Tanked Androgens, Elevated Thyroid, And Fat Gain

hei

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Just wondering if anyone can help make sense of why this would have gone way downhill.
Since last June I have been consuming more orange juice, milk, gelatin, less meat (but not none), less wheat, avoiding oils entirely, etc. Supplements are mostly a multivitamin (which I took anyway), K2, and just this year sporadic use of cyproheptadine, a liquid pregnenolone/DHEA supplement, a liquid androsterone supplement, progesterone cream. Generally I feel absolutely nothing from most supplements, other than those that have a definite effect like cypro, niacin, etc.
The result seems to be that my androgens have tanked, thyroid is elevated but apparently not doing anything (?) and my waist has grown from ~80-82cm to 94cm.
I haven't been exercising this year since getting some sort of disc injury in December from lifting weights. But I also wasn't exercising regularly when I had the 2017 and 2018 blood tests.

My testosterone has gone from the middle to the bottom of the range:
upload_2020-3-13_1-45-32.png

upload_2020-3-13_1-50-52.png


TSH increased from 1.13 to 1.96 even though Free T3 and Free T4 are at the top of the lab range. Free T3 or T4 weren't tested before, but total T3 was in range (not sure of the value).
upload_2020-3-13_1-49-27.png


Not sure if anything else is relevant, it's mostly right in the middle of the lab ranges.
Cortisol: cortisol.png
Vitamin D: vitamin d.png
Iron and CRP: iron.png
Lipids, liver/kidney function: lipids.png
Blood count: blood count.png
 
OP
H

hei

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I received results for progesterone, prolactin and rT3 as well; they took longer to arrive for some reason. I still can't see that any of these are obviously abnormal, either from the lab ranges or the other resources online:
Progesterone 2 nmol/L (no range given)
Prolactin 120 mU/L (<330)
rT3 324 pmol/L (170 - 450)
 

Deadpool

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I have a similar experience. TSH about 1, T3 and T4 at the top Range, Low androgens.

following.
 

Arnold Grape

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Def get back to exercise and ditch the progesterone/ preg, dhea — whatever. These things are better taken sporadically, but my take is that they can bonk your androgens or make it so that you would have to eat mountains of food to meet the demand of a supp like these ones. Everyone said Progesterone made them fat — not me dog, and I was eating ice cream for breakfast.
 

Sexypizza

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Mar 18, 2017
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Heyyy I've been scratching my head for the last few weeks because I have the exact same issue. Good thyroid bloods (from taking 2 grains of thyroid) and low androgens. My testosterone levels are 12, which in the other tests is 350. That's borderline low.

I have PFS though so I thought it was from that instead of diet, but now I'm not so sure, My PFS symptoms are the same as low testosterone symptoms, erectile dysfunction, and low libido. When I was hypo, before I took thyroid, my testosterone levels were normal-midrange or slightly above the midrange. But I still had the same symptoms. After thyroid and peating testo levels started to drop, and symptoms stayed the same throughout. Thyroid did improve my cognitive function though.

A few differences I have from you is that my ferritin levels are high probably because I have gut dysbiosis, Carrot salads, mushrooms and bamboo shoots which were initially helping with that issue seems to have stopped work for some reason. And my Vitamin D levels are higher (125). My cholesterol levels are similar to yours. I also noticed that it's hard to lose weight and I seem to gain weight really easily and quickly despite having a good body temperature and pulse and good thyroid levels.

I'm dying to know why this is happening, I was actually considering testosterone replacement creams or pills for a while.
 

lampofred

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My hypothesis is that the Peat diet, by lowering FFA, quiets the adrenals and lowers adrenal-produced androgens. You are reliant only on gonadal androgens now, whereas in the past you had both gonads + adrenals.
 

baccheion

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rT3 is too high relative to fT3. Metabolism is slowed. Post a CRON-o-meter screenshot.
 
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hei

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First thing you gotta do is drop the Cypro.
My sleep quality has been very poor since I moved to a town in the tropics and it has been a partial help with that.

Def get back to exercise and ditch the progesterone/ preg, dhea — whatever. These things are better taken sporadically, but my take is that they can bonk your androgens or make it so that you would have to eat mountains of food to meet the demand of a supp like these ones. Everyone said Progesterone made them fat — not me dog, and I was eating ice cream for breakfast.
How do you reconcile needing to eat more with getting or staying fat? I haven't used those supplements for a while now, ran out of progesterone weeks ago and stopped using the other stuff because it burns my skin. I feel no different. I would probably feel more motivated to do some exercise if my back didn't hurt all the time because of exercising months ago.

