High Hematocrit Caused by Testosterone: How to Lower it.
ExcelMale's podcast
Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) is one of the most effective ways to combat low testosterone levels, but it's vital that you understand the risks associated with the treatment. As with any form of hormone replacement therapy, there are a few downsides to receiving regular injections of testosterone. One of the main is increased hematocrit. This article will explain why this happens, the potential long-term health consequences, and how to prevent or manage this issue. Since abnormally high hematocrit values can pose serious health problems, this article will analyze the...
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Top Things Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Testosterone
ExcelMale's podcast
Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) can be life-changing for many men suffering with low testosterone symptoms. However, there are crucial facts that most men are not told by their physicians before they start TRT. This episode covers in less than 5 minutes the top facts that every man considering TRT should know. More information: https://www.discountedlabs.com/blog/testosterone-replacement-therapy-products-and-costs
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How to Increase Testosterone Naturally: What You Need to Know
ExcelMale's podcast
Discovering natural testosterone boost methods can significantly impact your overall health and wellness. Testosterone is a key hormone that helps to regulate sexual functioning, hair development, and sustaining muscle mass. As we get older, our testosterone levels drop, so it's important to find ways to raise and maintain healthy levels. To maximize your testosterone levels, we will look into the benefits of exercise regimens such as weightlifting and HIIT, dietary strategies with zinc, vitamin D and magnesium-rich foods, sleep quality for hormonal regulation, and stress management techniques...
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Cost of Blood Tests With or Without Insurance
ExcelMale's podcast
In today's medical system we can all use lab tests to get a diagnosis for a wide variety of diseases such as diabetes, low testosterone, low thyroid, anemia, heart disease risk, etc. After the lab analyzes your blood, health care providers can identify specific ailments quickly, helping you get the required treatment on time. However, the bad thing is that analyzing your bloodwork can be a seriously expensive and time-consuming procedure. Most people feel put off by surprising and unexpected medical bills of several hundred or even thousands of dollars for a blood test weeks after they...
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Best Vitamins and Supplements by Nelson Vergel
ExcelMale's podcast
It is very difficult to know what supplements have been proven to work in clinical studies. Nelson Vergel helps to demystify all supplement information
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Your Compounded TRT and HRT Access is Under Attack by the FDA: Interview with Scott Brunner from APC
ExcelMale's podcast
Nelson Vergel, author, advocate and founder of www.ExcelMale.com, www.DiscountedLabs.com, and www.HormoneAccessCoalition.org interviews Scott Brunner, CEO of the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding (www.compounding.com) about the current threats to people's access to affordable and customized hormone products in the U.S. and what you can do about it. The FDA is considering banning compounded estradiol, estrone, estradiol cypionate, estriol, pregnenolone, progesterone, testosterone, testosterone cypionate, and testosterone propionate and all pellet cBHT therapies. Also, under the Biologics Price...
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Estradiol in Men: Roles, Myths and Facts
ExcelMale's podcast
Nelson Vergel, author of the book Testosterone: A Man's Guide (Available on Amazon.com) and founder of the men's forum www.ExcelMale.com speaks about the role of estradiol in men and the consequences of over-treating estradiol with anastrozole and other aromatase inhibitors. Testosterone is the precursor hormone for estradiol. Estradiol is a hormone more abundant in women than men that is produced by the aromatization of testosterone in liver, fat and other cells. Nature created it for a reason. It has been shown to be responsible for healthy bone density but its role in men's sex drive, body...
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Sexual Health Myths & Taboos: Dr Rachel Rubin Tells it Like It Is
ExcelMale's podcast
Nelson Vergel had a fun interview with Dr. Rubin as she tells it like it is! Dr. Rachel S. Rubin is a board-certified urologist and sexual medicine specialist. She is one of only a handful of physicians with fellowship training in sexual medicine for all genders. Dr. Rubin is a clinician, researcher, and passionate educator. In addition to being education chair for the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health (ISSWSH), she serves as an associate editor for the journal Sexual Medicine Reviews. Dr. Rubin completed her medical education at Tufts University, her urology...
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How to Use hCG and Testosterone Injections at the Same Time
ExcelMale's podcast
Today I'm going to be explaining the use of HCG together with testosterone injections (Video Transcript) Why Do Some Men on TRT Need hCG? Men with a result need testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), either by getting a prescription from a doctor for a gel, like AndroGel, Testim, Axiron, Fortesta, or getting a prescription for testosterone injections, like Cypionate, Enanthate, or Aveed (testosterone undecanoate). There are many benefits of using testosterone to replenish or to increase your testosterone back to normal levels for your age. However, there are disadvantages. One of the...
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Facing HIV in the 80's and 90's: Interview with Nelson Vergel
ExcelMale's podcast
Is this interview, HIV activist, author and educator Nelson Vergel speaks about how he handled his HIV diagnosis in 1986 to propel him to become an activist and how we created a program to help HIV/AIDS patients survive HIV wasting syndrome. More information in
info_outlineNelson Vergel, author of the book Testosterone: A Man's Guide (Available on Amazon.com) and founder of the men's forum www.ExcelMale.com speaks about the role of estradiol in men and the consequences of over-treating estradiol with anastrozole and other aromatase inhibitors. Testosterone is the precursor hormone for estradiol. Estradiol is a hormone more abundant in women than men that is produced by the aromatization of testosterone in liver, fat and other cells. Nature created it for a reason. It has been shown to be responsible for healthy bone density but its role in men's sex drive, body composition and other variables is source of great debate. Many anti-aging or men's health clinics prescribe anastrozole, a blocker of estradiol production, to men who start testosterone replacement (TRT). Higher estradiol blood levels not only can cause breast tissue growth (gynecomastia) but also water retention (edema). Some people speculate that high estradiol can also lead to erectile dysfunction but no scientific papers have been published on this subject. Since higher testosterone blood levels can originate higher estradiol levels, the belief is that using anastrozole will prevent breast tissue growth and erectile dysfunction by lowering any potential increase in estradiol. However, we have no data on how high is too high when it comes to this hormone in men. Some even speculate that low testosterone-to-estradiol ratios may be more closely correlated to gynecomastia and erectile problems than estradiol alone. The truth about these speculations is starting to emerge but we still do not have enough data to say what the upper value of the optimal range of estradiol really is. We have a lot of evidence about the lower side of the optimal range since it has been found that estradiol blood levels below 10-20 pg/ml can increase bone loss in men. A recently published study also nicely demonstrated that low estradiol can be associated with higher fat mass and lower sexual function in men. So, be very careful when a clinic wants to put you on this drug without first justifying its use. Another concerning fact is that many clinics may be using the wrong estradiol test that may be over-estimating the levels of this hormone in men. An ultrasensitive estradiol test more accurately measures estradiol in men instead of the regular test that costs less. Fortunately, most men on TRT do not develop gynecomastia even without using anastrozole (gynecomastia is common in bodybuilders who may use high doses of testosterone, however). Those that have gynecomastia at TRT doses (100-200 mg of injectable testosterone or 5-10 grams of testosterone gel per day) may be genetically predisposed to having more aromatase activity or have liver dysfunction. Treating all men who start TRT with anastrozole from the start may be counterproductive since this may lower estradiol to very low levels. Some physicians monitor estradiol blood levels after 6-8 weeks of having a man start TRT alone using the ultrasensitive estradiol test to determine if anastrozole use is warranted. Doses range from 0.25 mg per week to some clinics using excessive doses of 1 mg three times per week. After 4-6 weeks on anastrozole, its dose can be adjusted to ensure than estradiol is not under 20 pg/ml. Fortunately, many men on TRT do not need anastrozole at all.