Any new discoveries on Low SHBG curse ?

[kashman112]

I m just checking with the community to see if there is a new discovery with Low SHBG individuals ?
Any new treatment ?
Any new strategies to raise it ?

It is a bad curse .

 

[Systemlord]

I m just checking with the community to see if there is a new discovery with Low SHBG individuals ?

Stop trying to control, change SHBG, because you can't. In some cases, the low SHBG is a side effect of a disease process, artificially increasing SHBG won't circumvent the main problem that is lowering it in the first place.

It is a bad curse .

Sometimes low SHBG is genetic.

Any new treatment ?
Any new strategies to raise it ?

Lucky for you there is a treatment. There’s a drug out there that improves blood pressure, controls your blood glucose and increases insulin sensitivity, it helps you lose weight, it dramatically decreases your risk of heart attack, lowers your cholesterol, and improves your mood, your motivation and cognitive function, prevents dementia, makes you stronger and builds muscle and stronger bones, and also decreases your risk of developing many cancers, helps you sleep, improves your libido and erections, and it’s free, and the best part is there’s no side effects.

It’s called exercise.

Focus on lifestyle and excersise to improve your health, cut out processed, and fast foods.

 

[kashman112]

I do exercise by the way more than you ever imagine .

There is a genetic component to this that these people don't understand . You always get responses like : Insulin resistance , weight loss , fiber , Caffeine , Metformin , Berberine , fasting ... Blah Blah blah . I have everything in order . 6'1 168 lbs , 4.9 A1C , Fasting Insulin 4 , Glucose 83 , HDL 54 , TRIG 34 , ALT 15 AST 13 , GGT 10 . Yet I cannot get my SHBG above 16 if my life depended on it . And TRT makes me feel like garbage . I did also feel garbage with my own 334 T levels . The only time I felt good was week 2 of TRT for 4-5 days and that s it .

The problem with Low SHBG is that you will get the side effects (Oily skin , Hair loss , excessive body hair growth , moodiness , shit libido , shit sleep ...) from T and E but not the benefits because no natural guy has a Total T of 800 and a SHBG of 16 . Something is wrong and out of whack here . I am chasing mental clarity , good EQ , good libido , sense of well being , quality sleep . All of which needs HORMONAL BALANCE. Having a TT of 800 with a SHBG of 13-16 is NOT FREAKING BALANCE .

Some people do OK with Low SHBG . A lot of people like myself do suffer massively .


I have heard all of these answers before ( Insulin Resistance , Weight , Exercise , Frequent small injections , fasting ... ) None of them is the answer here .

I should have asked this " IS THERE ANY NEW DISCOVERIES FOR THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE THE MISFORTUNE OF GENETIC LOW SHBG ?"

 

[Belekas]

I wouldn't say 6'1 168 lbs is good. Have you tried putting on more weight/muscle? I'd say you are well underfed doesn't matter your blood markers if you are feeling like shit. I know for sure me being below 6.1 if I would drop more muscle to your similar weight I would feel like death. Also there is an interesting Dr who treats people with androgens and been doing that for the last 40+ years and he always aims for SHBG level sub 15 IIRC. He says its perfect. Maybe you want to listen to his old podcasts perhaps theres something good you can grasp from them?

Also posting on the forum asking for other opinions be prepared to receive opinions of what you have already heard 100 times and most likely your answer is known to you but you just have no idea what that is, yet, because you are so sure about all these things you mentioned not being the case here. If you know what I mean

 

[Systemlord]

I don't think your symptoms are from low SHBG. A 50% increase, decrease in SHBG doesn't really change your hormonal landscape that much.

Keep blaming SHBG and you'll never really find out what's actually causing your symptoms. You say you had these symptoms prior to TRT, that would likely mean your SHBG was higher, since TRT decreases SHBG.

I think you're using SHBG as a scapegoat and have nothing else to point the finger at and is nothing more than convenient for you.

 

[Belekas]

I don't think your symptoms are from low SHBG. A 50% increase, decrease in SHBG doesn't really change your hormonal landscape that much.

Keep blaming SHBG and you'll never really find out what's actually causing your symptoms. You say you had these symptoms prior to TRT, that would likely mean your SHBG was higher, since TRT decreases SHBG.

"It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so. “ – Mark Twain

 

[Cataceous]

...
The problem with Low SHBG is that you will get the side effects (Oily skin , Hair loss , excessive body hair growth , moodiness , shit libido , shit sleep ...) from T and E but not the benefits because no natural guy has a Total T of 800 and a SHBG of 16 . Something is wrong and out of whack here . I am chasing mental clarity , good EQ , good libido , sense of well being , quality sleep . All of which needs HORMONAL BALANCE. Having a TT of 800 with a SHBG of 13-16 is NOT FREAKING BALANCE .
...