Whats your diet like, in terms of food and macros?
I suppose it has usually been something like the suggested 2L of milk and 1L of orange juice; plus for lunch I usually have some rice with meat and vegetables. In the evenings I have some milk and maybe some meat or eggs, sometimes some chocolate or something. I ate more when exercising but cut back for obvious reasons.

rT3 is too high relative to fT3. Metabolism is slowed. Post a CRON-o-meter screenshot.
I think something like this was typical of the last couple of months. I don't really know how to count the other stuff I eat because it's pretty erratic, I don't eat sweets frequently and most of my cooking tastes like something I fished out of the garbage can so I'm not very regular with it unless I need to be. I have never felt any differently when eating more, less, higher carbs, lower fat (skim milk), high fruit, etc.
 

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baccheion

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My sleep quality has been very poor since I moved to a town in the tropics and it has been a partial help with that.


How do you reconcile needing to eat more with getting or staying fat? I haven't used those supplements for a while now, ran out of progesterone weeks ago and stopped using the other stuff because it burns my skin. I feel no different. I would probably feel more motivated to do some exercise if my back didn't hurt all the time because of exercising months ago.


I suppose it has usually been something like the suggested 2L of milk and 1L of orange juice; plus for lunch I usually have some rice with meat and vegetables. In the evenings I have some milk and maybe some meat or eggs, sometimes some chocolate or something. I ate more when exercising but cut back for obvious reasons.


I think something like this was typical of the last couple of months. I don't really know how to count the other stuff I eat because it's pretty erratic, I don't eat sweets frequently and most of my cooking tastes like something I fished out of the garbage can so I'm not very regular with it unless I need to be. I have never felt any differently when eating more, less, higher carbs, lower fat (skim milk), high fruit, etc.
Is that an accurate reflection of iodine intake? Maybe it's that simple. You could try adding a drop of Lugol's or something.

As general advice, I would also add more magnesium. Drop into the liquid or take a higher amount before bed. 200-300 mg per serving (every ~4 hours) is a good amount if wanting to space evenly throughout the day. Maybe it would be better at night to then not interfere with milk digestion.

Any labs to check inflammation, hs-CRP, Hb1Ac, etc?
 
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Jsaute21

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Thanks for sharing. It seems as if these results aren't unheard of on here. @haidut and others that have reported good overall labs (High DHT. T & Thyroid), was it a process to get there or did your T/DHT lower en route to better overall thyroid function?

My T was in the 800's ng/dl and Free T was off the reference range high in a time where i barely eat sugar. TSH was over 2 though. Ever since Thyroid function has improved (lower TSH, slightly higher T3/T4) i suspect testosterone would be lower on a blood test. Curious to others thoughts on this @tca300.
 

laleto12

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Is that an accurate reflection of iodine intake? Maybe it's that simple. You could try adding a drop of Lugol's or something.

As general advice, I would also add more magnesium. Drop into the liquid or take a higher amount before bed. 200-300 mg per serving (every ~4 hours) is a good amount if wanting to space evenly throughout the day. Maybe it would be better at night to then not interfere with milk digestion.

Any labs to check inflammation, hs-CRP, Hb1Ac, etc?


why would magnesium interfere with milk digestion? milk has magnesium too
 

baccheion

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Thanks for sharing. It seems as if these results aren't unheard of on here. @haidut and others that have reported good overall labs (High DHT. T & Thyroid), was it a process to get there or did your T/DHT lower en route to better overall thyroid function?

My T was in the 800's ng/dl and Free T was off the reference range high in a time where i barely eat sugar. TSH was over 2 though. Ever since Thyroid function has improved (lower TSH, slightly higher T3/T4) i suspect testosterone would be lower on a blood test. Curious to others thoughts on this @tca300.
What were you eating? CRON-o-meter screenshot?

why would magnesium interfere with milk digestion? milk has magnesium too
Magnesium is alkalizing. Milk and fruit prefer acidic gut environment.
 
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hei

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Messages
412
Is that an accurate reflection of iodine intake? Maybe it's that simple. You could try adding a drop of Lugol's or something.

As general advice, I would also add more magnesium. Drop into the liquid or take a higher amount before bed. 200-300 mg per serving (every ~4 hours) is a good amount if wanting to space evenly throughout the day. Maybe it would be better at night to then not interfere with milk digestion.

Any labs to check inflammation, hs-CRP, Hb1Ac, etc?
No, Cronometer doesn't show iodine for nearly all foods.
hs-CRP was 0.27 mg/L (range: <1.0); my GP had me do an HbA1c test last year and just said it came back normal. Don't think I have the result anywhere.
 

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