Blood test/hormone levels

[about2change]

Okay so I had an appointment with my doctor 3 days ago and found out my blood results.

My oestrogen level is quiet high. Apparently 160ish is the highest for it to be considered 'normal'. Currently I'm around the 190 mark, is this a cause for concern?


Shall I stop thinking about surgery until this is resolved?

What remedies are available?



Regards, D

[Swarley]

When you say "my doctor", do you mean your GP? Or a surgeon?

If it's your GP, I would hope that he / she would be able to answer your questions about what the test results mean, what may be causing a high oestrogen level, and maybe even do some more tests to track down the cause, and / or refer you to a specialist...

[about2change]

GP... He thinks my oestrogen levels are high because of my weight. I do admit I'm on the heavy side but never knew weight could cause a hormone imbalance

[rocks456]

Having a lot of extra fat can cause higher estrogen in males. How were your testosterone levels? I saw my endocrinologist before having surgery. My estrogen was on the higher side of normal, but I had a lot of excess fat also. My testosterone levels were high/normal as well. My endocrinologist told me if I had normal libido, normal facial hair growth and overall felt well then he thought that it would be okay to proceed with surgery, and that if my gynecomastia was pretty stable, then surgery shouldn't be a problem.

If your gyne is getting worse then I would lose some of the bodyfat and see if that doesn't lower your estrogen to the normal range.

It would also be a good idea to see a specialist like an endocrinologist just to make sure everything is normal.

Good Luck

[about2change]

my testosterone levels were in the normal range. so did you have therapy prior to getting surgery? Because I'm really skeptical about spending 4-5 k on surgery without sorting out hormones to only find out it will grow again. my gynecomastia seems to have stabled and stayed the same for 4/4 years now.

[ChestMan]

Hey man,

I thought you mentioned on a previous post that you had had your hormones checked and everything was fine? I don't think that gland tissue can grow back once it has been removed, so I think you'll be OK even if your hormones are not balanced out properly. I'm not expert and it is probably worth asking the surgeon at the consultation.

However, you should really ask your GP to refer you to an endocrinologist to get your hormones sorted out as it even if you get your gyne sorted with surgery, having too much oestrogen could cause you problems down the track (fatty butt and thighs, and even some cancers...).  Apparently there are 'natural' ways of balancing your oestrogen levels. Here are some suggestions based on advice from a guy called Charles Poliquin, who has got a lot of cred in the bodybuilding community - take it or leave it (not sure if I believe it...):

Eat at least 4 servings of steamed cruciferous vegetables a day. This would include watercress, broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts, kale, turnip, collards, cabbage, and radish to name a few.

If you're a drinker, switch to red wine. Red wine contains resveratrol, which acts as an Aromatase inhibitor. A glass of red with dinner may actually help reduce the circumference of your chest area. Also, if you are a beer drinker you will find it very difficult to get out of your man-bra until you cut back, or cut it out

Green tea - Green tea is loaded with antioxidants which have anti-carcinogenic effects. They also help with the detoxification of oestrogens

Supplementation - Supplementing your diet with either DIM, Curcumin or Grape seed extract has been shown to reduce the pectoral fat in males!

Fibre - Adding up to 30 grams of fibre from varied sources will help "pull" out foreign oestrogens from the body.

Eat organic nuts and wild meat whenever possible. This is a great way to naturally boost your testosterone levels. However, as it is quite difficult to do this nowadays, it is recommended to supplement your diet with Zinc.

Increase your testosterone levels...the legal way. This means hitting the weights 3 or 4 times a week

I would have thought that your GP would have at very least advised to lay off the beers and get some exercise. I don't really like the thought of cutting out beers!

Hope this helps. 

[kingboob]

my testosterone levels were in the normal range. so did you have therapy prior to getting surgery? Because I'm really skeptical about spending 4-5 k on surgery without sorting out hormones to only find out it will grow again. my gynecomastia seems to have stabled and stayed the same for 4/4 years now.

I have learned that "normal range" doesn't mean a lot.   Normal range is huge and can be something like from 8 to 30 nmol/l (the unit they use to measure these hormones). However, 8 would be 'normal' maybe for a really old guy or a young man not yet in puberty, but not necessarily normal for a healthy 20 year old. On the flip side, they wouldn't expect to test a 80 year old and come back with 30nmol/l, as testosterone levels naturally decline with age.

My point is normal is only normal when considered by an expert in context.  I had a dodgy endo tell me my levels were normal when they were right on the bottom of the cut-off.  I had many other symptoms and a medical history that should have indicated further investigation was required; it was only a couple of years later the issue was spotted by a consultant who was more on the ball.
 
Just after my bad experience, it gets on my nerves when I hear others say their Dr desribed something as 'within normal range', because I now know from experience that some of them don't look beyond the 'normal' label on the test and double check the context.  
I mean a normal weight might be 7 to 15st, but a 5'2" woman should not weight 15st and a 6'6" man should be more than 7st...


Having said all of that, I am led to believe that hormone imbalances are rare in otherwise healthy  men.  I was told they are usually caused by genetic issues (eg klinefelters), side effects from other medications, steriod abuse or problems a after testicular trauma/injury (eg sports injury, removal due to cancer, etc).   

So unless you fall into one of those categories it is really unlikely anything much is wrong.
apologies for the rant.

[about2change]

Hey man,

I thought you mentioned on a previous post that you had had your hormones checked and everything was fine? I don't think that gland tissue can grow back once it has been removed, so I think you'll be OK even if your hormones are not balanced out properly. I'm not expert and it is probably worth asking the surgeon at the consultation.

However, you should really ask your GP to refer you to an endocrinologist to get your hormones sorted out as it even if you get your gyne sorted with surgery, having too much oestrogen could cause you problems down the track (fatty butt and thighs, and even some cancers...).  Apparently there are 'natural' ways of balancing your oestrogen levels. Here are some suggestions based on advice from a guy called Charles Poliquin, who has got a lot of cred in the bodybuilding community - take it or leave it (not sure if I believe it...):

Eat at least 4 servings of steamed cruciferous vegetables a day. This would include watercress, broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts, kale, turnip, collards, cabbage, and radish to name a few.

If you're a drinker, switch to red wine. Red wine contains resveratrol, which acts as an Aromatase inhibitor. A glass of red with dinner may actually help reduce the circumference of your chest area. Also, if you are a beer drinker you will find it very difficult to get out of your man-bra until you cut back, or cut it out

Green tea - Green tea is loaded with antioxidants which have anti-carcinogenic effects. They also help with the detoxification of oestrogens

Supplementation - Supplementing your diet with either DIM, Curcumin or Grape seed extract has been shown to reduce the pectoral fat in males!

Fibre - Adding up to 30 grams of fibre from varied sources will help "pull" out foreign oestrogens from the body.

Eat organic nuts and wild meat whenever possible. This is a great way to naturally boost your testosterone levels. However, as it is quite difficult to do this nowadays, it is recommended to supplement your diet with Zinc.

Increase your testosterone levels...the legal way. This means hitting the weights 3 or 4 times a week

I would have thought that your GP would have at very least advised to lay off the beers and get some exercise. I don't really like the thought of cutting out beers!

Hope this helps. 

To be honest, my GP was clueless about the whole testosterone and hormonal issue.  I'm still waiting for to get a call back. My GP was so clueless, i was told to wait 2/3 weeks until they have time to 'research' how to tackle such a problem!!!!! Seriously, when she said that I felt like such a FREAK. i felt as if my condition is sooo bad and unnatural that no one knows about it.

Hopefully, I'll get a call soonish and book an appointment with an expert.