Blood Work - High Cholesterol - High Triglycerides - Low Testosterone

[Iron Man]

Maybe I am re-hashing some questions here... I hope not, but if I am I apologize.

So... In about a month I am going in for another lot of blood tests to see where everything is at and I just wanted to make sure I am on the right path;

High Cholesterol and Triglycerides - I am taking high doses of Taurine and Magnesium etc. I have read that aspirin is worth taking too, so I might look into that as well.

Fatty Liver - I am taking Choline.

Lowering cortisol - I am taking Ashwaganda, getting better sleep and scaling back workouts a little.

Testosterone - I am taking Tocomin, Vitamin D3 and Zinc (15mg). I can feel that my Testosterone is still very low and I am expecting it to not get a high score on the next tests. I would really like to pick this up with natural supplements. Any further tips?

I have been working on lowering my body fat more. I was at around maybe 18-19%, I am well on the way to getting it to around 13-14% and that is about where I will keep it at.

My last results indicated that I had high levels of iron. I have been taking IP6 to get rid of the excess iron. Is this ok, or is there anything better? After researching a little, I think the high iron in my system may be contributing to the liver issues (I don't drink).

I do take other supplements, but the ones listed above are how I am focusing certain ones on certain issues.

Again, I do have a good diet and am not just trying to throw supplements at my issues. In my case, I feel that I need the added support of supplements or the alternative is medical synthetics and I do not want that.

Thanks for your advice!

 

[Iron Man]

I have been researching a little more on my iron overload and wonder if I should ditch the IP6 and go with the activated charcoal supplement? From what I have read so far, it looks ok to me?

 

[haidut]

I have been researching a little more on my iron overload and wonder if I should ditch the IP6 and go with the activated charcoal supplement? From what I have read so far, it looks ok to me?

Aspirin, vitamin E, milk thistle, tetracycline/doxycycline, thiamine, etc all lower iron. So, you have some other options, given that charcoal causes constipation in doses needed to lower iron (15g - 30g daily).

 

[Iron Man]

Thanks Haidut! You seem to know your stuff...

Do you know much about IP6? Is it any good?

I am already taking Tocomin and that is E, so maybe I should get on to Thiamin and Milk Thistle as well. Do you know what are the best dosages? Are there any web links on this stuff for references?

Haidut - I am working on my (or trying to) Testosterone and Cortisol. I am taking Ashwaganda for the Cortisol. With the Testosterone, I am floundering on what is the best. I saw in an old post where you jacked up your Testosterone real high and that would be fun for a short time, but I am more interested in getting my Testosterone up to just an "above average" and keep it there the rest of my days. What is the key for the long term?

THANKS so much!

 

[haidut]

Thanks Haidut! You seem to know your stuff...

Do you know much about IP6? Is it any good?

I am already taking Tocomin and that is E, so maybe I should get on to Thiamin and Milk Thistle as well. Do you know what are the best dosages? Are there any web links on this stuff for references?

Haidut - I am working on my (or trying to) Testosterone and Cortisol. I am taking Ashwaganda for the Cortisol. With the Testosterone, I am floundering on what is the best. I saw in an old post where you jacked up your Testosterone real high and that would be fun for a short time, but I am more interested in getting my Testosterone up to just an "above average" and keep it there the rest of my days. What is the key for the long term?

THANKS so much!

Thiamine 600mg+, milk thistle 600mg, doxycycline in any dose but 100mg is common, vitamin E 400IU+, aspirin 1g+, etc.
Testosterone is important in peripheral tissues and means not much in blood. Taking small doses of DHEA (<5mg per take) raises peripheral T and DHT.

 

[Iron Man]

Thanks Haidut.
I already take tocomin twice a day. Is this ok for an E supplement? How did your testosterone experiment go long term? That always interested me. With mine so very low, I would like to jack it up and then taper it down to a good level and keep it at that. What is your opinion?
Thanks.

 

[Iron Man]

My sister in law freaked out about me taking Dhea (even though I was taking about 5mg). I have stopped. I wonder though if it was converting to estrogen as my Testosterone was still at crazy low levels.
Next Doctors appointment, I think I will ask his opinion on Dhea and Pregnalone. I don't want to use androgel or inject Testosterone if I can help it.
My diet is very clean. We avoid transfats, junk foods, GMO, steroid filled meats etc, etc.
Thanks.

 

[haidut]

Thanks Haidut.
I already take tocomin twice a day. Is this ok for an E supplement? How did your testosterone experiment go long term? That always interested me. With mine so very low, I would like to jack it up and then taper it down to a good level and keep it at that. What is your opinion?
Thanks.

