HEMOGLOBIN 13.7 g/dL 13.5-17.5
HEMATOCRIT 41.5% 41-53%
Since these are borderline low, you might want to investigate potential Anemia.
However, these levels should likely rise a bit now that you have discontinued Finasteride, and any potential anemia resolve on its own as a result.
I’m not saying that’s what you DO have, just offering an opinion as to WHY these results might be as they are – since anemia has been associated with Androgen deprivation therapy:
prostate-cancer.org/educatio … nemia.html
blackwell-synergy.com/doi/ab … 99.00844.x
pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articl … d=16985883
"Hematologic Adverse Effects
Normocytic normochromic anemia is commonly encountered in men receiving hormonal deprivation therapy. The cause is thought to be deficiency of erythropoietin and the lack of stimulation of erythroid stem cells by testosterone and dihydrotestosterone.
A study by Strum and colleagues40 showed that hemoglobin levels can fall within 1 month after starting therapy and that nadir hemoglobin levels were reached by 6 months. In this study, anemia was symptomatic in 13% of patients and was worse in combined androgen blockade compared with the use of LHRH analogues alone.
This side effect is reversible upon cessation of hormonal blockade. Recombinant human erythropoietin has been used to correct this form of anemia."
LEUKOCYTE COUNT 4500/mm3 4500-1000mm3
I’d keep an eye on this… mayoclinic.com/health/low-wh … nt/AN00726
Most likely it will improve with time, since these tests were only taken 10 days off the drug. I do recall when I was taking Finasteride I got a cut, which got infected, which required 3x the normal amount of antibiotics & time they normally would have given, to fight it… looking back, a low WBC count could have been why.
Your result could have been due to a virus, or perhaps is nothing to worry about. Have you been getting sick a lot lately?
GLUCOSE 95 mg/dL 70 - 99
With time, this should decrease which is a good thing, since diabetes is not something you want. Note that you are still within the normal range, so no need to worry!! I also had a high Glucose Fasting level after coming off the drug, which has gone down over the past 2 years since quitting.
Interestingly, Finasteride use has been linked to a small increase in incidence of diabetes:
merckfrosst.ca/assets/en/pdf … 2_06-E.pdf
PAGE 7:
Although the clinical significance is unclear, a higher incidence of cataracts (4.2%, finasteride vs. 2.5%, placebo) and diabetes (2.8%, finasteride vs. 1.7%, placebo) was observed in patients receiving finasteride. None of these cases were considered drug related by the investigator.
They say that none of the cases were considered drug related by the investigator, which is somewhat comforting… but again, this document came from Merck.
LH 6.65 1.5 – 9.3
FSH 7.03 mUI/mL 1.4 – 18.1
These are looking good! You should be pretty fertile (FSH), and your testes are obviously pumping out a lot of Testosterone, thanks to a high LH.
TOTAL TESTOSTERONE 939 241 - 827
As shown by a high LH, looks like you are still putting out a lot of T. Since Finasteride can upregulate Testosterone production by up to 20% in some men, this is not surprising. I would expect your LH and Testosterone level to come down a bit over the next few months, the longer you’re off the drug.
ESTRADIOL 22 pg/mL 11-41
Likely nothing to worry about, since you don’t report Gynocemastia or emotional/mental side effects such as depression/crying/anxiety.
DHEA –SULFATE 747 ng/mL 800 -5600
Mentioned this in another thread – adrenal glands aren’t putting out much DHEA-S to produce steroids such as Testosterone/Estrogen. My guess? They don’t need to since your testes are working hard to do the job.
DHT 488.00 pg/mL 250 - 990
I would expect this to rise some since quitting the drug.
The rest of your tests, I don’t know enough, or they do not appear to be concerning enough to comment on… but you can do some investigating by Googling the results yourself. Just don’t go freaking yourself out that you have every diseases under the sun! It’s very easy to self-diagnose and scare yourself… which is why you should consult with doctors to get a proper interpretation of the results.
^^^ What does your doctor say about all this?
Since you just quit, and these tests were taken 14 days after quitting, my advice would be to wait another month or two to see how your body reacts.
Hopefully you should go back to the way you felt before taking it, since it can take up to 30 days just for the 5AR-II enzyme to regenerate, which would then lead to increased T–>DHT conversion from that point.
If things don’t improve for you over next 2-3 months, suggest getting retested to see what’s changed since this test. From there you can evaluate next steps. Right now your T level is fantastic, let’s hope it stays decently elevated and doesn’t crash like some of the others here (including me). If it does, you’ll know…
Finally, all of the above is just my layman’s interpretation of the results and I am by no means a qualified medical professional. Try to relax, not worry and just enjoy your life right now… if things get better, great. If not, get more tests and seek further medical advice via Endocrinologists.
