Pre Cycle Lab Results (Please Help!!!)

[Big Al 89]

Hello everyone,

I'm 26 years old and I was hoping to start my first cycle in a few weeks (500mg test E). I decided to get some blood work done before to establish my baselines, and just got the results back today. My total test was 312 ng/dl. I was in absolute shock. I went through labsMD which uses Quest.

I don't really have any of the low testosterone symptoms, so I'm not sure what to make of this. My libido seems good as I wake up with morning wood almost every day. I usually masturbate two times a day (on a rough streak with the ladies now haha)

My concentration seems okay, I'm working on another bachelors in addition to working full time. My gains in the gym have been okay, as I just got done with a nice winter bulk. My strength isn't great but I don't think it's terrible. This week I did 205 X 5 on the bench and 275 X 10 on squats .

I have been kind of depressed/stressed lately, about relationships, and not being able to find someone. Getting to that age where lots of my friends are getting married, and I can't even get a date. Can stress have a major impact on total testosterone levels?

I've already made an appointment with an endocrinologist, but in the meantime does anyone have any input? Has anyone ever gotten their levels rechecked and came back higher? I attached my full lab results. (E level is at 24pg/ml which seems high with low T?....LH/FSH seem kind of low as well)

I'm wondering if everything checks out with the endo and I don't have any underlying condition, would I be able to keep any gains from a cycle with test this low? I also attached a recent progress picture.

Sorry for the wall of text, any help is much appreciated.

 

[hiram1st]

Yes stress can certainly play a role.

When was the blood drawn? First thing in the morning after a good night sleep?

 

[hiram1st]

Just pulled up your pdf on bloodwork I'm sure a more seasoned vet will chime in but I notice one of your liver values is high. Taking anything like Tylenol lately or anything you know is hepotoxic?

 

[Big Al 89]

Just pulled up your pdf on bloodwork I'm sure a more seasoned vet will chime in but I notice one of your liver values is high. Taking anything like Tylenol lately or anything you know is hepotoxic?

Hi thanks for the response. The blood was drawn about noon last Saturday. I fasted for 12 hours before and actually slept in that day until about 11am. I got okay sleep... had a little trouble falling asleep that night. No, not taking anything hepatotoxic that I know of. The only supplements I'm taking is melatonin sometimes at night and BCAA's after a workout.

Do you think not having it drawn in the morning can have a dramatic impact? Seems like I'm half of what is normal for my age.

 

[halfwit]

Would getting results 150ng/dL higher have a different result for you psychologically? How long have you been training AND dealing with this hectic schedule? How's your diet?

I got pre-cycle bloodwork 5 years ago, and found out that I had been dealing with low testosterone (120ng/dL) for a very long time, but never knew it was that. I just had always attributed my fatigue and inability to lose body fat to getting older and reasons I couldn't grasp. TRT changed my life for the better - BUT I did need it.

It's hard to tell if you're in similar shoes with me, but it's certainly in your best interests to investigate before moving forward with any cycles. Your estradiol is okay, and is likely high in ratio with test due to visceral body fat, which is easy to fix.

My .02c

 

[palmers]

If ur runnin around with only 300 in ya then ur doin a pretty good job keepin some muscle on gou

 

[Big Al 89]

Would getting results 150ng/dL higher have a different result for you psychologically? How long have you been training AND dealing with this hectic schedule? How's your diet?

I got pre-cycle bloodwork 5 years ago, and found out that I had been dealing with low testosterone (120ng/dL) for a very long time, but never knew it was that. I just had always attributed my fatigue and inability to lose body fat to getting older and reasons I couldn't grasp. TRT changed my life for the better - BUT I did need it.

It's hard to tell if you're in similar shoes with me, but it's certainly in your best interests to investigate before moving forward with any cycles. Your estradiol is okay, and is likely high in ratio with test due to visceral body fat, which is easy to fix.

My .02c

Yeah I was kind of expecting to have low test. I've always been fairly weak compared the people I usually train with, even though I train harder and eat better than them... If it came back around 500 I wouldn't of cared too much, as I would think I could maintain my cycle gains with those levels...? I'm just shocked it's so low, I haven't been able to think about anything else since the results came back.

I've been training hard since high school so almost ten years. Had shoulder surgery and knee surgery, which cost me a few years of gains though. Diet is spot on I think. I'm cutting so about 250 protein/100 carbs/100 fats. Bulking was about 280 protein/450 carbs/100 fat. Eggs, chicken breast, veggies, fruit, rice, oatmeal, cottage cheese, almonds, peanut butter is really all I eat. (without taking up too much space going meal by meal haha)

If you don't mind me asking, were you around my age when you got your precycle blood work? I don't know if my fatigue is from low T or maybe overtraining. I try to get about 8 hours of sleep a night, but usually feel like I need a nap before training. I train at night after work around 7pm or so.

I just don't know what to do. I've wanted to compete in bodybuilding since high school, and I feel like I'm finally close to that and achieving the body I want, and then bam I learn I got low T. I pretty scared of TRT...but do you feel its a burden having to inject all the time?

 

[carverelli]

I'd rather stick myself eod than deal with 200ng/dl test levels indefinetely

My trt protocol is 125 mg test cyp every 4 days. I don't mind that at all when considering the alternative

 

[Megatron28]

You should run the labs again. But go around 8AM next time after a good nights sleep. No alcohol for a few days before either. You may also want to check Vitamin D and Prolactin too.

Do you drink much because that could be affecting your liver values too? They are not terrible, but they could be a lot better. If they are still elevated this next go around supplementing NAC daily could be beneficial.

