Low LH, FSH, Free Test and Test 32 Year Old Male

[Bryce720]

I did my 1st blood test 7/15/2009. The reason I did this test was because I had zero sex drive, no energy, storing fat and just felt mentally very unclear. I was working out hard and have always ate very clean and was still holding the fat no matter what I did. So I did the test below.

7/15/2009
Test- 453 (241-827)
Free Test (Direct) 9.8 (8.7-25.1)
TSH- 1.350 (.450-4.5)
DHEA- 267 (120-520)
IGF-1- 146 (115-307)

Then on 7/28/2009 we did more testing to see if we could determine why test and especially free test were low.

7/28/2009
LH- 1.5 (1.5-9.3)
FSH- 2.4 (1.4-18.1)
Estrodial- 31 (0-53)

7/30/2009 Doctor decided to inject 200MG of depo Test and retest levels which we did on 8/04/09
TSH .596 (.450-4.500) WOW, super odd not sure what happened here???
T4- 1.31 (.61-1.76)
TEST- 1467 (241-827)
FREE TEST- 39.9 (8.7-25.1)

During this time I felt great sex drive was finally back, great moods, very alert, memory was greatly improved and so on. My doctor did not know much about injecting test the 1467 test number scared him so he said no second injection.

We tested on 8/13/2009 as he wanted to see what my levels were at now. During this time I felt about the same as I used to feel before the shot, like ****, i did feel a little worse I was a little more tired and got headaches.

8/13/2009
Test- 182
Free Test- 4.1
Prolactin- 4.7 (2.1-17.7)

8/14/2009 I did some research about re-start protocols and talked my doctor into one of them
I took HCG m,w,f 300mg injected for 3 weeks total
Clomid 100mgs a day split 50mg morning and 50 mg afternoon 4 weeks
Nolva 20 mg, 10 morning and 10 at night 4 weeks

I felt better on this and for about 2 months after it but I have slowly started to feel like **** again. HCG took fat off me like no other, sorry for the side note.
We retested on 9/30 about 2 weeks after the end of the restart.

9/30/2009
Test 579
Free Test 14.1
LH- 5.7

I have started to feel like **** again, no sex drive what so ever, no morning wood, very moody, no zest for life, no energy, mentally unclear and so on. So we re-tested on 1/12/2009

1/12/2009
DHEA 691 (146-850)
TEST 563
FREE TEST 11.7
LH 3.8

I am not sure where to go from here. From the research I have done, this would point to secondary hypogonadism. My LH is starting to fall again, I wish we would have tested FSH. I have worked with many docs on this and no one seems to have a clue about male hormones. The endo I met with said she would not talk to me unless my total test was under 100 and my hair was falling out. One of the other docs I have worked with says we might need to look deeper into the thyroid??? I am tired of feeling like ****, do you have any suggestions???

[The Matrix]

I did my 1st blood test 7/15/2009. The reason I did this test was because I had zero sex drive, no energy, storing fat and just felt mentally very unclear. I was working out hard and have always ate very clean and was still holding the fat no matter what I did. So I did the test below.

7/15/2009
Test- 453 (241-827)
Free Test (Direct) 9.8 (8.7-25.1)
TSH- 1.350 (.450-4.5)
DHEA- 267 (120-520)
IGF-1- 146 (115-307)

Then on 7/28/2009 we did more testing to see if we could determine why test and especially free test were low.

7/28/2009
LH- 1.5 (1.5-9.3)
FSH- 2.4 (1.4-18.1)
Estrodial- 31 (0-53)

7/30/2009 Doctor decided to inject 200MG of depo Test and retest levels which we did on 8/04/09
TSH .596 (.450-4.500) WOW, super odd not sure what happened here???
T4- 1.31 (.61-1.76)
TEST- 1467 (241-827)
FREE TEST- 39.9 (8.7-25.1)

During this time I felt great sex drive was finally back, great moods, very alert, memory was greatly improved and so on. My doctor did not know much about injecting test the 1467 test number scared him so he said no second injection.

We tested on 8/13/2009 as he wanted to see what my levels were at now. During this time I felt about the same as I used to feel before the shot, like ****, i did feel a little worse I was a little more tired and got headaches.

8/13/2009
Test- 182
Free Test- 4.1
Prolactin- 4.7 (2.1-17.7)

8/14/2009 I did some research about re-start protocols and talked my doctor into one of them
I took HCG m,w,f 300mg injected for 3 weeks total
Clomid 100mgs a day split 50mg morning and 50 mg afternoon 4 weeks
Nolva 20 mg, 10 morning and 10 at night 4 weeks

I felt better on this and for about 2 months after it but I have slowly started to feel like **** again. HCG took fat off me like no other, sorry for the side note.
We retested on 9/30 about 2 weeks after the end of the restart.

