January 5, 2012 Blood Work
First, my apologies for taking so long to get this up. I had to cancel the blood draw scheduled for for December (twice) due to being busy. That same busy-ness has kept me from posting.
First, the new news: I’m off my cabergoline. I was taking .25 mg weekly (down from a high of 1.5 mg twice a week – or 3 mg weekly), which is 1/2 of a Tic-Tac sized pill. My prolactin has been in good shape for long enough that the doc and I thought we’d see what happens if I quit taking it all together.
I will start having monthly blood draws.
Now the summary for the most recent blood draw: Blood was taken Thursday morning. I’d not had any cabergoline since the previous Thursday, so I’d have had the least bit in my system I could have. I’ve not taken any vitamins in months – we moved a couple of months back and I’ve just not gotten back into the habit. (This is not to say my past blood draws involved having vitamins in me – I’d just never kept track and they were typically hit-or-miss from day to day. This draw I know it’s been a good long while since my last vitamins.) My weight is about 297… I keep saying I need to do something about it but I’ve just been too busy to pay close attention. (My being an all-or-nothing personality type sort of works against me here… I have trouble dieting without exercising and I’ve not had time to – per me – to exercise on a regular schedule.)
Changes: The testosterone scale has changed again. The normal range used to be 300-1000 ng/dL, then 241-827 ng/dL, then 280-800 ng/dL. The most recent shows 348 to 1197 ng/dL
Results:
Prolactin 7.2 ng/mL (4.0-15.2) – the last draw was 8.5 (4.0–15.2)
Total Testosterone 532.5 ng/dL (348-1197) – the last record was 519 (280-800)
At 519 ng/dL where 280-800 is “normal” I was at 65% of the high end.
At 532.5 ng/dl where 348-1197 is “normal” I am at 44% of the high end.
I’ve added percentages to the Hormone Table that I use to track all of my blood draws. There are now values in red that mark where I stand with regard to being at the high end of the prolactin and testosterone scales.
