@OneTerribleIdea – I’m sorry I didn’t see this earlier in the year. The interface of this forum isn’t great for knowing who’s replying to threads + I’m not spending a lot of time on the forum (it’s a pretty depressing place).
But your plan looks sound. Any recovery regimen starts with eating better and exercising. I’ve been doing it for three years now, and while my situation have improved, I’m nowhere near where I was before finasteride. So diet/lifestyle is part of the answer, but it doesn’t seem to be enough.
Your bloodwork is indeed very similar to mine, apart from the cortisol (I’ve always tested normal on that.) How are you doing now?
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NEW BLOODWORK:
SHBG – 71 (13-71 nmol/l)
Free T - 42.3 (47-244 pg/ml)
Bioavailable testosterone 112.5 (128-430 ng/dl)
DHT 598 (106-719 pg/ml)
IGF-1 155 (109-307 ng/ml)
Transforming Growth Factor Beta - 2202 (3465-13889 pg/ml)
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These are the “highlights” from an array of tests I’ve taken in the last few weeks that also included thyroid and cortisol tests. (Both tests were normal, btw. The thyroid tests were encouraging, since I quit T3/T4 supplementation cold turkey a few months back. Good to see that at least some system can bounce back to normal.)
I’ve had similar results a few times now, and the pattern is clear – normal/high DHT, low testosterone across the board, high SHBG, and normal estrogen.
The tests explains my current symptoms pretty well – very low libido and penile sensitivity. Poor memory, energy, motivation. Still, I can have sex with good stamina and erections, since DHT-dependent tissue is concentrated at the “core” of the penis (responsible for erections and ejaculation), and testosterone dependent tissue is on the “surface”. Continuing hair loss is also consistent with the test results.
Disclaimer – wild speculation below –>
Why the DHT/T imbalance? It could be that somehow 5AR is overactive, and converting T to DHT way to quickly. SHBG has higher affinity to DHT, which could lead to the high SHBG levels, which also serve to depress T.
The IGF-1 and TGF-beta results are also interesting. They are related to the release of HGH, which is in a negative feedback loop with DHT. Many people here report good improvements on HGH (although it doesn’t seem like a cure). It seems like HGH (or sermorelin) supplementation could be a good alternative for me. It could increase cell repair and put the body in an anabolic state (which could increase T output), and put a light downward pressure on DHT.
In any case, I’m doing a test for HGH next week.