raising free testosterone

[masterpp]

i dont quite understand how it works. in theory, if one wasn't making enough testosterone, couldn't you just improve your free testosterone levels somehow, as free testsosterone is the form which counts. so in theory do we ever need to take extra testosterone, if the small testosterone we make could be de-bound and then used ti improve body ect.
I may be way off the mark

hope you understand what im trying to get at.

[gregxy]

There are suppliments that claim to do this.
such as Unleashed, which contains "Avena Sativa" or
wild oats among other things. This is supposed to reduce the
amount of SHBG and free up T.

To me it seems doubtful that these work. The body's feedback
mechanism in the hypothalimus is most likely sensitive to free test
as well, so if you somehow free up some bound T, LH will be reduced
and the level of free T will return to the original value.

[Weatherlite]

There are ways to do this such as the Svena Sativa and several others. The amount of SHBG reduction is miniscule and couldn't even be measured I bet. Either way, even if this was possible and gave a decent change you still wouldn't be "up to par". Believe it or not, total T plays a role in this as well. If it didn't, barely anyone would need TRT. Check out the majority of the lab results posted here and you'll see almost all of them have "normal" free T even though their total T is messed up.

[dano79]

Have there been any papers published on the importance of total testosteorne levels, not just free levels?

[James23]

I'd like to add that the "proper" way (that I've read) to use those herbs for SHBG is to use them for 2 to 4 weeks and then stop for completely 4 - 6 to allow your levels to renormalize. This is required due to what 'gregxy'mentioned. Therefore, herbs wouldn't seve well as a long terms solution.

[MANWHORE]

SHBG is important .. i don't know at what level but i know it is important,so i think it's best to raise Test then to try and lower SHBG. Now raising Test will raise SHBG so then lowering it will probably be ok but not before .. know what i mean

[stat1951]

As Free T exists as a percentage of Total T, to have really good Free T, one would need a basicaly decent level of Total T to work off of.

For example, my Lab has a Free T Percentage range of 0.2 to 3.0. I have more recently had and maintained excellent levels of Free T Percentages, running from 2.8 to as high as 3.2 (my last test, yes actually above the normal range). So I can have only mioderately decent Total T (500 - 600 range within reference range of 260 - 1000) but pretty good Free T in the ranges of 165 - 180 (with reference ranges of 40 - 240).

Personally, I believe that one of the things that has helped my Free T levels be as good as they have been (above and beyond the use of TRT to raise Total T) has been through the use of Nettles Root Extract. I read an actual study that had been performed that showed that this specific supplement had some moderate success in lowering SHBG and raising Free T levels. Is it a "wonder herb"? I doubt it. But it may have contributed Free T Percentage levels raising from around 1.5 to 2.0% to the current highs of 2.8 to 3.2%. Right now I'm afraid to stop it to find out!

But, back to point, if my Total T levels were only at 250, then raising Free T even to a 3% level would still result in pretty dismal Free T. One still needs the basic levels to work off of.

IMHO.

Larry

[Weatherlite]

I think the docs who decided a % would be a good indicator of Free T forgot to take into account that T levels vary greatly from one individual to the next. IMO, the only good indicator would be the level as compared to a range. With low total T someone can still have Free T levels towards the top of the range...ie 180 on a scale of 50-230. Granted, this would be a VERY high percentage of Total T but like I said, the % standard doesn't take all of the info into account.