blood work done. Need advice on how to proceed

[cookwg513]

After 30 days without Finesteride I had some new blood work done and here are the results.

LabCorp (5/19) Kaiser (7/19)

PSA 3.0 (0-4.0) 3.6 (0-4.5)

Estradiol, sensitive 15.1 (8.0-35.0) <50 (<50)

LH 7.5 (1.7-8.6) 8 (1.0=12.0)

FSH 7.8 (1.5-12.4) 10.9 (1.4-18.1)

DHT 11 (30-85) 339.3 (106-719)

T4 1.34 (.82-1.77) 1.3 (.8-1.7)

TSH 2.4 (.45-4.5) 3.31 (.40-5.0)

Prolactin 9.5 (4.0-15.2) 10 (2.0-18.0)

Total T 581 (264-916) 465 (>240)

Free T 5.8 (6.6-18.1) Not Tested


In the follow up meeting with the Doctor he thinks I should leave the dose of the synthroid as is. Thought that midrange was fine. He told me that the reason the free T was not tested is that Kaiser doesn't allow it to be tested if the total T is above 240. Apparently Kaiser is very determined not to be in the HRT business. There was nothing he could do about that. Looking over the lab work I was struck by the great improvement in my DHT score. Besides stopping the Fina I've also started taking 200mg of DHEA daily. I'm really not sure how to interpret the scores from two different labs. Obviously they have different standards so...I guess they're pretty much the same. Kaiser didn't run a "sensitive" Estradiol test though.

That still leaves my free T too low for my liking so I decided to go ahead on my own following Youthful55guy's protocol. So last Friday I gave myself my first injections of Test C and HCG and plan to continue E3D for the next six weeks and get retested and see how I feel. I've also received my shipment of Tadalafil(Cialis) and have started taking an everyday dose. So far I haven't noticed any troubling symptoms from stopping the Fina and switching over to the Flomax and Cialis combination. Although overall I find myself very hopeful of greatly improving the quality of my remaining years I have to say I find the idea of a lifetime of injections daunting. That is a serious commitment.

[Youthful55guy]

After 30 days without Finesteride I had some new blood work done and here are the results.

LabCorp (5/19) Kaiser (7/19)

PSA 3.0 (0-4.0) 3.6 (0-4.5)

Estradiol, sensitive 15.1 (8.0-35.0) <50 (<50)

LH 7.5 (1.7-8.6) 8 (1.0=12.0)

FSH 7.8 (1.5-12.4) 10.9 (1.4-18.1)

DHT 11 (30-85) 339.3 (106-719)

T4 1.34 (.82-1.77) 1.3 (.8-1.7)

TSH 2.4 (.45-4.5) 3.31 (.40-5.0)

Prolactin 9.5 (4.0-15.2) 10 (2.0-18.0)

Total T 581 (264-916) 465 (>240)

Free T 5.8 (6.6-18.1) Not Tested


In the follow up meeting with the Doctor he thinks I should leave the dose of the synthroid as is. Thought that midrange was fine. He told me that the reason the free T was not tested is that Kaiser doesn't allow it to be tested if the total T is above 240. Apparently Kaiser is very determined not to be in the HRT business. There was nothing he could do about that. Looking over the lab work I was struck by the great improvement in my DHT score. Besides stopping the Fina I've also started taking 200mg of DHEA daily. I'm really not sure how to interpret the scores from two different labs. Obviously they have different standards so...I guess they're pretty much the same. Kaiser didn't run a "sensitive" Estradiol test though.

That still leaves my free T too low for my liking so I decided to go ahead on my own following Youthful55guy's protocol. So last Friday I gave myself my first injections of Test C and HCG and plan to continue E3D for the next six weeks and get retested and see how I feel. I've also received my shipment of Tadalafil(Cialis) and have started taking an everyday dose. So far I haven't noticed any troubling symptoms from stopping the Fina and switching over to the Flomax and Cialis combination. Although overall I find myself very hopeful of greatly improving the quality of my remaining years I have to say I find the idea of a lifetime of injections daunting. That is a serious commitment.

A couple of comments. Given that you are stuck with Kaiser, I'm assuming you are in California (perhaps you've mentioned that previously). If so, it is easy and relatively inexpensive to get your own labs done and all the work is done through LabCorp, so you know the labs are good. I've also found that the results correlate well with Pacific Diagnostic Labs, which is what my local doc uses for my annual check ups. Here's a link to where you can purchase the labs al a carta: https://www.discountedlabs.com/. They are very professional and everything is done via email.

Regarding lifetime injections, once you get the volume down to where you can use an insulin syringe for E3D dosing (I use a 28G 1/2 inch needle), you will find that it is a very sustainable protocol. I've been doing it for about 7 years. The alternative is feeling like $#!^ all the time, so choose your poison.

[Tim1985]

Youthful, what is the max volume of test you inject sub-q with your insulin needle? Currently I inject IM every 3.5 days but switching over to sub-q would be nice even at EOD to get volume down. What was the smallest gauge you have been able to use? I use 30 gauge for HCG but imagine that would be tough with test.

[Youthful55guy]

Youthful, what is the max volume of test you inject sub-q with your insulin needle? Currently I inject IM every 3.5 days but switching over to sub-q would be nice even at EOD to get volume down. What was the smallest gauge you have been able to use? I use 30 gauge for HCG but imagine that would be tough with test.

I use a 28G one-piece insulin syringe with a 1/2 inch needle. I find that anything smaller than this (e.g., 30G) is too slow and difficult to draw up. I inject straight into my quad muscle. It's a shallow IM injection. Usually the volume is around 0.2 to 0.25 mL, depending on my exact protocol. Right now, I'm on an experimental protocol of 0.2 mL E2D.

I do not like subcutaneous injections (i.e., belly fat) because I always bruise from even very small volumes.