I’m 25 years old and have been on Androgel for the last 2.5 months. I had my T-Levels tested in January because I’ve always felt that my T levels were too damn low. I have little body hair - none on my chest - and very little facial hair. It has also been really difficult for me to put on muscle whereas fat comes on quite easily. I have slight gyno and when I do gain weight it goes to my love handles and man boobs primary. I also have a layer of fat over my abs that has just always been there. I think all of this is due to my low-t.
Anyway I had my levels tested in January and they were at 235! I was put on 5G of Androgel once daily but the doctor was an hour away and I was really tight on finances so I only filled the Rx once - stupid I know. Anyway, I started backup on Androgel at 7.5G and then bumped to 10G in Mid-April, so I have been on it daily for roughly 2 months.
I’m in the process of finding a good, proactive doctor in my area but I have a friend of mine who just continues to prescribe me 10G of Androgel daily until I can find a fulltime doctor here on the East Coast because he knows how much this issue bothers me and how much anxiety it causes me.
Anyway, I got a bottle of Liquid Arimidex and I plan on starting it on Saturday in conjunction with my Androgel. I was going to start at .25mg every other day, would that be an okay starting dose?
Also, how long after I stop taking Arimidex do E2 levels return to their normal level in your body? I want to get back to ‘normal’ before my labs, especially when it is with my new doctor.
Is there anything else you guys recommend I do? I have a big problem with where my fat is stored and it goes right to my man boobs, so frustrating! I don’t think I’ve taken my shirt off in front of other people in at least 3 years and I just can’t take it anymore. I think the Androgel is already helping with me burning fat and gaining muscle, won’t the Arimidex aide in the reduction of man boobs and fat storage in general?
Thanks so much guys, I really need all the help I can get at this point!
Taking an AI without a confirmed need for an AI (i.e. high E2) is stupid. There are many things that could be causing high E2-like symptoms and without blood tests, you are just guessing…
Even if you do have high E2, an AI isn’t going to get rid of your gyno–that is only treatable with surgery.
WHy are you procrastinating finding a good doctor? Its not hard to do.
Why doesn’t your rogue buddy who has no problems writing you scripts for androgel just write you a script for bloodwork to go along with it?
What does the doctor being an hour away have to do with you choosing not to refill your script earlier in the year? You do realize that there is this new technology called THE MAIL or THE FAX MACHINE that would allow your doctor to get the scripts into a pharmacy that isn’t an hour away from you, right?
I have the same issue (w/ fat accumulation in those areas and it NEVER leaving). In fact I had it there since I was like 6! So I never wanted to take off my shirt…actually at the moment it is looks the best but still I have a mild case of gyno (and puffy nipples).
Did your doctor do any other labs before putting you on Androgel? Like thyroid, fsh, lh, prolactin, estrogen? Like do you know if you have primary or secondary
Agreed with VT, don’t put yourself on an AI (or any other med for that matter) without a confirmed need. Not everyone on TRT needs AI, everyone aromatizes differently. Men using creams/gels seem to have lower incidence of E2 issues than men who inject–I still prefer injections for myriad reasons, but the topicals do seem to have that advantage.
Quit taking it for now and get bloodwork done to establish need. If you do need it, start with .25mg EOD and re-test after 5 weeks. Your goal is to keep it in the 20’s. You may need to adjust.
I haven’t started taking the Arimidex yet, but I have started taking Clenbuteral.
As for my old doctor, I was living out West and I literally had to allocate a whole week day to go to his office, get labs, get Rx, etc and I couldn’t take a day off work all the time to do that, stupid yes but that is in the past now.
I will hold off on starting the Arimidex, thanks for the input.
What labs should I request to have done? It seems when it comes to these types of conditions that you really need to go in with a lot of knowledge and kind of guide your doctor into the direction that you want things to go.
As for my ‘rogue friend’, he simply wrote me a script because I was going to run out and I didn’t want to have to take a week or so off and then go back on when I get my script as I read that is really bad.
I want to do this correctly, I don’t just want to randomly dose myself with stuff and screw up all my internals.
I think my next step will be going to my new doctor with a list of things I want to discuss and a list of possible treatments, and a list of what labs I would like done - in addition to any he would like… How does that sound?
[quote]Rex32 wrote:
I haven’t started taking the Arimidex yet, but I have started taking Clenbuteral.
As for my old doctor, I was living out West and I literally had to allocate a whole week day to go to his office, get labs, get Rx, etc and I couldn’t take a day off work all the time to do that, stupid yes but that is in the past now.
I will hold off on starting the Arimidex, thanks for the input.
What labs should I request to have done? It seems when it comes to these types of conditions that you really need to go in with a lot of knowledge and kind of guide your doctor into the direction that you want things to go.
As for my ‘rogue friend’, he simply wrote me a script because I was going to run out and I didn’t want to have to take a week or so off and then go back on when I get my script as I read that is really bad.
I want to do this correctly, I don’t just want to randomly dose myself with stuff and screw up all my internals.
I think my next step will be going to my new doctor with a list of things I want to discuss and a list of possible treatments, and a list of what labs I would like done - in addition to any he would like… How does that sound?
Thx,
Rex[/quote]
free testosterone
free t3, t4
total t3, t4
tsh
lh
fsh
prolactin
estrogen
vitamin d
cortisol
CBC w/lipids
also you have to be off the Testosterone for a while to get good labs on where you are…however someone else may want to chime in here.
[quote]Retinoid wrote:
also you have to be off the Testosterone for a while to get good labs on where you are…however someone else may want to chime in here.[/quote]
I don’t advocate stopping T unless it is absolutely necessary…obviously would have been better to get all your labs with a real baseline, but what is done is done…unless there’s something indicating that you could recover your T (i.e. your low T is a symptom of other issues), then I would just continue the T treatment–you’ve gotta be on it anyway, so that is your new “baseline” so to speak…
Thanks so much for the advice and sorry for the great delay, I had a ton going on.
Anyway I got lazy with the gel and hadnt applied it in a couple months. I just got a new doctor and he is really cool. He switched me to a 100mg shot once a month, but he is open to me getting the shot more often and fine with writing me a lab order for whatever.
How long should I wait before getting my labs done if I got the shot yesterday? Anything else I should add to the above list of labs?
Anyway I got lazy with the gel and hadnt applied it in a couple months. I just got a new doctor and he is really cool. He switched me to a 100mg shot once a month, but he is open to me getting the shot more often and fine with writing me a lab order for whatever.
[/quote]
He might be cool, but he is mind numbingly idiotic. 100 mg ONCE a month? Are you fucking kidding me?
Ask him if he knows the average male produces around 10 mg of Testosterone, per day. So about 70 mg/week. Once the weight of the 100 mg ester is cleaved off, you are left with about 70 mg of testoerone (it is about 30% weight). So you need at least 100 mg/week. Ask him why he is only giving you a quarter of that.
Then ask him if he has any idea how long the half life of the test is. It is one week. Then ask him why he wants you to take it 4 times less frequently than that?
After talking to my doctor again he decided to put me on 100mg weekly, but I have the stuff at home now so I could really do a bit more if I wanted to…
My levels were originally right at 200 and two weeks after a 100mg shot they were 350ish, given that Gould I stick at 100 a week or bump up to 200?
Stick with 100 mg/week now, divided into two 50 mg doses. Get your bloods tested after about 6 weeks on that protocol and make a decision on whether to raise based on bloodwork and symptoms.