I'm getting the sense that you've tried only mid-range TRT dosing and above. There's still a pretty wide margin between where you started naturally and the results you experienced with mid-range TRT. Is this lack of curiosity because of a notion that dosing under 60 mg TC per week won't do anything? In your shoes I'd want to see what happens with 40 and 50 mg TC/week in divided doses. Would suppression of SHBG be less drastic?

Another test would be to use small daily doses of testosterone propionate or a propionate/cypionate blend. It's possible that peak daily serum testosterone is more directly related to the benefits of testosterone, while trough and average levels are more the drivers of side effects. While this is speculative, there are some guys here who seem to do better with daily use of a blend than with other protocols.

Another idea, and the best one if you're not on TRT at the moment, is to run a trial with testosterone nasal gel. This has much less impact on other hormones, and allows you to experience much higher peak serum testosterone without having large increases in trough or average levels.

Have you already been exposed to the ideas about low SHBG quoted here? Unfortunately, even if they are correct they do not point to an easy solution. If SHBG suitable for injection were readily available then it would make experimentation pretty simple. An injection every few days would raise SHBG to any desired level. However, I suspect the cost of synthesis will need to get a lot lower before SHBG becomes affordable for this niche.

 

[t_spacemonkey]

my SHBG is 11. i am on 210mg T weekly. i feel great. libido through the roof. 0 symptoms from SHBG as far as i can tell. you have no clue if your symptoms are shgb related and most likely they are not

 

[Charliebizz]

my SHBG is 11. i am on 210mg T weekly. i feel great. libido through the roof. 0 symptoms from SHBG as far as i can tell. you have no clue if your symptoms are shgb related and most likely they are not

Very underrated comment. I think the fear mongering of “low shbg” on this forum has hurt more men then it’s helped. I was always on the low dose to conservative dose bandwagon And it got me nowhere. Wasn’t until I started pushing my levels higher (with scrotal cream) that I finally started seeing some relief.

to the op if you have tried higher dose injections with no success maybe try the scrotal cream. Been a game changer for a lot of men.

 

[Charliebizz]

my SHBG is 11. i am on 210mg T weekly. i feel great. libido through the roof. 0 symptoms from SHBG as far as i can tell. you have no clue if your symptoms are shgb related and most likely they are not

What’s your labs look like if you don’t mind sharing? I personally never did Higher dose injections. And the cream has my levels higher than injections have. I’m getting tired of applying cream 2x a day. Wanted to go back to injections. I’m a little apprehensive from how I felt on them in the past. But like I said. I was always doing low dose keeping mid range t levels.

 

[FunkOdyssey]

my SHBG is 11. i am on 210mg T weekly. i feel great. libido through the roof. 0 symptoms from SHBG as far as i can tell. you have no clue if your symptoms are shgb related and most likely they are not

Full agreement here. What the OP discovered was that the particular protocols he tried did not make him feel good. He did not learn that low SHBG had anything to do with it. That's an unsupported leap to a conclusion.

I'd rather hear more about what protocols kashman tried in the past than about low SHBG victimhood.

 

[t_spacemonkey]

What’s your labs look like if you don’t mind sharing? I personally never did Higher dose injections. And the cream has my levels higher than injections have. I’m getting tired of applying cream 2x a day. Wanted to go back to injections. I’m a little apprehensive from how I felt on them in the past. But like I said. I was always doing low dose keeping mid range t levels.

my last reading was something like 900ng T total and 30 free
I am doing daily Tprop injections. on the same dose of Tcyp i felt overstimulated, which is ironic, since Tprop has a much higher T content due to ester weight
maybe that is why you feel good on a cream, due to the shorter half life. have you tried daily Tprop?

 

[Charliebizz]

my last reading was something like 900ng T total and 30 free
I am doing daily Tprop injections. on the same dose of Tcyp i felt overstimulated, which is ironic, since Tprop has a much higher T content due to ester weight
maybe that is why you feel good on a cream, due to the shorter half life. have you tried daily Tprop?

I haven’t.

 

[HSLD]

my last reading was something like 900ng T total and 30 free
I am doing daily Tprop injections. on the same dose of Tcyp i felt overstimulated, which is ironic, since Tprop has a much higher T content due to ester weight
maybe that is why you feel good on a cream, due to the shorter half life. have you tried daily Tprop?

How long did it take for you to feel good/settled in once you switched from cyp to prop?

 

[Ribeye]

I do exercise by the way more than you ever imagine .

There is a genetic component to this that these people don't understand . You always get responses like : Insulin resistance , weight loss , fiber , Caffeine , Metformin , Berberine , fasting ... Blah Blah blah . I have everything in order . 6'1 168 lbs , 4.9 A1C , Fasting Insulin 4 , Glucose 83 , HDL 54 , TRIG 34 , ALT 15 AST 13 , GGT 10 . Yet I cannot get my SHBG above 16 if my life depended on it . And TRT makes me feel like garbage . I did also feel garbage with my own 334 T levels . The only time I felt good was week 2 of TRT for 4-5 days and that s it .

