Test it the next chance you get, no hurry as it will decrease on TRT anyway.
Free Tā>E2, testosterone and estrogen are needed for libido. Too much or too little of both will cause problems with libido.
Just a quick update after my first injection yesterday. They had to do the first injection in the office which meant they did the full 160mg. Had some anxiety last night and today. Pretty intense headache tonight as well. Maybe itās not related at all or maybe that was just to big of a starting dose. I am pretty convinced itās the later after reading around the forums but what do I know. Maybe those symptoms would easily resolve on their own even at 160mg. Would rather start slower and work my way up though, thinking 100mg a week.
As mentioned before I am going to break this protocol into more frequent injections. After the headache tonight, EOD sounds like a good plan. Still waiting on SHBG but guessing its middle of the road based on FT/TT ratio. Will EOD have any negative side effects on someone with mid range SHBG? I know EOD or ED was recommended if my SHBG had been very low.
Lastly, my joints are a little sore today which is slightly odd. I think I am just reading too much into that one and itās not related. Workout at the gym last night was probably a bit more intense due to my excitement of possibly getting an erection again.
The side effects you get after an injection will be less intense on more frequent smaller dosing which in the point. Iāve always associated these large peaks with estrogen.
About the only time I didnāt experience these headaches was on a daily protocol where estrogen had never been lower. In my experience had you continued with this protocol it would have gotten worse with each injection.
I guess it goes back to some of these clinics just wanting to push the easier cookie cutter plan. After reading through these forums and other enough your realize how well EOD or ED seems to work for most. When does someone need to use a high once a week dosage, just when SHBG is very high? Just seems like the more frequent dosing is almost invariably a better solution regardless. More pinning but that seems to be about the only con.
Since I started at 160mg but want to move to 100mg weekly/split EOD, I am trying to decide when to start that. Thinking right now I wait until day 5 to start the EOD protocol. Do you think that is too soon, too late, or does not really matter since I am just starting.?
The answer is when it works, most men are in bad shape having Low T often for years allowing their health to deteriorate to the point where bodily functions are compromised.
A guy in great physical shape may not have the same problems injecting once weekly. Some guys hyper-metabolize T and cannot keep levels elevated long injecting weekly.
If you start out with moderate body fat, weekly is likely to cause problems. Some guys also have high levels of aromatase enzymes and simply cannot inject big doses.
Iāve seen high SHBG guys aromatase like crazy.
I have decided not to mess with HCG, at least for a while. Have two children and a vasectomy so fertility is of no concern. Testicle size is of no concern to me either. I hear some say they feel even better on with using HCG as well but then others say the opposite. Thinking i should just wait until blood level saturate/stabilze on and determine how I feel. Doesnāt seem like adding it will have much benefit should I feel great on Test alone. Not planning to touch an AI unless E2 gets crazy and I have significant symptoms.
Still having some odd joint pain all around that I am not accustomed to. Took yesterday off from the gym just to make sure I wasnāt subconsciously pushing harder. Waking up in the morning more stiff than usual as well.
Now, I know 3 days in is nothing and really should not feel effects either way. Seems like low E2 is normally the culprit of joint pain but I did not take an ai. Hoping itās not related at all and just goes away with time. Also, never had been allergic to any drug or vaccine/shot so I doubt itās some response to the oil.
Any thoughts on the joint pain so soon?
Iām just spitballing here, but possibly you have more water retension beginning, causing the joints to feel stiff. Not necessarily from e2, just from the new flux of hormones and your body being off kilter and adjusting to it.
Trying to stay positive with this whole experience so far. Tomorrow will be 14 days since the first injection. First injection was 160mg but then switch to 18mg ED 4 days later. So last 9 days have been 18mg/day.
Didnāt expect to feel a huge change super soon but didnāt also expect to feel any worse. Since beginning TRT, I definitely feel much more tired, achy, and just emotionally fatigued. Of all the reading I have done, feeling worse after beginning TRT didnt seem to be a common thing.
IDK, trying to be positive but so far it has not been a good experience.
I have read several posts where people feel worse then they did before TRT in the first few week but you need to give it time it takes 6 weeks for your body to settle down and get used to the hormones.
Yeah, I know it takes 6 weeks+ to really start seeing the benefits of it all. I just didnāt expect to feels considerably worse 2 weeks into it. The big reasons have I started TRT have become even bigger issues than they were before.
Itās just dissapointing and frustrating when you get outlier initial results. I am sure 4 weeks from now I will be singing show tunes about how good I feel. Like I mentioned, just trying to stay positive through this period.
Went and had a full thyroid panel drawn today. Trying to understand why I am feeling so much worse after starting this treatment. Guess we will see what that shows. Labs are breaking the bank right now though, that is for sure.
How has your eating and sleeping been? Are you working out?
Eating has not changed but I would say I am slightly more hungry. Still eating a Keto diet @ 2600 calories like I have been for sometime now. Sleeping has not changed at all and I get between 7-9 hours depending on the night. I was working out very consistently before starting and its much harder to motivate myself now to go. I think its just the extreme fatigue that is making it tough to remain consistent. Have bloated a bunch as well. Up about 10 pounds in 15 days, which has to be 95% water retention.
Had my TT, FT, and E2 drawn yesterday as well. Realizing its super early in the process but I just wanted to see where things were sitting at.
Maybe try and up the calories for a bit, see how you feel.
Also the Keto could be working against you while your body gets used to the TRT. Worth a try to eat some clean carbs.
I got the 15 pounds of water weight too. Overall itās not too bad because I donāt feel fatterIt wouldnāt bother me at all but I really want to drop some weight for a race I am running in December and was hoping to drop 10 pounds in the past month rather than put on 15. Now I am up 25 from where I want to be.
Yeah, probably plan to change up my diet some once things settle down. If anything keto should be helping me minimize water gain while I adjust to everything. If I continue to feel shitty though I may have to as a last resort. Eventually, would like to finally start seeing some muscle gains so keto wont be around forever.
I can feel the water retention and its kind of uncomfortable so I am hesitant to make that any worse right now with carbs. Hoping as my body adjusts it will drop some of that water weight or at least not get any worse.
Not sure why you want to wait to work on your diet.
You are getting thyroid tests without trying to fix the most basic thing likely to making you feel like crap. Why wait, eating some carbs for the next week isnāt going to cause you to loose months of progress.
You sound like you have put a lot of effort into your current diet and are scared to make a change. You should figure out why.
You may have wasted your money doing labs this early, youāll be in a different place once levels are stable in the weeks to come, it is then we will see if your thyroid is able to cope with TRT.
Your HPTA is probably in the process of shutting down your natural production, this is why you feel worse, because you had natural T and injectable T whereas now you just have the injectable T.
As levels rise, demand on thyroid increases and your levels are not stable this early in the game.
Probably was a waste but I was curious. Will just have to run it again in another 6-8 weeks and see how it looks. Not that this is a baseline but its as close as I am going to have at this point. Yes, I should have done it prior to starting.
The HPTA shutdown does make sense. I didnt come across many scenarios where guys felt dramatically worse after starting treatment which makes it easy to think something is not right.
Plus this initial clinic did the prefilled syringes which bothers me the more I think about it. Made me wonder if they were sneaking some ai in with it, not likely I know. Part of the reason I got my TT,FT,E2, and HCT yesterday was just to verify nothing funny is going on.
The new Test arrived today but has DHEA infused with it which i posted separately about. Doesnāt seem to be a big deal but I do realize that could set me back some towards stabilization.