My HPTA recovery log: I have reversed my type 2 diabetes (SHBG 31/glucose 80) and may have never had hypogonadism!!

[FunkOdyssey]

I have this abdominal pain that's constant and I strongly believe it's the higher end hemoglobin and hematocrit now that my testosterone levels are a mismatch for these blood parameters.

I don't know what is causing your abdominal pain, but I am certain it has nothing to do with a mismatch between your hemoglobin and testosterone. That might be your most hair-brained idea so far.

If the pain becomes worse after you eat, it sounds like something gastrointestinal. If it continues, have it evaluated by a doctor and perhaps get a referral to a gastroenterologist. If it's something serious you don't want to fool around with crazy theories.

 

[Systemlord]

Would it be an option for you to donate a bit of blood to accelerate the clearance of your hematocrit? Now that you are off TRT there shouldn't be this JoJo effect of ferritin - hematocrit.

I did a donation 3 weeks ago, so I must wait another 5 weeks. My endo won't schedule a phlebotomy unless hemoglobin is 17.8 or higher. He says my blood parameters are normal and I said to him normal for who?

 

[Systemlord]

I don't know what is causing your abdominal pain, but I am certain it has nothing to do with a mismatch between your hemoglobin and testosterone. That might be your most hair-brained idea so far.

If the pain becomes worse after you eat, it sounds like something gastrointestinal. If it continues, have it evaluated by a doctor and perhaps get a referral to a gastroenterologist. If it's something serious you don't want to fool around with crazy theories.

I was given a cocktail to numb my GI, given GI medicines and neither of these did anything.

My last blood donation, for a couple of days my glucose was 97 fasting, I felt great, erections near perfect and workouts were amazing which only lasted for a few days. This and lowering the vitamin D and C brings about a temporary feeling amazing.

The last two weeks eating iron rich foods causes muscle pain and burning in skin, which is declining in intensity as time goes on. This muscle pain was way worse when hematocrit was at 55%. As the hematocrit drops, the muscle pain is less painful.

 

[Systemlord]

Hey Ironman, that's really amazing that you are doing so well without TRT. It seems like following your intuition was the right choice.

A new member just contacted my in a PM and has the same issues with TRT and vitamin D as me. I mean every symptom.

He says he feels better with lower T. He also have higher HBA1C on TRT. He has type 2 diabetes as well.

Dr. Stevens says there's a bidirectional relationship between testosterone and insulin.

There's more men like me out there than we think there are.

 

[Seagal]

A new member just contacted my in a PM and has the same issues with TRT and vitamin D as me. I mean every symptom.

He says he feels better with lower T. He also have higher HBA1C on TRT. He has type 2 diabetes as well.

Dr. Stevens says there's a bidirectional relationship between testosterone and insulin.

There's more men like me out there than we think there are.

Could you please send a link to Stevens where he discussed that relationship?

 

[Systemlord]

Could you please send a link to Stevens where he discussed that relationship?

It was made in a comment to one of his videos, I'll gladly link it.

 

[Systemlord]

A new member just contacted my in a PM and has the same issues with TRT and vitamin D as me. I mean every symptom.

He says he feels better with lower T. He also have higher HBA1C on TRT. He has type 2 diabetes as well.

Dr. Stevens says there's a bidirectional relationship between testosterone and insulin.

There's more men like me out there than we think there are.

I'm now better able to tolerate vitamin D supplements. Last week I had issues if I took even 400 IU two days in a row and this week I been taking 400 IU for a week and now 600 IU without much issues.

There are still some minor lingering side effects when eating iron rich foods that are disappearing as time goes on. On TRT these sides were much more intense.

TRT definitely alters my iron hemostasis in a bad way.

My erections are getting better by the day.

 

[Systemlord]

Here's an update. Basically starting vitamin D supplementation when vitamin K is low will produce symptoms similar to vitamin D toxicity, too much calcium in the blood and only one place to go, through the kidneys and into the urine.

After a 4-5 days of supplementing vitamin K I'm really starting to see big changes! Urination is returning to normal. My muscles are looking fuller and harder than they ever were on TRT. My sleep last night, I can't remember the last time I slept so well.

 

[Seagal]

Wonder why your vitamin K was supposedly low/deficient?

 

[Systemlord]

Wonder why your vitamin K was supposedly low/deficient?

Every time I checked it in the past, it was at the bottom of the range unless I was supplementing. I can’t tolerate any vitamin K unless I’m supplementing vitamin D.

 

[Seagal]

Every time I checked it in the past, it was at the bottom of the range unless I was supplementing. I can’t tolerate any vitamin K unless I’m supplementing vitamin D.

Sounds like the marriage and wife relationship ....
Ok, one hint: chicken contains more K than beef, and of course some evil veggies. Just an idea if you like to experiment with nutrition.

