Blood Results Are In :: Hairloss for 10 years, now Low Libido

Hi Everyone, been a while since I've posted here but always come back when searching for answers to questions. Keep up the good work.

So I just turned 32 and noticed that in the past couple of years my libido has really started to drop. Last time I felt crazy good libido was when I was 29 about to turn 30, starting a new long term relationship, and I felt like a high school kid every day. Through that relationship, my libido dropped slowly and after about 6 months in I had a hard time "keeping it up" every time. Ended up not being able to use condoms. The relationship (long distance) became stressful and I'm sure that played a role...but when it ended after a year, I never felt my libido was really "back." I had another 6 month relationship shortly after, where my libido was okay to start and then got even worse. Nowadays, I don't generally feel aroused unless I watch some stimulating video and work at it. So, I was led to take action.

I took some urine/saliva samples back in May for a naturopath and she said I had a number of things wrong...candida & leaky gut being one of them (I had a candida score of 60 out of 100). She put me on a number of homeopathics for the candida/leaky gut including Myrrh, Pau D'arco tea, Spilanthes, Mucloytic drainage formula, etc. Also a gluten-free diet, probiotics and a number of Shaklee vitamins (multi, zinc, E, C, B Complex, etc.). All taken 3x daily. It was a lot. I was supposed to be on that for 5 months, but only did 3 months religiously, then 1 month half-ass, then nothing the last month. A lot of my problems (poor sleep, sore throat, etc.) went away, but libido never fully recovered. I just don't feel aroused generally.

Now, I have Tourettes, so I have this general level of anxiety/stress that's always with me...which I think is part of the problem with my hairloss/libido. But, I decided to go to a medical doctor, get some Cialis for immediate use and blood work done to check my testosterone levels. The Cialis works, although it doesn't improve libido (just helps erections), but here's what I found out today from the blood work regarding my Testosterone levels:

Total Testosterone: 338 ng/dL (normal range is 250-1100)
Free Testosterone: 41.8 pg/mL (normal range is 46-224)
Bio-available Testosterone: 96.9 ng/dL (normal range is 110-575)
Albumin: 5.1 g/dL (normal range is 3.6-5.1)
Sex Hormone Binding Globulin: 33 (normal range is 8-48)

The doctor said the low Free Testosterone and low Bio-available Testosterone were a potential clue to my low libido. She gave me a prescription for Androgel (testosterone gel). She said the gel could cause more hair loss but would improve libido, maybe lower my voice, maybe shrink my testicles a bit, and improve overall manly feelings.

So, I'm in a predicament. I want to feel aroused and more like a man than I have recently, but I don't want to lose more hair faster. I'm at the point where I already buzz my head to 1/8 inch and it's still noticeable on the top of my head...very thin and receding.

Any advice? I tried to be as specific as possible.

Thanks for your time.

Also...I'm not taking Finasteride, Minoxidil or any other hair loss medications/treatments. I've tried to just stay natural, try supplements/fasting/juicing, but nothing has worked. Tried to stay natural and deal with it. But the libido is a bigger issue now.

Magnum wrote:Also...I'm not taking Finasteride, Minoxidil or any other hair loss medications/treatments. I've tried to just stay natural, try supplements/fasting/juicing, but nothing has worked. Tried to stay natural and deal with it. But the libido is a bigger issue now.

What are you eating?

Magnum - If I were to guess, you probably have insulin resistance.

Besides some supplements that can really help a lot, it would also help if you are consuming the correct diet for your metabolic type.

For example, if you're juicing and not eating enough meat for instance and your metabolic type is between mixed to protein, then juicing and smoothies would be present a negative effect for libido.

http://www.immortalhair.org/apps/blog/show/1740221-treating-preventing-erectile-dysfunction

Part II:

http://www.immortalhair.org/apps/blog/show/1740278-treating-preventing-erectile-dysfunction-part-2

Do you exercise?

Try some weightlifting to raise testosterone. Legs (squats) in particular.

Maybe research some natural test boosters - if you go to any bodybuilding website you can get good info.

There are supps to raise total test and supps to raise free test. I would try to raise it naturally first before resorting to androgel.

Thanks everyone. To answer some of your questions, and provide more info...

