1 Year on TRT, Need Help Dialing In

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
1

I been on TRT for about a year now, physically the transformation was great but there has been so many ups and down. I’ve also discovered this subreddit a little late, so I tried to mimic what I thought were good practices but everyone is different I guess. Since my last test, I’ve been kind of dragging, low energy/low libido/soft erection/nostalgic stuff gets me emotional(last one I don’t mind, I get a sense of appreciation).

My current regiment I just switched to is 20mg EOD but prior I was going 50mg E3.5D. I can do daily but the prescription I get is 2

00mg a week (which I’ve never done) and comes in a bottle 200/ML which means if I did daily the quantity would be so small, I fear I’ll lose a lot just from any small leakage during injection. I prefer not to take any AI and rather try to regulate through protocol.

I don’t have results prior to TRT and SHBG was added later at my request. Protocol at the bottom is a little confusing looking at now, basically that’s the protocol I was on that gave me those results. On each of these I had ups and downs, I can’t figure out what I should be focusing on.

MAY 2019 (

TSH ( 0.40-4.50 mIU/L ): -1.73
TESTOSTERONE ( 250-827 ng/dL ): -371
T4 FREE ( 0.8-1.8 ng/dL ): -1.3
T4 ( 4.9-10.5 mcg/dL ): -8.9
T3 UPTAKE (22-35%): -30
T3 ( 76-181 ng/dL ): -146
SHBG 10-50 nmol/L ): -
PROTOCOL: -100MG Weekly/ HCG 1000UI Weekly/AI 1mg EOD
ESTROGEN, TOTAL, SERUM ( 60-190 pg/mL ): -77.8
ESTRADIOL ( < OR = 39 pg/mL ): -<15
DHEA SULFATE ( 106-464 mcg/dL ): -330

NOV 2019

TSH ( 0.40-4.50 mIU/L ): -0.95
TESTOSTERONE ( 250-827 ng/dL ): -737
T4 FREE ( 0.8-1.8 ng/dL ): -1.1
T4 ( 4.9-10.5 mcg/dL ): -
T3 UPTAKE (22-35%): -
T3 ( 76-181 ng/dL ): -115
SHBG 10-50 nmol/L ): -
PROTOCOL: -50MG E3.5D/ HCG 500 UI E3.5D/NO AI
ESTROGEN, TOTAL, SERUM ( 60-190 pg/mL ): -230.6
ESTRADIOL ( < OR = 39 pg/mL ): -57
DHEA SULFATE ( 106-464 mcg/dL ): -370

JAN 2020

TSH ( 0.40-4.50 mIU/L ): -2.04
TESTOSTERONE ( 250-827 ng/dL ): -651
T4 FREE ( 0.8-1.8 ng/dL ): -1.3
T4 ( 4.9-10.5 mcg/dL ): -
T3 UPTAKE (22-35%): -
T3 ( 76-181 ng/dL ): -134
SHBG 10-50 nmol/L ): -13
PROTOCOL: -40MG E3D/ HCG 500UI E3.5/AI .25 EOD
ESTROGEN, TOTAL, SERUM ( 60-190 pg/mL ): -150
ESTRADIOL ( < OR = 39 pg/mL ): -25
DHEA SULFATE ( 106-464 mcg/dL ): -441

FEB 2020
TSH ( 0.40-4.50 mIU/L ): -
TESTOSTERONE ( 250-827 ng/dL ): -816
T4 FREE ( 0.8-1.8 ng/dL ): -
T4 ( 4.9-10.5 mcg/dL ): -
T3 UPTAKE (22-35%): -
T3 ( 76-181 ng/dL ): -
SHBG 10-50 nmol/L ): -13
PROTOCOL: -50MG E3.5D/HCG 500 EOD/NO AI
ESTROGEN, TOTAL, SERUM ( 60-190 pg/mL ): -192.6
ESTRADIOL ( < OR = 39 pg/mL ): -31
DHEA SULFATE ( 106-464 mcg/dL ): -329

2

I do 200mg/week doing daily IM injections using 28-30g needle 1CC insulin syringes and waste nothing. Mine is 220mg/ml so it’s .13ml/day. It’s easy, painless and makes me feel the best of everything I’ve tried and I’ve tried just about everything.

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3

When in relation to your injections did you get your blood test done?

Why are you taking HCG? That can easily be causing some or all of your problems.

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4

This

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5

The more recent ones, a day after. I thought it was normal to use HCG together with TRT to keep your balls from shrinking.

6

would I need to use an AI?

7

It’s probably best to let them shrink. It’s not worth the side effects of HCG. You’re doing TRT to feel good and the HCG is preventing that. The main reason for HCG use it to regain fertility temporarily if you’re trying to have children or to regain size and fertility if quitting TRT all together.

No. Most likely not.

8

The problem is it keeps many people from feeling their best. That’s why it’s recommended to get your T alone figured out and once there of you want to try and add HCG to see how you react then do it. That way you know of it’s the HCG keeping you from feeling ideal.

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9

If your goal is to not feel good then yes. If you’re looking to feel great then no.

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10

If that’s your levels a day after your shot then you could definitely try taking more T to see if that helps.

11

I’m a proponent of HCG. Been using it for over 8 years and have no discernible side-effects. I’m currently using 450 IU E3D (1050 IU/week). However, if you feel that might be part of you problem, then an HCG vacation might help you figure it out. It’s best to work out the T dose first and then layer in the HCG.

Looking at you labs, your SHBG is a bit low. This may be causing you to metabolize T faster and that may be the core of your ups and downs. I don’t have any experience with low SHBG (mine is high), but guys I’ve talked to with low SHBG recommend frequent injections (daily or E2D). You might consider bumping the dose up to 40mg E2D (140mg/week). Evaluate after 6 weeks. Then, if you still are having problems increase 5-10mg (still E2D) and reevaluate in 6 weeks.Repeat increase if necessary.

I do agree with the no AI recommendations.Even at its highest without an AI, your E2 levels were not that far out of range.

12

Really glad I found this community. Thank you everyone for your input.

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13

So I switched to my new regime, .34 ml EOD and I’m experiencing high estrogen symptoms as of late and still haven’t felt great. I’m considering daily injections, what kind of roller coaster am I in store for?

14

What are high estrogen symptoms?

15

What’s the concentration? If it’s 200mg/mL then this is 238mg weekly, and maybe too high of a dose for you.

16

Low energy, on the downside emotionally, up and down mood swings, not sure yet but I might have an enlarged prostate.

17

it is a 200mg/ml, so I take .17 ml (sorry for the confusion)

18

Those aren’t high E2 symptoms. Those are symptoms of a protocol that isn’t right for you.

This video I did may be helpful:

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19

I didn’t realize anxiety played a role. I been feeling extreme anxiety to the point it’s impacting my gut. My stress level have been high, but I think it’s been lack of going to the gym since COVID started. I will begin to document my day to day, care to share what are good things to track?

20

With any change of protocol, and resulting labs, also document sleep, stress, anxiety, overall quality of diet, exercise, any form of additional supplementation, any change at work or major life change, overall energy levels, overall well-being etc. I would document that roughly 8 week after any protocol change. Then I could quickly compare a protocol, labs, and how I felt during that time. Finding the best method at that point became quite clear.