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Very Low Testosterone but Increased Hirsuitism (female)
I'm just burning up the forums today, LOL. And, I apologize in advance if this is the incorrect place to ask Endocrinological (sp?) questions, but there wasn't a specific forum for it that I was able to locate.
Has any woman out there experienced a very low testosterone level combined with a major increase in male-pattern hair growth (chin, top of chest, between boobs, nipples). I'm not talking about one or two tiny brown ones, I mean like I get 3 or 4 thick black ones growing from the same pore and they are rooted in like a 100-year-old oak tree. And every day I find more popping up on my chin. I pluck every day before work because they spring up that fast. I'm too embarrassed to expose my chest anymore without an hour of checking and plucking. The worst patch is between my breasts. If I let it grow, it'll get to like 2" long and it's a patch about 2" wide by 4" long. My nipples have more hair on them than my husband's.
Doesn't testosterone/androgrens causes excessive hair growth? If so, why is mine so far out of range? On 6/25 it was .7 out of a range of 3 - 10.6.
I have a ton of other symptom including LOSING the hair on my head, fatigue (extreme), constipation (extreme), foggy brain, itching skin, irregular periods and spotting all month long, milk from both nipples (prolactin normal). (Thyroid tests appear fairly normal too except for a low-normal TSH). Well, I can't even list them all here because they sound so random and disconnected actually. I'm just really frustrated. I have had blood test after blood test and they seem to turn up nothing. MRI - normal. Pelvic U/S - normal. Just wanting some answer and since this is one of the abnormal findings that dealt with my hormones, figured I'd start researching in this direction. (Oh, 36-year-old female)
Anyways, major question in point regards the low testosterone with excessive hair growth. It doesn't appear to be familial either. Most of the women in my family have LOST most of their hair. Oh, and I went completely white at 30.
Has any woman out there experienced a very low testosterone level combined with a major increase in male-pattern hair growth (chin, top of chest, between boobs, nipples). I'm not talking about one or two tiny brown ones, I mean like I get 3 or 4 thick black ones growing from the same pore and they are rooted in like a 100-year-old oak tree. And every day I find more popping up on my chin. I pluck every day before work because they spring up that fast. I'm too embarrassed to expose my chest anymore without an hour of checking and plucking. The worst patch is between my breasts. If I let it grow, it'll get to like 2" long and it's a patch about 2" wide by 4" long. My nipples have more hair on them than my husband's.
Doesn't testosterone/androgrens causes excessive hair growth? If so, why is mine so far out of range? On 6/25 it was .7 out of a range of 3 - 10.6.
I have a ton of other symptom including LOSING the hair on my head, fatigue (extreme), constipation (extreme), foggy brain, itching skin, irregular periods and spotting all month long, milk from both nipples (prolactin normal). (Thyroid tests appear fairly normal too except for a low-normal TSH). Well, I can't even list them all here because they sound so random and disconnected actually. I'm just really frustrated. I have had blood test after blood test and they seem to turn up nothing. MRI - normal. Pelvic U/S - normal. Just wanting some answer and since this is one of the abnormal findings that dealt with my hormones, figured I'd start researching in this direction. (Oh, 36-year-old female)
Anyways, major question in point regards the low testosterone with excessive hair growth. It doesn't appear to be familial either. Most of the women in my family have LOST most of their hair. Oh, and I went completely white at 30.
Good point. And yes, I meant the weight gain part. I'm not overweight, but have had trouble maintaining more than usual lately. I have an appointment with a GI and I know that's not the right Dr. to be seeing but I might mention my hormone issues then and see what he has to say. Thanks so much!
By "characteristics" do you mean you don't look like the pic they put up to show a perfectly horrid looking woman?
Cushing's can vary greatly - not every one has every symptom and that includes the weight gain, the diabetes, the striae, the cholesterol etc.
I know people that did not gain, did not have this symptom, that one, etc.
It could be something else -but you need to get more testing to get to the bottom of it.
Cushing's can vary greatly - not every one has every symptom and that includes the weight gain, the diabetes, the striae, the cholesterol etc.
I know people that did not gain, did not have this symptom, that one, etc.
It could be something else -but you need to get more testing to get to the bottom of it.
My last Thyroid panel showed:
TSH .6 (.3 - 5.0) low normal
FT4 1.0 (.8 - 1.5) low normal maybe?
Testosterone .7 (3.0 - 10.6) way low
Total T3 - 113.2 (80-220) low normal
Progesterone 1.57 (follicular .2 - 1.5) teeny weeny high
Free T3 2.6 (2.3 - 4.2) low normal
TBG 17.4 (13-39) low normal
Prolactin 9.5 (0 - 14) completely normal
TPO AB .6 (0 - 34) no sign of antibodies
Antithyroglobulin AB <1.8 again, no antibodies
Estrogen 79 (61-394 day 5) low normal
I don't think it's a coincidence that nearly all of my hormone test show low to very low normal - as I feel like a tractor trailer truck has been repeatedly running over me for the past year, LOL.
I don't have Cushing's characteristics. Anything else that will cause a general low reading on almost all hormones? Or, is this perfectly normal? I don't feel normal.
TSH .6 (.3 - 5.0) low normal
FT4 1.0 (.8 - 1.5) low normal maybe?
Testosterone .7 (3.0 - 10.6) way low
Total T3 - 113.2 (80-220) low normal
Progesterone 1.57 (follicular .2 - 1.5) teeny weeny high
Free T3 2.6 (2.3 - 4.2) low normal
TBG 17.4 (13-39) low normal
Prolactin 9.5 (0 - 14) completely normal
TPO AB .6 (0 - 34) no sign of antibodies
Antithyroglobulin AB <1.8 again, no antibodies
Estrogen 79 (61-394 day 5) low normal
I don't think it's a coincidence that nearly all of my hormone test show low to very low normal - as I feel like a tractor trailer truck has been repeatedly running over me for the past year, LOL.
I don't have Cushing's characteristics. Anything else that will cause a general low reading on almost all hormones? Or, is this perfectly normal? I don't feel normal.
You need to see an endo - but most endos have not seen (or more correctly treated) a cushing's patient. It is somewhat rare but more rarely treated.
Just a GP and several times over the past 1.5 years. It all started with a ruptured breast cyst and then a nine month bout of rotational vertigo that they blamed on Meniere's disease. I have had two thyroid tests done. TSH the first time, before this really became annoying, it was at 1.0. Second time they did TSH, Free T3, Free T4. TSH that time was .6. T3 and T4 were within normal ranges as far as I know.
Why do you say "i hate to say this"? Any help is worth it. I'm literally hitting dead end after dead and and getting sick of all these random issues popping up and getting brushed off, LOL.
I will ask about a cortisol test. Thank you for your help!
Why do you say "i hate to say this"? Any help is worth it. I'm literally hitting dead end after dead and and getting sick of all these random issues popping up and getting brushed off, LOL.
I will ask about a cortisol test. Thank you for your help!
I hate to say this - but I would ask for a cortisol test. Cortisol suppresses both testosterone and thyroid and causes all those nasty symptoms.
Even though your prolactin is normal - what thyroid tests have they run? TSH and T4? Or more... have you seen an endo or just a GP?
Have you looked up Cushing's Syndrome?
Even though your prolactin is normal - what thyroid tests have they run? TSH and T4? Or more... have you seen an endo or just a GP?
Have you looked up Cushing's Syndrome?
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