Hi guys. I’m 43, only been on TRT for a few months and I had a few questions.
Im current on 400 mg per week. 2 injections of testosterone cypionate at 200 mg/ml per week, injecting 1 ml each injection. I’m 43, and started because I was dealing with fatigue and the inabillity to run 14-16 hours days like I used to. Hoping yall can help me get the most out of this.
1 Im currently injecting in the upper leg, usually about halfway between my knee and my groin. Alternating legs each injection. Is this a good spot or should I be injecting somewhere else for best effect?
My pharmacy ships me different needles every refill, currently I have 3ml luerlock 25g x 1. I have been filling to the 1ml line, injecting the needle fullly in and pushing the plunger. Is this about right?
My pharmacy also sends me anastrolzole pills, and for an extra charge I can get HCG. I haven’t been using them. Do I need to? What are the benefits? I haven’t experienced any ball shrinkage so I assumed neither was necessary, am I correct?
I don’t understand. I’m not some powerlifter. Im using testosterone to get back to where I was 5-6 years ago when I could pull 3-4 16 hour shifts a week without an issue, and I’m still not there. I’m just trying to regain the energy levels I had in my late 30s.
What the guys are saying is that, if you were diagnosed with low T from a doctor based on your bloodwork, they’d prescribe a dose of maybe 200mg per week or so. It’s extremely unlikely, bordering on irresponsible, for a doctor to prescribe the dose you’re taking.
If you’ve found a way to get testosterone yourself, and you came up with the idea to inject 400mg per week on your own, then you’re running a (poorly designed and misguided, however well-intentioned) steroid cycle and this thread will be moved to the Pharma forum where it would belong.
And the most likely suggestion would be to either increase your dose to 500mg per week for a real cycle or reduce your dose to 100-200mg per week to begin actual long-term TRT. Right now, you’re in a weird limbo of taking too-much-and-also-not-enough test.
What’s your diet and exercise plan? What’s your sleep schedule? What’s your height, weight, and general fat level?
O.k.
More context.
At the end of last year I found myself constantly tired, despite nothing else changing (hours, diet sleep etc) doc’s found no issues, but research online indicated it could be declining T levels. I contacted a TRT clinic, went to labcorp, had my blood tested, and was initially prescribed a 200mg/ml dose at .5 ml per dose twice a week. It helped some, but only at the margins. Doc upped it to .75 ml twice a week which helped more, then 1ml twice a week which is where I’m at now.
I eat once maybe twice a day. I’m 6’5" fluctuating between 220 and 230. I don’t really have time to exercise, I work 70-75 hours a week driving a truck mostly at night. I drive 14-16 hours, take 10 off, during which I sleep maybe 5 or 6, then Im back at work. I have no idea what my fat level is. I’ve got a small beer belly, but I’ve always been tall and gangly.
So, to be clear, your doctor said “Mark, I want to to start injecting 200mg twice a week”? How long were you on each dose before re-testing and bumping it up and what kind of concrete numbers were your bloods at each dose?
If nothing about your lifestyle changed and you suddenly felt tired, that’d be the time to finally buckle down and reaping the benefits instead of coasting on whatever you were doing before.
Fix this.
You really do, with a good plan (even weekends-only would be a great start), so fix that too.
Find a way to fix this. Working graveyard shift/funky overnight can definitely make it tough to stick to a schedule and messes with your body in a bunch of ways, but dude, chronic lack of sleep alone can reduce test levels.
Regardless of the daft protocol (sorry 400mg is a cycle) There’s a cut off point which is a grey area its at about half your dose. Even 200mg is considered a mild cycle by some in that grey area!
Anyway… regardless,
Whats all your bloods saying? Before TRT? Before each dose change?
Think of it this way. You’re basically banking on the idea that your dwindling Test levels are greatly responsible for the loss of energy you’ve been feeling.
That’s a reasonable hypothesis.
At that point the idea would be to put your levels back to what they were when you were younger. The problem is that 400 mg/week is going to put you where no human being, regardless of genetics, could ever be naturally.
I guarantee you’re right now probably riding at 2 or 3 times (at least) the T levels you had in your early 20’s.
The reason you weren’t feeling good on 200 mg/week is probably because you were already way too high (assuming you gave that protocol at least 8 weeks - even more for a first protocol because your natural production will be shutting down).
I would dial back to 200 mg/week so you don’t drop too fast, inject at least 2x/week, run that for 8 weeks and do blood tests for everything (TT, FT, DHT, SHBG, (sensitive) E2, Thyroid, CMP, CBC, lipids, etc…)
Don’t doubt this, some docs are genuinely clueless about how this works, but I’d love to see the labwork on this dose. If you’re not 2500ng+ I’d be amazed, and in that case, you have a valid reason for using so much test (why that is, exactly, you might want to explore)
400 mg/week isn’t going to solve your issues permanently; eventually it’s going to create new problems, long term.
400 mg/week is likely going to create supraphysiologic levels. Eventually, you may begin to deal with edema/water retention, you may begin to experience sleep apnea, increased levels of hematocrit or hemoglobin, your blood pressure and resting heart rate may begin to increase, because androgens are adrenergic. If your resting heart rate & blood pressure stays too high for too long, you could begin to put yourself at risk for cardiovascular issues, like left ventricular hypertrophy. Imagine your heart as an engine and all of a sudden even at idle it’s running at 5,000 rpms. Fertility will also be reduced, even with hcg, but likely not lost. Your HPTA axis will be shut down and probably already is.
Look elsewhere to help your symptoms. You’re headed toward more problems down the road on the path you’re on right now in my opinion.
If it were me, and my doc was cool Rxing high amounts of test, I wouldn’t tell him anything. I’d drop the dose in half and save the rest for a rainy day. You’ve found a unicorn, that doesn’t know he’s a unicorn, so use him for the Rx but only take enough to stay healthy