Blood tests ok?

Member Stories Lab Tests
#1

Hello chaps :slight_smile:

I hope I don’t annoy anyone with this request as I know my theme is a little taboo - it’s about psychological effects being blurred against physical.

Basically I started Fin in June, everything seemed ok for a bit - but then I started to get mildish sides, combined with complete loss of morning erections. I’d read this would happen and not to worry, but then the gyno hit and I knew it was time to stop.

I did and a few weeks later all was ok - until I unfortunately read about how the effects can come back … a few weeks later, I thought they had (problems keeping erection) - however as I still get strong morning erections, I was wondering whether it could be in my head (ie I just kept thinking too much about it so it stressed me out)

Thus I logged on here and saw I should take a blood test - which I did, although they couldnt’ test on everything here - however here are the results, so just wanted your opinion if you could :slight_smile:

Serum prolactin level - 104 mu/L (86-324)

Serum LH level - 3.4 iu/L (1-9)
Serum FSH level - 2.6 iu/L (1-10)

Serum oestradiol level - 108 pmol/L (28-156)
---- Follicular phase 130-500 pmol/L
---- Luteal phase 110-620 pmol/L

Serum testosterone 23.6 nmol/L (9.9-27.8)

I know this may sound selfish, but I don’t want loads of speculation - if you think the ranges are good / should be ok - just tell me that, then I can set my mind at ease :slight_smile:

I’m guessing the oestradiol level might be high? So I was thinking to get some DIM for this … or is it pointless?

ta!

#2

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#3

Problem is it seems I am bit of a hypocondriact - ie I read about it then seem to get it.

I was hoping the blood test would tell me that it was all in my head, but it seems to be inconclusive? My Prolactic, LH and FSH levels seem a bit low and my oestradial seems a bit high … or is anywhere in the range acceptable?

#4

Lh is pulsating so one lh reading alone dont mean very much.

Even if it did 3 looks okay since your T is in the high range. Your estradiol isent high enough ro raise any bells, especially if u dont have any issues.

You look to be okay from those tests u have provided.

If ud want to run further down the hypocondriac road, then u should test for shbg and bioavailable or free testosterone.

If i were u i would just forget about this and live your life. Esp if u have a tendency to be abit hypocondriac, you really should not read alot of the stuff here.

U will be fine. Have a good one, Happy new year!

#5

Thank you for that re-assuring post - I’ll get those other 2 tests done then, just to be sure - but I definitely feel a lot better now!

Will report back in a week or so!

#6

As suggested by some members on here, I recently went back for a repeat blood test, this time to add SHBG, DHT and Free testosterone to the list of things to be checked.

Rather annoyingly, they didn’t measure free test - however they did do DHT which has come back as double. Is this likely to mean that too much off my free testosterone is being converted, which is why I could be having issues?

Results are:
Prolactin 172mu/L (86-324)
LH 4.4iu/L (1-9)
FSH 2.1iu/L (1-10)
Oestradiol 101pmol/L (28-156)
Testosterone S 24.1nmol/L (9.9-27.8)
SHBG 28nmol/L (15-70)
DHEAS 10.3umol/L (2.8-12.0)
DHT 3.36nmol/L (0.32-1.64)

What;'s worse is I am leaving the country in 2 days - and will be gone for a long long time, so need to sort whatever by then :frowning:

My libido is fine, but ED is still present (though not as much as before).

Would it be a terrible idea to take a small fin dose to bring down the DHT (which I assume is now completely destroying my hair due to it being so high?)

Thanks!

#7

i really dn t know what to say about so high dht… i ve a question : what about ur penis skin,is it normal? or had changed?
and what other symptoms do u have? other than sexual .

thanks

#8

Skin seems fine - the only issues I have are staying hard all the time - I originally thought this was pschylogical (infact maybe it still is) - but aside from that, I now need to know what to do about the high DHT levels.

I have an appointment tomorrow morning with my GP, but I dont know if they can do much - I had a brief word with the doctor today who mentioned that one of the things they use to combat high DHT is … finasteride!!

#9

Look into natural 5AR inhibitors if this is a path you wish to pursue. However, since your libido is fine and you are having issues mechanically with obtaining and maintaining an erection, that should tell you the issue is likely at the penile tissue level. Perhaps consider seeing a urologist to have your penis examined and make sure it is functioning ok.

If you got gyno, that should tell you your estrogen levels are elevated. You could give DIM a try and see if it helps. I’m not sure what the recommended range for Prolactin is based on the values you provided but perhaps that should be looked at as well.

#10

Hi Mew,

Thank you for your reply.

I did have gyno but it went away a few months after I stopped fin (October) - in that respect I am back to normal.

To be honest, i had just got around to the idea that the remaining issues were in my head and then these results come back. Does high DHT actually affect any sexual function?

