IGX

Saw a hormone doc, and my testosterone was 425, T3 4.5 (I think, haven't gotten the actual labs yet) and DHEA was low as well. Estradiol and other related factors all obviously off.

Since I don't have kids yet (working on it), and I'm under 40, the doctor is prescribing Clomid and a T3 medication, and suggested I supplement with DHEA as well.

I know a few of you are on HRT. For those who have been put on Clomid, how'd you feel and at what point did you notice a difference? Same with the T3.

TIA,
Your friend Baffled

I have been taking Armour Thyroid (which is a standardized animal desiccated thyroid tissue) for over 10 years now. Personal opinion - it is better than pure T3 as it is a naturally occurring mixture of thyroid hormones. I also think it is important to treat symptoms, not a blood test. The list of symptoms of hypothyroidism is easily found.

This website is a wealth of information on hypothyroidism:

https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/

Thanks smet. I've got relatively mild symptoms for low thyroid.

We used to have a ton of levothroid and armour thyroid prescriptions come through the pharmacy years ago when I was a clerk.

Everything was low, and he wants me to start at the lowest dosages available and recheck at 3 weeks, 6 weeks, and then every 6 after that if all goes according to plan.

He actually said he's more interested in symptoms than numbers, within reason.

Edited: the thyroid wasn't that low, and the test want super low this time, but it was measured at 325 a s year or two ago and the doctor said he thought it would be a good idea to raise things with a conservative approach.

Good luck and get well. It seems you have a good doctor taking care of you.

Check out that book, Stop The Thyroid Madness. It is a good overview of problems related to treating hypothyroid patients. Unlikely to change your treatment, but will give you a very good understanding of this condition. JMO.

Thanks for the recommendation. Just ordered from Amazon

Just started today on thyroid and clomid.

Anything I think I felt would probably be in my head or due to the oak pollen being through the roof again.

baffled wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 5:17 am Just started today on thyroid and clomid.

Anything I think I felt would probably be in my head or due to the oak pollen being through the roof again.

Are you doing the thyroid thing Sangoma mentioned?

Similar brand.

Or are you asking if I read the book?

baffled wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 1:39 pm Similar brand.

Or are you asking if I read the book?

I guess asking about both.

It the thyroid stuff prescribed?

I've never gotten my levels tested. But I've never thought there would be any harm in upping the testosterone flowing through the blood.

I'm on my phone, so I'll do my best. I haven't read the book yet, but it's in my stack to get through.

Thyroid meds are prescribed, as is clomid. Average range of time for increased/improved hormone levels can be a couple days to weeks for thyroid meds, and I think clomid is often a 90-180 day timeframe to see peak levels, but improvement happens earlier.

DHEA, estradiol etc all will benefit, but I take micronized DHEA 50mg/day.

newguy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 3:21 pm

baffled wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 1:39 pm Similar brand.

Or are you asking if I read the book?

I guess asking about both.

It the thyroid stuff prescribed?

I've never gotten my levels tested. But I've never thought there would be any harm in upping the testosterone flowing through the blood.

Not on my phone anymore, so I can give you a better answer.

Re: Thyroid

That's one of those that really wasn't too low based on the established ranges, but an HRT doc would want to see higher, and based on my description of how I'm feeling, he wanted to see me add a point or two and then check in and even if the number goes higher than he expects, he's still open to a surveillance strategy. I do feel like I noticed a change in just the first two days, having had little sleep this week, but maintaining a little more alertness than I'd expect, not cratering as hard as I normally would, and maybe a few moments of increased body temperature, but not like a fever. It's already over 90 where I live, so that could be it, or not. Every once in a while you'll see someone who takes weeks to notice a significant difference, and others will say in a few days to a week they'll feel very different.

Side effects are there, with the most common one being hair loss in the first couple of months, but that is supposed to reverse as levels normalize and dosages are dialed in. It's also not even close to a guarantee that I'd have any negative side effects, but since they're all manageable to reversible, I'm comfortable based on what's going on in my life and responsibilities that seem to keep piling on.

