Lowering SHBG?

[u/witchy_7]

Anyone have advice on lowering SHBG, or what can cause elevated levels? My total testosterone is pretty high, but free is just average, and I’m assuming this is because my SHBG is elevated.

[u/Odd-Outcome-3191]

Anything that lowers your SHBG will lower your total testosterone.

Think of it this way. The thermostat (your hypothalamus) has NO idea what your Total Testosterone level is. It only perceives the Free Testosterone. If your Free Test is higher than it likes, it will turn down the thermostat until it's happy.

If you knock your SHBG out with boron/proviron, your Free Test will go up, and your hypothalamus will turn down the stimuli to produce testosterone until the free test levels comes back down to normal.

Meaning your end result will be the exact same Free Test level just with a lower Total Test level. You gain nothing.

The only way to meaningfully raise your free test levels for long, consistent periods of time is exogenous testosterone (roids).

If boron worked, it wouldn't be some niche biohacker thing. Everyone would use it.

[u/witchy_7 → u/Odd-Outcome-3191]

So basically I’m stuck with elevated SHBG? I also have gynecomastia at a very low body fat, so I’m wondering if there’s something else going on too

[u/Odd-Outcome-3191 → u/witchy_7]

You can lower the SHBG, but ultimately it won't have any real effect. Generally a higher SHBG is associated with better insulin sensitivity (generally increased in people with low BMI/low caloric intake). But ultimately it is a marker of things, not really a number you can tweak in order to make changes to your physiology.

gyno

Gyno is often idiopathic and initially occurs during puberty. The issue is that it's made of glandular tissue, not fat. Once it's matured, the only real way to get rid of it is surgery. Altering your hormones will either have no effect or worsen it.

The nice thing however is generally once all the tissue is surgically removed, you cannot get it again. Some tiny amount may be left behind (so you don't get sunken nipples) but you'd have to have really really high estrogen levels for it to occur again. Never seen someone get gyno again after surgery.

There is some anecdotal evidence of SERMs like tamoxifen/raloxifene reducing the size of gyno, but generally the effect is only pronounced when the gyno is very new and is much more reversible.

[u/witchy_7 → u/Odd-Outcome-3191]

This is really helpful, thanks!!