First Blood work after 8 weeks of HRT, some good and bad numbers.

[Alloy]

Well 8 weeks have come and gone and I must say I learned quite a bit. Got some good information in the form of blood tests, but not all of them. My PCP retired and I was handed off to this quack who refused to give me all of the blood tests I wanted because it was related to HRT. He did do some basics after I got pissed off at him. So here are the Good and Bad

The Good-
1. Triglycerides dropped over 20%
2. E2 dropped to 36.8 from the mid 50s
3. Muscle mass went up, strength went up in the gym
4. Libido iw great on HCG @ 300-400 IU x 2wk
5. A1C dropped which means I'm no longer pre-diabetic

The items in need of correction-
1. Hematocrit is 50.6 (range 36-50)
2. Hemoglobin is 17.8 (range 12.5-17.0)
3. RBC is 6.01 (range 4.10 - 5.60)
4. HDL is 25 (normal is 39)
5. LDL is 146 (normal is 99)
6. Total Test was 1500 (Labcorp max was 1030)
7. Free Test Direct was 50 (Labcorb max is 25.1)

My PCP is happy that my Triglycerides are down (I'm back to normal, dropped close to 50 pts) and wants me to continue exercising, but now I'm taking fish oil to knock the lipids back into track. However my Total Test is too high and I had decided to wait two weeks to get my numbers back down before another shot. Never again, everything from energy to motivation is gone along with depression coming right back. I can't imagine how ppl go through this roller coaster ride with some Doctors pushing it this far and some even out to 3 weeks.

One last thing, my DHEA came in real lowI found out. The range was 47-701, mine was 106 and read this was horrible. I never had this tested before but I was informed that it should be close to 300-400. So with all that said, the next round of HRT will be a smaller dose and I'm going to stick with Pregnenlone as this helped me out early on. I'm also considering DHEA since my adrenals are pretty much burnt from years of stress. I also plan on donating blood shortly to get my CBC panel back into a normal range.

Some of my thoughts on everything...

1. Nutrition is key, I can't stress this enough. I switched my diet to eating more fresh fruits and veggies along with more fish (instead of red meat) and protein shakes. Not only did I feel great and full of energy, but it improved my health.

2. Stay hydrated! Without proper hydration, you're just asking for everything from kidney stones to electrolyte imbalances. Rule of thumb, drink until your urine is clear.

3. Get your blood tested frequently and get everything tested.

4. Less is more. Remember that once you add an AI, you'll see an increase in your TT. Once I added an AI to my protocol, less Test was being converted into E2 and my numbers went up quite a bit.

5. Donate blood when possible. HRT will cause you to make extra blood in general, donating once every two months will keep that in check.

6. Lastly, discuss with your doctor about taking fish oils. My Doc says it works wonders for improving lipid profiles in addition to keeping your heart healthy!

[zaggahamma]

glad youre feeling better and its snowballing in right direction with the improved diet and hope u get the lipids in line that hdl is pretty low

[Alloy]

Exercise, More Fiber (Oatmeal for breakfast), Fish Oil caps, more fish in general, along with big salads loaded with veggies for lunch should get these numbers where they need to be over the next couple of months. My PCP as much of a dope as he is, everyone seems to strongly agree that 900mg Omega-3 Fish oils will work wonders for LDL/HDL profiles. The same with the cholesterol, the oil binds to it in the lower intestine and is carried off, or something to that effect.

[wecker]

Well 8 weeks have come and gone and I must say I learned quite a bit. Got some good information in the form of blood tests, but not all of them. My PCP retired and I was handed off to this quack who refused to give me all of the blood tests I wanted because it was related to HRT. He did do some basics after I got pissed off at him. So here are the Good and Bad

The Good-
1. Triglycerides dropped over 20%
2. E2 dropped to 36.8 from the mid 50s
3. Muscle mass went up, strength went up in the gym
4. Libido iw great on HCG @ 300-400 IU x 2wk
5. A1C dropped which means I'm no longer pre-diabetic

The items in need of correction-
1. Hematocrit is 50.6 (range 36-50)
2. Hemoglobin is 17.8 (range 12.5-17.0)
3. RBC is 6.01 (range 4.10 - 5.60)
4. HDL is 25 (normal is 39)
5. LDL is 146 (normal is 99)
6. Total Test was 1500 (Labcorp max was 1030)
7. Free Test Direct was 50 (Labcorb max is 25.1)

My PCP is happy that my Triglycerides are down (I'm back to normal, dropped close to 50 pts) and wants me to continue exercising, but now I'm taking fish oil to knock the lipids back into track. However my Total Test is too high and I had decided to wait two weeks to get my numbers back down before another shot. Never again, everything from energy to motivation is gone along with depression coming right back. I can't imagine how ppl go through this roller coaster ride with some Doctors pushing it this far and some even out to 3 weeks.

One last thing, my DHEA came in real lowI found out. The range was 47-701, mine was 106 and read this was horrible. I never had this tested before but I was informed that it should be close to 300-400. So with all that said, the next round of HRT will be a smaller dose and I'm going to stick with Pregnenlone as this helped me out early on. I'm also considering DHEA since my adrenals are pretty much burnt from years of stress. I also plan on donating blood shortly to get my CBC panel back into a normal range.

Some of my thoughts on everything...

1. Nutrition is key, I can't stress this enough. I switched my diet to eating more fresh fruits and veggies along with more fish (instead of red meat) and protein shakes. Not only did I feel great and full of energy, but it improved my health.

2. Stay hydrated! Without proper hydration, you're just asking for everything from kidney stones to electrolyte imbalances. Rule of thumb, drink until your urine is clear.

3. Get your blood tested frequently and get everything tested.

4. Less is more. Remember that once you add an AI, you'll see an increase in your TT. Once I added an AI to my protocol, less Test was being converted into E2 and my numbers went up quite a bit.

5. Donate blood when possible. HRT will cause you to make extra blood in general, donating once every two months will keep that in check.

6. Lastly, discuss with your doctor about taking fish oils. My Doc says it works wonders for improving lipid profiles in addition to keeping your heart healthy!

How much Testo do you take a week ?

[Alloy]

It was too much, 250mg once every 7 days. 100-150mg would've been fine.