What is Luteinizing Hormone & The Productions of Testosterone
If you google the word Luteinizing Hormone or (LH), most of the articles you will find talk about the role of luteinizing hormone in women. There needs to be more info about the part of Luteinizing Hormone in men. While it may seem like a female hormone due to its role in ovulation, a surge of Luteinizing Hormone is a trigger that causes the ovary to release the egg in the body. If you’ve been trying to conceive or have a baby, your wife or significant other may monitor her Luteinizing Hormone levels.
If she has trouble with ovulation, your doctor may prescribe medications that help with ovulation. Many of this medication help stimulate the body to produce more Luteinizing Hormone (LH) and its cousin hormone, Stimulating Follicle Hormone (FSH). She may be on hormonal birth control pills if you are not trying to conceive or get pregnant. These pills prevent ovulation by blocking Stimulating Follicle Hormone and Luteinizing Hormone. It is one of the manliest hormones in your body.
You can think of Luteinizing Hormone as a tiny drill sergeant that commands the Leydig Cells in the testicle to produce Testosterone. When Luteinizing Hormone is present, the Leydig Cells generate Testosterone; when it is not, they don’t. Luteinizing Hormone is the commander and chief of your Testosterone and is critically crucial for sperm production count, muscle building, and overall sexual health.
Male hormones have a clinical nature to them. Luteinizing Hormone (LH) signals the testicle to produce Testosterone. Testosterone seeps out of the testis and into the bloodstream, circulating the body and putting it to good use. Manly things like growing chest hair, increasing muscle, and your voice deep are some of the effects.
The brain monitors the blood testosterone levels; If they drop too low, it will signal the pituitary gland to send out more Luteinizing Hormone (LH) to kick-start testosterone production.
If your Testosterone is chronically low (as with hypogonadism or Low Testosterone), the brain will respond by increasing the Luteinizing Hormone (LH) level.
If Testosterone is chronically higher (as in the case of using testosterone therapy, other performance enhancers, or steroids), the brain will shut down the production of Luteinizing Hormone (LH). When testosterone therapy is stopped, men can experience a “crash” without post-therapy as Testosterone levels plummet. Still, with post-therapy, the brain lags in re-starting the machinery to generate Luteinizing Hormone.
Getting Tested: To measure Luteinizing Hormone (LH) levels, you must complete blood work in a hormone clinic because doctors will order blood to estimate a panel of hormones which usually includes Stimulating Follicle Hormone, Luteinizing Hormone, Testosterone, and estrogen. They may also add Estrodial and Prolactin, which will provide additional insight into your hormonal and physical health to know your body composition.
Luteinizing Hormone (LH) and Testosterone levels cycle from high to low on a typical day. When getting blood work done to measure hormone levels, it is essential to note the time of day the analysis was performed to understand the values better. Testosterone naturally will peak first thing in the morning (partially responsible for morning “wood”).
For this reason, doctors prefer to regulate hormones between 8-10 am to get a snapshot of your hormone panel profile when your Testosterone level is likely to be highest. When preparing for a Luteinizing Hormone test, and to sure your doctor is aware of a few things:
Current Prescription Taking: Current or past use of testosterone therapy. (If you are using anything at the gym or in supplements stores and you aren’t quite sure), you should bring it with your doctor to the appointment.
- The Use Of Marijuana or THC may decrease hormone levels, including Luteinizing Hormone.
- Medical Radioactive Tracer: This can interfere with the test
- Normal Luteinizing Hormone Range For Adult Males: 1–10 mIU/mL.
Different labs report different reference ranges based on the exact way they perform the blood work test. From a review of various lab reports, Values lower than 1.0 or higher than 10.0 typically indicate some problem. For average men, Luteinizing Hormone (LH) typically falls between 4-7mIU/mL with drops and surges (about 6) throughout the day. Values below four and above seven may be considered borderline and helpful compared to other hormones, particularly Testosterone and Prolactin.
The studies that we have reviewed found that these types of conditions have shown and can significant drops in testosterone levels and minimal effect on Luteinizing Hormone (LH).