9/30/2009
Test 579
Free Test 14.1
LH- 5.7

I have started to feel like **** again, no sex drive what so ever, no morning wood, very moody, no zest for life, no energy, mentally unclear and so on. So we re-tested on 1/12/2009

1/12/2009
DHEA 691 (146-850)
TEST 563
FREE TEST 11.7
LH 3.8

I am not sure where to go from here. From the research I have done, this would point to secondary hypogonadism. My LH is starting to fall again, I wish we would have tested FSH. I have worked with many docs on this and no one seems to have a clue about male hormones. The endo I met with said she would not talk to me unless my total test was under 100 and my hair was falling out. One of the other docs I have worked with says we might need to look deeper into the thyroid??? I am tired of feeling like ****, do you have any suggestions???

I would look into thyroid and adrenals deeper as well as life style and sleep patterns, Current stress issues, emotional trama, nutritent imbalances, heavy metals, gut issue, ect ..That is how I handle these cases look for the root cause not just treat symptoms

[Bryce720]

I agree with you 100% that is why I am trying to figure this out before I just treat the symptoms. I have a fair amount of stress, started a new business, lost my grandmother last year, been re-ended 3 times in the last year, Oh and there is the issue of my whole family is fighting over a trust.

Emotional Trama have had a very ruff child hood, I don't want to go into it here.

I sleep o.k., I usually get into bed about 9:00 p.m. and get up about 5:30. I usually sleep most of the night, usually have to pee once or so.

I am not sure how I would check for nutritional imbalances?? I eat very clean.

Heavy Metals, have no idea how to look into this?

Gut issues, could be I worked with a ND who was thinking the same thing. We have tweeked my diet and I now take digestive enzymes to help me digest fats, and proteins. I have felt better and think my food is digesting better. All of my stools used to float, now they sink about 1/2 of the time??

How would I look into thyroid deeper and or adrenals?? How do the few thyriod tests I did look??

[The Matrix]

I agree with you 100% that is why I am trying to figure this out before I just treat the symptoms. I have a fair amount of stress, started a new business, lost my grandmother last year, been re-ended 3 times in the last year, Oh and there is the issue of my whole family is fighting over a trust.

Emotional Trama have had a very ruff child hood, I don't want to go into it here.

I sleep o.k., I usually get into bed about 9:00 p.m. and get up about 5:30. I usually sleep most of the night, usually have to pee once or so.

I am not sure how I would check for nutritional imbalances?? I eat very clean.

Heavy Metals, have no idea how to look into this?

Gut issues, could be I worked with a ND who was thinking the same thing. We have tweeked my diet and I now take digestive enzymes to help me digest fats, and proteins. I have felt better and think my food is digesting better. All of my stools used to float, now they sink about 1/2 of the time??

How would I look into thyroid deeper and or adrenals?? How do the few thyriod tests I did look??

I am studying to be an ND for crying out load and probably one of the best in the USA with hormones and finding the cause . I actually have ND's that I counsel for their health issues.

[Bryce720]

Congrats on the ND route, I think my ND has took more time and care then my MD and all the other doc's I have worked with thus far. I agree 100% with you on finding the root cause. I don't want to start HRT at 32 if I don't have to.

For instance today I got back from my MD appointment we went over my latest blood work and he wrote me a script for "compound testosterone cream". He told me to try it for a month and we will re-test. I appreicate him trying, but I want to the root of the problem not just instant relief.

In my post aboice I was being honest about everything, not a smart ass. Sorry if I offened you. Thanks so much for all you help thus far.

Did you see anything on the thyroid test's I have done and how do you test adrenal's? Thanks so much

[The Matrix]

Congrats on the ND route, I think my ND has took more time and care then my MD and all the other doc's I have worked with thus far. I agree 100% with you on finding the root cause. I don't want to start HRT at 32 if I don't have to.

For instance today I got back from my MD appointment we went over my latest blood work and he wrote me a script for "compound testosterone cream". He told me to try it for a month and we will re-test. I appreicate him trying, but I want to the root of the problem not just instant relief.

In my post aboice I was being honest about everything, not a smart ass. Sorry if I offened you. Thanks so much for all you help thus far.

Did you see anything on the thyroid test's I have done and how do you test adrenal's? Thanks so much

Your Dr is missing 80% of the thyroid puzzle like many do. This is why people never get better from many MD and DO. They are just plain lazy and do not want to look for cause.

[Bryce720]

I met with a ND and MD today, they run a HRT and Natural Healing Clinic in Boulder, Co. We went over blood work and hear is what the ND had to say. He wanted to do a "toxic metal I V" and "toxic metal test". He also wanted to test SHBG. He guessed my SHGB would be high 60-80 was his guess going off of the test to free test ratio. He also wanted to re-test my IGF-1, which he thinks is on the low side for my age. I got my IGF-1 tested on 7-15-2009 it came back
IGF-1 146 (115-307)
he said anything below 150 raises a red flag for him????
I am not sure how you treat low IGF, we really didn't get into that.
He said depending on how those tests come back he would put me on Test Cream and HCG. I would like to get to the root of the problem, but I am starting to lose hope, is HRT my only option???

