Lowering SHBG

[AnnieMayMelbourne]

Hi Lara,

Big fan!! I'm a 26yr old PCOS victim, who's been on the pill for 11 years and has NEVER experienced libido/sexual arousal. Over the past 2 years ago to tried several avenues to fix this - sex therapy, naturopathic supplements, medicinal cannabis, even yoni-mapping. Now I'm investigating the hormonal avenue, which has lead me to your books.

My most recent blood tests came back with a SHBG of 306H, which is double the maximum reference value of my testing clinic. Am wondering what your reference interval for SHBG is? Couldn't find it in your book.

Since this result, I've come off the pill (for good!)(and have been prescribed Prometrium to support this bodily change), so am hoping this quickly lowers over the coming months, but have read it can take quite some time. And if you know of any way I can speed up this process or assist my body in dropping these levels?

Also wondering what your FT4 reference interval is? My current clinic is 11-22. I'm came in at 13.0 pmol/L which seems ok, but TSH at 4.48mU/L. So this doesn't seem to out of whack to me, based on what I've read in your books, so don't know if it's worth testing for antibodies?

Would love to know your thoughts.


Thanks,

Annie

[Lara]

The pill (and resulting SHBG) is a well-known cause of low libido. The reference range for women is approximately 20 to 150 nmol/L. And yes, it will take a while to come down.

Also, with TSH on the high side of normal, it can be worth testing thyroid antibodies.