Diet
Breakfast - I usually drink 12oz of coffee each weekday morning, and either eat a breakfast burrito (egg, cheese, potato and either bacon, sausage or no meat), bacon and eggs, a smoothie of almond milk or plain Bulgarian yogurt, berries, and half a banana (sometimes with bee pollen), an english muffin breakfast sandwhich with egg, cheese, and bacon or sausage.
Lunch - I usually go to Whole Foods and get a hot meal consisting of a meat and some greens or vegetable of sorts. Sometimes a chicken Chipotle burrito, or a fish burrito bowl from Wahoo's, or shrimp Pad Thai from Noodles & Things. I eat out.
Dinner - Sometimes I heat up a good quality frozen wheat crust pizza from the local market, grill chicken or steak with steamed vegetables, make Annie's organic mac and cheese with Tilapia fish, etc.
Snacks - I often crave a Snickers bar in the mid afternoon but often eat a piece of fruit, some almond butter on rice cakes, etc. I don't snack that often, though.
Drinks - I usually drink 64oz of water each day, sometimes a diet cola. I usually don't drink any fluids when I eat besides coffee in the morning. I drink alcohol maybe 1-2 times per week, on the weekends in which I may consume up to 5-6 beers in a night.

How do I figure out my metabolic type? I can share more results from the blood test, but the doctor saw now signs of Diabetes. Not sure if she looked for hypoglycemic tendencies, but blood tests did reveal that about 10 years ago when I last got blood tests. Those earlier blood tests also revealed Testosterone levels on the lower side, although I don't remember exact figures.

I will check out the natural supplements to increase free testosterone. Do you have any specific product suggestions?

I'd like to figure out the root cause, but realize that my body might just be older and have changed now...and may need some form of supplementation to help my libido...and who knows, maybe stop my hairloss and even thicken what I've got now.

Thanks all. Looking forward to your next thoughts.

Oh, and for exercise...I usually run a mile and half 2-4 times a week. Have been irregular with 20 minutes of yoga stretching afterward. I don't lift weights anymore. I'll play disc golf, ski, hike, or ride my bike once a week depending on the season. I also play music once a week, and carry my gear in/out of house each time (standing up playing guitar for a couple hours at a time). I'm pretty lazy on Sundays, though, usually just laying on the couch watching football all day. Can more intense exercise get my free and bio-available testosterone levels into the normal range?

Oh, and IH, I read those articles you linked to...but will re-read them. It's just hard to know what actually applies to me.

Some vices...I also smoke marijuana a few times a week, and dip chewing tobacco each day. Not good, I know.

Oh and if I use a natural supplement to increase free testosterone, like Universal N1-T, will it increase libido and not make me lose more hair like Androgel?

Majority of the big names in the industry like Dr Jonny Bowden etc believe that dietary manipulations are far superior to otc test boosters. Like CS mentioned earlier try the metabolic typing test to determine your type.

http://www.naturalhealthyellowpages.com/metabolic/self_test.html


1 Rectify your diet and lifestyle. Eliminate vegetable oil for cooking, derive protein from good sources like grass fed beef, bison, lamb, fowl, eggs, fish. Eat plenty of vegetables like celery, spinach, arugula, parsley and also the cruciferous ones like broccoli sprouts, broccoli, kale etc. Get good fats from sources like fatty cuts of meat and fish, whole eggs, avacado's, coconut, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil etc. Try to cook at home as much as you can and limit your outside food intake. Get plenty of sunshine, sleep for 7-8 hours every night. Reduce or better yet stop smoking weed and chewing tobacco. Add supplements recommended by CS and other few knowledgeable folks on this board to fill in the gaps with your diet/lifestyle.

2 I totally agree with scotty. Incorporate some strength training . Mark Rippetoe's starting strength book and a dvd is a must have imo. It will put you on the right track. Heavy Squats, deadlifts etc executed with good form and full range of motion have several benefits besides raising testosterone levels. Try recreational activities like salsa, latin dancing, capoeira etc. Not only you will be learning a new skill but besides there will be a plenty of hot women so that's a bonus, lol.

Just my two cents..

One more thing..check out Mike Mahler's articles/videos on hormone optimization. You can also benefit a lot by reading articles by Dr Jonny Bowden, Dr Eric Serrano, Robb Wolf, Ori Hoffmekler etc.

Magnum wrote:Thanks everyone. To answer some of your questions, and provide more info...