Luteinizing Hormone may occasionally show up a little low, but it is often entirely in the normal range. Therefore, low testosterone levels accompanied by normal Luteinizing Hormone (LH) levels usually indicate the cause of Low Testosterone and can tremendously help diagnose the condition and help create a game plan for treating the cause while managing symptoms of low Testosterone.
What are the Causes of high Luteinizing Hormones in Men?
If Luteinizing Hormone (LH) is high and Testosterone is low. Then some damage is causing the testicle, or the pituitary gland is trying to compensate by overdrive and flooding the balls with extra Luteinizing Hormone, hoping to encourage higher Testosterone production. In cases like this, Luteinizing Hormone levels are often off the charts high, sometimes double or triple the average values.
Common causes for this include:
- Chromosome Abnormalities: Such as Klinefelter’s syndrome
- Childhood Problems: Such as testicle or testicular torsion, The injury that causes significant damage to testicular tissue
- Viral Infection: (most commonly mumps) that damages the testis.
- Radiation exposure or chemotherapy
- Testicular cancer
- Borderline High Luteinizing Hormone (LH) levels
Medications or untreated autoimmune disorders can cause slightly elevated Luteinizing Hormone (LH) levels (8.0 – 10.0 range). Some studies have linked Celiac Disease with elevated, somewhat Luteinizing Hormone (LH). Men with an untreated disease can have moderately high Luteinizing Hormone levels that usually return to normal upon starting a gluten-free diet.
What causes low Luteinizing Hormones in Men?
The most common reason for Luteinizing Hormone deficiency in men is the use of external androgens (Testosterone, other performance enhancers, or non-medication).
External androgens can trick the brain into thinking the body is producing naturally high levels of Testosterone, which lowers down production of luteinizing hormone (LH) and, consequently, natural testosterone production. The second most common cause of low Luteinizing Hormone (LH) levels is a health issue and can directly impact the function of the pituitary in the brain; most common causes of pituitary malfunction can include genetic conditions, such as Prader-Willi Syndrome or Kallman’s Syndrome and can cause other problems like:
- Pituitary tumors (cancerous and benign)
- Hyperprolactinemia
- Head trauma
- Various Medications
- Autoimmune disorders
- Borderline low Luteinizing Hormone (LH) results
Luteinizing Hormone levels in the 1.0 – some things can cause the 3.0 range, like temporarily reducing imbalanced hormones: such as overtraining and endurance. They are significantly under or overweight Alcohol consumption spikes in insulin medications or other drugs. High-stress Chronic conditions: that can cause hormone imbalance: such as diabetes, insulin resistance, and various autoimmune disorders, and can create borderline or low levels of Luteinizing Hormone (LH).
**NOTE** The content in this blog is subject to interpretation and is the opinion of the content writer. We do not claim it to be fact. We encourage you to consult a medical doctor before taking any prescribed medications or supplements.
Conclusion
Supporting Hormones health is essential for overall well-being and vitality. By incorporating regular exercise, proper nutrition, adequate sleep, stress management techniques, and IV therapy, you can help maintain optimal testosterone levels and lead a healthy, balanced life. Always consult a healthcare professional before making significant changes to your lifestyle or starting any new treatments to ensure they suit your needs.
At AAI Rejuvenation Clinic, we advise anyone to think seriously about beginning Hormone treatment if there is no medical need for it. However, we will take every precaution to ensure that you read your program’s positive benefits by providing the latest at-home hormonal mouth-swab testing to ensure we are continually monitoring your progress and aware of any adverse side effects. Fill out the Medical History Form, or if you need more information, call us at (866) 224-5698 or (866) AAI-Low-T.
Low Hormone Symptoms
- Motivation
- Sex Drive and Desire
- Depression
- Fatigue
- Erectile Dysfunction
- Cholesterol
- Low Energy
- Memory Loss
- Osteoporosis
- Wounds & Illness
- Muscle Mass
- Sleep Disturbances
- Thyroid Dysfunction
- Weight Gain
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