On Clomid and Not Sure What to Do

[seppuku]

To be honest, i don't really know that i did get several years out of it - i only had one blood test about a week after i started it, which came back at 21.4 nmol/l (617ng/dl). It might have dropped back a few weeks later, i just don't know. I bet though, that cycling clomid is more effective than taking it non stop.
As to trt - the only realistic way i could do that would be to do it diy. I can't affort private treatment, and there's absolutely no way the nhs would want to know with my levels being around 11.7 nmol/l (337ng/dl). I tested lower than that through the nhs after trying to increase my levels naturally using d-aspartic acid (i'd previously tested at around 12 nmol/l. DAA actually took it DOWN to around 9 nmol/l after two weeks use!!).
I gave myself a subq shot of test enth, 50mg, last thursday, i don't know what the hell i was thinking.... I guess i was thinking about diying it myself, 50mg test twice a week. I'm just not convinced though, that my gonads are a completely lost case.

 

[seppuku]

Just to keep things up to date - took a blood test for testosterone and LH, on 6th Aug, several weeks after stopping clomid.

Testosterone dropped to 8.68nmol/l, down from 11.7nmol/l when on clomid (250ng/dl down from 337ng/dl).

LH on clomid had been 8.1 iu/l
LH off clomid now 4.28 iu/l

 

[seppuku]

Hi all,

I've had a total of four blood tests over the past few months, all coming back low.
I'm now wondering if i'm actually having them done when my test levels are lowest, as to be honest I feel my worst when i wake up in the morning and brighten up a few hours into the day.
My latest blood draw, taken at 9am came back at 7.86 nmol/l (range 7.6 - 31.4). My LH was 8.4 IU/L, and my shbg was 25.5 nmol/l.
I'd stopped the clomid weeks before, but i'd taken a very small amount of nolvadex (5mg) the week before on a day i was feeling a bit rough.

I guess my question is, is early morning always the best time to draw blood for a testosterone test? Or am i just avoiding the inevitable?

 

[seppuku]

Hey guys. Just thought i'd update my status by showing you my results from a blood draw done two days ago. I've been pretty much off serms now for a few weeks (i had a small, 12.5mg piece of clomid around two weeks before this test. I'd also had a few days two weeks before where i took 25mg proviron to try and help boost me through work
I'm just after opinions really....


GLOBULIN 26.1 g/L 19.00 - 35.00

Iron Status
FERRITIN 339 ug/L 30.00 - 400.00

Cholesterol Status
TRIGLYCERIDES 1.65 mmol/L 0.00 - 2.30
CHOLESTEROL *5.7 mmol/L 0.00 - 4.99
HDL CHOLESTEROL 1.17 mmol/L 0.90 - 1.50
LDL CHOLESTEROL *3.78 mmol/L 0.00 - 3.00
NON-HDL CHOLESTEROL *4.53 mmol/L 0.00 - 3.89

Heart Disease Risk
HDL % OF TOTAL 20.53% 20.00 - 100.00

ENDOCRINOLOGY

Thyroid Function
FREE T3 4.9 pmol/L 3.10 - 6.80
FREE THYROXINE 13.000 pmol/L 12.00 - 22.00
THYROID STIMULATING HORMONE 2.29 mIU/L 0.27 - 4.20

Hormones

TESTOSTERONE *6.04 nmol/L 7.60 - 31.40
FREE-TESTOSTERONE(CALCULATED) *0.125 nmol/L 0.30 - 1.00
17-BETA OESTRADIOL 54.4 pmol/L 41.00 - 159.00
SEX HORMONE BINDING GLOB 26.9 nmol/L 16.00 - 55.00
PROLACTIN 308 mIU/L 86.00 - 324.00
FOLLICLE STIM. HORMONE 6.28 IU/L 1.50 - 12.40
LUTEINISING HORMONE 3.39 IU/L 1.70 - 8.60

Prostate Screen
PROSTATE SPECIFIC AG(TOTAL) 1.03 ug/L 0.00 - 2.00

That 6.04 nmol/l testosterone by the was is 174 ng/dl in U.S. terminology

 

[MarkM]

Your test levels are pretty low and while you prolactin is a little bit elevated that is not going to be the cause of low testosterone in your case. If prolactin was a much higher, maybe, but you are from from that point. If you had sex or an ejaculation with 48 hours of your lab work that can raise your prolactin levels temporarily. You could definitely benefit from a proper TRT protocol.

Taking bits and pieces of medications is not healthy for you. You need to determine what your want to do, get on a protocol and be consistent with it.

