Tired? Depressed? Low Sex Drive? Sleeping Poorly? Adding Body Fat? Loosing Muscle? Going Bald?

Part 2

This is a follow up to my previous article on the importance of managing your own health. If you have not read Part 1 please follow the link to the article.

https://steemit.com/health/@voluntarygymlife/sex-drive-and-performance-not-great-adding-fat-and-loosing-muscle-feeling-tired-this-article-might-be-for-you

This article will be about interpreting blood test results as well as detailing what the "optimal" numbers for each test should be. So you know what you are looking at here is a picture of part of my last blood test. I will work from left to right

Name of what they have tested - Prolactin
My number - 11
What it is measured in - UG/L
The "Normal Range" - (<15)

Note to everyone. Each lab will use different numbers and will have different "normal ranges" so do not be alarmed when you receive your results and your numbers are wildly different to what I post here (in terms of ranges) The information below will still be applicable, all you need to do is compare your number to the range they use and see if you are low, average or high.

Basic Health Tests - These numbers will generally be looked at by your doctor closely. Assuming you have a good doctor.......

Comprehensive metabolic panel - You want everything here to be in the "normal range" These numbers will indicate how your liver and kidneys are working. Bear in mind if you are somebody who lifts weights then liver enzymes will be elevated and this is completely NORMAL. Do not stress. If you do not train or have not trained for over 14 days then you should be more concerned. Hopefully everything is working normally, if not then your doctor will tell you and might order further tests to find out why.

Complete Blood Count - Again you are hoping all of these are "within normal ranges" If any of these are outside of normal then your doctor SHOULD do further testing to find out why they are not optimal. eg - Low Iron, why? Do you have a disease? Do you just not eat enough foods with Iron? How to fix this, ect.

Lipid panel - Having 'High" cholesterol is not bad provided your HDL is high and LDL is low. If your LDL is elevated that can be a sign that your diet is poor and you are not managing inflammation in the body. It can also be due to medications and other "drugs" you may be taking. If you have the money/a good doctor then get them to test for the particle size of the LDL. If it is "big and fluffy" you are good as gold, provided you still have lots of HDL. If they are "small and sharp" its time to read Part 3 (coming soon)

Advanced tests that are INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT

C-reactive protein (CRP) - This test is not often performed but it should be at the top of your list to get done. This basically gives you an idea of how much "inflammation" you have in your body. Inflammation is linked to just about every disease and problem known to man. If this number is high you better start doing everything in your power to lower it ASAP! You want this number to be as close to 0 as possible. If it is not read part 3 (coming soon)

Homocysteine: This test is to ensure you are absorbing enough B-12. If you are a vegan/vegetarian and you are not supplementing with B-12 this number might be very low and will need to be boosted quickly. Again your doctor should be able to pick up on this number being low and will recommend either further testing or supplementation. It is rare to have any problems with this but better to be safe than sorry. If you are low, B-12 injections are easy and quite cheap. If you have an actual medical problem causing you to be deficient your doctor should be on this like an Agorist on Bitcoin.

These are the "speciality" tests for Men. Women should get these done too. The ranges will be different for women.

If you are a man do you want to be on the left or the right?

Total Testosterone - You want this number to be at or above the "highest" number on the "normal ranges" So if the scale is from 10-33 nmol/l you want at or above 33. Yes women still want high numbers here. (Except if you are running a crazy steroid cycle)

Free Testosterone - Same as Total Test. The higher these two numbers are the quicker you lose fat, the faster you build muscle and everything just works better. (Except if you are running a crazy steroid cycle)

Oestradial - As a man you want this number to be close to 80 pmol/l.

Serum Cortisol - Stress hormone - Ideally you want this number to be in the "low normal" range. You do need cortisol for many things but you DO NOT want elevated levels for a long time. Due to the stress most people are under these days this number could be quite high and bringing it down should be a top priority.

LH - Luteinizing hormone - Should be midrange. So if your scale is 3-20 IU/L you ideally want this number to be about 10-11. Too low and your testosterone will be low, too high and it says your testes may not be working well which leads to low testosterone. Either way not great.

FSH - Follicle-stimulating hormone - Same as LH.

T3-T4 - Thyroid Hormones - Thyroid Stimulating Hormone should be as close to 1 as possible. You want T3-T4 to be smack bang in the mid range. Too high or too low can lead to issues. Will cover this in Part 3 but google Iodine if you cannot wait that long!

Serum D-3 - You want this to be right at the top of the range. If you live in a "cold" country and do not supplement D-3 there is a very high chance this is low. If you dont spend alot of time in the sun or if you are white then chances are this is low. NOT GOOD. You want to take your D-3 with fat as it is a fat soluble vitamin.

SHBG - You want this number to be as low as possible. You do not want your precious Testosterone being tied up with SHBG as it cannot perform its job if it is bound to SHBG

DHEA - Ideally DHEA should be upper normal.

Prolactin - Men — Low. Definitely Low. Bad things happen when prolactin is high.

In Part 3 I will cover things that you can do to improve these numbers if you are not happy with yours.

I will give you helpful advice to boost your testosterone and feel and look better without having to resort to

If you have already had your tests done just compare your numbers to the list above to see how you stack up. My numbers while not quite optimal were pretty good considering I was in the middle of a heavy block of training and that stress (training stress) will cause slightly reduced numbers of Testosterone and Free Testosterone.

Any questions please ask below :)