[KittySamantha]

Hihii everyones!!!

Just got back my blood work, so I can hold on to some initial levels before starting on HRT this upcoming Tuesday (YIPPEEE!!!!).

A little note for this blood work: I stopped taking both Biotin & DHEA a full week before doing the blood test, as well as, stopped taking all NBE & topical 72 hours before this.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So what has changed since November (before any NBE).

Let's start with the Hepatic Function Panel:

1) ALT has gone from in-range to out of range (24 -> 56 U/L).
2) All other items are still within their respective ranges

Two things changed from November for this.  One item was starting the NBE first week December (where dosages were pretty much constant across time). The second item was work+stress & how this affected my diet (which did not stay constant).

Looking over the past 5 months, I gained a little over 20 pounds.  The main cause of this action was extreme stresses driven from managers/directors at work (not normal work stresses; much more extreme than normal, like employment scare stuff).  Hence I was using food (primarily sweets) as a form of "stress control"; where sweets became more and more frequent as these past 5 months carried on.

When taking the blood test in November, I was not eating any sweets essentially (was dieting for about 5-6 months).

Hence (since all other items are well with range), I believe the main driving cause of this moving out of range is my diet; hence actively keeping food journal via spreadsheet to cut down negative high fats (which I have been).

Now let's look at the CBC:

1) MPV went from out of range to in-range (12.6 -> 11.1 fL)
2) Percent spread change between Neutrophils, Lymphocytes, Monocytes, Eosinophils, and Basophils.
3) Everything stayed in-range

MPV went healthy (was only slightly over the range of 12.5 fL), so this is comforting to hear.

In November (for #2), the spread ended up being the following: Neutrophils (38.6%), Lymphocytes (52.3%), Monocytes (7.4%), Eosinophils (1.3%), and Basophils (0.4%).

For April (for #2), the spread changed to the following:  Neutrophils (51.7%), Lymphocytes (38.8%), Monocytes (7.5%), Eosinophils (1.6%), and Basophils (0.4%).

From what I read, my neutrophils (typically 40-60%) & lymphocytes (typically 20-40%) would be just outside the normal ranges during November.  This has moved to "in-range" for April.

Looking at Prolactin:

1) Prolactin numbers went from out of range to in-range (19.3 -> 17.8 ng/mL)

Looking at Testosterone:

1) Total Testosterone decreased over 5 months (502 -> 316 ng/dL)
2) Free Testosterone decreased over 5 months (103.9 -> 75.2 pg/mL)

So using WP and RR+Green Tea Extract has helped reduce these levels to this extent during 5 months.

Looking at Vitamin D levels (not found in November labs):

1) Vitamin D levels show values juuuuuuust inside the range (31 ng/mL; 30-100 ng/mL)

Hence I could get away with taking more Vitamin D3 (as normally wouldn't be in the range without taking it daily.

Lastly, looking at the Estradiol levels:

1) Estradiol decreased compared to the past 5 months (42 -> 36 pg/mL)

Please note the test was Ultrasensitive LC/MS (same test taken during November).

With including all the NBE items & topicals, this number would hopefully be elevated above the 42 pg/mL.  But surprisingly the natural resting E level for me went down over a 5 month period.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Interestingly enough, I still noticed the changes using just NBE (seen in previous posts) with T levels moving down; but also saw "natural"/"resting" E levels go down as well.

But nonetheless excited to see how this all worked standalone.

Now onward to actual HRT with NBE supporting it (will be creating a thread in the HRT Program thread soon enough)!!!

Thankies agains everyone!!

Samantha