Lab results and wondering about lab ranges.

[Betman144]

Hey, male 32 years old in Norway here.

Been on a slippery slope downwards in quality of life the last 5 years. Started reading alot about low t and what one could do about it.

Main symptoms have been :

Less sexual drive with lower quality erections
Fatigue
Brain fog
A bit anxious/depressed
Never get excited about anything anymore. Everything is just a drag.
Memory has gone to shit.

Had blood drawn a couple of weeks ago.

Testosterone 14,6 nmol/L ( 5,5 - 25,2 )
Estradiol 0,24 nmol/L ( 0,00-0,20 )
SHBG 34 nmol/L ( 10-57 )

TSH 1,74 mIU/L ( 0,27-4,20 )
T4 Free 19,5 pmol/L ( 12,0-22,0 )

Vit d, iron, cholesterol, B12 and blood-numbers are all in range.

I converted the testosterone values into ng/dl, and it equates to 421 ng/dl.
My doc was specific that my T was fine. I can see why he would say that, seeing that they use a range from 160 - 728 ng/dl.
He did want to retest in 5 weeks though and hopefully I can get him to do LH and FSH aswell.

Any input is appreciated

 

[Milton]

Check your diet before you proceed down this road, because once your on it your on it for good. Usually your symptoms are part of life but most of the time boils down to your diet. Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

 

[halfwit]

Have you had a sleep study? You're not clinically hypogonadal, but that doesn't mean anything. I'd also get free testosterone looked at.

 

[Betman144]

My diet has been mostly the same the last 10 years. I used to be very into eating right and working out, and I was about 210 pounds with 10-12% bodyfat 7 years ago at 1,82m.
But the last years, it`s just impossible to get anything out of my diet.. not that that`s the biggest drawback I`m feeling, but seeing as I eat the same things as back then still, I dont feel like that`s the problem.

 

[Betman144]

They checked something they called "Free androgen index" and that was 42,9% range 17,6 - 78,8%..

Never had a sleep study done. Not even sure that`s something I can get done here without the doc really on board.

Does anyone have any knowledge of why the ranges on hormones are so different around the world? I understand it you have 2 ranges in the US, but the range here seems to be a good 100 points lower than the lowest of yours..

 

[halfwit]

They checked something they called "Free androgen index" and that was 42,9% range 17,6 - 78,8%..

Never had a sleep study done. Not even sure that`s something I can get done here without the doc really on board.

Does anyone have any knowledge of why the ranges on hormones are so different around the world? I understand it you have 2 ranges in the US, but the range here seems to be a good 100 points lower than the lowest of yours..

Ughh, the FAI. I really dislike that test as it's an algorithm that calculates a value based on a best guess. We have blood tests for actual numbers, not guesses!

Ranges differ from place to place because they're based on a sample of the results for a given area. As different cultures/races/regions have different diet practices, body compositions, and even genetic predispositions, they do this to try to get a realistic result for what "should" be "normal" in your area.

The problem with this is that many labs use data from people that get blood work done because they're sick or elderly. I know that here in the US, this was an issue that labs have tried to fix by excluding certain age groups, but they forget that it still includes those with ailments - which may not be diagnosed, dropping the norm down a few percentile points.

Unfortunately as there isn't an owner's manual for the human body, medical science has to use tools like statistics to try to interpret data and categorize folks where the data places them. Until they take a proactive role in PREVENTING disease, it likely won't change - it's still focused on treating it.

If you snore at night, and have the symptoms you have, a good doctor should be able to request a sleep study as many insurance companies prefer the cost of a CPAP over the drugs used to treat the symptoms. Give it a try, that might just be the ticket to feeling better.

 

[Betman144]

Okay, read up on it a bit now, seems the FAI is often used because testing free testosterone is expensive.
The government pays for everything here, so I guess that`s what I get. 100*(test/shbg).. a shot in the dark

Havent really had any complaints about snoring, but I will talk it over with my doc when I go in for the next bloods.

Thanks for taking time for this. You and a good few others on this board seem to be in possesion of vast amounts of knowledge.

Im pretty sure I will eventually end up on trt, if I cant get my levels higher though. But I will turn alot of stones before I do.

 

[halfwit]

Okay, read up on it a bit now, seems the FAI is often used because testing free testosterone is expensive.
The government pays for everything here, so I guess that`s what I get. 100*(test/shbg).. a shot in the dark

Havent really had any complaints about snoring, but I will talk it over with my doc when I go in for the next bloods.

Thanks for taking time for this. You and a good few others on this board seem to be in possesion of vast amounts of knowledge.

Im pretty sure I will eventually end up on trt, if I cant get my levels higher though. But I will turn alot of stones before I do.

Sounds like a plan.

Yep, some of us have jumped through the hoops already, so we have some experience with these things. Please check back in, so we know how things are going!

 

[Betman144]

Went in for a follow up bloodtest a week ago.
Doctor wanted to check E2 again as it was high the last time. Also checked prolactin, LH and FSH.

E2 0,23nmol/L ( 0,00 - 0,20 )

Prolactin 35 mIU/L (70 -281 )

FSH 0,9 ( 0,7-11,1 )
LH 4,7 ( 0,8 - 7,6 )

So, Prolactin is low even though my E2 is high.

FSH 0,9.. my doctor says this is a normal value.

Any input is appreciated