Boosting testosterone for ME symptom alleviation?

[Rand56]

The relevant testosterone level to test for is "free testosterone". That's according to my doctor. As we age most testosterone is bound to something I can't remember and becomes inactive. My doctor refused to give me testosterone and advised instead to supplement with zinc, my zinc levels were low, as this seems to be a key mineral for the body to make testosterone and getting in to an active state (it seems particulalry important for all males with an active sex life as this alone can severely deplete reserves). As far as I can tell the zinc seems to help.

hi baccarat

I know this is an old post of yours but if I may ask, what form of zinc are you taking? I recently have upped my zinc intake and supplementing zinc citrate, and from a lot of reading up on it lately, there is just a bunch of conflicting info out there on what the best absorbable form is whether it would be opti-zinc, ionic liquid version, picolinate, glycinate, or citrate. I'm starting to sense some more strength in the gym so maybe the citrate version is doing me well but if you or anyone else knows what's the best absorbable form is, I'd like to know.

Has anyone ever taken the Water Oz Zinc? I've never taken it but I'm assuming it would be good because from other threads, in particular the B-2 threads, people have taken the Water Oz Manganese.

Rand

 

[triffid113]

Spot on.
the herb nettle root is commonly used to improve SHBG as well.

I am also interested in raising my free testosterone (I know it sounds funny because I am female). I do take zinc. I found that my hormone test results in September (peak readings after hormone pellet injection) showed lower free testosterone than in December (nadir readings after hormone pellet injection) and I rationalize it that in September I have trouble getting enough zinc to counteract that which is used up by my allergies (they use up at least 75mg/day). I asked Life Extension what I can do to increase free testosterone (considering that my SBHG is as it should be) and they said to fix my thyroid readings (which incidentally zinc helps to do). I also have issues with low protein (need extra tyrosine to be able to make thyroid hormone). Not sure about anything else.

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I wanted to say this: nettle increases insulin, which makes you get low blood sugar, which makes you eat. I think if you take it every day it will make you gain weight. Potentially guggul could fix this as guggul is known to lower insulin, but I have no experience with this so I cannot vouch for it. I looked into nettle for allergies...it works but wears off quickly and has to be frequently re-taken.

 

[MishMash]

I took testosterone for weak bones back in the 90s. I must say, taking Anadrol (a former favroite performance enhancing substance in the Olympics) for six months, along with a sustained weight lifting program pushed my bone density back into low-normal range. But I definitely did not feel any relief from ME. The doc seemed confident it would relieve my CFS symptoms, but I didn't notice any change. I just got stronger, temporarily.

 

[Sherlock]

Zinc

You probably know this, but too much zinc creates low copper -- then again, how much zinc is too much in any particular person?