Danazol to increase free testosterone and decrease estradiol?
- Thread starter bdad
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CoastWatcher
Moderator
I feel for you. We've run a number of posts over the years on the unreliability of many (most) free testosterone values. You can pull your own labs at a surprisingly affordable cost at www.discountedlabs.com. Many of us use them.
I want to share my Danazol experience with other members here. I am not on TRT. I tried Danazol 50mg daily for 1month to lower my SHBG in the hope of reviving my libido. Everything else was within the normal range. The following are my recent lab results before Danazol, 11/06/17 and after 12/13/17. It made no difference in how I felt.
Totaltestosterone: 660 ng/dL ->337 ng/dL
Free Testosterone (Direct) 7.6 pg/mL ->High> 50.0 pg/mL
Estradiol 27.1 pg/mL -> 35.2 pg/mL
DHEA-Sulfate 202.9 ug/dL -> 251.2 ug/dL
Dihydrotestosterone 75 ng/dL -> 50 ng/dL
SHBG 111.7 nmol/L -> 73.9 nmol/L
Totaltestosterone: 660 ng/dL ->337 ng/dL
Free Testosterone (Direct) 7.6 pg/mL ->High> 50.0 pg/mL
Estradiol 27.1 pg/mL -> 35.2 pg/mL
DHEA-Sulfate 202.9 ug/dL -> 251.2 ug/dL
Dihydrotestosterone 75 ng/dL -> 50 ng/dL
SHBG 111.7 nmol/L -> 73.9 nmol/L
Last edited:
Dr Justin Saya MD
Moderator
I've said it several times on the forums before...one should NOT take danazol if you are NOT already on TRT as the danazol will begin to suppress your HPTA. Did you check your pre/post LH levels?
I was unaware that one should not take danazol if you are not already on TRT at the time I was taking it. It was meant to lower SHBG. When I saw one of your posts I threw them away. The results of pre/post LH levels are unknown to me at this time. I simply wanted to show the forum what happened. Hopefully things will return to "normal" soon.
Has anyone here taking clomid ever been on danazol? I'd really like to hear about your experience.
Here's my experience with adding danazol along with clomid.
Context: Before I tried danazol, I had been taking clomid (12.5 mg/day) for about a year.
It got my T levels up to 600-700 ng/dL. Subjectively I would describe how I felt on clomid 12.5 ED as "pretty okay" most of the time. Even though I too experienced the "estrogenic" side effects that most clomid users complain about, it was still better than I had felt in a long time. Over this time period my SHBG had crept from 18 to around 30.
I first heard about danazol on the ATM forum from a patient who had taken both it and clomid. Decided to try danazol out.. 50 mg every other day - if I remember rightly - in addition to my regular 12.5 mg/day of clomid. (I might mention that I had asked Dr. Crisler on his forum about it and he didn't see a problem with trying it.)
My experience: Almost immediately after starting (like within a couple of days) I began to feel really great. Mood and energy went up sharply. I felt as if I had finally found the cure to what ailed me.
Unfortunately, after about 6 weeks or so, I stopped feeling good. In fact I started feeling quite terrible (much worse than before I had started danazol). Labs showed my total T-levels had plummeted (in addition to the SHBG decrease), so it must have had a stronger suppressive affect on my HPTA than clomid's "enhancing" effect.
I believe I felt so good for those 6 weeks at the start due to previously SGBG-bound T being released into my system until it was all used up.
I still wonder if I had tried clomid/danazol in a different proportion (i.e. higher dose of clomid vs. lower dose of danazol) if I would've faired better.
Here's my experience with adding danazol along with clomid.
Context: Before I tried danazol, I had been taking clomid (12.5 mg/day) for about a year.
It got my T levels up to 600-700 ng/dL. Subjectively I would describe how I felt on clomid 12.5 ED as "pretty okay" most of the time. Even though I too experienced the "estrogenic" side effects that most clomid users complain about, it was still better than I had felt in a long time. Over this time period my SHBG had crept from 18 to around 30.
