I got my blood tests results today - any comments or advice is appreciated.
My story is at viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4832
Took finasteride for ten days, this is about four months later.
LH - 7.3 (1.7-8.6)
FSH - 3.2 (1.5-12.4)
DHT - 61 (30-85)
Testosterone, Serum - 662 (249-836)
TSH - 1.840 (0.450-5.400)
Prolactin - 12.0 (4.0-15.2)
Estradiol - 29.0 (7.6-42.6)
Prostate Specific Ag - 0.7 (0.0-4.0)
SHBG - 38.2 (14.5-48.4)
Iām not sure if this is good or bad news to you but your levels look very good especially your testosterone and estrogen.
Iād like further thyroid tests.
And also:
Progesterone
Cortisol
DHEA-S
but those suggest to me that your T/E levels are good as are your LH and FSH levels which is v.promising imo.
Iām positively surprised by the LH, testosterone, and DHT results. SHBG looks way off though.
Iāll inquire about the other tests. I have an appointment with a urologist (Goldstein) in a few weeks.
SHBG isnāt āway offā but it could be lower. 20-25 tends to be a good benchmark. Mine is 53!!
53! Ugh.
I appreciate your thoughts on this.
My symptoms are also much less debilitating (and fewer in number) than they were a few months ago. But my recovery seems to have hit a kind of āglass ceilingā, hence the blood tests and the urologist visit.
Main concerns - low libido, lethargy, excess sleep, headaches, genital numbness, periods of mild anxiety, no spontaneous erections, and a degree of ED.
cortisol saliva(not urine or blood), free t3, free t4, reverse t3 could benefit you, use stop the thyroid madness for interpreting your results
Goldstein says my hormones are good. I have a bunch of unresolved issues, but Iām definitely less ill than three months ago.
New test results arrived today. I did the 24 hour Rhein Labs test, and it shows a different picture than my blood tests. Many testosterone metabolites are high, but testosterone is low.
Estrone (El) 7.4 (3 - 12)
Estradiol (E2) 2.8 (0-7)
Estriol (E3) 7.8 (1 - 16)
Total Estrogens 18 (4-22)
Testosterone 28 (45-85) LOW
Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) 19 (0 - 13) HIGH
Androstanediol 108 (43 - 578)
Androstenedione 49 (Range Not Established)
DHEA 125 (5-1476)
Androstenetriol (5-AT) 1140 (42-710) HIGH
Androsterone (AN) 5791 (793-4705) HIGH
OH-Androsterone (OHAN) 1307 (451 - 1692)
Etiocholanolone (ET) 5915 (639-3252) HIGH
llb-OH-Etiocholanolone (OI-IET) 910 (134 - 1135)
Progesterone NONE DETECTED
P is normally not detectable in urine. The level of its major metabolite,
ie., pregnanediol, reļ¬ects progesterone homeostasis.
Pregnanediol (PD) 610 (32 - 501) HIGH
5-Pregnenetriol (5-PT) 154 (28 - 1052)
Pregnenolone 2.1 (Range Not Established)
Cortisone (E) 460 (92 - 366) HIGH
THE (Tetrahydrocortisone) 10617 (1355 - 5788) HIGH
THB (Tetrahydrocorticosterone) 372 (32 - 238) HIGH
5A THB 330 (135 - 588)
THA (Tetrahydro-11-dehydrocorticosterone) 541 (52-277) HIGH
Cortisol (F) 238 (35-168) HIGH
THF (Tetrahydrocortisol) 4664 (942-2800) HIGH
5A-THF 1.394 (796-2456)
Here are the blood test results, which show good testosterone, but low free and bioavailable T, along with high SHBG.
Estradiol, Ultra-sensitive 31 H < Or = 29 Pg/ml HIGH
Testo, Free, Bioavailable LC/MS/MS
Testosterone Total 761 (250-1100 Ng/dl)
Testosterone Free 34.4 (46.0-224.0 Pg/rnl)
Testo, Bioavailable 173.5 (110.0-575.0 Ng/dl)
SHBG 45 (10-50 Nmol/l)
Albumin, Serum 4.5 (3.5-5.1 G/dl)
Vitamin D, 25-oh, Total
Vitamin D 25, Total 30 (30-100 Ng/ml)
Vitamin D 25, D3 38 (No Range)
Vitamin D 25, D2 <4 (No Range)
DHEA Sulfate 243 (110-510 Mcg/dl)
This is perplexingā¦ Iāve spent the last two months on a ātestosterone-boostingā diet - paleo with a lot of meat and eggs - and my testosterone has hit rock bottom. Apparently, the lab ran the test twice because the T result seemed too implausible: 4.7 on a 45-85 range.
A lot of the values that were high in July were testosterone precursors or metabolites (Androstenetriol, Androsterone, etc) - evidence that I was in fact producing a lot of testosterone, but that it was āflushed outā before it could be put to use.
This overproduction seems to have ended now, which could have lead to the drop in T levels.
Whatās strange is that I actually feel better now that I did five months ago.
Can anybody shed some light on this? Any tests or avenues to pursue?
Iām not sure whatās left to shed light on. My only thought is that perhaps unmeasured downstream metabolism increased eating up the previously high numbers. Your T level is shockingly low as is the change from the previous testā¦
Glad to hear youāre feeling a bit better - perhaps this is a signal to continue doing what youāre doing and remeasure your hormonal values before giving this further thought. The last thing you want to do is take drastic action during fluctuation periods as your body could overreact and put you in a worse situation.
Feeling better with lower hormonal values seems to add to the credibility of the androgen insensitivity theory.
