect on me, in general things don't have much of an effect on me...

My learned helplessness is pretty extreme, and it only gets worse when I don't improve or at least see any positive change from things I try. Still trying to find the answers though...
 
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deliciousfruit
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what happens when you quit the cypro for a few days? its awesome stuff but can def. lead to low motivation etc.
I haven't tried quitting for a while, but if I recall correctly last time I tried I couldn't sleep, GI symptoms got a lot worse, and my visual snow and derealization/depersonalization got a lot worse
 

Gustav3Y

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I tried bromocriptine to lower serotonin but unfortunately the side effects are too great, so I couldn't up the dose.
Why have you tried bromocriptine to reduce "serotonin" considering it has potent agonizing affinity on a couple 5-HT receptors?
It is not a purely selective D2 receptor agonist as the literature clearly shows, neither cabergoline is, but for those with high PRL helps as the point is to antagonize PRL by agonizing D2.
 
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deliciousfruit
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Why have you tried bromocriptine to reduce "serotonin" considering it has potent agonizing affinity on a couple 5-HT receptors?
It is not a purely selective D2 receptor agonist as the literature clearly shows, neither cabergoline is, but for those with high PRL helps as the point is to antagonize PRL by agonizing D2.
Ray peat wrote in one of his articles:
Research on LSD and its derivatives led to drugs such as bromocriptine, which oppose the effects of histamine and estrogen. Some of bromocriptine’s effects are clearly antagonistic to serotonin, though bromocriptine is usually called a “dopamine agonist”; dopamine is pretty generally a serotonin antagonist.
Dopamine inhibits tryptophan hydroxylase for one
 

Gustav3Y

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You are not the only one having negative effects from Bromocriptine, I've met people who only puked from it, but these were taking it because had high PRL, not because of Peating reasons.
 
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deliciousfruit
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Bromocriptine is anywhere proven to raise dopamine levels by just agonizing the D2 receptor?
Why then are many 5-HT receptors so well agonized by bromocriptine?
Right, but did you read the peat quote? I'm not taking bromocriptine anymore anyways
also, it has a pretty low affinity for 5-ht receptors
 

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