Hrt bloodwork questions

slipperyslope

New member
I went to an anti-aging clinic for about 16 months, and never felt any different. I quit going about 10 months ago and never felt a difference coming off testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) either. I'm sure they were half-assing my treatment, as they didn't check my estrogen level until a year in. I should have researched testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) before/while they were treating me, instead of trusting their knowledge.

I'm ready to give testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) another shot now and want to get the bloodwork done. I plan on getting the privatemdlabs male hormone panel which includes:

Thyroid Profile w/ TSH
Complete Blood Count w/ Differential
Comprehensive Metabolic Panel
Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA)
Estradiol Sensitive
Testosterone (Free), Serum With Total
Lipid Profile
Insulin Growth Factor (IGF-1)

It is reasonably priced (and even better with the 15% discount code) and looks like it has everything minus SBHG. Should I add SBHG too?

I talked to the clinic I was using and they said they would be fine with me providing my own bloodwork and that they would put me on a Test Cyp, Aromatase inhibitor (AI), and Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) protocol. The protocol he suggested to start (based on my old bloodwork but may change depending on my new blood work) is:

200mg Test Cyp every 7 days (would it be better to do 100mg every 3.5 days?)
250IU Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) every 7 days (day after Test Cyp shot)
1mg Anastrozole (.5mg twice per week)

Due to my past experience with this clinic I don't have much confidence in them. But I was hoping I could post my bloodwork results here and you guys could help recommend any changes, and then I can pass them on to the clinic.

As soon as I hear from a Maximus rep and get signed up, I will be switching to them and will follow their protocol. Which is another reason I want to get my own bloodwork done, I can use it for the 'temp' clinic, as well as Maximus when they are able to accept new patients.
 
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SHBG is always good to get checked. The starting protocol seems to be pretty good as a starting point. It's actually what Chip had me started on and then we adjusted it from there. Please post up the bloodwork when you get it. Good luck.
 
Thanks mlc31, good to know the protocol sounds OK. I'll add SBHG to the bloodwork, it's only a few bucks more.

I'll definitely post up the results of the bloodwork. After doing homework for the last month or so, I'm looking forward to the results, and the feedback you guys give me on them.
 
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Just got my blood work results. It's alot of info, so I'll just post some of it. Let me know what you think, or if there is something I left out that I should post.

These were flagged:

RBC 5.64 4.10-5.60
Cholesterol, Total 279 100-199
Triglycerides 336 0-149
VLDL Cholesterol Cal 67 5-40
LDL Cholesterol Calc 165 0-99
Testosterone, Serum 299 348-1197


These were within range:

Testosterone, Free 12.53 5.00-21.00
% Free Testosterone 4.19 1.50-4.20
Estradiol, Sensitive 10 3-70
SHBG, Serum 16.6 16.5-55.9
 
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I knew my total testosterone would be low. But I'm kind of surprised my estradiol is low. Is low estradiol common when a person has low T?

My free and %free testosterone are in range according to the results. What are good numbers for free T and %free T?

Looks like I need to get my cholesterol under control ASAP.
 
Wow -- those are some severely out of range cholesterol numbers. I'd make sure you see your GP first and get to the bottom of what's causing those to be so high. I would be stunned if you didn't get put on some meds to assist with bringing those values down. Low testosterone can be a contributor to high cholesterol but there are likely other factors.
 
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