Glad you asked. I have an idea that I think I may try that I’ll talk about at the end of this post.
My doc wrote me a script for HC right away when my labs came back and showed low cortisol. I still don’t know too much about it, but I really wanted to shy away from taking more meds that I might become dependent on for life. I’ve read that HC can be safe at low doses regarding adrenal suppression, but I still wanted to exhaust every other option for fixing my adrenal insufficiency (i.e. stop overtraining) before trying HC.
To answer your questions:
- I was on T + NDT + HCG only for sometime before starting the DHT derivatives and I had good erectile function, however, my mood was poorer and my libido was not quite where I wanted it. This could be a result of my cortisol deficiency.
- I think you could consider my TRT a mini-cycle. Lots of drugs. I want to test my TT and FT before making any changes, but I’m considering a serious lowering of my t-dose soon that I’ll explain later. Right now:
32mg Testosterone ED subq
250iu HCG EOD subq
75 (just upped from 50)mg ED proviron (50am, 25pm)
3.5 grain NDT (2.5am, 1 pm)
As you can see, my test levels should be through the roof. You would think I’d be feeling great, but that is still not the case. Even after severely overhauling my training regime, I still feel overtrained, as if my cortisol has not recovered. Freeing up more test using proviron has helped my libido somewhat (not to the degree i was hoping for), but has almost made my energy throughout the day worse.
Lots of guys have mentioned on this forum that they feel better, libido+energy+brainfog, on lower doses of testosterone. For instance, the guy in this thread:
I’d remembered reading that testosterone inhibts cortisol release. This is why Bodybuilders on grams of gear can train hard, every day, for many hours. Way more training volume while they are enhanced. I think my FT may be TOO high, using way too much test and proviron, that it is inhibiting my cortisol release and slowing my adrenals recovery from overtraining.
If I’ve interpreted this study correctly, than this should prove my point: Testosterone Suppression of CRH-stimulated Cortisol in Men - PMC
So I’m thinking of backing off my testosterone dose to ~20mg daily. I’m scared to do this since I’ve attributed any wellness on my therapy so far to my high dose, but I can’t imagine this would worsen things. Do you have any thoughts?