Thank you for the reply. I understand the need for a baseline test and wish I had gotten one. The free test was part of the hormone level and is described as "Testosterone (Free) , Serum (Equilibrium Ultrafiltration) With Total Testosterone" done through LabCorp. The blood was drawn at 8 am, which is when the lab opened.
Equilibrium Ultrafiltration is not the same as Equilibrium Dialysis (the gold standard).
Standard citation to understand these different methods might look like this....
Forest, M.G., Rivarola, M.A. & Migeon, C.J. (1968) Percentage binding of testosterone, androstenedione and dehydroepiandrosterone in plasma.
Steroids, 12, 323-343.
Vermeulen, A., Verdonck, L. & Kaufman, J.M. (1999) A critical evaluation of simple methods for the estimation of free testosterone in serum.
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 84, 3666-3672.
Viahos, I., MacMahon, W., Sgoutas, D., Bowers, W., Thompson, J. & Trawick, W. (1982) An improved ultrafiltraton method for determining free testosterone in serum.
Clinical Chemistry, 28, 2286-2291.
What we can say is that these methods are lengthy, require a high degree of skill and are unsuited to routine use and hence to the routine investigation of hypogonadism; so it would be hard to interpret if we are to generalize (even with Equilibrium Dialysis, an acceptable error is about 20%...everything falls in line after that with analog method probably being the worst). This is also a reason that I would avoid this measurement if you are looking for a routine doctor to cover any kind of replacement. Now, shifts in the results could also be seen by foods you eat (but your samples tell me you were fasting so I am not concerned there) and also recent ejaculate. Sometimes, in order to get the most accurate sample - avoidance of new ejaculate may be necessary 2-5 days prior to evaluation. Now, the converse is also likely true - that if you are seeking lower numbers, recent ejaculate may also assist this plight. I am not asking you to confess your "intimate settings," but for yourself be aware too that this may throw numbers off easily.
Now, I don't want to bog you down with all that mumbo-jumbo talk which you might not take much from, but understand the utility and limitation of getting a Free Testosterone value and how it may influence your physician's opinions on what treatment modality to embark upon.
As far as history with PH/DS, I did one cycle of AndroHard (500 mg Androsterone (5a-androstan-3b-ol-17-one)/day) for 4 weeks starting in mid-January, followed by Nolvadex. As far as test boosters go, I have used them, most recently VidaTest, but I stopped taking it at the beginning of September, so I had been off of test boosters for over a month. The ingredients for VidaTest can be seen here:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/268/vidatestsuppfacts90caps.png/
While this product doesn't look bad on paper...the LJ100 could prove to hamper your blood values for time that would extend - possibly longer than a month - especially if you get resetting of the HPGA. While the average time to regain control is about 4-6 weeks (and you're on the lower end); any hormonal offering can incite issues up to 2 years after use (probably most prominent with AAS sitting at about an average of 22 months suppression - on average....and finally literature is piling up to support our earliest suspicions here.
I also know that these results need to be discussed with my examining physician. Here are the other values that you asked for:
Lipid Panel
Cholesterol, Total 166 mg/dL (100-199)
Triglycerides, 64 mg/dL (0-149)
HDL Cholesterol 43 mg/dL (>39)
VLDL Cholesterol Cal 13 mg/dL (5-40)
LDL Cholesterol Calc 110 mg/dL (0-99) *High
Prostate-Specific Ag, Serum (Roche ECLIA methodoloy) 0.7 ng/mL (0.0-4.0) Note: I'm assuming this is what you meant by PSA
CBC
Hemoglobin 15.9 g/dL (12.5-17.0)
Hematocrit 46.7% (36.0-50.0)
MCV 93 fL (80-98)
RDW 13.7% (11.7-15.0)
This tells me collectively that there may still be some issues you were experiencing from the LJ100 or even another product. Why? Couple of things:
(1) Your LDL is higher for a fasting sample of someone 25 years of age - which is NOT always a bad thing in light of a lower testosterone. Remember this - cholesterol (predominantly LDL) is the substrate for endogenous testosterone synthesis. This could be higher because you are still trying to up-regulate your natural production.
(2) Your hemoglobin, hematocrit, MCV, and RDW are also interesting.
An MCV > 90 (despite being quoted "normal;" some labs even use a standard 100 as being the lower limit for being suggested "high" but LabCorp looks like they compromised and brought it down a little - "98") is NOT normal for the average person. I could suspect some inherent DNA synthesis issues in RBC formation secondary to drinking (don't know if you are big into Alcohol; nor would I ask you to suggest that on a forum like this in the public domain, but it does tend to be the biggest reason one might be at that number...although there are others). That MCV is telling me that your cells are "big." Your RDW tells me that there's not a lot of variation in size; they are predominantly uniformly big. The Hemoglobin and Hematocrit are on the higher side (although not quoted polycythemic); again supporting that you still have some hormonal variation.
My off the record recommendation would be the following: Stop any hormonal altering agent for another month or so if you have been off since September or whatever. Get re-evaluated from the SAME lab at the SAME time of day to trend it. The free test number can and should be left off for many reasons. IF your physician opts to repeat the labs on his schedule; make certain he sends away for equilibrium dialysis method (there are only a few places in the country that really do this well). If your numbers are still mildly off, you could be seeing the beginning of a downward trend.
D_
