Help with wife's blood work

[Nemesis RR]

I originaly posted in the women's forum but no help there.

First she is in good health and works out with "Core" type work outs 3 times a week. She is 36.

We have a great sex life BUT her sex drive is lacking. Sometimes a little more fatigued than she should be.

These symptoms were horrible before but she is now taking 20mg of natural porgesterone cream. The progesterone brought great benefits and eleviated many of her symptons.

Her problems started after her first pregnancy and she wasdiagnosed as Hypothyroid and takes .175mcg of synthroid. This was 10 years ago.

Her diet and vitamin suplementation is great. Cardio fitness is great. She has better than average muscle tone due to her dedication to stay fit but in my opinion her efforts are greater than her results.

No financial, marital or family problems.

Her PREVIOUS lab work without progesterone supplementation 11/01/07. She was feeling very lethargic and the sex life was not there.

T4 Free 1.46 Range .61 - 1.76 ng/dl
TSH .843 Range .350 - 5.5 uiu/ml

LH 6.1 Range 0 - 76.3
FSH 6.7 Range 3.4 - 33.4

Progesterone 4.2 Range 3.3 - 25.6

Test 35 Range 14 - 76
estradiol 163 Range 150 - 528


This was her blood work done at Quest on 08/01/08. Great improvement but just not perfect yet.

TSH 1.68 Range .4 - 4.5miu/l
T4 Free 1.5 Range .8 - 1.8 ng/dl

LH 2.3 Range .5 - 16.9
FSH 2.4 Range 1.5 - 9.1
Progesterone 14.4 Range 3.3 - 26

DHEA 90 40 - 325
Test total 5 15 - 70 ng/dl
Test Free% .8 .5 - 1.8 percent
Test Free .4 1 - 8.5

Should I consider DHEA or test supplementation?

[BigAk]

Looks like her testosterone levels were better before she started taking the progesterone than after. Desn't this spark an inquiry worth investigating??

.

[hardasnails1973]

Progesterone serums need to be drawn between the 17-22 day of peroid to be accurate. She needs to have testosterone cream as well to bring that up her t levels , dhea is alittle low but not bad should be in the mid range which it is not. Increasing the dhea can also increae the free t in women as well so that might be another option then T creame. I would get the rheins test done at day 20 of her cycle and then go from there.

[Nemesis RR]

Originally Posted by BigAk

Looks like her testosterone levels were better before she started taking the progesterone than after. Desn't this spark an inquiry worth investigating??

.

But she feels MUCH better now with the progesterone. First lab was done at lab corp new ones at Quest.

[Nemesis RR]

Originally Posted by hardasnails1973

Progesterone serums need to be drawn between the 17-22 day of peroid to be accurate. She needs to have testosterone cream as well to bring that up her t levels , dhea is alittle low but not bad should be in the mid range which it is not. Increasing the dhea can also increae the free t in women as well so that might be another option then T creame. I would get the rheins test done at day 20 of her cycle and then go from there.

Progesterone test was done around day 15 or mid luteal i believe. Range is for that time period.

Any possibility that the DHEA will raise test to a reasonable level?

[1cc]

Originally Posted by Nemesis RR

I originaly posted in the women's forum but no help there.

First she is in good health and works out with "Core" type work outs 3 times a week. She is 36.

We have a great sex life BUT her sex drive is lacking. Sometimes a little more fatigued than she should be.

These symptoms were horrible before but she is now taking 20mg of natural porgesterone cream. The progesterone brought great benefits and eleviated many of her symptons.

Her problems started after her first pregnancy and she wasdiagnosed as Hypothyroid and takes .175mcg of synthroid. This was 10 years ago.

Her diet and vitamin suplementation is great. Cardio fitness is great. She has better than average muscle tone due to her dedication to stay fit but in my opinion her efforts are greater than her results.

No financial, marital or family problems.

Her PREVIOUS lab work without progesterone supplementation 11/01/07. She was feeling very lethargic and the sex life was not there.