Re: Clomid

This will increase my test by affecting a couple things like LH and FSH. My estradiol and DHEA were out of whack too. Clomid should also improve my fertility, which will be interesting because we were very surprised my girlfriend wasn't pregnant a few weeks back. Over something like 90 to 120 days, I'll have gone through the sperm I've already made, and should see an increase in fertility, which again, I wasn't worried about but we're thinking about adding a kid so it's definitely not a bad thing.

Regarding test increases, they should be more moderate than injecting exogenous test, creams and gels or having pellets implanted, but since I don't have kids of my own, that's not an option at this point because those would drive sperm production down if not eliminate it.

Expected effects are a better sense of wellbeing, maybe a bump in muscle mass as long as I don't stop working out, easier time staying lean (also greatly influenced by thyroid), and a little more zip with my girlfriend. That wasn't a problem, but I definitely am closer to 40 than I am 30 now, and things are different. Mostly in a good way, to be honest, but I can see how being another 5-10 years older would make life a lot less fun in that area.

Paraphrasing my doctor, he's more interested in my feedback on everything. He's less concerned with a magic number than he is with me noting that I'm feeling better, higher energy levels, better workouts, more focused and motivated, and healthy labs. So if my numbers blow through 1000 total test but bloodwork is healthy, then he'd rather monitor and adjust accordingly when needed. I'll do labs no more than 6 weeks apart, but I'll do them a little more frequently in the beginning as we keep an eye to see if anything takes off in a direction that we don't want.

The last thing I'd note for this post is that a couple guys here said that having "high normal" test isn't that big of a deal. Maybe not unless you were really low, and I've been pretty low. There are a lot of potential reasons for that, from plastics to shots to the head impacting the pituitary gland, or maybe I just wasn't coded for high test. You wouldn't think so based on having fairly impressive gym numbers when that mattered to me more and the sports I've done most of my life, but maybe. Either way, even if it's from something more nefarious, there's nothing I can do about that now, so I may as well feel as good as I can while staying healthy.

There are different tests you can do. Everly has a male hormone panel that's affordable I think. Stan Efferding has a lab he recommends for the male anti-aging/hormonal profile stuff that's like $300 or more I think, or there are blood spot tests through online HRT services.

Thank for the details. Great write up.

Get everything sorted out, get jacked, and then you can start adding some shirtless thirst trap pics to your grindr profile.

I just send my dick into every DM I can and hope for the best

One of the old school tests for hypothyroidism was taking body temperature immediately after waking up. If it was below 36C it was positive. Curiously, another one was cholesterol. High cholesterol = low thyroid. Obviously there are other causes for elevated lipids. However, in conjunction with the symptoms it was useful.

I often run a little cool, but especially in the morning.

Cholesterol tends to be pretty low, though. I guess there's also the debate over "healthy" vs "optimal" and where the HRT stuff can piss off others in the medical field.

I'll also add that the first three days of my regimen coincided with once a decade constipation. Not severe, but it was a departure from my nearly clockwork 3x/day schedule.

Still not quite the same, but that seems to have lessened a bit.

baffled wrote: ↑Mon May 03, 2021 5:32 pm I'll also add that the first three days of my regimen coincided with once a decade constipation. Not severe, but it was a departure from my nearly clockwork 3x/day schedule.

Still not quite the same, but that seems to have lessened a bit.

3 times a day?!?! Da faq you eating? Even with my plant based regimen I only make one deposit most days.

Alfred_E._Neuman wrote: ↑Mon May 03, 2021 11:00 pm

baffled wrote: ↑Mon May 03, 2021 5:32 pm I'll also add that the first three days of my regimen coincided with once a decade constipation. Not severe, but it was a departure from my nearly clockwork 3x/day schedule.

Still not quite the same, but that seems to have lessened a bit.

3 times a day?!?! Da faq you eating? Even with my plant based regimen I only make one deposit most days.

Pretty normal. About 2500 calories by my estimation, mix of vegetables, fruits, eggs, sourdough bread, animal proteins.

I shit within 30 minutes of waking up, usually again in the afternoon, and usually after I eat dinner.