Is this Hypogonadism? please help..

[oscar1990]

Hi there,
So I have been having issues with libido, morning wood, poor sleep quality, testicle size (softer and smaller looking), no muscle gains/recovery, increase fat distribution, and slow hair regrowth.

I have had blood work done in the past and my results are as stated
TT:24
SHBG:53
LH:4
FSH:2

My testosterone and SHBG is high, I have found that when SHBG is elevated TT is usually elevated, furthermore SHBG being elevated leaves little Free-T.

I am a-little depressed as I do not feel right: I am not motivated, happy or even sad.. I feel nothing?..

In addition to all this I have had a saliva test done and it came back really bad.

T: very lowest range - E:high out of range - DHEA: mid-range - Pregnenolone: high upper range - I researched that the saliva tests indicate 'bio-available' hormones.

My GP who did the blood-test said that I was in the normal range and it was all in my head-this is funny because he never said anything about the SHBG even though I had several clinical symptoms.

Im pretty much on the edge of failing uni and loosing my girl because of the condition I am in. I am trying to keep a healthy/happy mind but its really not helping. I am convinced that I have a hormonal problem and really want to address this situation most appropriately.

Can some members please suggest how I should approach this situation and what is the most appropriate thing to do?? GP's seem as if they are lacking all info on the regulation of hormones for the average male. I think I might consult a endo...

In the past I have had multiple abdominal pains and have had this situation investigated and nothing was found. They said it was all in my head.

I believe my low t symptoms have something to do with my abdominal pains etc. e.g.

low-t > low mood/depression > causing abdominal pain and all sorts of other things.

I truly believe the saliva test is an accurate measure of the 'free' hormones in the body and needs to be investigated as well as my SHBG.

The link below states in cases of hypogonadism, Testosterone may be elevated due to the fact that SHBG is elevated (in my case) I have a good testosterone reading on blood, however my SHBG reading is very high for my age. My saliva tests indicates a very low-T which also justifies the high SHBG and high T which I think makes me hypogonadism. I feel like crap. I really dont want to loose my girlfriend.

please help

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1472884/

[oscar1990]

depression, low mood etc is found in 90% of cases to cause abdominal pain etc..

I am trying to get to the root cause and want to stop chasing my tail

[xtitan1]

Hey Oscar.

I just want to make sure we're on the same page here regarding SHBG. The vast majority of testosterone in your blood is not bioavailable. Free testosterone is what is really important here. Free testosterone is testosterone that is not bound to SHBG. There is also bioavailable testosterone, which goes a little further and also measures testosterone bound to Albumin which is not as tight as a bond as testosterone to SHBG. It is possible to have high total testosterone, yet high SHBG, and therefore low free testosterone.

I can't comment as to the abdominal pain problems as I've never heard of that in relation to low T.

Recommendations:
-Get a new doctor. It gets me upset that a doctor would say not having morning wood is in your head. What? That doesn't even make sense. It happens while your asleep. Use the "Finding a TRT Physician" sticky HERE.
-Redo blood work, especially to get the free testosterone number, even though the high SHBG probably indicates what we are going to find. Use the above sticky for recommended lab work as that information is in there as well.
-Read carefully through all of the stickies to get well-read on Low T.
-Come back and post new blood work WITH REFERENCE RANGES (as a matter of fact, edit your OP and put reference ranges for those)


Hope that helps

[oscar1990]

xtitan1, thanks for the info and advise.

I use to have morning wood and had a high libido, all that has seemed to died. Im going to get another bloodwork panel done, if I dont get to the bottom of this, I am going to be in a very large predicament and loose everything.

[xtitan1]

I understand this is some tough stuff to go through as I am going through it myself. But you need to stay strong and be your own advocate. There IS a reason you're feeling this way and there IS a solution. As long as you keep self-educating and keep working with health professionals you WILL get better. Hang in there!

[kelkel]

Need ranges like XT said as well as full BW if you have it. Especially your E2 level. All can play a part here. Next, what are your stats? Height, weight, estimated body fat percentage? Activity level.

Do you know your vit D level by chance? Most are low and supplementing with it will lower your shbg and raise your free T. Cheap D3 is fine or have your doc write you a script for Drisdol which is 50k IU x 1 pill per week. You may also consider low dose Cialis for daily use. Most insurances cover it. It's a very healthy thing to take and not just for erection quality.

Another course of action to lower your shbg would be to have your doc prescribe Danazol. Dr. Crisler will occasionally take this route.

Agree with XT. Fill in some blanks for us if possible.

[oscar1990]

Ok, so as kelkel requested I filled in the blanks, should of done it in the initial post.

Levels with ranges and measurements

TT: 24 pmol/l (9-30 nmol/l)
SHBG: 53 pmol/l (11-71 pmol/l) Im very worried of this and CRP
FSH: 2 IU/L (<7) Under 60 year olds
LH: 4 IU/L (<7) Under 60 year olds
Glucose Fasting: 4.4nmol/l (3.4-5.4)
C-reactive Protein: 90.3 (Range: <2)

My personal stats:

Height: 183cm (6'0)
Weight: 76kg
Bodyfat: Atleast 16-17% (flabby and not lean)
No gyno or anything and pretty hairy. I do have body hair on my chest, legs, arms and also have a full growing beard. I dont know if that means anything. I assume not with the symptoms I have.

[oscar1990]

Who is Dr. Crisler??

[oscar1990]

lol, I dont mean to be selfish or rude but I feel sick thinking of the idea that I may suffer from hypogonadism or anything that relates to a genetic abnormality. Dont think I will be able to live with that.