 

[Systemlord]

Sounds like the marriage and wife relationship ....
Ok, one hint: chicken contains more K than beef, and of course some evil veggies. Just an idea if you like to experiment with nutrition.

I eat a lot of chicken lately, more than 3 lbs per day. I have a feeling vitamin K was low way back years ago because my muscles only start growing once I start vitamin K and in years past I would have periods in the day where my muscles would get firm and then get soft, get firm and get soft.

My skin also looks smoother, younger looking. The wrinkles that had been there on my forearms for years is gone.

I had 8 huge veggie burritos at work last week.

 

[Systemlord]

So I was at work the other night and a co-worker had said you look like you’ve lost weight. I thought he was just being nice and blew it off as such. I went to the gym for the first time in 2 months and scale had me at 169 lbs.

I was astonished that I lost weight, not having gone to the gym in two months.

 

[FunkOdyssey]

So I was at work the other night and a co-worker had said you look like you’ve lost weight. I thought he was just being nice and blew it off as such. I went to the gym for the first time in 2 months and scale had me at 169 lbs.

I was astonished that I lost weight, not having gone to the gym in two months.

Probably muscle loss unfortunately.

 

[Systemlord]

Probably muscle loss unfortunately.

I’ve lost no muscle! My muscles have never been harder and more sculpted. I’m very active at work, lifting heavy packages and constantly moving around and just finish two weeks at 60 hours per week.

I’ve been eating nothing but chicken the last month plus. I just went clothes shopping and I’m buying medium size shirts and a 32 inch pair of shorts is starting to look lose around my waste.

Time for a belt.

 

[Systemlord]

I'm now trying to dial in my vitamin D dosage, I got my vitamin K and magnesium dosage dialed in. It seems 420 mg magnesium together with 100 mcg vitamin K with 2000 IU D3 causes my right legs to turn red, and swell up. The left leg is a little red but not really an issue.

I strongly feel like the magnesium and vitamin D doses are too high, and since they work together, I believe their both driving this leg problem, maybe through calcium absorption being too high.

More vitamin K makes my glucose rise and I feel much worse. No matter what, whenever I get vitamin D into the 30-40 range, the red marks start appearing on my ankles. I felt my best going from 1200->2000 IU D3 and maybe I sailed past my sweat spot.

Not so in 2019 when I was taking 2000 IU D3 by itself for 2-3 months. I stopped because of these red marks appearing on my arms, instead of my legs. Back a several week ago when I started taking 400 IU D3, the marks appeared on my arms again.

These red marks will appear on my forehead if I lower my vitamin K dosage. That's why I believe it's calcium related. Remember I was peeing out calcium before I started taking vitamin K. No more excess urination now that my vitamin K is midrange.

So my thought is where is all that calcium going now....

The right leg, the more I move around the more it starts to hurt like hell. Less movement, less swelling and pain. I get to the point where I can't move around much. It burns, muscles locks up and swells slightly. Massaging it relieves the pain.

The area affected isn't warm, or hot. These pictures don’t show the affected area at its worst. Maybe it’s just too much vitamin D. When I backed off the magnesium dose, it got much improved.

I feel pretty damn good mentally, the only issues in the leg pain.

I’m going to be doing another 24 hour calcium urine test and also test parathyroid hormone and calcium soon.

 

[Mastodont]

Have you considered the possibility that you might be enjoying a rebound effect of your hormonal axis re-activating after years on trt...probably a little premature to be declaring having found your sweet spot on the hypogonadal range at this point, also you took one afternoon snapshot of your t-levels.

 

[FunkOdyssey]

Have you considered the possibility that you might be enjoying a rebound effect of your hormonal axis re-activating after years on trt...probably a little premature to be declaring having found your sweet spot on the hypogonadal range at this point, also you took one afternoon snapshot of your t-levels.

I recently spent a week with a total T of 92 ng/dL and free T of 1 ng/dL (that's right, 1) during a failed experiment with application of test cream to the tops of my feet. I felt fine and was completely shocked at the number.

That timeline of onset for testosterone benefits operates in reverse too. All those weeks and months it took for the benefits to build up, it takes just as long for them to fall apart. There isn't a guy with few enough CAG repeats or androgen sensitivity high enough to thrive with levels that low over the long-term. There's just no way - that would be like defying gravity.

 

[Seagal]

I guess his FT peak is now in the normal range. No hypogonadism symptoms, then that should be fine.

 

[Seagal]

I recently spent a week with a total T of 92 ng/dL and free T of 1 ng/dL (that's right, 1) during a failed experiment with application of test cream to the tops of my feet. I felt fine and was completely shocked at the number.

Interesting. Supports the 1-2 times per week TC or TE peak effects.