Diet
Breakfast - I usually drink 12oz of coffee each weekday morning, and either eat a breakfast burrito (egg, cheese, potato and either bacon, sausage or no meat), bacon and eggs, a smoothie of almond milk or plain Bulgarian yogurt, berries, and half a banana (sometimes with bee pollen), an english muffin breakfast sandwhich with egg, cheese, and bacon or sausage.
Lunch - I usually go to Whole Foods and get a hot meal consisting of a meat and some greens or vegetable of sorts. Sometimes a chicken Chipotle burrito, or a fish burrito bowl from Wahoo's, or shrimp Pad Thai from Noodles & Things. I eat out.
Dinner - Sometimes I heat up a good quality frozen wheat crust pizza from the local market, grill chicken or steak with steamed vegetables, make Annie's organic mac and cheese with Tilapia fish, etc.
Snacks - I often crave a Snickers bar in the mid afternoon but often eat a piece of fruit, some almond butter on rice cakes, etc. I don't snack that often, though.
Drinks - I usually drink 64oz of water each day, sometimes a diet cola. I usually don't drink any fluids when I eat besides coffee in the morning. I drink alcohol maybe 1-2 times per week, on the weekends in which I may consume up to 5-6 beers in a night.

How do I figure out my metabolic type? I can share more results from the blood test, but the doctor saw now signs of Diabetes. Not sure if she looked for hypoglycemic tendencies, but blood tests did reveal that about 10 years ago when I last got blood tests. Those earlier blood tests also revealed Testosterone levels on the lower side, although I don't remember exact figures.

I will check out the natural supplements to increase free testosterone. Do you have any specific product suggestions?

I'd like to figure out the root cause, but realize that my body might just be older and have changed now...and may need some form of supplementation to help my libido...and who knows, maybe stop my hairloss and even thicken what I've got now.

Thanks all. Looking forward to your next thoughts.

Supplements would be a band-aid for your issues here.

You need to clean up your diet. Get rid of anything that doesn't rot when left out on the counter and add more saturated fat (animal, coconut or butter). Avoid gluten and veggie oils and your problems will vanish.

dannyroddy wrote:Supplements would be a band-aid for your issues here.

You need to clean up your diet. Get rid of anything that doesn't rot when left out on the counter and add more saturated fat (animal, coconut or butter). Avoid gluten and veggie oils and your problems will vanish.

Okay, so just eat whole foods such as fruits, veggies, meat, whole grains (w/out gluten) and dairy? No packaged foods unless they need to be refrigerated (sourced from whole foods and still enzymatic)?

Magnum wrote:Oh and if I use a natural supplement to increase free testosterone, like Universal N1-T, will it increase libido and not make me lose more hair like Androgel?

Anybody have any insight on this? Would like to use this to compliment diet if it's not going to cause more hair loss.

Magnum wrote:

dannyroddy wrote:Supplements would be a band-aid for your issues here.

You need to clean up your diet. Get rid of anything that doesn't rot when left out on the counter and add more saturated fat (animal, coconut or butter). Avoid gluten and veggie oils and your problems will vanish.

Okay, so just eat whole foods such as fruits, veggies, meat, whole grains (w/out gluten) and dairy? No packaged foods unless they need to be refrigerated (sourced from whole foods and still enzymatic)?

If you're determined to fix things, which most aren't, I would suggest limiting diet to:

High quality wild-caught and grass-fed meat
Saturated fats (animal, butter, coconut, red palm)
Starchy tubers

If you don't know how to cook or pack a lunch, the time to learn is now.

I outline my diet here:

http://www.carnivorehealth.com/quick-start-guide/

I have always been perplexed by foods that increase and decrease estrogen. I try to eat a variety of vegetables which, I assume, provide an even balance of foods that both increase and decrease estrogen. There are probably times when I eat foods that have a higher concentration of one or the other for weeks at a time and I always wondered what kind of effect this has on the body.

tonyj wrote:I have always been perplexed by foods that increase and decrease estrogen. I try to eat a variety of vegetables which, I assume, provide an even balance of foods that both increase and decrease estrogen. There are probably times when I eat foods that have a higher concentration of one or the other for weeks at a time and I always wondered what kind of effect this has on the body.

Getting too caught up in the nuances of hormonal involvement with food might do more harm than good. Keep it simple

Danny, been reading your site. Great info! I can tell you put a lot of effort into your research. Some questions about some of what you say:

Those who are balding presumably have high DHT, which in excessive amounts is known to cause hair loss in those susceptible to balding. DHT is manufactured from free testosterone. The more free testosterone in the blood, the more DHT can be made by the enzyme 5-alpha reductase.
http://www.carnivorehealth.com/main/2010/9/3/everything-you-know-about-hair-loss-is-wrong.html

Per my original post, I have low free testosterone. (41.8 pg/ML where 46-224 is normal range).

