See if you have the standard low estradiol symptoms in men:
In Step 1 you pulled your estradiol and, hopefully, with the best test your lab has to offer. If your estradiol was below about 15 pg/ml – discuss with your doctor what he or she actually considers to be low estradiol – then you want to see if you have the standard symptoms to go along with it. Here are 10 Classic Symptoms of Low Estradiol in Men:
-Joint aches and pain.
-Low libido
-Anxiety
-Erectile dysfunction (Estradiol plays a role in blood flow and endothelial function.)
-Depression
-Poor sleep
-Loss of morning erections
-“Hot flashes”
—LONG TERM: Bone loss (osteopenia or osteoporosis). [This will only occur if low estradiol has been going on for an extended period of time.]
ARIMIDEX: Men on HRT sometimes “crash” their estradiol by taking too much of an aromatase inhibitor such as anastrozole (Arimidex). It is usually a miserable few weeks (3-4) while your estradiol levels ramp back up and symptoms disappear.
Is it possible to have low estradiol according to a blood draw and yet none of the standard low estradiol symptoms? Sure, anything is possible and there are a couple of explanations that I can think of:
1) Your estradiol is in the grey zone for most of your symptoms and it is not yet causing you difficulties. The danger in letting this go is that you could potentially be experiencing bone loss and end up with osteoporosis. Unfortunately, you don’t always “feel” bone loss until you are at fairly advanced stages: we’ve had a couple of guys on the Elite Manliness Forum with osteopenia who could attest to that fact. So Discuss with your doctor the potential risk here.
2) You had a “bad” blood draw. The lab tests are not perfect and there is considerable variability. For example, one urological study of testosterone tests found that blood draws varied by 20-30% quite commonly on the same person same day same time. The best way to see if this was an issue is to just retest your estradiol
Hopefully, you have a knowledgeable and proactive physician that will pull your estradiol for you and discuss results. If he/she will not, due to costs or whatever other reason, you can pull estradiol yourself without a doctor’s order through one of these inexpensive labs: Testosterone Labs.
