The Gabrielle Lyon Show- TRT: your complete guide to safe dosing, risks, and boosting longevity
George’s Podcast Reflection Notes.
All these clips and short segments are made with the help of Snipd, the AI-powered podcast app for knowledge seekers.
How To Interpret And Raise Free Testosterone
SHBG rises with age and binds testosterone, so total testosterone can look normal while free (bioavailable) testosterone is low.
For accurate assessment measure free testosterone directly or measure SHBG and calculate free testosterone with online calculators.
Women (and those who’ve used birth control) often have higher SHBG, making total testosterone especially unreliable for them.
If free testosterone remains low on treatment, raising the testosterone dose (e.g., from 150 mg/week toward 200 mg/week) may be necessary under medical supervision.
Free testosterone is the biologically active fraction that actually enters cells and drives effects, so it’s the key metric to guide dosing decisions.
Testosterone Can Resolve Unexplained Anemia
Two large randomized controlled trials showed testosterone outperforms placebo at resolving unexplained anemia when no bleeding or genetic cause is found.
Testosterone raises hematocrit toward the male range (around 45%), correcting low counts caused by testosterone deficiency.
Morgentaler shares a case where a young man underwent extensive GI workup for anemia that was ultimately unexplained, but normalized after testosterone treatment.
Because testosterone increases red blood cells, hematocrit can sometimes rise above desired levels, which is a monitored risk rather than a proven harm.
Endocrine Society guidance sets a conservative hematocrit ceiling of 54% but Morgentaler says values around 52–53% usually don’t require intervention.
To increase testosterone naturally, improve your lifestyle, including sleep, diet, and exercise. Prioritize sleep, as men produce testosterone during sleep.
‘Male menopause’ or andropause does not exist, as aging alone doesn’t drop testosterone levels in men.
Comorbid conditions such as obesity, HIV, AIDS, and hypertension are the real culprits for decreasing testosterone.
