Help me interpret my wife's blood test results please ...

[THeMaCHinE]

My wife is a competitive bb on the local level and is having a hard time getting rid of some weight that she used to be able to shed with ease. She is working hard, her diet is good, etc... She is getting frustrated. She's not really looking to drop the fat for show (she judges now), but for lifestyle.

We are trying to rule things out and one thing we wanted to look at was her hormone levels. These are results of her blood test ... we were told that everything falls within the "normal" range, but we all know that there are high-ends, low-ends and what may be normal for the average joe isn't really that good for a physique athlete. So, those that know, can you tell me how these look for a female? Is there anything that can be "optimized"?

Prolactin: 12 NG/ML
LH: 6.6 MIU/ML
FSH: 7.0 MIU/ML
Estradiol: 48 PG/ML
T4 Free: 0.97 NG/DL
TSH: 1.77 uIU/ML

She is 30 years old. Karma for help if that's an incentive ...

 

[poantrex]

I can only speak for the thyroid tests. TSH looks good, normal T4 levels for male athletes is in the 4.5 to 12.5 range. I have no idea what the correct range is for females, but it seems a bit low to me.

A free t3 test would be most helpful here, normal range is between 80 and 175 ng/dl- if its low as well, cytomel should help things a bit.

 

[THeMaCHinE]

Did you have her T3 levels tested?

It wasn't on the sheet -- the blood test was a doctor-ordered test (we didin't dictate what be tested; we were told it would be complete).

Once it had been done, we figured that we might as well post up what we had and see if anybody could give us insight. I was wondering about T3 as well... The free T4 test doesn't help in that regard does it?

 

[THeMaCHinE]

Post this on the Women's board.

I did -- just covering bases for those over here that may not hit the women's board ...

 

[Seth Roberts]

blood tests

Everything looks ok -- do you know what part of her cycle she was in and does she experience regular monthly menses? Her free T4 is towards the low end of the range (0.9-2 ng/dl). It would definately be useful to see the other components of a thyroid test Total T4, Free T3, Free T3 index. Is she natural?
Seth

 

[Fonz]

Re: blood tests

Everything looks ok -- do you know what part of her cycle she was in and does she experience regular monthly menses? Her free T4 is towards the low end of the range (0.9-2 ng/dl). It would definately be useful to see the other components of a thyroid test Total T4, Free T3, Free T3 index. Is she natural?
Seth

Bump tthat.

Weird, she just got tested for T4. Thyroid panels are like Seth said far more involved.

Fonz

 

[THeMaCHinE]

Re: blood tests

Everything looks ok -- do you know what part of her cycle she was in and does she experience regular monthly menses? Her free T4 is towards the low end of the range (0.9-2 ng/dl). It would definately be useful to see the other components of a thyroid test Total T4, Free T3, Free T3 index. Is she natural?
Seth

I know that she wasn't on her period -- perhaps if told me what the "follicular phase" and "luteal phase" are I could question her as to what part of her cycle she was in.

She did one oxandrolone-only cycle about a year-and-a-half ago but was clean at the time of this test. She was not having regular menses at the time of the test (several months ago), but that has since worked itself out and she is regular now.

So a more complete thyroid test would be of value? Would a testosterone test be of value as well?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Seth Roberts]

test

Testosterone test would probably not be very useful but wouldn't hurt. If you could get a more detailed thyroid test as described as well as TBG (thyroid binding globule) levels (not standard with thyorid testing but can be important) it might tell you more. Also, is she on birth control pills? Aside from all these things and assuming her expanded thyroid tests come back normal, the fact that she is 30 yrs old probably has something to do with it -- gets harder and harder to drop weight for most people (especially women) as they get to late twenties and beyond.

 

[THeMaCHinE]

Re: test

Testosterone test would probably not be very useful but wouldn't hurt. If you could get a more detailed thyroid test as described as well as TBG (thyroid binding globule) levels (not standard with thyorid testing but can be important) it might tell you more. Also, is she on birth control pills? Aside from all these things and assuming her expanded thyroid tests come back normal, the fact that she is 30 yrs old probably has something to do with it -- gets harder and harder to drop weight for most people (especially women) as they get to late twenties and beyond.

Yes, she is on birth control; I'm kinda interested in getting her on centrochroman (a non-steroidal BC pill from India that some of the ladies on the Women's Board are trying out, but there are still a lot of questions there); I will talk to her about scheduling another blood test and ask for the thyroid information.

I wonder if the BC pill is messing with things? She's not willing to accept the age answer ... lol...

Thanks for your help.