You need to improve your diet because your cholesterol is too high .

You might want to look deeper into the thyroid and have a full thyroid panel. Your TSH should ideally be closer to 1.0. Your Free T3 is right at mid range and to be optimal it should be much higher, closer to 5.9 or 6.0. Your Free T4 at is just above the bottom of the range and should be closer to 18.0 to 19.0. You may wish to have a full thyroid panel performed which would include: TSH, Free T3, Free T4, Reverse T3, and both Thyroid antibodies (TPOab and TgAB).

 

[seppuku]

Your test levels are pretty low and while you prolactin is a little bit elevated that is not going to be the cause of low testosterone in your case. If prolactin was a much higher, maybe, but you are from from that point. If you had sex or an ejaculation with 48 hours of your lab work that can raise your prolactin levels temporarily. You could definitely benefit from a proper TRT protocol.

Taking bits and pieces of medications is not healthy for you. You need to determine what your want to do, get on a protocol and be consistent with it.

You need to improve your diet because your cholesterol is too high .

You might want to look deeper into the thyroid and have a full thyroid panel. Your TSH should ideally be closer to 1.0. Your Free T3 is right at mid range and to be optimal it should be much higher, closer to 5.9 or 6.0. Your Free T4 at is just above the bottom of the range and should be closer to 18.0 to 19.0. You may wish to have a full thyroid panel performed which would include: TSH, Free T3, Free T4, Reverse T3, and both Thyroid antibodies (TPOab and TgAB).

Thanks for the reply Mark. Just wondering now if correcting any of these things is going to put my testosterone at a good level, or am i now at a point i should just accept replacing...

 

[MarkM]

Your testosterone levels, both Total and Free, are well below the bottom of the range. Clomid can be a temporary fix to low T but it is not a long term fix. You should consider starting TRT. That won't fix your diet or thyroid if it is is under performing.

If your thyroid is under performing it can give you low T symptoms and make feeling better on TRT more difficult. That is why I would further explore the thyroid further first and make sure it is performing well. That only takes a few test mentioned above to double check the thyroid. IF you do the thyroid panel I mentioned above you should also check your iron and ferritin levels. If they are low they can really impact your thyroid.

We've got two threads going here on the same topic. Let's stick with just one of them.

 

[seppuku]

Lol, good point about the two threads, i'll try and keep things here.

I've been paying for all these tests so far, so i think i'll let the nhs deal with more thyroid testing (although, to be honest they probably don't test past tsh and t4 levels, not sure).
My ferritin result was near the top, not sure about iron though.

I have a feeling i'm going to end up self treating from tonight. I did a test shot subq, test e, 50mg a few months ago, and felt pretty good for a couple of days, although i noticed i became quite confrontational for a day or two.

 

[MarkM]

Maybe 50 mg is too much to start off with. But again, there you are self treating a little here a little there, a day here a few months ago, etc......until you get on a solid protocol your really just "dickin" around with this. Just shooting straight with you.

 

[seppuku]

Maybe 50 mg is too much to start off with. But again, there you are self treating a little here a little there, a day here a few months ago, etc......until you get on a solid protocol your really just "dickin" around with this. Just shooting straight with you.

No i appreciate that Mark, and you're right. I need to make a decision and stick with it.
Probably the low testosterone making me indecisive...

 

[seppuku]

Hi all,

Thought i'd update my thread with the results from my latest blood test done this Monday, 29th Oct.

I'd appreciate anyone chipping in with an opinion. It's my 6th blood draw since June, i guess i've been hoping i'll eventually get one where everything"s great....

A couple of notes - you'll notice my triglycerides and cholesterol are off, and i have a raised liver enzyme (ggt). Six weeks prior to this test I stopped taking 25mg proviron i'd been having (some) working days over a couple of months as it perked me up (and i'd read it was fairly benign...).
A blood test taken six weeks ago (while i'd been using proviron) showed my ggt levels high (70) - but actually lower than it is now. My total testosterone was also lower 6 weeks ago (about 174 ng/dl after conversion to U.S. numbers).
So i don't know if the proviron skewed anything, but either way i've not touched any for over six weeks before this test.

Also - my tsh has gone up. I've been putting iodine on my scrotum the last 2 to 3 weeks. I've since read that can actually cause the tsh to go up (wish i'd read that before i started doing it!).

Anyhow, i guess i'm looking for somebody to tell me what THEY would do in my situation. As you can see, i just keep getting more blood tests, but i'm not using them to actually do anything!!