Seeking advice - Blood Test Results show Low T and Vit. D

General Discussion
#1

I am about 8 months off fin. I have seen easing in most symptoms aside from the ones associated with hypogonadism i.e. low libido, diminished sensation, ED, smaller testicles, sometimes tucked up or cold, muscle loss/softening, more fat in breasts and abdomen. My blood tests showed low testosterone and Vitamin D which is consistent with my symptoms. I’ll be seeing an Endocrinologist next week. I just want to ask some opinions about what my course of action should be. Should I try raising T naturally? Supplement with Vitamin D? Should I try TRT and/or HcG if it is prescribed, and would this be a lifetime commitment?

I seemed to respond well to a low carb diet, weights, and amino acid supplementation (Arginine and Carnitine), though the improvements were inconsistent and seemed to wane. That said, I haven’t been too disciplined with any one of these for any substantial stretch of time. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Here are my bloods:

Total T: 272 ng/dL (280-800)
Estradiol: 18 pg/mL (14-60)
TSH: .99 mIU/mL (.27-3.5)
Vitamin D: 28 ng/mL (30-80)
FSH: 4.7 mIU/mL (1.4-18.1)
LH: 3.1 mIU/mL (1.5-9.3)
Prolactin: 10.3 ng/mL (2.1-18.0)

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#2

I don’t know if anyone here has an answer for you, ultimately people claim raising or lowering these values is desirable, but it has not been a solution for people who have done that.

The only reason I’m posting is to warn you of using high dose vitamin D. We are aware of people dramatically worsening themselves with vitamin D. I don’t think there’s a dose that anyone can recommend will help you since it seems people have different responses to substances and doses.

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#3

Except for those it’s helped.

#4

Sorry, I should have said has not been a solution for the majority of people.

My point stands, that people here posting their hormone levels do not get instructions on how to cure their condition. If they did, it would be very simple to fix this problem.

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#5

Interestingly, based on my dive into historical posts of hormone therapy, it seems that the majority of people who attempted TRT reported benefits. Not necessarily a cure, but improvements. This was a real surprise to me, as it is at odds with what many on here have repeatedly said, namely that TRT benefits only very few sufferers.

#6

Well, glad that’s been brought to light. The majority of people I had seen talking about this had not reported improvement, which is why I posted as I did. I wonder why the PFS community doesn’t all have hormone treatment, surely the word must have gone round by now?

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#7

I certainly got worse and aware of a another who I was in close contact with who was also harmed.

#8

An indisputable pattern has emerged with PFS - there is effectively no attempted treatment that hasn’t made at least one person worse off.

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#9

Have you viewed my spreadsheet?

#10

Did you or this other user have T levels below the normal range before trying TRT?

#11

Mine were low then they climbed to within normal range over the course of 6 months after cessation. I didn’t improve at all. I gave it another few months before trying trt I became much worse within 48 hours

#12

If someone is low in VitD he should start vit D. Telling someone not to take VitD who is deficient in Vit D is disastrous. what is the alternate to raise your vitD if you don’t take it and your body is not making?
I was not able to walk, hold solid object like hammer or screw driver. Even driving the car was difficult, because steering was feeling like made of iron. Opening doors using door knob was also a challenge for me. I was just confined to my house and crying all the time.It all improved within weeks or months after starting VitD3. When I read posts of idiots who advise against VitD, it makes me think they know nothing because maybe their symptoms are very mild. Vit D3 is not a cure but you have no choice if your muscles and bones are melting.
If you get worse after pouring mega doses of VitD3 then stop blaming VitD.
People can die after eating teaspoonful salts or by drinking gallons of water or by eating sugar in large quantity. Stop spreading fear. I have been in this mess for the last 11 years and I know what I am talking about. Without VitD I would be dead today. I can go to work today, I can go to jog today, I can go to shopping today, I can laugh again today, I can do everything today. You should accept like many other things your body is not making VitD now. There is no solution, you will have to take it, like you take food to live.

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#13

Wow glad you found something to make you functional. I’m curious if you have tried going without Vitamin D since starting supplementing with it and if things got worse.

My symptoms are not as extreme as yours were. It’s mostly just the sexual symptoms that bother me at this point. Did you see any improvement in sexual sides with Vitamin D?

#14

I have posted many times that my condition is dependent on Vit D level. If I stop taking VitD I slowly become worse and worse. Everything goes back to the level where I was before starting VitD. T level goes down, erections disappear, muscles go down, bone goes down, sleep goes down everything goes down. I start feeling pain everywhere in my body.

#15

What dose and how often do you take it?

#16

Try to be both civil and objective. Everyone here is suffering, and sadly has capacity for more suffering. You have an opportunity to present your view and experience in a way that is non confrontational and considerate, please try that.

The forum has a long history of people saying that they felt better after eating something and then someone saying that they tried eating a 10kg of it every day until they crashed.

Because of this its worth pointing out that many Internet experts will tell others exactly what they should or shouldn’t be doing. As I said in my post, other people aren’t reliable when it comes to handing out dosing advice.

@Demon attributes significant worsening of his condition to using high dose vitamin D. Other people have tried similar without ill effect. So while it may well be helpful to supplement, it’s not possible for you or I to say what a safe dose is for another person. By all means take views and opinions onboard, but be aware of the variability of results from the same substances and doses is the thing I hoped people would take away from my post.

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#17

I’ll share my experience. I was in your situation with hypogonadal levels of T. I hopped on HCG for 3 months, let my body stabize did my best to change my lifestyle, reduce stress, focus on improving sleep. And once I got off HCG my testosterone slowly but surely came back, I’m now at 930ng/dl.

I think I’ve seen someone else who recovered from PFS using HCG for 6 months on the Ray Peat forum.

Hope you figure it out

#18

the same ol debate

androgen supplementation massively helps some people with this, doesnt seem to help others. nobody knows why

those who it doesn’t help speculate that those who it did are “simply hypogonadal” and dont have pfs and try to underplay its potential to help people. Its confirmation bias in its purest form

In this case, this man has very low testosterone and my non-expert opinion would be that he would likely benefit from boosting it

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#19

Yes but Demon’s dosing for vitamin D was absurd. I dont even know how can you get that amount of vit D at one time. Demon took 50.000IU. I think even every healthty person would have had negative reaction on that kind of amount. 2000-4000IU would be the dosing max.

#20

My situation is nearly the same as OP has. So Im low on everything. Lowish/mid total testo, free testo, LH, DHT, Cortisol and very low E2 at around 10pg/ml but high SHBG! And actually now that I thought it, my SHBG has rised because of the low carb diet. And free testo is low also because of the low carbs? My estrogen has dropped little by little over these years (after letrozol crash), around 3 years of suffering done at the moment. I have an appointment in two weeks to start TRT or/and HCG. Now that you reported your situation with HCG I think i might consider about HCG alone. Or what do you think should I go TRT with HCG or HCG alone? Maybe in 1-2 months I have something to report on what effect this all have had.