Lab Results, can you help diag? - Hormone Problems Message Board

stiletto23 · 12-29-2005, 01:06 PM

Ok, been going through some lab work to determine cause of low testosterone for decreased sex drive. (First diagnosed about a year ago)

I am now on Androgel but here are my latest results after about a week on Androgel.

Glucose (Fasting) 78 mg/dL
Total Cholesterol 183
Triglycerides 503 MG/dL
HDL 34 MG/dL
LDL could not compute

DHEA 60 ng/dl (Male should be 180-1250 ng/dL??)
Prolactin 7.8 ng/mL
Testosterone 353 (lowest reading was a 259 a year ago)
Estradiol Free 2%
TSH 3.0 uIU/ml
PSA .8 ng/mL

CBC All Normal
Lipade/Amylase Normal
COMP METABOLIC PANEL = All Normal

The low DHEA has me concerned. I haven't had Cortisol checked but low DHEA like that could indicate many things. Any ideas anyone? Planning on seeing an Endo Dr. but would like some thoughts anyways.

BTW - I'm 30/M

Thanks

-kevin

annemv · 12-29-2005, 07:47 PM

I find that tsh to be questionable. That is the thyroid stimulating hormone.
Make sure they check your Ft4 and Ft3,cortisol,acth.

stiletto23 · 12-29-2005, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by annemv

I find that tsh to be questionable. That is the thyroid stimulating hormone.
Make sure they check your Ft4 and Ft3,cortisol,acth.

Why is that? I looked back at the last 3 blood tests which it was on and it has been around the same each time. First time was done by LabCorp, 2nd and 3rd were Quest. t3+t4 were normal 6 mo's ago. What is ACTH?

annemv · 12-30-2005, 06:49 AM

ACTH is a hormone relased by the pituitary gland that correlates with cortisol.
From what I have experienced and from listening to what others have to say, that tsh is questionable. The have lowered the "cutoff" for hypo to 3 as it was 5.
Find your ft4 labs and post then all on the thyroid board here. Make sure you put the ranges.
You will get good anwers there.
Do you have any other symptoms besided sex drive?

stiletto23 · 12-30-2005, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by annemv

ACTH is a hormone relased by the pituitary gland that correlates with cortisol.
From what I have experienced and from listening to what others have to say, that tsh is questionable. The have lowered the "cutoff" for hypo to 3 as it was 5.
Find your ft4 labs and post then all on the thyroid board here. Make sure you put the ranges.
You will get good anwers there.
Do you have any other symptoms besided sex drive?

Ok I will check the other results. The range is up to 5 on these test results still for whatever reason. Anyways as far as other symptoms go I've been through the ringer the last year. I am an asthmatic and I got sick last January with 3 sinus/chest infections in a row. Had a lot of antibiotics then and a few months before that for some dental work. Anyways to make a long story short, I got over the sinus infections okay but tightness in my chest has never gone away. I've been treated with almost every asthma medication available to no real benefit. Dr's seem clueless. So they are running all this bloodwork to see what else it might be. I havent had a bronchoscopy but have had X-Rays and a Chest CT that were normal. They dont' seem interested in doing a bronchoscopy and just consider me "poorly" managed asthma, yet I am religious with my inhalers and have never had any issues like this prior to earlier this year. Usually I get about one chest/sinus infection a year and something like Biaxin will fix me up in a matter of days. The chest tightness issue could be just coincidental to the DHEA/Testosterone though I am not sure what the relation could be or if there is one.