Hi guys,
I have been lurking for about a year or so now and have recently done some blood tests. Was wondering if I could get some advice on the best course of action moving forward. Below I have provided a background of my situation to give context however feel free to skip.
Background
Up till 22 I had great health (thick hair, clear skin, lean body). However, I decided to do a 5 month bulk which involved overload on weight lifting (7 days a week) along-side a stress full job which lead to a 13 kg weight gain. I then moved to an even more stress full job (running on raised cortisol 12 hours a day, 5 days a week) and continued working out for 5 months, maintaining a diet of 4000 calories throughout. This is when my acne started and my hair loss slowly began.
I then continued to run on cortisol for 3 months during the start of a new job (less stress full) and crashed. This lead to excessive hair loss and cystic acne (now have atrophic scars due to reduce wound healing ability). I noticed around this time that my stress response was severely impaired and that I could get an intense burst of cortisol response from relatively minor stressors.
In order to mitigate this, at the time I switched to a high vegetable diet, low sugar with heavy zinc supplementation which I maintained for 3 months. This reduced my acne short term but I suspect it lead to SIBO as I had constipation throughout (previously had gastritis years prior so I suspect weak stomach acid triggered this). Following the 3 months of strict adherence I had increased acne along with extreme fatigue and slow hair loss.
I then followed peat diet for 3 months but this accelerated my hair loss too much as I had a high stress period during this time.
I then cut out gluten in November 2018 which reduced acne massively. Since then I have followed a semi peat diet which I will outline below. I have followed this diet strictly in weekdays and am more liberal on weekends. Hair loss continues slowly and acne is now minor, fatigue is gone.
Current regime:
Breakfast:
Sweet potatoes and chicken with tablespoon of nutritional yeast
Cup of boiled water with teaspoon of coconut oil and home made beef gelatin
Morning snack:
Litre of orange juice
Lunch:
Sweet potatoes with oxtail or beef joint.
Dinner:
Sweet potatoes mash with oxtail or beef joint with table spoon of nutritional yeast
Cup of boiled water with teaspoon of coconut oil and home made beef gelatin
Home made sweet potatoe pie gluten free and lots of sugar
Every other day I have 2 drops of 7% lugols iodine solution
I have oysters every week
I have liver every other week
Blood tests every 3 months
Job has on and off periods of stress, inconsistent hours (I enjoy it)
Blood Test results (range is on second line for each):
I have bolded out of range results and others of significance
Main:
CORTISOL (9am prior to eating) 444 nmol/L
166 - 507
ESTRADIOL (E2) 69.1 pmol/L
41 - 159
TESTOSTERONE 20.4 nmol/L (This translates to 587 on other index)
8.64 - 29
PROLACTIN 442 mU/L (This translates to 20.7 which is way above prescribed range here of 4-7)
86 - 324
DHEA SULPHATE 9.41 umol/L
5.73 - 13.4
TSH 1.12 mIU/L (This has risen from 0.93 in January)
0.27 - 4.2
FREE THYROXINE 17.6 pmol/L
12 - 22
Cholesterol:
TOTAL CHOLESTEROL 4.53 mmol/L
0 - 5
LDL CHOLESTEROL 2.61 mmol/L
< 3
NON HDL CHOLESTEROL 3.05 mmol/L
< 4
HDL CHOLESTEROL 1.48 mmol/L
> 1.1
TRIGLYCERIDES 0.96 mmol/L
< 1.7
Inflammation
CRP HS 0.43 mg/L
< 5
CREATINE KINASE 189 IU/L
39 - 308
Vit & Minerals
IRON 21.41 umol/L
5.8 - 34.5
FERRITIN 49.7 ug/L
30 - 400
MAGNESIUM - SERUM 0.97 mmol/L
0.7 - 1
FOLATE - SERUM 9.28 ug/L
> 3.89
VITAMIN D 42.7 nmol/L
50 - 175
Other:
ALT 19.4 IU/L
< 50
ALBUMIN 45.2 g/L
35 - 50
HAEMOGLOBIN: 144 g/L
130 - 170
CREATININE: 100 umol/L
59 - 104
SHBG 47.6 nmol/L
18.3 - 54.1
HBA1C 34.88 mmol/mol
20 - 42
INSULIN 4.33 mIU/L
2.6 - 24.9
FREE TESTOSTERONE - CALC. 0.341 nmol/L
0.2 - 0.62
FREE ANDROGEN INDEX 42.86
24 - 104
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I have been lurking for about a year or so now and have recently done some blood tests. Was wondering if I could get some advice on the best course of action moving forward. Below I have provided a background of my situation to give context however feel free to skip.
