New guy here

[HAPPY DAD]

Whats up everybody. I am new here and looking around. Want to give some background and my situation. Hope some of you experienced guys may can offer some advice

I am 38 years old, healthy, but I am overweight (working on that) 5'8" and 250 at the time of my first blood work. First labs came back with a level of 160.

Doc ordered 100 mg of Test C weekly. IN the meantime I have dropped almost 20 lbs and I ma either in the gym or walking outside 4-5 days per week. I was hoping that the Test plus the weight lifting would help my levels come up drastically.

Had my second labs drawn last week and my levels have only came up to 292.

That doesnt seem like much to me, but the doc said they he wouldnt go up on my dosage. Not sure why. Anything I can do besides find another doctor? I live in a town of about 30K and I can promise there is no HRT or TRT clinics here.

Anyway, I dont plan on quitting my routine, nor my nutrition plan because its working. I am losing fat and my muscles have hardened. Not sure I have had any growth but definetely harder.

I am consuming about 2000 calories per day and I am tracking my macros. My goals on myfitnesspal are 50% carbs, 30% fat and 20% protein but most days they are more along the 30, 30 40 range.

Help a brother out!

Jimmy

[2Sox]

Welcome, Dad. You'll learn a lot here. What was found to be the cause of your low T? And how long have you been on TRT?

IMO, 292 TT is still pretty low but it's almost double what you came in with. It's good to keep an eye on Free T as it's a better indicator of what's going on.

I don't know the answer to why you've only gone up this far. My own experience with TRT was an immediate improvement all around, and within a few weeks I went from 240 TT to the 800s. And at that time it was on patches. Then I went to gels and now on T cyp.

I'm sure others will comment on your questions.

[Joco71]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

[HAPPY DAD]

Welcome, Dad. You'll learn a lot here. What was found to be the cause of your low T? And how long have you been on TRT?

IMO, 292 TT is still pretty low but it's almost double what you came in with. It's good to keep an eye on Free T as it's a better indicator of what's going on.

I don't know the answer to why you've only gone up this far. My own experience with TRT was an immediate improvement all around, and within a few weeks I went from 240 TT to the 800s. And at that time it was on patches. Then I went to gels and now on T cyp.

I'm sure others will comment on your questions.

Not sure on a reason. He did full labwork to the tune of about 3,000 dollars (insurance paid) including thyroid and a bunch of other stuff. All that was great, just low T.

When they rechecked it it had been 8 days since I had had an injection which again is 100 mg. of test cyp.
I'm kinda curious as to high it goes after the injection and the. Falls back down.

Thankfully I am feeling better. But it's due to my test, my adhd mess sorted out and me working my ass off.

[ab037]

If you can post your lab work up, then we can get a better idea of what may possibly be causing some of your issues. Just blur out you personal info.

[HAPPY DAD]

Ok here are my labs

March 2015

Thyroglobulin <1.0

DHEA 96

Dihydrotestosterone 17

Estradiol 15.4

Estriol Serum <0.1

Estrone Serum 69

Ferritun Serum 149

LH 4.8

FSH 4.1

Ioine Urine 617.9

Pogesterone 0.7

Testosterone Serum 169

TSH 1.460

Thyroxine T4 6.2

T3 uptake 28

Free thyroxione index 1.7

TPO 16

vitamin d 20.5

[HAPPY DAD]

And then last week he didnt do a full panel

TSH 1.490

T4 5.0

Test serum 292

Triiodothyronine free serum 3.4

[HAPPY DAD]

Also would like to add that he did go up on my shot to 200 mg per week

[bobtail]

200mg/week is going to make a big difference. 100 isn't enough to do much of anything.
It's strange that your total test is so low for a guy only 38 years old. Can you and your doc come up with any reason? Any previous injuries or disease? Exposure to chemicals? How fat are you? Like over 40% bfp?
It just seems strange that a guy as young as you would need to start a lifetime of TRT.

[HAPPY DAD]

200mg/week is going to make a big difference. 100 isn't enough to do much of anything.
It's strange that your total test is so low for a guy only 38 years old. Can you and your doc come up with any reason? Any previous injuries or disease? Exposure to chemicals? How fat are you? Like over 40% bfp?
It just seems strange that a guy as young as you would need to start a lifetime of TRT.

