My blood test results, please help interpret

[big perm]

I received my blood work back from the doc today, here are my specific results from today's test along with results from a test about 9 months ago.

I'm on HRT right now: 300 mg cyp a week / 250 HCG 2X week / .5 mg arimidex 2X week

My specific questions/observations follow:

test. (serum) 2011 ng/dl (235 ng/dl before) Range : 348-1197
test (free) 97.53 ng/dl (not measured before) Range : 5.0-21.0
% free test 4.85 (not measured before) Range : 1.5-4.2

IGF-1 317 ng/ml (not measured before) Range : 109-284

Estradiol (sensitive) 60 pg/ml (27.6 pg/ml) range : 3-70

A) I've been on HRT for about 9 months, 300 mg cyp/week. Obviously this is too high as shown by my test levels. I'm gonna drop it down to 200/week and test again in 4-6 months.

B) Im not very familiar with free test levels. My levels are way high out of the range given in my papers, what do my levels mean, anything I should be aware of?

C) IGF-1 What does my level tell me? The range they give is 109-284.

D) Estradiol is higher than it was 9 months ago (60 compared to 27.6). The range this time is 3-70. I'm using .5 mg arimidex twice a week now, should I change?


Thanks in advance to all that offer their observations/comments and advice.

 

[parrish02]

I received my blood work back from the doc today, here are my specific results from today's test along with results from a test about 9 months ago.

I'm on HRT right now: 300 mg cyp a week / 250 HCG 2X week / .5 mg arimidex 2X week

My specific questions/observations follow:

test. (serum) 2011 ng/dl (235 ng/dl before)
test (free) 97.53 ng/dl (not measured before)
% free test 4.85 (not measured before)

IGF-1 317 ng/ml (not measured before)

Estradiol (sensitive) 60 pg/ml (27.6 pg/ml)

A) I've been on HRT for about 9 months, 300 mg cyp/week. Obviously this is too high as shown by my test levels. I'm gonna drop it down to 200/week and test again in 4-6 months.

B) Im not very familiar with free test levels. My levels are way high out of the range given in my papers, what do my levels mean, anything I should be aware of?

C) IGF-1 What does my level tell me? The range they give is 109-284.

D) Estradiol is higher than it was 9 months ago (60 compared to 27.6). The range this time is 3-70. I'm using .5 mg arimidex twice a week now, should I change?


Thanks in advance to all that offer their observations/comments and advice.

You should put the ranges in this post as they vary by lab.

Also, when was the blood test taken in relation to the last shot and Adex dosage? It makes a huge difference with the test/Adex levels - most recommend doing blood work on the scheduled day of the injection, but prior to taking it. By doing this, you get the lowest level of the week. Given that you are taking 300mg/wk, your levels should be sky high - as they are. I get a TT level of around 1200 on 150mg....

E2 is pretty high - 20 to 25 seems to be ideal for most. FWIW, the half life of Adex is 46.8 hrs so taking it 2x/wk leaves you without the correct dosage most of the time. Try .25mg EOD. If you drop the amount of test, the E2 should taper off a little also but you may still need to increase the Adex to get it into the ideal zone. If you get E2 too low, you will feel like crap also so it's important to get it right. You'll probably need to do bloodwork more often than 4-6 months until you get it dialed in. Once you find the sweet spot, life is good.

 

[big perm]

You should put the ranges in this post as they vary by lab.

Also, when was the blood test taken in relation to the last shot and Adex dosage? It makes a huge difference with the test/Adex levels - most recommend doing blood work on the scheduled day of the injection, but prior to taking it. By doing this, you get the lowest level of the week. Given that you are taking 300mg/wk, your levels should be sky high - as they are. I get a TT level of around 1200 on 150mg....

E2 is pretty high - 20 to 25 seems to be ideal for most. FWIW, the half life of Adex is 46.8 hrs so taking it 2x/wk leaves you without the correct dosage most of the time. Try .25mg EOD. If you drop the amount of test, the E2 should taper off a little also but you may still need to increase the Adex to get it into the ideal zone. If you get E2 too low, you will feel like crap also so it's important to get it right. You'll probably need to do bloodwork more often than 4-6 months until you get it dialed in. Once you find the sweet spot, life is good.

I do my shots on Mon/thursday and I had my blood taken Thursday morning before my shots.

I updated my original post showing the ranges, sorry for overlooking this point.

I feel good other than a slight decrease in erection strength, cialis works a little but not like I think it should. I'm assuming this is because of the higher estrogen levels?

 

[parrish02]

I do my shots on Mon/thursday and I had my blood taken Thursday morning before my shots.

I updated my original post showing the ranges, sorry for overlooking this point.

I feel good other than a slight decrease in erection strength, cialis works a little but not like I think it should. I'm assuming this is because of the higher estrogen levels?

Good on the timing for the blood work. Should give you realistic numbers.

Chances are once you drop the amount of test to 200/wk (or even 150 if that puts you where you need to be) and keep the Adex where you have it (once again, you might try it .25mg EOD instead of .5mg 2x/wk), you will notice a big difference due to lowering of E2. But, without blood work you are still playing a guessing game so get it checked about 8-10 wks after you make the change - then fine tune and check again in 8-10 weeks.

Personally, I had blood work done 7 times in the first year - now I can tell when something is off and make small changes as needed but only do blood work once a year. If you are like me, you will feel better with your TT around 1000-1200 and E2 around 20-25 than with the super-high levels you are at now.

 

[big perm]

Thanks so much for your responses. I'll drop test to 200, change frequency and amount of arimidex, and get retested 8-10 weeks from now as you suggested.

Any thoughts on my IGF levels? Are they always raised like this in HRT programs?

 

[parrish02]

Not sure about IGF as I've never had mine tested while on HRT. In fact, in all of the HRT research i've done, I have yet to see it mentioned. I'd ask your doc about it and whether the high test numbers would cause it to be out of range.

 

[XMAN.]

Spot on parrish

And don't worry about igf-1 still fine and it'll eventually drop when dropping ur test dose.

Sent from my HTC Sensation XL with Beats Audio X315e using EliteFitness

 

[big perm]

As an update to this post, I had blood taken again..my results are as follows:

BEFORE
test. (serum) 2011 ng/dl Range : 348-1197
test (free) 97.53 ng/dl Range : 5.0-21.0
% free test 4.85 Range : 1.5-4.2

IGF-1 317 ng/ml Range : 109-284

Estradiol (sensitive) 60 pg/ml range : 3-70


After I posted this original post and received the helpful feedback, I dropped the test down to 200 mg/week and kept the adex the same. I feel pretty good, libido still sky high but still seem to need cialis or viagra for "sustained" erections - so I'm thinking it's something else. My current test results are below:

TODAY
test. (serum) 1213 ng/dl (235 ng/dl before) Range : 348-1197
test (free) 56.40 ng/dl (not measured before) Range : 5.0-21.0
% free test 4.65 (not measured before) Range : 1.5-4.2

IGF-1 285 ng/ml (not measured before) Range : 109-284

Estradiol (sensitive) 18 pg/ml (27.6 pg/ml) range : 3-70

So I think I'm pretty much where I want to be, I'll retest in 8 weeks or so to make sure I'm still good. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[Judo Tom]

how do you feel now vs the last test?

are you under a docs care or just your own?

 

[big perm]

I feel about the same...nothing noticeable. I feel much, much better than I did before I started my self-regulated the treatment though.