Thanks tj…appreciate your help and will look forward to others chiming in
Quick update guys,
My doc is on vacay but passed along the message to go down to 10 mg / day.
I guess I’ll have to just see how 10 mg / day + arimidex twice a week helps things in 4 weeks or so
Took the 0.25 mg of arimidex yesterday
Might just be a placebo but actually felt a little better
definitely nowhere close to 100%…but did notice a subtle change. Will be taking the next 0.25mg tomorrow.
Sorry to be a pest but wondering if anyone has any further thoughts on this.
I will give it a good 4 weeks with this new protocol but any insight would be great in the meantime.
Optimal for most guys is E2=22pg/ml - 80 pmol/L
In most cases, 0.5mg/week anastrozole would not be adequate, however, some are over-responders who need 0.25mg/week with 100mg T per week.
You can inject T EOD and get same very good even T levels.
50mg zinc is too much
I suspect that you have poor E2 clearance in the liver. AST/ALT liver test would be good. Liver problems or some drugs, Rx or OTC can reduce E2 clearance.
High E2 was totally spoiling the game.
Super Miraforte is expensive and may not have any benefit.
Thanks KSman. I’ve dropped the Super Miraforte now that I’m taking the Arimidex.
I’ll test drive the Arimidex 0.5mg / week and reduced test dosage of 70 mg / week for the next 4 weeks…hopefully start to improve.
The thing that really puzzles me is why my bioavailable test shot up from 16.4 to 22.6 nmol/L (1.6 - 13.2 range) in a matter of 2-3 weeks upon taking the Super Miraforte. It’s strange especially because i reduced the test dosage from 14 mg/day to 12mg/day during that time.
Will do some more reading on liver clearance and try to get that done on my next set of labs.
Thanks.
I checked out the labs I ran prior to starting TRT.
AST: 25 u/l (range <37)
ALT: 15 u/l (range <46)
Both seemed to be in the normal range…
Your SHBG then appears to have dropped.
Please note that every T dose change alters requirement for anastrozole. So this is complicating things quite a bit.
Thanks. I will get SHBG tested on my next set of labs.
This will be my first time starting anastrozole with the test dosage at 10mg / day. Will give it 4 weeks to see how it goes and where my numbers fall out.
Unfortunately, when I previously reduced the dosage from 14mg/day to 12mg/day, my estrogen levels pretty much stayed the same in the 250 pmol/L range (even with the Super Miraforte). So dropping the dosage seemed to do very little for me.
I guess depending on what the next set of labs show, I will either:
-
Adjust the anastrozole dosage further if my estrogen levels are still too high
-
Explore options on what can be done if my SHBG is indeed exceedingly low. Was reading a post this morning on using T-Prop vs. T-Cyp that might help in cases like this. Hopefully this isn’t required but I guess I just have to wait and see.
SHBG has zero connection to type of T ester. SHBG increases with more estrogens and decreases with more T. A lot of what you read from a body building forum is suspect.
Thanks ksman
Starting to feel something gents…
It’s subtle but definitely feels like a corner is turning for the better…
I guess I spoke too soon…took my 6th table of 0.25mg of arimidex…really not feeling any different at all :((
My schedule right now is 0.25mg 2x a week.
I want to try and be patient and give it more time to work…but very tempted to just start bumping up to 0.25mg e2d.
Please help:
I have now taken 0.25mg of arimidex 7 times since June 22.
Have also been on reduced test dosage of 10mg / day since June 22.
Honestly not feeling a single bit of change and starting to get worried.
I have some Nature’s Way DIM-plus on hand and wondering if I should just start taking 2 capsules a day for 50mg total of DIM on top of the arimidex.
Getting a little concerned about my doc. The last time I asked him if I should space out my adex doses, he just told me take it two times a week…doesn’t matter which days. That seems to go against almost everything I’ve been reading in terms of timing things effectively.
What do you guys think? Am I freaking out too early or should I start increasing the adex dosage or adding in some DIM?
Thanks.
Got my new labs. still waiting on testosterone, but please see below;
TSH: 2.05 mlU/L (0.35 - 5)
Free T4: 20 pmol/L (12 - 22)
Free T3: 5.8pmol/L (2.6 - 5.7)
Hemoglobin: 5.8% (<6)
DHEA: 10.4 umol/L (4.34 - 12.2)
Estradiol: <60 pmol/L (<159)
Lots of fatigue, ED, empty emotions, tiredness. I think the <60 translates to less than 20 pg/ml.
Any thoughts on what to do next? I guess the options are to increase my test dosage or reduce my arimidex to 0.25mg 1x week from 2x week right now?
TSH should be closer to 1.0
Thyroid lab ranges are mostly useless.
fT4 is above midrange
fT3 is above midrange
Oral body temps could be low, see below
Labs suggest that fT3 is not working properly, could be elevated rT3, see the thyroid basics sticky for references to temperature, rT3, adrenal fatigue, stress factors.
Please discuss your history of using iodized salt [to support thyroid hormone production].
Please read the stickies found here: About the T Replacement Category - #2 by KSman
- advice for new guys - need more info about you
- things that damage your hormones
- protocol for injections
- finding a TRT doc
Evaluate your overall thyroid function by checking oral body temperatures as per the thyroid basics sticky. Thyroid hormone fT3 is what gets the job done and it regulates mitochondrial activity, the source of ATP which is the universal currency of cellular energy. This is part of the body’s temperature control loop. This can get messed up if you are iodine deficient. In many countries, you need to be using iodized salt. Other countries add iodine to dairy or bread.
KSman is simply a regular member on this site. Nothing more other than highly active.
I can be a bit abrupt in my replies and recommendations. I have a lot of ground to cover as this forum has become much more active in the last two years. I can’t follow threads that go deep over time. You need to respond to all of my points and requests as soon as possible before you fall off of my radar. The worse problems are guys who ignore issues re thyroid, body temperatures, history of iodized salt. Please do not piss people off saying that lab results are normal, we need lab number and ranges.
The value that you get out of this process and forum depends on your effort and performance. The bulk of your learning is reading/studying the suggested stickies.
Apparently my TRT doc said he reviewed those same thyroid labs and thinks they are optimal
Oral body temperature readings so far suggest they are not (readings below)
Saturday
12pm 96.4F
1pm 96.7F
3pm 96.9F
4:30pm 97.6F
Sunday
2:40pm 96.7F
Monday
6:45am 96.6F
7:20am 96.7F
8:15am 95.8F
9:10am 96.7F
I found this OTC supplement which claims to help optimize body temperature
http://www.wtsmedproducts.com/Products-Ordering/WTSmed-Supplements/ThyroCare
Think there’s any harm in giving it a go?