Make sure you drink more water the day before you go again. I would like to see your kidney numbers look better. How much protein are you eating daily?

Finally, keep an eye on your CRP number. It is starting to get up there. Don't work out the day before you get your blood work again and let's see if that helps.

You are only 26 years old. Your blood work does not look good for someone your age. Do you see a doctor regularly? You may also want to look into having a sleep study done to make sure your don't have apnea or RLS as poor sleep definitely lowers testosterone levels. How many hours of sleep do you average a day?

 

[Big Al 89]

You should run the labs again. But go around 8AM next time after a good nights sleep. No alcohol for a few days before either. You may also want to check Vitamin D and Prolactin too.

Do you drink much because that could be affecting your liver values too? They are not terrible, but they could be a lot better. If they are still elevated this next go around supplementing NAC daily could be beneficial.

Make sure you drink more water the day before you go again. I would like to see your kidney numbers look better. How much protein are you eating daily?

Finally, keep an eye on your CRP number. It is starting to get up there. Don't work out the day before you get your blood work again and let's see if that helps.

You are only 26 years old. Your blood work does not look good for someone your age. Do you see a doctor regularly? You may also want to look into having a sleep study done to make sure your don't have apnea or RLS as poor sleep definitely lowers testosterone levels. How many hours of sleep do you average a day?

Thanks for the response. Yeah I'll get the Vitamin D and Prolactin checked next time. I don't drink a whole lot. Maybe a few drinks a month when I go out with friends. I trained legs the night before pretty hard so maybe the high ALT and CRP numbers are just from muscle inflammation?

Right now I'm getting about 250 grams of protein, all from chicken breast (organic), eggs, and cottage cheese before bed. I usually drink about 1-1.5 gallons of water a day...I bring a gallon to work and its usually close to gone when I head home.

I usually get about 7-8 hours of sleep on the weekday and about 9 sometimes 10 on the weekend. I always feel great during the weekend when I get that much sleep. And no I haven't seen my general practitioner in a while... I'm just in shock my T levels are so low, it makes no sense because I don't feel terrible and can still train hard.

 

[weavy88]

yes vitamin d is very important. Last i checked, 75% of the population is deficient in vitamin d. Why is this important? Because studies have shown that having low vitamin d levels equates to lower testosterone. One study showed a 25% improvement after participants began supplementing with vitamin d. So, based on the statistics, there is a 75% chance that your test levels will go up from taking vitamin d (and its really cheap)

 

[Big Al 89]

Thanks for the responses everybody. I'll start supplementing with Vitamin D, as here in Michigan the sun is non existent haha. One thing I forgot.. my mom has an under active thyroid, which runs in her side of the family. I'm gonna add T3, T4, and TSH to my next blood test.

All the best,

Al

 

[Megatron28]

Thanks for the responses everybody. I'll start supplementing with Vitamin D, as here in Michigan the sun is non existent haha. One thing I forgot.. my mom has an under active thyroid, which runs in her side of the family. I'm gonna add T3, T4, and TSH to my next blood test.

All the best,

Al

Good call. I forgot that one.

And it sounds like you live a healthy lifestyle. Hopefully the lab results were just a fluke.

 

[halfwit]

Yeah I was kind of expecting to have low test. I've always been fairly weak compared the people I usually train with, even though I train harder and eat better than them... If it came back around 500 I wouldn't of cared too much, as I would think I could maintain my cycle gains with those levels...? I'm just shocked it's so low, I haven't been able to think about anything else since the results came back.

I've been training hard since high school so almost ten years. Had shoulder surgery and knee surgery, which cost me a few years of gains though. Diet is spot on I think. I'm cutting so about 250 protein/100 carbs/100 fats. Bulking was about 280 protein/450 carbs/100 fat. Eggs, chicken breast, veggies, fruit, rice, oatmeal, cottage cheese, almonds, peanut butter is really all I eat. (without taking up too much space going meal by meal haha)

If you don't mind me asking, were you around my age when you got your precycle blood work? I don't know if my fatigue is from low T or maybe overtraining. I try to get about 8 hours of sleep a night, but usually feel like I need a nap before training. I train at night after work around 7pm or so.

I just don't know what to do. I've wanted to compete in bodybuilding since high school, and I feel like I'm finally close to that and achieving the body I want, and then bam I learn I got low T. I pretty scared of TRT...but do you feel its a burden having to inject all the time?

I didn't get checked until I was in my early 30's, but I was hypogonadal for a decade as we're pretty certain it was long-term opiate use after multiple knee surgeries.

I completely understand how it feels to give 400% only to get back 20. Definitely keep investigating and rule out primary hypogonadism as your LH is on the border of being secondary - which a good doc should be able to determine.

Keep at it though, the end result is worth it.

 

[Big Al 89]

UPDATE:

So I ended up seeing an endo about this and got new bloods as well. The first thing she said to me was that 300ng/dl wasn't terrible for the middle of the day (first test was taken at noon). For the last month I've been taking 4,000iu/day of vitamin D (one cap in morning, one at night, half life is around 12 hours), ZMA, and trying to get 8.5 hours of sleep of a night.

My new bloods came in at 460ng/ml. We actually discussed steroid use and my upcoming cycle and she didn't seem concerned; just mentioned the basics like don't abuse/stay on for long periods.

I know 460 isn't extremely high, but I have tons of energy and no symptoms of low T (which is why I was shocked by the first result). Plus with classes over now for the summer, I'll have a lot less stress, so I'm sure I could get them a tad higher. I'm going to start my cycle this Monday. Probably wont do a log, but I'll make a thread with some before and afters.

Thanks for everyone's responses.