The problem with Low SHBG is that you will get the side effects (Oily skin , Hair loss , excessive body hair growth , moodiness , shit libido , shit sleep ...) from T and E but not the benefits because no natural guy has a Total T of 800 and a SHBG of 16 . Something is wrong and out of whack here . I am chasing mental clarity , good EQ , good libido , sense of well being , quality sleep . All of which needs HORMONAL BALANCE. Having a TT of 800 with a SHBG of 13-16 is NOT FREAKING BALANCE .

Some people do OK with Low SHBG . A lot of people like myself do suffer massively .


I have heard all of these answers before ( Insulin Resistance , Weight , Exercise , Frequent small injections , fasting ... ) None of them is the answer here .

I should have asked this " IS THERE ANY NEW DISCOVERIES FOR THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE THE MISFORTUNE OF GENETIC LOW SHBG ?"

I have total T much higher than you suggest, and low shbg, and TONS of libido. Excellent lipid profiles, lowered A1C, and have lost 46lbs in two years. And I feel great. Perhaps for you, if you have not tried, a topical HRT, because it may well drive higher DHT and help your libido. But beware, the DHT can also drive oily skin, and some other things too IF you take your dosing too high. What is too high? More than what you really need, and causes side effects like oily skin, acne, increasing hematocrit, and hemoglobin.

 

[t_spacemonkey]

How long did it take for you to feel good/settled in once you switched from cyp to prop?

really quick. within a week or so. your blood levels will probably go above your base early on but should level once the cyp goes down, which is 1-2 weeks. also on prop your peaks will be higher and lows lower (a good thing)

 

[Charliebizz]

I have total T much higher than you suggest, and low shbg, and TONS of libido. Excellent lipid profiles, lowered A1C, and have lost 46lbs in two years. And I feel great. Perhaps for you, if you have not tried, a topical HRT, because it may well drive higher DHT and help your libido. But beware, the DHT can also drive oily skin, and some other things too IF you take your dosing too high. What is too high? More than what you really need, and causes side effects like oily skin, acne, increasing hematocrit, and hemoglobin.

Are you on cream ?
My dht is sky high on scrotal cream and have zero “high dht“ side effects.

 

[HSLD]

really quick. within a week or so. your blood levels will probably go above your base early on but should level once the cyp goes down, which is 1-2 weeks. also on prop your peaks will be higher and lows lower (a good thing)

Thanks for the reply. Out of curiosity, what was your previous cyp protocol and how long have you been on this prop protocol?

 

[t_spacemonkey]

Thanks for the reply. Out of curiosity, what was your previous cyp protocol and how long have you been on this prop protocol?

it varied. started TRT 2y ago, initial Tcyp 3x week (3x40mg). slowly raised to 210mg (/3 week)

 

[Cyclingislife]

Kashman, I can relate to your situation, I have low shbg too. And, when I first started trt my doctor didn’t know what the hell he was doing and had me on one 120mg. shot a week! Felt like crap, went on and off for year, gave up & I just figured trt didn’t work for me. Then I did my homework & figured out low SHBG was my issue. It means you essentially piss out most of the testosterone you inject, it passes quickly through your system. That’s why it doesn’t work for low shbg guys. I also had a virtual consult with one of the best trt doctors in the country. Best advice I ever got from him was to keep a daily diary of your protocol & most importantly document “how you feel” (energy, sex drive, well being) and experiment with dose and injection timing based solely 100% on how you feel. Don’t chase labs, chase the feeling. Allow 6-8 weeks between change in protocol/dose. I started with low dose & did this religiously, took me almost a year to figure it out & it worked. I’ve tried daily, every 3.5 days, etc. My protocol that works best is 20-24mg EOD, Shallow IM, 1/2 inch, .5 ml, 18 gauge insulin needle, only inject in shoulder. No AI, No HCG. I feel the best at this dose. However, once or twice a year I notice my sex drive wane a bit & I drop my dose to 20mg EOD & it fixes it. I also practice intermittent fasting every day, only eat from noon - 8pm.

I run my labs 2-3 times a year, hematocrit and all else is in check. My free T is at top of range, total around 700. My shbg has been as low as 14 and as high as 24. It’s usually 18. I’ve always had high cholesterol (even at race weight) but I’ll never take a statin, all my cardiology tests are perfect. I’m 55, lean, very active cyclist, still beating guys half my age.

I know low shbg is a bear & it’s difficult to dial in. Most doctors don’t get it & unless you have it u don’t get it. But be patient, keep a journal & don’t be afraid to experiment. That’s how you find your sweet spot. I hope this helps.