Any males with raised prolactin treated it on its own?

[mlc2009]

Hi All,

Undiagnosed 28 year old male here, not on any thyroid meds. I'm in process of getting more tests ( adrenal, rt3) to my current thyroid labs, but I had my prolactin come back very high. High prolactin can cause all sorts of sexual symptoms, anyone lowered that directly? I have some prolactin lowering medication here, wondering if its worth directly treating it? ( I know high prolactin can be a sign of hypo )

Thyroglobulin Antibody 13.4 [0-115] N

Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies 10.5 [0-34] N

TSH 4.11 [0.27-4.2] N

FREE T4 17.5 [12.0-22.0] N

FREE T3 6.3 [3.1-6.8] N

PROLACTIN 343 [ 86-324 ] H

I'll throw in sex hormones too,

FOLLICLE STIM. HORMONE 5.3 [1.5-12.4] N

LUTEINISING HORMONE 6.4 [1.7-8.6] N

TESTOSTERONE 18.7 [7.6-31.4] N

SEX HORMONE BINDING GLOB 48 [11-52] N

Testosterone/SHBG Ratio 39.0 [24-104] N

17-Beta OESTRADIOL 72 [44-156] N

[tegz]

It doesn't look like you have obvious HypoT on the face of it.[Yes, that's common!]

The high Prolactin is of concern- it has no known use in males and suppresses a womans sex drive whilst breast feeding.

I would be surprised if your GP left you to deal alone with this high figure for long as there are good reasons to chase it up.

TSH does seem high -but ,like with the cortisol connection, needs to be chased down with ongoing checks to find out what's going on.

You're young to have out of balance hormones- maybe consider a Testoserone check while you're being tested.

Low Thyroid can affect this also- but it's not something well known, from my experience.

Keep posted- outcome will help with better understanding for many others.

[mlc2009 in reply to tegz]

I have posted my sex hormones too, was taken first thing in morning. High prolactin can suppress testosterone too so I have been told, how much is anyones guess!

[poing]

I have read that prolactin goes up when TSH goes up. TRH stimluates the pituitary to release TSH and prolactin.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyro...

So perhaps that is why. Your TSH is within the normal range, but only just and there is debate about whether the top end of the normal range is too high.

Perhaps you have genuine "subclinical" hypo... you've got enough hormones but your thyroid needs to work quite a lot harder to make them.

(You did say that you knew this, sorry...)

I don't know what I would do about the meds. In your position I would be looking into possible side effects (though I am a girl, so I wouldn't be in your position!).

Ideally though I would think you need to find out why your thyroid is working so hard and see what you can do to restore the balance.. deal with the root causes, not just supress a symptom.

[mlc2009 in reply to poing]

of course, but as you know, here in the uk, getting a doctor to treat the tsh levels is nigh on impossible, and with prolactin level that high, it may be causing me some issues

[poing in reply to mlc2009]

I believe the right treatment depends on what is causing your high TSH. If you've got autoimmune disease then the only treatment I know of is replacement hormones. Your antibody tests look negative though.

If you've got some other issue, then you may be able to bring your thyroid back on line by other means. Stress and diet can have a huge impact on thyroid health. This article is about vegetarianism, but I've posted it because it touches on how nutrition affects thyroid function:

cholesterol-and-health.com/...

And even if it turned out to be autoimmune, then optimising other areas of your health has got to be a good thing, right?

[Hidden]

I would suggest talking about this on a forum I use, allthingsmale.com/forum/for... It is run by a US Doctor. Hormones in men is what it is all about, and there is a lot of experience you probably won't find anywhere else. I won't ask about symptoms, they might be better discussed there, especially if not specifically thyroid related for here.

Before panicking too much or jumping in with drugs, (and the side effects of prolactin reducing drugs) there are a number of very ordinary activities that can drive Prolactin in men up, temporarily; as well as drugs and more problematic things too, so some research and retesting might be an idea. The possibility of a pituitary condition exists too.

Your T3 is surprisingly "good" considering the level of your TSH, and I wonder if it's some non-thyroidal condition causing the higher TSH. You will find it hard to get treatment here in the U with those figures (don't I know it!!)

Your SHBG is higher than optimal,and your Oestradiol is higher than optimal too, but it will be the standard Oestradiol test n the UK which is pretty nigh on useless for men, unless you are packing a good deal of weight, in which case losing some flab will help lower the aromatase enzyme which is what turns the Testosterone into Oestradiol!

[mlc2009 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks pictor, I have already posted on that website. Funnily enough I have been taking prolactin lowering supplements for ages, l-dopa and b5, and its still high. I'm still trying to get my gp to give me MRI, but he said prolactin is a stress hormone and was probably raised through stress of blood test lol

I always thought my oestradiol was fine, i will keep an eye on it and indeed my shbg is high, but I have a way to crush that, thats not issue

[Hidden in reply to mlc2009]

I don't think its sky high, just difficult to know where to go as we don't have very good measurement of it for males here!

Then I think you might also know that managing SHBG in isolation isn't the way to go, it's more a case of get other hormones in tune rather than target SHBG in it's own right.

I know the problem of trying to get a proper diagnosis here too.. esp. now as GPs are the ones going to be funding an MRI from their own kitty!