I was around 33% bf when I started. I have dropped 20 lbs, spend 5 days a week in the gym or either walking 2-3 miles. I think my desk job and bodyfat had a lot to do with it. I also have a family history of diabetes. I am not diabetic, and dont want t be so thats another reason for my lifestyle change.

I would also like to say I have a very broad frame, offensive lineman when I played ball so I know 33% was way over what I needed to be, there is no way I could do a really low body fat and look right. I was 180 at one time and my daddy was going to take me for drug tests. I looked THAT bad. I am hoping for around 20% body fat and hope to have a bulky look. Bigger arms, chest and a flat belly.

As far as injuries, I had some concussions from football, I was once elbowed in the nuts, and not just a little bit, I mean like hurt for a week. But luckily Ive been blessed with 3 kids so I guess they was working good in that department lol

[2Sox]

I agree with Bobtail that 200mg/week will make a big difference but the big majority of me do not need to take that much to maintain normal levels. In my opinion, doubling your dose was a irresponsible and illogical thing for a doctor to do. Titrating up slowly is far better to see how you body adjusts to each increase.

Head injuries and smashed stones can cause pituitary and testicular issues leading to low T - even though you've been able to conceive. Have you spoken to your doctor about checking for problems in these areas?

[ab037]

Vitamin D3 is low, a good number is around 55-60. That helps to increase Test levels quite a bit.

TPO at 16 ( if similar range as mine) is confirmation of Hashimotos. Albeit the antibodies number itself is low, so you may not necessarily feel anything from it, but very important to know amd keep an eye on.
Alot of the auto immune diseases come from diet and the gut. Look up " leaky gut" and how it relates to hashimotos.
Heres some good info on what the thyroid tests mean
http://www.excelmale.com/showthread....What-They-Mean
You should probably ask your Dr to pull some additional labs for thyroid. Total and free T3, T4 and reverse T3 so you can see the whole picture.

[kelkel]

Vitamin D3 is low, a good number is around 55-60. That helps to increase Test levels quite a bit.

TPO at 16 ( if similar range as mine) is confirmation of Hashimotos. Albeit the antibodies number itself is low, so you may not necessarily feel anything from it, but very important to know amd keep an eye on.
Alot of the auto immune diseases come from diet and the gut. Look up " leaky gut" and how it relates to hashimotos.
Heres some good info on what the thyroid tests mean
Thyroid Tests and What They Mean
You should probably ask your Dr to pull some additional labs for thyroid. Total and free T3, T4 and reverse T3 so you can see the whole picture.

^^^Good stuff there. Also be sure you monitor your E2 level on this new dosage. It could cause a dramatic rise and thus, more issues. The more BF% you have the more test will convert to estrogen so stay on top of this. If you inject yourself at home I'd strongly suggest splitting your dosage in half and injecting every 3.5 or 4 days. Less conversion to E and more stable T levels.

Your question regarding how high test goes is individual and based on metabolism. But basically it's going to peak in about a day or so and then begin a downward slide:

[Facecrash]

At 200mg I should hope there is an ai in place?

[pkp382]

Speaking of auto immune diseases, anybody have any info on how celiac affects t production?

I was diagnosed with both the same month a few years back and always wondered if there is a connection. Research on the internet didn't yield a lot of definitive answers; in fact, googled together barely yielded any results at all, thus making me think any connection is marginal.

Conversely, if the body needs certain vitamins and such (d3, iron, etc) and celiac blocks these from entering the body, my logic is it could have some secondary cause and effect.

Any thoughts?

[bigdil511]

Speaking of auto immune diseases, anybody have any info on how celiac affects t production? I was diagnosed with both the same month a few years back and always wondered if there is a connection. Research on the internet didn't yield a lot of definitive answers; in fact, googled together barely yielded any results at all, thus making me think any connection is marginal. Conversely, if the body needs certain vitamins and such (d3, iron, etc) and celiac blocks these from entering the body, my logic is it could have some secondary cause and effect. Any thoughts?

I have a myriad of autoimmune diseases including celiac. So I'm not sure if it directly effects test production, if it does my neurologist never mentioned that it was even a possibility. I will say I definitely have had undiagnosed low t for 10 years at least, the autoimmune stuff arose about two years ago. Not sure if there is any correlation.