T4 Free 1.46 Range .61 - 1.76 ng/dl
TSH .843 Range .350 - 5.5 uiu/ml

LH 6.1 Range 0 - 76.3
FSH 6.7 Range 3.4 - 33.4

Progesterone 4.2 Range 3.3 - 25.6

Test 35 Range 14 - 76
estradiol 163 Range 150 - 528


This was her blood work done at Quest on 08/01/08. Great improvement but just not perfect yet.

TSH 1.68 Range .4 - 4.5miu/l
T4 Free 1.5 Range .8 - 1.8 ng/dl

LH 2.3 Range .5 - 16.9
FSH 2.4 Range 1.5 - 9.1
Progesterone 14.4 Range 3.3 - 26

DHEA 90 40 - 325
Test total 5 15 - 70 ng/dl
Test Free% .8 .5 - 1.8 percent
Test Free .4 1 - 8.5

Should I consider DHEA or test supplementation?

She needs to have free T4 and Free T3 tested in order to properly evaluate thyroid function. Proper thyroid function is critical for energy as well as libido.

Was that a DHEA sulfate lab she did or regular DHEA? DHEA sulfate is the correct one. If it is DHEA sulfate then she is on the low side. Her T is also low. Supplementing with 10mg pharmaceutical grade DHEA will raise her DHEA and it should also raise her T levels. In a woman DHEA raises T levels. DHEA should be taken once a day in the morning after breakfast which should include oily or fatty foods, or take a teaspoon of olive oil with breakfast to aid DHEA absorption.

[LadyBK]

Her estradiol is on the low side with first labs. Did you get estradiol level with addition of progesterone??

[Nemesis RR]

Originally Posted by LadyBK

Her estradiol is on the low side with first labs. Did you get estradiol level with addition of progesterone??

No, the blood work was incomplete. As I said she does felt a lot better with the progesterone creme and it did raise her levels to mid level.

UPDATE:

She is feeling better still with the addition of 100mg of oral DHEA. She has more energy and states she feels calmer. We will be following up in a couple months with additional blood work. We are hoping the DHEA will raise her testosterone enough that supplemental testosterone is not required. We are mostly concerned about this because of numerous studies of low testosterone associated with heart mortality.

If someone can suggest the extensive bloodwork required to have an accurate picture for women it would be greatly appreciated.

[LeanGuy]

Originally Posted by Nemesis RR

She is feeling better still with the addition of 100mg of oral DHEA

I hope you meant 10mg DHEA... 100 is way too much for women, and even for most men.

[1cc]

Originally Posted by LeanGuy

I hope you meant 10mg DHEA... 100 is way too much for women, and even for most men.

Ditto. 10mg DHEA put my mother at the top of the lab range. 100mg is way too high for a woman and she may start to experience undesireable side effects like hair loss, unwanted hair growth etc.

[pmgamer18]

Yes I agree 100mgs is very high and some of this will convert into testosterone if she starts to grow hair on her face you will know. My wife was very low way below normal her Dr. put her on 25mgs she tested in 6 weeks still low but it come up some so he put here in this 2x's a day her next test come up but was still low. It was after this that she started to grow hair on her face and Dr. cut her back to 10 mgs a day now she is great. So if her Dr. keeps an eye on it then still 100mgs is very high.

[Nemesis RR]

So far no side effects.

She is reporting reduced stress (or light anxiety is gone) and more mental clarity (she is in a mentally challenging profession).

We will keep a close look at her hair line. We are hoping that some of the DHEA converts to Test as it was very low and low test and cardio health do not go together.

[pmgamer18]

Good idea and if a lot converts into testosterone she will have a hard clit and it will grow if tihs happens back off it it's to much Testosteone.

Originally Posted by Nemesis RR

So far no side effects.

She is reporting reduced stress (or light anxiety is gone) and more mental clarity (she is in a mentally challenging profession).

We will keep a close look at her hair line. We are hoping that some of the DHEA converts to Test as it was very low and low test and cardio health do not go together.