I think tocomin are tocotrienols, so I would stay away from it. It causes liver enlargement in animals. Also, all the human studies are with tocopherols.
Like I said, DHEA will not change your plasma T or DHT levels. However in all tissues, IF taken in low doses, it metabolizes almost exclusively into DHT. The International Olympic Committe is wisening up to this fact and is about to introduce skin biopsy testing requirements to check for DHEA abuse. Your sister may be freaking out b/c in high doses DHEA not only converts into estrogen but also binds to and directly activates the estrogen receptors alpha and beta. This does NOT happen in low doses. I posted a study showing in low doses DHEA is basically as powerful an androgen as DHT. So, no only does it convert into DHT is is also androgenic itself if use it wisely. No more than 15mg daily in divided doses of no more than 5mg each.

 

[Iron Man]

Thanks Haidut!

So if I ditch the Tocomin, then what should I replace that with? This is the one that I have been taking -

http://www.iherb.com/Jarrow-Formulas-To ... =null&ic=8

I never knew about liver enlargement, wow. So this has kind of been shooting myself in the foot?

 

[haidut]

Thanks Haidut!

So if I ditch the Tocomin, then what should I replace that with? This is the one that I have been taking -

http://www.iherb.com/Jarrow-Formulas-To ... =null&ic=8

I never knew about liver enlargement, wow. So this has kind of been shooting myself in the foot?

Any product that has only tocopherols, preferably mixed. Search the forum for tocopherols or look at the section on Supplements. Dan Wich has a page listing a number of brands that seem pure.

 

[Iron Man]

Thanks Haidut, will do.

After your post, I did an internet search on Tocotrienols and a bunch of sites came up saying how there was research showing that this fixed fatty liver. I will need to do more of a search though and look up tocopherols.

 

[Iron Man]

Ok, so according to the forum search that I just did, this Vitamin E looks to be the best (if you want capsule form) -

http://www.iherb.com/A-C-Grace-Company- ... tgels/8627

Far out, I am kind of ticked... I was taking Tocosorb as I thought it was the best form. If tocotrienols are bad for the liver, then I have been shooting myself in the foot. So frustrating... Can you please send me a link on why it is believed that tocotrienols are not good?

Thanks

 

[johns74]

What amount is bad for the liver and what amount were you taking?

 

[Iron Man]

I have no idea. This is the first I have heard of it being bad for the liver and I am still trying to understand why. I was taking two Jarrows Tocosorb a day.

 

[haidut]

I have no idea. This is the first I have heard of it being bad for the liver and I am still trying to understand why. I was taking two Jarrows Tocosorb a day.

Here is one study to consider:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11434987

For comparison, the tocopherols have no known liver toxicity even in doses of several thousand milligrams per kg for rats/mice.

 

[johns74]

Here is one study to consider:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11434987

They didn't observe problems up to 120mg per kg (130 mg per kg for females). What would be the equivalent dose for the average person?

 

[haidut]

Here is one study to consider:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11434987

They didn't observe problems up to 120mg per kg (130 mg per kg for females). What would be the equivalent dose for the average person?

About 1,000mg - 1,200mg. That is high enough to not be a problem for most people given the doses in the supplements available commercially. I am just concerned based on the Peat comment that they have unsaturated side chain and and he would not use them. He also quoted the studies showing liver enlargement. Also, unsaturated fats (to which tocotrienols look similar structurally) do cause liver enlargement and disease. So, maybe it's a J-curve type of thing and they are safe in low doses.

 

[johns74]

I guess I would finish the tocosorb bottle if I didn't get problems from it. Then I would get Carlson E-Gems Plus or 4spectrum.

 

[johns74]

Aspirin, vitamin E, milk thistle, tetracycline/doxycycline, thiamine, etc all lower iron. So, you have some other options, given that charcoal causes constipation in doses needed to lower iron (15g - 30g daily).

Do they reduce iron in the blood, or do they reduce total iron in the body? I think one should do the latter, one should remove iron from the body.

Aspirin can remove iron from the body if it causes bleeding.

 

[johns74]

Saturation - 35% ( Reference Range - 20 - 55 )
Ferritin - 242 ug/L ( Reference Range - 25 - 220 )

High iron stores causes low testosterone. If that ferritin number is accurate (it can be inaccurate due to infections, zinc supplementation, etc.), you will need many donations to get it down. Even if it's inaccurate, the saturation says you have more iron stores than ideal.

I think Mercola is good on iron. He suggests having ferritin at about 80.