Impotence Support - lab results odd?

Author

lab results odd?

daveadler33146@yahoo.com

2005-11-13, 5:44 pm

Hi, I had some tests done. Notes: 33, in very good health, have had my
thyroid, glucose, etc checked previously and they are ok.

Testosterone 369 ng/dl (ref 400-1080)
Sex hormone binding globulin 27 nmol/L
Free testosterone 74.8 pg/mL
Testosterone, % free: 2.0%
prolactin 15.5 NG/ML
FSH 2.8 mIU/ml (ref 1.5 - 12.4 mUI/ml)
LH 4.6 mIU/ml (ref1.7 - 8.6 mIU/ml)
Estradiol, serum 25 pg/ml (ref 12 - 45 pg/ml)

My endo concludes my ED is not related to hormonal abnormality, saying
all results were within normal limits, except testosterone which was
"slightly low". To me, outside the reference range is a little more
than "slightly low". In a previous test many years ago, my T was
exactly in the middle of the range.

Seems the FSH is borderline low too...isn't the def. of hypogonadism
low T, low/low-normal LH and low/low-normal FSH? The LH doesn't look
low, but the other 2 are or are close. Also, shouldn't the prolactin
and SHBG have come with a reference range?

Anyone have insites or comments?

Joe D.

2005-11-14, 12:53 am

<daveadler33146@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1131918902.605737.10940@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> Hi, I had some tests done. Notes: 33, in very good health, have had my
> thyroid, glucose, etc checked previously and they are ok.
>
> Testosterone 369 ng/dl (ref 400-1080)
> Sex hormone binding globulin 27 nmol/L
> Free testosterone 74.8 pg/mL
> Testosterone, % free: 2.0%
> prolactin 15.5 NG/ML
> FSH 2.8 mIU/ml (ref 1.5 - 12.4 mUI/ml)
> LH 4.6 mIU/ml (ref1.7 - 8.6 mIU/ml)
> Estradiol, serum 25 pg/ml (ref 12 - 45 pg/ml)

Your testosterone is way too low for a 33 yr old. Obviously
something wrong there. That said low T more often causes
poor libido and energy than ED, but it can cause ED.
There's a lot of individual variation.

LH/FSH look mostly OK. Prolactin is probably OK, but lab should
provide a ref range.

It's good you had all the tests, but unfortunately the only clear
problem is low T.

Your Dr. is very narrowly technically correct in that some research
papers show ED not totally related to low T. Some men (not all)
have normal erectile function on sub normal T. However many
men don't.

However it's irrelevant since your T is below the ref range.
I'd suggest Androgel, T shots or hCG. However since your LH is
normal and T is low that implies problem is primary (testicles)
not secondary (pituitary), which could indicate hCG wouldn't work.

The best procedure is an hCG stimulation test to confirm
whether problem is primary or secondary. After that you'd decide
to either continue hCG or take testosterone, and in what form.

Wanderer

2005-11-17, 12:52 am

On Sun, 13 Nov 2005 16:55:02 -0500, daveadler33146@yahoo.com wrote
(in message <1131918902.605737.10940@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com> ):

> Hi, I had some tests done. Notes: 33, in very good health, have had my
> thyroid, glucose, etc checked previously and they are ok.
>
> Testosterone 369 ng/dl (ref 400-1080)
> Sex hormone binding globulin 27 nmol/L
> Free testosterone 74.8 pg/mL
> Testosterone, % free: 2.0%
> prolactin 15.5 NG/ML
> FSH 2.8 mIU/ml (ref 1.5 - 12.4 mUI/ml)
> LH 4.6 mIU/ml (ref1.7 - 8.6 mIU/ml)
> Estradiol, serum 25 pg/ml (ref 12 - 45 pg/ml)
>
> My endo concludes my ED is not related to hormonal abnormality, saying
> all results were within normal limits, except testosterone which was
> "slightly low". To me, outside the reference range is a little more
> than "slightly low". In a previous test many years ago, my T was
> exactly in the middle of the range.
>
> Seems the FSH is borderline low too...isn't the def. of hypogonadism
> low T, low/low-normal LH and low/low-normal FSH? The LH doesn't look
> low, but the other 2 are or are close. Also, shouldn't the prolactin
> and SHBG have come with a reference range?
>
> Anyone have insites or comments?
>

Everything should come with a reference range. Based on your abnormal
testosterone level, your free T, if expressed as an amount rather than a
percentage, and with a reference range, would be scary. Given your age, HCG
is one avenue I would explore. It's relatively simple, by the way, to embark
on some kind of testosterone-boosting therapy for a couple of weeks, to see
if it cures your ED. If it does, great... now you know what the problem was.
If it doesn't... back to the drawing board.

Wanderer

daveadler33146@yahoo.com

2005-11-17, 10:51 am

Sorry to bug you but you seem pretty knowledgeable

> LH/FSH look mostly OK.

The borderline low FSH isn't a concern?

> However it's irrelevant since your T is below the ref range.
> I'd suggest Androgel, T shots or hCG. However since your LH is
> normal and T is low that implies problem is primary (testicles)
> not secondary (pituitary), which could indicate hCG wouldn't work.

Do you think it's worth trying to figure out *why* it's low? Or is
there even a way? What's odd is I don't really have any of the normal
symptoms of low T, except low libido, which is a chicken/egg question
with the ED as I see it.

> The best procedure is an hCG stimulation test to confirm
> whether problem is primary or secondary. After that you'd decide
> to either continue hCG or take testosterone, and in what form.

Are there more natural ways I can try first, just to see? I have read
about some, such as working out, which i all ready do.

I guess I'm just stuck on the "why". If it's not due to a pituitary
tumor, estradiol or prolactin inhibiting production, what other causes
are there? I've read about cortisol, would it be informative to check
that?

thanks
dave

daveadler33146@yahoo.com

2005-11-17, 10:51 am

thanks for your reply

I'm working on getting reference ranges, when i respond to my endo.

> It's relatively simple, by the way, to embark
> on some kind of testosterone-boosting therapy for a couple of weeks, to see
> if it cures your ED.

when i had it tested several years ago it was exactly in the middle of
the range, and I already had most of the problem then. So I was
actually surprised to see it low now. I was mainly interested in the
other tests, since I thought my T was normal. Now it looks like
everything else is normal and the T is not.

You and Joe both suggest trying to raise my T level...which, still
would leave me wondering what is wrong that made it low anyway. And
besides, if I try viagra etc and it works, I wouldn't care about having
low T since it doesn't seem to be causing me any other problems. I
guess I'm asking - if I'm not going to find out *why* the T is low,
should I jump ahead and give the drugs a try first?

Wanderer

2005-11-19, 10:52 am

On Thu, 17 Nov 2005 2:18:12 -0500, daveadler33146@yahoo.com wrote
(in message <1132211892.391893.248050@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> ):

> You and Joe both suggest trying to raise my T level...which, still
> would leave me wondering what is wrong that made it low anyway. And
> besides, if I try viagra etc and it works, I wouldn't care about having
> low T since it doesn't seem to be causing me any other problems. I
> guess I'm asking - if I'm not going to find out *why* the T is low,
> should I jump ahead and give the drugs a try first?

By all means, give Viagra (or Cialis) a try. That was what I did when I first
began encountering problems. Even on Viagra though, I was troubled by low
libido, low energy, crankiness, inability to lose weight or gain muscle
despite faithful workouts, and other issues. In tracking down the source of
my problems, blood work revealed low T, similar to yours. TRT solved all the
issues described above, and made me much less reliant on ED drugs for sex.

I believe that your subjective feelings should be your guide, not the
bloodwork. If a little Viagra is all you need and then life is great, super.
If you still have the feeling that things aren't quite right, then you need
to look further. As for why you have low T, that is harder to understand. In
my case, I believe that a few years on SSRIs contributed to it. Diet and
lifestyle can be a factor, as can age and heredity. T levels also fluctuate,
so you may want to have blood tests done again, hopefully by a lab that
supplied reference ranges for all their tests. Good luck.

Wanderer