...and from the same page:
To fully explore this question we have to talk about the gatekeeper of free testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin, or SHBG. Every hormone in the body is either "bound" to a carrier protein or "free" to circulate in the blood. SHBG is the master controller of how much free testosterone is available to be manufactured into DHT. In those with premature hair loss SHBG is found to be decreased, meaning that a large amount of their free testosterone is being converted into DHT by the 5-AR enzyme.

Also per my original post, I have normal sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) levels. (33 nmol/L where 8-48 is normal range)

This has me confused. It seems I don't fit the profile of a typical balding man that you are describing. Any insight here?

By the way, your sample recipes inspired me to make a simple meal tonight: cooked ground lamb (on a skillet, spiced with pepper, garlic salt, and thyme) on top of boiled yams, topped with diced roma tomato and some non-dairy cheese...then broiled to melt the non-dairy cheese. Pretty tasty and I feel good. What is a meal like this doing for my body? Might have to get your eBook, but curious what you have to say.

Thanks.

Magnum - good question above. My memory is failing me as to why, but there is more to it than just test, SHBG and DHt. Estrogen levels are important too.

As for the natty test boosters, I've tried a lot of them and have never noticed any negative sides with respect to my hair.

I agree with the others though that tightening up your diet and exercise regime are the first and most impactful steps.

Hey Scotty, thanks for the reply. My blood tests revealed normal male estrogen levels. The only results from the blood test that were out of range were:

Low Free Testosterone
Low Bio-Available Testosterone (what the heck is this?)
Only slightly high total Bilirubin (what the heck is this?)

Not really much of a weight lifter. I don't like the gym. Maybe I'll just focus on doing more pushups, more squats (lots of reps with small dumbells), more crunches, longer running, in order to "amp up" my exercise.

Magnum wrote:Danny, been reading your site. Great info! I can tell you put a lot of effort into your research. Some questions about some of what you say:

Those who are balding presumably have high DHT, which in excessive amounts is known to cause hair loss in those susceptible to balding. DHT is manufactured from free testosterone. The more free testosterone in the blood, the more DHT can be made by the enzyme 5-alpha reductase.
http://www.carnivorehealth.com/main/2010/9/3/everything-you-know-about-hair-loss-is-wrong.html

Per my original post, I have low free testosterone. (41.8 pg/ML where 46-224 is normal range).

...and from the same page:
To fully explore this question we have to talk about the gatekeeper of free testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin, or SHBG. Every hormone in the body is either "bound" to a carrier protein or "free" to circulate in the blood. SHBG is the master controller of how much free testosterone is available to be manufactured into DHT. In those with premature hair loss SHBG is found to be decreased, meaning that a large amount of their free testosterone is being converted into DHT by the 5-AR enzyme.

Also per my original post, I have normal sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) levels. (33 nmol/L where 8-48 is normal range)

This has me confused. It seems I don't fit the profile of a typical balding man that you are describing. Any insight here?

By the way, your sample recipes inspired me to make a simple meal tonight: cooked ground lamb (on a skillet, spiced with pepper, garlic salt, and thyme) on top of boiled yams, topped with diced roma tomato and some non-dairy cheese...then broiled to melt the non-dairy cheese. Pretty tasty and I feel good. What is a meal like this doing for my body? Might have to get your eBook, but curious what you have to say.

Thanks.

Great question Magnum,

I really should edit that post; like you said, I am referring to the typical man with high-DHT premature balding.

I'm sure I don't have to tell anyone on this forum, that not all men experience hair loss in this way — which is why I believe diet is the best course of action to treat any hair loss...

A couple of things I would try...

1. Cortisol, the stress hormone, is inversely correlated to testosterone. This means that when you're stressed your T levels take a huge dive. Stress can be emotional and physical, but can also be linked to blood sugar swings, lack of sleep, and food allergies.

2. Similar to the above, make sure you are eating enough food. So many gentleman increase hair loss by going on ridiculous calorie deficient diets that sabotage their progress. This leads to turbo-charged hair loss known as telogen effluvium. If I were you, I would relax for a while (no gym, sleep like its your job) and OVEREAT nutritious food (the foods I mentioned above).

Fake cheese and nuts might derail your efforts though