Iāve been prescribed DHEA and Danazol, but Iām holding off for now. Good to hear that Iām not the only one who thinks itās good to wait until things stabilize.
By the way, the doctor who ordered the hormone test said heād never seen anything like these results before, and heās seen quite a few people with PFS. For me it just raises more questions about why this drug can create such a myriad of negative effects and destabilize peopleās hormones in so many different ways. Common denominators for our conditions are hard to come by it seems, except for the fact that we all took finasteride.
Iām going to a gastrointestinal specialist in January. Will report back after that.
I suppose so. My vague hunch is that itās an autoimmune response of some sort. But those arenāt mutually exclusive.
Hi guys,
Interesting tests results came in last week. Summary - high testosterone, high DHT, high estradiol, and high SHBG. As usual, I can only speculate about whatās going on. Have any of you had similar results?
Androstenedione - 291 (Borderline Low: 100-150 pg/ml, Normal: 151-350 pg/ml, Borderline High: 351-450 pg/ml)
DHT - Dihydrotestosterone - 83 (Age Bracket : 30 - 39 years has values 22 - 72 pg/ml)
E2 - Estradiol - 9 (Male(20-49 yrs): 1-3 pg/ml)
FSH - Follicle Stimulating Hormone - 37 (Normal All Ages: <125 uIU/mL)
LH - Luteinizing Hormone - 20 (Normal All Ages: 10-25 uIU/mL)
Total Salivary SIgA - 8 Depressed (Normal: 25-60 mg/dl, Borderline: 20-25 mg/dl)
P1 - Progesterone - 52 Normal (Male ( adult ): 5-95 pg/ml)
P17-OH 17-OH Progesterone - 43 Normal (Optimal: 22-100 pg/ml, Borderline: 101-130 pg/ml, Elevated: >130 pg/ml)
Free Testosterone - 144 (Male (20-30 yrs): 60-110 pg/ml)
SHBG - 75.3 (16.5-55.9 mnol/L)
This test was a 24 hour saliva test, so I got a pretty detailed reading of my cortisol as well. Things seem to approach normal:
Hello,
Sorry to hear your story. It is really fucked up that 10 pills could cause this problem.
The things i noticed was high SHBG and high estradiol.
You may know that many people have benefited, most temporarly from reducing estrogens. Me included. estrogens will increase the binding hormones SHBG, TBG, CBG.
Your free cortisol does not look to bad. Mine seems much worse. You mentioned that the food seems to go right though you, this happens to me too. Low free cortisol will effect digestion and stomach acid. Also high estrogen may do aswell. High estrogens can cause most of our issues but the problem does not seem as simple as that as if it were we would be cured by just taking aromasin.
I remember your blood cortisol was really high? But your siliva was lowish. This seems to indicate high levels of CBG if your blood cortisol is still high.
Unbelivable how a drug could fuck us over this much.
Latest test
https://www.dropbox.com/s/v6945epz4x68lrz/Blood-test_may_2013.png
Summry:
Low estradiol, low free T, normal T, high SHBG.
How you feeling these days?
Doing OK, I suppose. Just posted a longer update here http://www.propeciahelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4832&p=74927#p74927
Iām using pure T4 medications now, instead of Armour thyroid. Mental stamina and energy is really good, but libido is almost at rock bottom.
Got some new blood tests at the beginning of the year. The results are not encouraging.
Total T is lower than before, and free T has also gone down. SHBG is way up, perhaps due to me being on T4 medication for a few months.
Testosterone, Serum - 499 ng/dL (348-1197)
Free Testosterone(Direct) 8.3 Low pg/mL (8.7-25.1)
Sex Horm Binding Glob, Serum 70.3 High nmol/L (16.5-55.9)
Estradiol 14.0 pg/mL (7.6-42.6)
DHEA 124 ng/dL (31-701)
FSH 1.7 mIU/mL (1.5-12.4)
LH 1.4 Low mIU/mL (1.7-8.6) <- My pituitary has given up. It used to be in the high range.
Thyroid stimulating hormone is desperately low, and Iāve reduced my T4 dosage to bring it back up.
TSH 0.197 Low uIU/mL (0.450-4.500)
Free T4 high, which I suppose means that T4 is not being converted to T3 very well.
T4,Free(Direct) 1.77 ng/dL (0.82-1.77)
Triiodothyronine,Free,Serum 2.5 pg/mL (2.0-4.4)
Vitamin D, 25-Hydroxy 60.7 ng/mL (30.0-100.0) < ā this used to be low, so itās good to see that itās back in range.
Vitamin B12 >1999 High pg/mL (211-946) <- B12 is probably not being utilized as it should be.
Ferritin, Serum 174 ng/mL (30-400)
pretty common results here. iāve been trying to figure out the whole SHBG thing and why it would be high in our case. typically it raises as men get older, but we are not there, so something else is forcing it up. I tried to look into insulin sensitivity, but I read a high insulin level should bring it down. So it doesnāt make sense why people that eat no carb diets are getting betterā¦ thereās something else happening with the insulin sensitivity improving. Your estrogen levels are not high, which is another reason why SHBG would be high.
The free testosterone makes sense from the high SHBG because the SHBG should be eating up all your testosterone.
That SHBG level has got me confused. Across the board, I think therein lies where the problem actually is. I just canāt figure out WHY itās high. Exercise and no carb and thyroid optimization help the most, but why.
Did you get any sugar levels, like insulin tests done? That could be something to look into also. Something Iām going to look into as well.
Have you done a blood test of progesterone and 17 hydroxy prog yet?
High SHBG and low free T has been my situation since my crash (19 mos. ago). All other bloods in are in-line, including total T.