Thanks

[Philec48]

Also, get your serum zinc and 25-hydroxy (vitamin D3) checked.

[Bryce720]

I have been doing a ton and ton of research and I think I am going to look deeper into thyroid. I found the coolest site with a ton of cool info, please see below
http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/long-and-pathetic/
I had no idea how the TSH testing was, what it looked into and how relatively new this test is. It is amazing all the symptoms of Hypothyroid, I have about every one of them. I am going to do test 4 on the following link http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/adrenal-info/
I will do if for 5 days as suggested and post results for you guys each day. Let me know what you guys think.

[jphouse]

I'm 32 and had all the same test from the doc with same results. my doc put me on depo test 3 time aweek 40mg on monday 40mg wednesday 60mg on friday with 1/4mg of arimidex a week. after 4 weeks my results came back perfect

[GimmeT]

You need to get a full thyroid panel done. TSH, total and free T3/T4 and reverse T3 as well.

A 4x day saliva cortisol also.

If you get those fixed (assuming there's a problem) your T very may well bounce back.

Growth hormone is low but that is the last in line...if you sort out the others (especially thyroid/adrenal) it would not be a surprise to see it increase.

[Bryce720]

I think I am going to do the "Premium Thyroid Function Blood Profile with TSH" from Health Check USA which works with Lab Core. This test includes, Free T3, Free T4, TSH, T3 Uptake, T4 Total, and T7. I am thinking of also including the 4X Saliva Cortisol test. I was also thinking of including SHBG but from what I have read Hypothyroidism leads to elevated SHBG so I am not sure if this would be worth it. If I have thyriod issues causing elevated SHBG this could explain the low free test. Then in theory treating the thyroid would lower SHBG freeing up some of the bound test????

Please let me know if you guys think I should throw in any other test? Thanks so much for everyone's help

[Bryce720]

I was thinking of throwing in,
Vitamin B12 with Folate Blood Test
What do you guys think, let me know.
I am actually starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. If you guys think the above test would be good to run let me know and I will keep you guys updated and post results. Thanks again.

[GimmeT]

Those tests would be good...make sure you get a reverse T3 as well. This is where "hidden hypothyroidism" comes from.

I would check out privatemdlabs.com typically the cheapest pricing in my experience.

[Bryce720]

I did my temperature testing today is day 1 of the 5 day testing, results below.

5:30 a.m. upon rising- 96.4
8:30 a.m.- 97.6
12:00- 96.3
3:00 p.m.- 96.6

What do you guys think?? Thanks

[thenxtgrt1]

I'm also 32 so I can relate. Over the last two years, I've made much progress, but still have a long way to go.

I've had the most success with HCG. I've also seen positive results from combo of hcg and compounded gel. I question the effectiveness of the brand (APP) that I'm currently using. And will be beginning Pregnyl in the next few days.

As GimmeT recommended check out your RT3 level. Mine was higher than it should be. Which I'm pretty sure stress is the underlying cause. I'm currently considering options such as T3 to combat this.

Also, your temps do seem too low. I'm sure correcting some of your thyroid/adrenal problems would go a long way fixing this. The guys on this board are awesome and everyone will try to help you out as much as possible.

[Bryce720]

Day 2
6:00 a.m.- 96.7
9:00 a.m.- 96.8
12:00- 96.8
4:00- 96.9

I will post day 3 later today. Is this normal temp ranges?? I thought you were supposed to be at 98.6.?? Thanks

[The Matrix]

I think I am going to do the "Premium Thyroid Function Blood Profile with TSH" from Health Check USA which works with Lab Core. This test includes, Free T3, Free T4, TSH, T3 Uptake, T4 Total, and T7. I am thinking of also including the 4X Saliva Cortisol test. I was also thinking of including SHBG but from what I have read Hypothyroidism leads to elevated SHBG so I am not sure if this would be worth it. If I have thyriod issues causing elevated SHBG this could explain the low free test. Then in theory treating the thyroid would lower SHBG freeing up some of the bound test????

Please let me know if you guys think I should throw in any other test? Thanks so much for everyone's help

waste of money
t3 uptake worthless
tsh worthless
t7 worthless.

add total t3, reverse t3

You better go back and do your research low SHBG indicates hypthyroidism.
Thisis why you need some one to properly handle your case because trying to fix your self and self diagnose is going to get you into more trouble. Instead of nicke and diming on test you could have had 1/2 cost covered to goto see a specialist,

[Bryce720]

I would love to find a specialist in my area but have yet to do so. I am on a limited budget and just can't afford to fly out of state and meet with someone. I know you can't put a price on health, but I just don't have a ton of money at this point. Can you recommend anyone in the Colorado area?? Thanks so much for everyone's help.

[jphouse]

Did u do cycles in the passed that messed thing up for u. i've been working for two years with doc's to get back to normal. after i mess around with cycle.