[oscar1990]

Kelkel: I noticed you mentioned E2 Level I dont actually have one. In the past I have had it tested and it was something like

OEST2: 83 pmol/l (range: 150<)

[xtitan1]

Oscar read these:

Every link in here - http://forums.steroid.com/showthread...ou-should-know

Plus

http://forums.steroid.com/showthread...ou-should-know

http://forums.steroid.com/showthread...-TRT-Physician

http://forums.steroid.com/showthread...ou-should-know.

[oscar1990]

Xtitan1, I just finished reading all of the links..

lol are you trying to prepare me for TRT.. as you are convinced I am secondary hypo? =/

[oscar1990]

I never knew testicles atrophy to the point of a 5 year old male, if that happens would there be shrinkage with one's flaccid package or does the TRT make it hang normally (like it would with testicles)

[xtitan1]

No bro I was just a little perplexed by your saying hypogonadism was a genetic abnormality. There can be many, many reasons for hypogonadism such as pituitary tumors or damage, damage to the testicles, aging, etc. etc. I just wanted to make sure you read all that information so that you were up to speed and therefore better informed about your own situation.

[oscar1990]

Oh ok, sweet man. Thats a lot for your support.

your definitely a valuable asset to this forum.

[oscar1990]

along with kelkel

[kelkel]

Couple things. I keep re-reading your original post.
What is your age?
Do you know exactly what your free T level is?
Total T with new info provided is fine.
Dr. Crisler is one of the countries leading TRT Physicians. See www.allthingsmale.com and read his papers.

Noticed the comment about high E in your post. Missed that the first read. Anyway, common symptom of high or low E is loss of libido. This needs to be tested with a sensitive assay to be of any use to you. Could very well be playing a large part in your libido issue. As is your head! Stop thinking about it. Easier said than done, we all do understand.

A high total T level does not always indicate high shbg. A common protocol (Crisler again) for TRT'ers if shbg gets too high is to temporarily increast the T dosage. This in turn pushes shbg down. Keeping it there is another matter. I spoke above of adding vit D3 to your protocol. Do so asap as well as add in Stinging Nettle Root to your protocol. Both of these in concert will help to suppress your shbg level and bring it down. I did exactly that and dropped mine by about 15 points in three months. My D also went from less than 25 to 80 in that period. Remember my comment about Danazol in my earlier post also.

LH and FSH levels. Are those the ranges your lab provided? Most labs give an actual range such as LH: 1.7 - 8.6 and FSH: 1.5 - 12.4. Take another look and see if another range is offered. Without knowing your age it's tough to say if your level is ok or not as they will decline with age or pathologies unfortunately.

[oscar1990]

I am 22 years of age. I do not know what my free testosterone levels are unfortunately. I will get a full hormone blood-test conducted on Friday and will post results on monday tuesday. I will also ask for the sensitive essay but I do know if this is possible in Sydney, Australia.

I have been supplementing Vitamin D as you have guided me earlier in regards to that. As for my Vitamin D, I am not low and midway of the range I do not know the exact reading, I will also have this tested/requested on friday. As for Stinging Nettle, every time I tried to incorporate that into my vitamins it would give me puffy nipples and REALLY decreased my sex drive!!

I remember the post about Danazol,however isnt this a temporary solution?? and wouldnt it make matters/things worse for me?

As for the LH and FSH levels the ranges were provided by my lab exactly in that fashion. (<7) for under 60 year olds and (>7) for over 60 year olds for BOTH LH AND FSH.

Im 22 and if FSH and LH decline with age, well then im pretty much ****ed because mine seems pretty low. I must have the worst genetics in the world.

[oscar1990]

I dont think its in my head. I use to get morning wood which use to wake me up. I bet I could of hung a wet towel around it. My girl also is complaining that we dont do it as often. Which really shits me.

Anyways, will get another blood-work conducted.. I am going to specifically ask for

1.Total Testosterone
2.Free Testosterone
3.LH
4.FSH
5. Oestrogen 'Sensitive Essay' - hopefully he knows what that is... (I will research this..)
6. Prolactin
7. DHT
8. SHBG
9. DHEA
10. Cortisol
11. Progesterone
12.Vitamin D

Should I get Cholesterol, 1-GF, Growth Hormone, TSH, T4, T3 or is there anything else I should cover?

Im going to have to pay for it as they do not like doing blood-tests in Australia as is it provided by Medicare (government). I think doctors are regulated by the amount of tests they conduct and a appraised and reviewed on the basis of blood-work. Im going to offer to pay for it if he doesn't do it as I want to leave no stone unturned.

Please add to the list of what I should get tested.

Thanks again people!!

[oscar1990]

Hi there, I found this on another forum. Inflammation is associated with higher SHBG levels, I have a cousin who works in a lab and I asked him on facebook if inflammation will increase SHBG and he said yes it will increase SHBG. I do have high CRP levels and this warrants an underlying condition, this could possibly lead me to the root cause of my elevated SHBG...??

(As stated previously, my SHBG 41 and jumped to 53 over a period of 5 months) - I have had high CRP (inflammation) levels for a while, however they do spike and then come back down.


"The drug of choice would be proviron at 50 mgs a day. It actually has affinity at the receptor site so it impacts it greater then danazol does. It also acts as an AI which is a little weaker and more sparing then Adex. Danazol just inhibits the formation from the liver. Again I would seek to why shbg is elevated. T-3 meds, low gh levels, low dhea, starvation, malabsorption, NASH, inflammatory condition (liver or gut), low cortisol levels. Few patients are on danazol and they do report an increase erection ablity when all other factors are ruled out as mentioned above. Again every one is different.. "

[kelkel]

Problem is getting a hold of proviron. I've got a script for it and can't get it in the states. Maybe you can down-under! I'd get all BW the govt will let you cover with insurance. Interesting on the crp elevating shbg. Will read up on that.