Low SHBG Guys

[Vince]

I once asked a knowledgible doc on TRT how can I raise SHBG. He advised its tough for guys to increase but he felt a low carb diet would help most. Low carb means low insulin. Insulin has a strong inverse relation to SHBG.

As I dont like limiting my dietary choices much since eating healthy is hard enough, and as I dont want my cholesterol to go thru the roof from low carb (I have/had ED which is correlated to the high cholesterol I have), I’m testing out another natural method first that keeps insulin low, intermittent fasting. Curious to see if it raises shbg. I already read some studies that show the inverse relationship between shbg and insulin.

P.S. I realized I a big typo in the tips I gave in my 1st post here. If anyone read it, please disregard. I edited it and its correct now

Low carbs means high cholesterol. That's one of the biggest lies. It's kind of funny, because it was actually caused by the government. They thought eating fat increased cholesterol. Now they created a bunch of diabetics, with cancer and heart disease. :-(

 

[Cataceous]

SHBG doesn't affect absorption, but it DOES affect duration of action. Low SHBG guys will see great variance in peaks and troughs if injecting 1x per week than someone with higher SHBG.

Negative on the second. The plasma peaks and troughs and apparent half-life are a direct result of the absorption characteristics. Show me mathematically how you think this works. Do you agree that it's ok to use a linear model for metabolic clearance rate? I.e.:

MCR(T) = k * free_T

 

[Cataceous]

... Low SHBG guys will see great variance in peaks and troughs if injecting 1x per week than someone with higher SHBG.

To clarify further, as I have in other posts, if you take a guy on TRT and lower his SHBG without changing other independent variables, then free testosterone must be basically unchanged, so total testosterone adjusts to match. This means that lower SHBG results in proportionally lower total testosterone. So from an absolute perspective, the variance in peaks and troughs is reduced, but as a proportion of average levels the variance is unchanged.

 

[Charliebizz]

To clarify further, as I have in other posts, if you take a guy on TRT and lower his SHBG without changing other independent variables, then free testosterone must be basically unchanged, so total testosterone adjusts to match. This means that lower SHBG results in proportionally lower total testosterone. So from an absolute perspective, the variance in peaks and troughs is reduced, but as a proportion of average levels the variance is unchanged.

I’m nowhere near as smart as you guys when it comes to trt and the human body. Or grammar lol. But I’m a low shbg guy and my numbers were very similar on all sorts of injection schedules. . So say my total and free t were almost the same on eod shots and once per week shots. And on 1x a week shot I would go for blood work around the 6th day after shot.

 

[Systemlord]

SHBG doesn't affect absorption, but it DOES affect duration of action. Low SHBG guys will see great variance in peaks and troughs if injecting 1x per week than someone with higher SHBG.

If my TT decreases 500->400 ng/dL, FT moves from the top of the ranges to slightly below midrange. My SHBG is low 14-22.

That's a pretty big fluctuation.

 

[Rabbit91476]

At what shgb Number do people typically need to considerable switching to eod. Or do you go by how you feel. I ask because when I switched from sq e3d to Im e3d I noticed more swings. One day felt really great muscles full lots acne. Better than I felt on sq. Two days later feel not as good. Acne subsiding

 

[Systemlord]

At what shgb Number do people typically need to considerable switching to eod. Or do you go by how you feel. I ask because when I switched from sq e3d to Im e3d I noticed more swings. One day felt really great muscles full lots acne. Better than I felt on sq. Two days later feel not as good. Acne subsiding

Usually when SHBG is <20, I always recommended daily or EOD dosing. If pre-TRT SHBG levels are in the high 20's, well TRT will more than likely push it <20 after TRT commences. If you change something about your protocol your levels are going to swing for about 6 weeks, but if you are stable then this is another story.

 

[HarryCat2]

If my TT decreases 500->400 ng/dL, FT moves from the top of the ranges to slightly below midrange. My SHBG is low 14-22.

That's a pretty big fluctuation.

How do you measure your freeT, equilibrium dialysis? or do you calculate it using TruT?

 

[Gus80]

Hello, do you have any updates on TRT in men with low SHBG?

Since I started TRT in 2015, I have gained a lot of weight on my chest and below my belly button, subcutaneous fat and I feel very anxious. Since then, my insulin/glucose levels have gone up a lot in my tests, this insulin resistance makes it difficult for me to lose weight even in a caloric deficit and with exercise.

Maybe because my free estrogen is too high...

I tried microdoses without success and lastly T Gel 35mg + anastrozole 1mg (eod). But I still felt terrible, always very anxious. I asked my doctor to try just anstrozole without testosterone, and I added pregnenolone every day and the anxiety disappeared. As for the subcutaneous fat that I gained after starting TRT, it is still firm, lol.

A Brazilian doctor talks about MOSH, which are patients with hypogonadism caused by obesity, who usually have SHBG <30, respond poorly to TRT. I had SHBG below that in 2015, but I was thin, with a little fat below the navel only. Apparently for low SHBG the best options would be: pregnenolone + low doses of DHEA (<15) + aromatase inhibitors. Or simply the daily aromatase inhibitor, as shown in some scientific articles.

Do you think that transcrotal testosterone with an aromatase inhibitor could be good for those with very low SHBG?

 

[Systemlord]

Since I started TRT in 2015, I have gained a lot of weight on my chest and below my belly button, subcutaneous fat and I feel very anxious.

You're dealing with water retention or you have a thyroid problem or some other condition.

 

[Gus80]

Both. I discovered Hashimoto's in April of last year and I'm being treated by the same doctor who prescribed me topical testosterone.

But I've read many studies linking autoimmune diseases to estrogen, so I don't doubt that it could be related to the high e2 levels after TRT.

As soon as I stopped using exogenous testosterone, in a very short time an HPV wart disappeared from my groin. HPV also seems to be related to high estradiol. We do not have access to ultra-sensitive estradiol here.

Are you still on oral TRT? How have your SHBG, E2 and DHT been doing?