I also read a little about hyperandrogenicity - if this was the case with the DHT, is my body likely to rebalance without treatment (I’m just about to tour around asia so can’t see any speciailists) - or is it going to stay high until its sorted (bearing in mind how long I’ve been off fin)

If it was suggested I start fin to combat this, would 1/4 EOD for a short while to bring levels down (then quit when they are) be a good solution?

Thank you for all your help!

#11

Negatively, not to my knowledge.

Would assume things would rebalance with time, hopefully.

No, I wouldn’t touch Finasteride again. As I mentioned, if you are so concerned about your levels, look into natural solutions. But if the only thing you are concerned about is hairloss, there are plenty of other treatments available that dont require inhibiting 5AR.

Like I said, if you want to differentiate between psychological/physical cause of erectile dysfunction, go see a urologist, get a doppler ultrasound done, and nocturnal penile tumescence test to see if your penis is in fact working correctly and getting the right bloodflow. If not, there’s your answer. If yes, the issue may be psychological in nature.

#12

Hi Mew,

Thank you for putting my mind at ease - it’s the sexual function I am worried about, so if I can be happy that high DHT isn’t affecting this, then I can give myself a few months (until I return from asia) to see if it is decreasing (DHT) and see where we go from there :slight_smile:

It’s so annoying my first test didn’t have DHT in it - it could show if it was already decreasing or perhaps increasing … ah well…

I’d love to do a urologist test, but unfortunately there is no time - though perhaps I might be able to get it done in Thailand, I assume it can all be done in a day / few days - or is this a “come back next month to checkup” sort of thing?

Pah - the irony - go on a drug to slow hairloss down and instead send it into overdrive!! Although saying that, I found a report that said bloodlevel DHT isnt a true indication of follicle DHT - so maybe it’s not all too bad :slight_smile:

#13

Sorry to be a pain, but one last question.

As I said, I stopped in October and didn’t get the effects return until December - so is it likely that if hyperandrogenicity did kick in, it would be from that time (meaning I may have only had super high DHT since then?)

If so, it will have only been a month a bit - which means I should definitely give it longer to get back to normal…?

#14

Possibly, if that’s the case, then yes that makes sense… it takes 2 weeks-1 month for DHT to return after Finasteride due to slow regeneration of 5AR2 enzyme. So that timeframe makes some sense… but, you have no pre-Finasteride DHT values to compare against… so you can’t be sure you never had high DHT before the drug.

In time things should hopefully level out.

Again I’m not sure what your concern is here. You state you aren’t concerned about hair anymore, only erections. Elevated DHT should have a beneficial effect on libido and erections, if anything. So, if that’s the case, see a urologist if you are still having issues.

If you are still concerned about hair, look into alternative or natural treatments.

#15

Cool, so I just need my body to downregulate again - in which case I’ll stop panicing for a month or two and recheck it then.

As to why this bothers me, I’m just worried to be so far outside a normal range - whatever it is for … to me that says “something is wrong with your body”

Thanks Mew - you’ll probably never know how much I appreciate this!

#16

What I can say for sure is that years ago I had a friend that took DHT for the jim and while on it he had erections problems…so,looking at my friend’s story , high DHT could be the root of your problem .

#17

Ok just back from the GP - this one seemed to know a bit about what she was talking about so I feel re-assured.

She said the same thing, that I should wait a few months - don’t try any methods and see if it comes down naturally.

Another theory she threw out, was that perhaps my body just had a naturally high DHT level. When taking the fin, this then reduced it siginificantly - meaning there was more testosterone being converted to eostrogen hence me getting the original problems…

That sound plausible?

#18

Hi Monokuro

Looks as though you have very little to worry about. I bet that erections come back full force over the next few months.

On your DHT, do you still have normal skin oil? Has your hairloss started again? Has your erect penis got smaller (don’t freak out and start measuring it now. If it has, you’d be certain)?

Thanks.

#19

Yes, Finasteride is known to disrupt the androgen/estrogen ratio in men to be in favor of estrogens, hence gynecomastia etc. Elevated estrogens in men can also cause sexual dysfunction.

#20

Hi ScaredMale,

Thank you for your kind words - a little reassurance goes a long way with me :slight_smile:

I’d always been quite an oily person, I had real trouble with acne when I was younger (so maybe I always had this super high DHT - I wish I had pre-fin results!) although it decreased quite a lot as I got older. When taking Fin I certainly didn’t notice a difference with that :slight_smile:

My hairloss never stopped when on it - after a few weeks I started to shed big time and this never stopped (although it decreased a lot when I stopped the drug) and as for erect size, no this wasn’t affected :slight_smile:

I’ll tell you what can help with the psychological issues though (as in for people who have issues just in their head) and that is self hypnosis. It sounds crazy i know, but I downloaded some “eliminate negative thoughts” hypnosis tracks and after a week or so of regular listening I was feeling much better and had less issues :slight_smile:

:slight_smile: