Low Testosterone and Blood Work
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Chat I went to get my bloodwork done via Marek Health and Here are my results:
25 Hydroxy Vit 67
25 Hydroxy Vit D2: <1.0
25 Hydroxy Vit D3: 66Testosterone: 271
Free Testosterone: 7.5TSH: 3.380
Prolactin 10.9
LDH: 230
PTH Intact 15
To give you an idea of my lifestyle I definitely have a lot of PUFA in me from childhood up until finding out about Ray in 2021, grew up having Gyno but it's gone down a lot with Vit E supplementation from Idealabs, Progest E, and resistance training. I try to get 10k steps in per day, I'm overweight but I have a good amount of Muscle on me, but have high BF. I supplement Vit D3/K Daily alongside Cynomel (waiting for my cynoplus to come in the mail). I was honestly shocked about my T levels because I drink Hans Amato's testoshake every day which includes 4 egg yolks and 0.5oz of liver and I have no problem getting my thing downstairs up.
What can I do to increase my T levels? Also how're my prolactin, LDH, and PTH looking?
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Your PTH is great. I doubt you'll find many folks in this forum with PTH lower than that. Anything under 30 is a good sign you are taking enough D plus calcium in your diet.
Based on your LDH and TSH, I think you'd benefit from working on your thyroid supplementation.
Your prolactin is not that high compared to the numbers shared around here or the older RPF. Anything under 10 is a great achievement in my experience.
Testosterone in blood is not that important although below 300 it warrants some investigation.
When did you do your blood test? Time of the day is essential to interpret blood tests for steroids.
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@tea I did it in the morning around like 8:30 AM because they told me to come fasted
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@dannyphantom to bring up T, I’d just lift weights but do not overtrain. 4 days max for me. Sprints also help for people, once, maybe twice a week. Better sleep, get in the sun more. Tongkat Ali and Fadogia agrestis helps people but they are not an end all be all.
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@donovan I'm up north so I supplement Vit D due to lack of sun, I do weight train five days a week. I'll try incorporating sprints
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@dannyphantom you could’ve also just gotten blood drawn at a low point in your T levels like @tea said. Guys on /fit/ used to recommend not going outside for a week to lower vit d and get bad sleep for a few days before getting their T levels checked so they could get prescribed TRT.
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@donovan That makes sense, my sleep is actually really solid. I get deep 7-8 hours every night with great REM sleep and dreams. Would it make sense to get my blood drawn later in the day? Do you really need to be fasted when getting blood drawn?
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@dannyphantom I’m not sure. I’ve never gotten my blood drawn for T levels. I’d rather not know and just go by feel, and i feel great. If i feel like shit for a few weeks something needs to change etc. But you went through Marek health which is a very reputable company, especially for athletes, so i am sure they know what they are doing. I would test again in 3-6 months to see if anything changes.
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For men, the closer the prolactin is to 4 or so, the better. 11 is too high for a male. Just getting the TSH down with adequate thyroid should help, among other things.
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@retard Yes, that's true. However, I think a lot of guys that are drawn to this forum probably have higher prolactin than that. Depending on age it will be more or less difficult to get it close to 4.
Me personally I hover around 12 to 15 most of the times. The only thing that REALLY lowered it was bromocriptine which will tank it to close to zero in a matter of hours of taking it.
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@dannyphantom These numbers give me the impression you haven't committed to NoFap. I encourage you to do so ASAP
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@tea Well wouldn't the prolactin return to normal upon the cessation of bromocriptine? You should be able to lower it more with thyroid, salt, and small doses of progesterone.
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@retard Yes, levels return to baseline upon stopping unfortunately, even within 24 hours. Also, bromocriptine only lowers prolactin, and maybe LH, but the other pituitary hormones appear to remain unchanged.
I have tried everything else you mentioned to know avail, although blood test results have to be taken with a grain of salt always.
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TSH is the main thing that sticks out to me. If your BBT is low or cholesterol high then it's probably hypothyroidism.
To increase testosterone, dead hangs and farmers' carries at the gym work well. Try to max out grip strength. Some people recommend pine pollen but I haven't tried it myself.
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@brad To piggyback on grip strength, it's been touted as one of the true markers of health. It can even be measured at home with simple devices sold on Amazon. I've been checking on this every now and then to measure my thyroid function in creative ways.
For grip strength training, Captains of Crush are freaking amazing as a simple way to train at home.
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@dannyphantom How much fructose is in your diet? I would make sure to have at least 400 grams of sucrose daily to obtain 200 grams of fructose, and if you add more the better, you get more than 5 grams of sodium? How about selenium consumption? Cronometer's selenium is obscenely false on the rise and many are deficient thinking they comply
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@dannyphantom If you are active and you are getting in your vitamin D3 and K2, I think you are good. I am wondering if you just recently made a lifestyle change and had the test done prior (maybe that would explain the low test too)? Anyways, keep doing on what you are doing. Get good sleep (which is so important for testosterone), train, and eat well (you may have to look into supplements. So many people are low in zinc and magnesium).
So, I'd say for now, keep doing on what you are doing and maybe do another test after a while of being healthy as fuck.
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Testosterone correlates much more positivly with leaness than with muscles. You need to get rid of body fat. The ideal bodyfat percantage for males is around 13%. Walking more, sleeping more, and eating less will help you.
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What are your LH and FSH values?
TSH could & should be lower, prolactin as well.
Building blocks like cholesterol & vit D are only one part of the equation for testosterone. Stimulus is the bigger part. Your body needs to know that it NEEDS the testosterone. Food only brings you so far. Your body wont use nutrients to produce it if it isnt needed.
Take more risks, push yourself harder in the gym, maybe do some fighting, talk to pretty blondes.