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Hello,
I suffered a brain injury due to an IED explosion while I was in combat in Afghanistan. Cognitively, I've recovered very well, with just minor impairments in organization and prioritization. However, within a year or two of the injury I felt like my physical body was slowly transformed to a base state of feeling lethargic, weak, sore, and dysphoric. Within a few months of this new physical reality, my mood has also become largely dysphoric, or at best, apathetic. I have also gained about 25 lbs. When I mentioned the very "physical" nature of my symptoms to my doctor, he just wrote off all of the symptoms as being part of my PTSD, which I already knew was a separate pre-existing condition from the moment I returned to the US, long before the physical effects later took hold in the next year or two.
While my doctor was labeling everything as part of PTSD, I began researching the very high prevalence of pituitary dysfunction in patients who have suffered a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury), so I begged him for a pituitary hormone panel blood test. Several key hormones were clearly off, but technically did not qualify in the lowest or highest 2.5% of values, so my doctor considered them to be "normal" (a tremendously relative term):
TEST: 328 -- [Ref: ca. 300-1100]
E2: 37 -- [Ref: ca. 11-39]
IGF: 120 -- [Ref: ca. 109-284]
Therefore, I just put myself on low doses of Aromasin, Clomid, GHRP-6, and Sermorelin in the last week. I am already well aware that it is frowned upon to start so many meds at the same time, since it makes it impossible to relate any side effects to a specific medication, but I have not encountered any side effects period. Also, I already know that this will hinder my ability to differentiate the degree of effects each med has, but I'm not really interested in the effects of each drug alone, but rather the combined effect on my total hormone levels. These levels will have to be obtained by myself (since I highly doubt my doctor would order repeat blood tests with any regularity), but I don't know how to go about this. Accordingly, I'd be very grateful to anyone who can help provide me some useful feedback on my question below regarding the best way to monitor my own levels --
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**** Using 1)WHAT, 2)WHERE FROM, 3)HOW, and 4)HOW OFTEN would be the best way to regularly monitor my TEST, E2, IGF-1, and Cortisol levels ????
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks!
Chris
I suffered a brain injury due to an IED explosion while I was in combat in Afghanistan. Cognitively, I've recovered very well, with just minor impairments in organization and prioritization. However, within a year or two of the injury I felt like my physical body was slowly transformed to a base state of feeling lethargic, weak, sore, and dysphoric. Within a few months of this new physical reality, my mood has also become largely dysphoric, or at best, apathetic. I have also gained about 25 lbs. When I mentioned the very "physical" nature of my symptoms to my doctor, he just wrote off all of the symptoms as being part of my PTSD, which I already knew was a separate pre-existing condition from the moment I returned to the US, long before the physical effects later took hold in the next year or two.
While my doctor was labeling everything as part of PTSD, I began researching the very high prevalence of pituitary dysfunction in patients who have suffered a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury), so I begged him for a pituitary hormone panel blood test. Several key hormones were clearly off, but technically did not qualify in the lowest or highest 2.5% of values, so my doctor considered them to be "normal" (a tremendously relative term):
TEST: 328 -- [Ref: ca. 300-1100]
E2: 37 -- [Ref: ca. 11-39]
IGF: 120 -- [Ref: ca. 109-284]
Therefore, I just put myself on low doses of Aromasin, Clomid, GHRP-6, and Sermorelin in the last week. I am already well aware that it is frowned upon to start so many meds at the same time, since it makes it impossible to relate any side effects to a specific medication, but I have not encountered any side effects period. Also, I already know that this will hinder my ability to differentiate the degree of effects each med has, but I'm not really interested in the effects of each drug alone, but rather the combined effect on my total hormone levels. These levels will have to be obtained by myself (since I highly doubt my doctor would order repeat blood tests with any regularity), but I don't know how to go about this. Accordingly, I'd be very grateful to anyone who can help provide me some useful feedback on my question below regarding the best way to monitor my own levels --
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**** Using 1)WHAT, 2)WHERE FROM, 3)HOW, and 4)HOW OFTEN would be the best way to regularly monitor my TEST, E2, IGF-1, and Cortisol levels ????
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks!
Chris