Background
Up till 22 I had great health (thick hair, clear skin, lean body). However, I decided to do a 5 month bulk which involved overload on weight lifting (7 days a week) along-side a stress full job which lead to a 13 kg weight gain. I then moved to an even more stress full job (running on raised cortisol 12 hours a day, 5 days a week) and continued working out for 5 months, maintaining a diet of 4000 calories throughout. This is when my acne started and my hair loss slowly began.
I then continued to run on cortisol for 3 months during the start of a new job (less stress full) and crashed. This lead to excessive hair loss and cystic acne (now have atrophic scars due to reduce wound healing ability). I noticed around this time that my stress response was severely impaired and that I could get an intense burst of cortisol response from relatively minor stressors.
In order to mitigate this, at the time I switched to a high vegetable diet, low sugar with heavy zinc supplementation which I maintained for 3 months. This reduced my acne short term but I suspect it lead to SIBO as I had constipation throughout (previously had gastritis years prior so I suspect weak stomach acid triggered this). Following the 3 months of strict adherence I had increased acne along with extreme fatigue and slow hair loss.
I then followed peat diet for 3 months but this accelerated my hair loss too much as I had a high stress period during this time.
I then cut out gluten in November 2018 which reduced acne massively. Since then I have followed a semi peat diet which I will outline below. I have followed this diet strictly in weekdays and am more liberal on weekends. Hair loss continues slowly and acne is now minor, fatigue is gone.
Current regime:
Breakfast:
Sweet potatoes and chicken with tablespoon of nutritional yeast
Cup of boiled water with teaspoon of coconut oil and home made beef gelatin
Morning snack:
Litre of orange juice
Lunch:
Sweet potatoes with oxtail or beef joint.
Dinner:
Sweet potatoes mash with oxtail or beef joint with table spoon of nutritional yeast
Cup of boiled water with teaspoon of coconut oil and home made beef gelatin
Home made sweet potatoe pie gluten free and lots of sugar
Every other day I have 2 drops of 7% lugols iodine solution
I have oysters every week
I have liver every other week
Blood tests every 3 months
Job has on and off periods of stress, inconsistent hours (I enjoy it)
Blood Test results (range is on second line for each):
I have bolded out of range results and others of significance
Main:
CORTISOL (9am prior to eating) 444 nmol/L
166 - 507
ESTRADIOL (E2) 69.1 pmol/L
41 - 159
TESTOSTERONE 20.4 nmol/L (This translates to 587 on other index)
8.64 - 29
PROLACTIN 442 mU/L (This translates to 20.7 which is way above prescribed range here of 4-7)
86 - 324
DHEA SULPHATE 9.41 umol/L
5.73 - 13.4
TSH 1.12 mIU/L (This has risen from 0.93 in January)
0.27 - 4.2
FREE THYROXINE 17.6 pmol/L
12 - 22
Cholesterol:
TOTAL CHOLESTEROL 4.53 mmol/L
0 - 5
LDL CHOLESTEROL 2.61 mmol/L
< 3
NON HDL CHOLESTEROL 3.05 mmol/L
< 4
HDL CHOLESTEROL 1.48 mmol/L
> 1.1
TRIGLYCERIDES 0.96 mmol/L
< 1.7
Inflammation
CRP HS 0.43 mg/L
< 5
CREATINE KINASE 189 IU/L
39 - 308
Vit & Minerals
IRON 21.41 umol/L
5.8 - 34.5
FERRITIN 49.7 ug/L
30 - 400
MAGNESIUM - SERUM 0.97 mmol/L
0.7 - 1
FOLATE - SERUM 9.28 ug/L
> 3.89
VITAMIN D 42.7 nmol/L
50 - 175
Other:
ALT 19.4 IU/L
< 50
ALBUMIN 45.2 g/L
35 - 50
HAEMOGLOBIN: 144 g/L
130 - 170
CREATININE: 100 umol/L
59 - 104
SHBG 47.6 nmol/L
18.3 - 54.1
HBA1C 34.88 mmol/mol
20 - 42
INSULIN 4.33 mIU/L
2.6 - 24.9
FREE TESTOSTERONE - CALC. 0.341 nmol/L
0.2 - 0.62
FREE ANDROGEN INDEX 42.86
24 - 104
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
