Quite possible. One doctor I saw described himself in terms of the old story about the drunk looking for his car keys under a street lamp. A passerby asks him why he is looking there, and the drunk replies because that is where the light is. So even though I tested with T levels right around...
This post is for those guys, like me, who have been on an "optimum" TRT protocol as advocated by this site and others, and yet still feel little to no benefit from TRT. We a grasping for a clue as to why we are not seeing the benefit that many, if not most, guys get from TRT once the honeymoon...
There is a guy over on the t-nation forum who says that going from twice weekly injections to once a week injections and then skipping injections once in a while to add randomness to his T level is what gave him his libido back. So that could possibly be one way of dealing with dopamine...
OK, I see that in your labs now. Your TSH is too high and you free T4 and free T3 are both in the lower half of the reference ranges. This is indicative of subclinical hypothyroidism. See if you can get your doc to prescribe some NDT.
Did you have a thyroid panel and 4 x salivary cortisol test done? As others have mentioned, with your T levels prior to TRT it would not appear that T is where your problem lies.
The fact that he prescribed WP Thyroid is a good sign, means he is much more progressive than most docs out there. I think you are on the right track, good luck.
If you want to try a nutrient approach to treating hypothyroidism you should be trying iodine, selenium, and tyrosine. Read Dr. Brownstein's book "Iodine, Why you need it, why you can't live without it"
I certainly agree with CW, this doctor is not serving you well. You are clearly hypothyroid and he is going off on a tangent. A second opinion is a wise move. If you spend time on this site and do some searching you will find that the general consensus is to treat hypothyroidism first and then...
From what I've read DIM speeds up the metabolism of estrogen, rather than suppressing its creation like an AI. How well it works will depend on how big an E2 problem you have.
TV? Thanks for the laugh. I have never owned a TV in my entire adult life and my libido disappeared years ago. My own n=1 study shows men without TV loose their libido at a much earlier age than men without. :)
0.39% is 0.39/100 or 0.0039, so you would take the testosterone number and multiply by 0.0039 to get the estrogen number. Likewise with 4.5% you would multiply the starting quantity by 0.045.
Just looking at the paper you reference the 4.5% mentioned is for the conversion of androstenedione to testosterone. But the data for this paper was collected after infusing androstenedione and testosterone so I would assume that most of the T didn't have time to be bound to SHBG during the time...
While this is certainly true in theory, and even Dr Crisler says as much in his book, I don't recall seeing anyone on the forums claim success switching from injections to transdermals. The closest I've heard of was a couple of guys who said they did better on a single larger IM injection per...
Labcorp recently changed their reference range for progesterone for males from 0.2-1.4 to 0.0-0.1. I have not seen a published explanation for why they did this. I wouldn't worry about it until you speak to Dr. Saya.
Truth of the matter is that there is nothing they or you can do about it anyway. I went to the nephrologist because my creatinine was high and to keep my PCP happy. He told me the only thing they do is monitor it and then you go on dialysis when it gets too high (between 5 and 10).
If you have trouble falling asleep then I've found zolpidem (generic Ambien) to be really good. If your problem is staying asleep then zolpidem may not work so well because of its short half life. You also have to be careful not to take too high a dose. Some people (mostly women) are especially...
That is true only for guys with high prolactin. When I saw him my prolactin was around 7 on 2 separate test and he said caber would not help me and wouldn't prescribe it to me.
A couple of recent studies on diet and how it can reduce the chances of kidney disease. Both studies suggest reducing red meat consumption can be beneficial.
DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) Diet and Risk of Subsequent Kidney Disease
Results
3,720 participants developed kidney...
When I took 10,000 iu's per day my level went over the top of the reference range, >150. Scared the hell out of my doc at the time. I'm now taking 4000/day and my level is around 80, I'm probably going to cut back to 3000/day.
What I did last time I ordered was to open a free online checking account, separate from my main account, and only put enough money in there to pay for the order. Then use echeck at checkout.
With all due respect to Dr. Morgentaler, he has done great things for us to be able to access TRT. I went to a colleague of his who is co-author on many of Dr. Morgentaler's research papers. He was very insistent that pellets were the state of the art in TRT.
I'm with Defy now.
Very interesting. This could save me having to drive to NH for a draw. When I go do Labcorp with labs my doctor has ordered they enter in the order and then ask me if I still have the same insurance so they know where to send the bill. If I have an order from Discounted Labs, or some other...
You don't mention if you are taking and PDE5 inhibitors. If you are, I'd be careful since there are case studies implicating them in CSR
Should central serous chorioretinopathy be added to the list of ocular side effects of phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors?
Life Extension established that range based on research using the immunoassay estradiol test. This test is no longer recommended by the leaders in the field of TRT who recommend the LC/MS/MS method. The immunoassay method typically overstates the actual E2 level, but if you go to order an E2...