I first heard about danazol on the ATM forum from a patient who had taken both it and clomid. Decided to try danazol out.. 50 mg every other day - if I remember rightly - in addition to my regular 12.5 mg/day of clomid. (I might mention that I had asked Dr. Crisler on his forum about it and he didn't see a problem with trying it.)
My experience: Almost immediately after starting (like within a couple of days) I began to feel really great. Mood and energy went up sharply. I felt as if I had finally found the cure to what ailed me.
Unfortunately, after about 6 weeks or so, I stopped feeling good. In fact I started feeling quite terrible (much worse than before I had started danazol). Labs showed my total T-levels had plummeted (in addition to the SHBG decrease), so it must have had a stronger suppressive affect on my HPTA than clomid's "enhancing" effect.
I believe I felt so good for those 6 weeks at the start due to previously SGBG-bound T being released into my system until it was all used up.
I still wonder if I had tried clomid/danazol in a different proportion (i.e. higher dose of clomid vs. lower dose of danazol) if I would've faired better.
Vince Carter
Banned
Funnt thing this AM I was on my throne and had Jay Campbells book out and i was right on the page about Danazol for lowering SHBG.
Dr Justin Saya MD
Moderator
Tough, if not impossible, to successfully use danazol long term if NOT HPTA suppressed. Too many variables as it interacts with the androgen receptors, the estrogen receptors, the progesterone receptors, and glucocorticoid receptors IN ADDITION to inhibiting many of the upstream hormone enzymes AND its interaction with SHBG. In fact, even in HPTA suppressed men it does a good job of lowering SHBG and increasing free T, yet often lags on the subjective side (likely due to the multiple/complex MOA mentioned above).
Dr Justin Saya MD
Moderator
Dr Justin Saya MD
Moderator
Reading Jay's book while on the toilet...can't figure out if that's and endorsement for the book or a criticism ;-)
Thank you for weighing in, Dr. Saya. After this, I don't think I'll ever consider trying danazol again.
Do you happen to know if danazol negatively affects the lipid profile? My numbers were pretty bad (low HDL, high LDL & cholesterol) when I had labs done shortly after quitting danazol although I don't have any "control" evidence to claim that danazol caused it.
Dr Justin Saya MD
Moderator
Here I am again. During thepast 2 months I thought I had finally hit on a regimen that worked using Clomidand I would have something good to share that would perhaps work forothers here too. During 2016 & 2017 using a method others have used, I hadtwice successively reset my T levels that shot my T up to 1500 after 2 weeks.Each time it settled back to a higher number and finally stayed at around 690. This from 300’s – 400’s in previous years. My estradiolalso lowered from 75 to what it is now and stayed. The regimen was simple; 12.5mg of Clomid once a week. Danazol had lowered my SHBG down from 112 but I quitafter reading a post from Dr Saya. My libido had significantly improved andnormal ejaculation also significantly improved from nothing at all to where it oncewas years ago. So for almost 2 months using the adage “lose it or use it” alongwith improved libido, I used online porn to keep my libido alive long enough tostart dating again. I also began to exercise a bit more since I was feelingbetter. It was going quite well until about 2 weeks ago when my erections werenot quite as strong and then a week ago my libido diminished quickly to almostnothing. I wonder what changed since my 4/11/18 labs? I never had my prolactinlevels checked. Could using online porn be the cause? I had read of this possibilityfrom various sources. I don’t know what to do now. My lab results:
2/6/18 LabCorp 4/11/18
Total T 815 ng/dL 764 ng/dL
Free T 9.0 pg/mL 33.5pg/mL
LH 5.4 mIU/mL
FSH 3.0 mIU/mL
SHBG 75.0 nmol/L
Estradiol 23.9 pg/mL 32.3pg/mL
Prolactin
DHT 118 ng/dL 113 ng/dL
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