So, today marks the 1 year anniversary of starting on TRT Gel. However, does anyone have experience with what happens if you become much more active whilst using gel? In the last few months I have been running everyday, mountain and road cycling a lot more and have generally been eating very healthily and drinking at least 3 litres of water per day and feel much better for it. Heart rate has dropped to a resting 52-54 from 62 and recovery is a lot quicker. Plus my breathing is much easier under strain. So, what I wondered is, will my body be naturally be producing more testosterone itself on top of the gel because of the activity? Or can my body no longer do this? If so, should I reduce my application from two pumps of 20mg to one? Also, I have noticed my hair is thinning a lot lately - is this because my body is producing its own testosterone too and there is too much DHT or is it a coincidence and I am just getting old! Thanks in advance.
If you’re taking testosterone then you’re producing little to none, period.
More than likely you have completely shut down endogenous production of T when you started TRT, so no, you should not cut back on your T dose if you are happy with your T levels and the results.
Regarding hair thinning, it’s probably because you’ve increased your T, which naturally converts to DHT and for guys that are genetically programmed to lose hair, higher DHT with drive this at a faster level. You only recourse is to control DHT levels (with finasteride), but that’s a VERY touchy subject in this forum. I happen to be a proponent of it for guys on TRT, but I don’t wish to engage in an argument with anyone. Take the information at face value and do what you feel is best for you.
Thanks for this response. Very helpful. Can you possibly go into a bit more about finasteride. Im not really clued up on it other than what I have read from a medical point of view - so your opinion would be very useful as you advocate it.
First off, for the record, I do not support the use of finasteride for guys who do not have high DHT levels, which includes most guys that are not on TRT. Finasteride is a very potent drug at suppressing conversion of T to DHT and WILL screw with your sex life and other side-effects if you drive DHT too low. I read a lot of posts of guys who jumped onto finasteride to save their hair and paid the consequences.
On the flip side, I have no data on this, but I believe that most guys on TRT have high DHT levels. I offer myself as an example. My DHT levels went from being within normal ranges (30-85 ng/dL using LabCorp) to being well in excess of 100 ng/dL (Average of 146 over 7 labs since mid-2017).
I also believe, that if you are going to start finasteride, you absolutely must titrate the dose so that you don’t overtreat. As I said it is a very potent drug. It only comes in 2 doses, 1mg and 5mg. For me, 1mg per day brought my DHT levels down to borderline high and 5mg drove it into the ground. After much experimentation, I found 2mg/day was the right amount and I split that into a morning and an evening dose of 1mg. That dose keeps my DHT about mid-range for my age group. I believe that’s a little too low and I need to do a little more research to find what the normal range is for a 20-30 year old guy and use that as my target range.
You are going to hear a lot of claims from guys that finasteride causes long-term irreversible suppression of DHT levels, and they point to a questionable study using new techniques for measuring gene expression. I question whether they have actually read the entire article beyond the abstract and assessed the methodology. Beyond that, the fact that the study was sponsored by an organization that is very anti-finasteride, I question the ethics of the entire study and publication. Publication ethics aside, the study has numerous flaws, I encourage you to read the entire article and decide for yourself.
So, to sum it all up, I believe that for guys on TRT with documented high DHT levels, finasteride treatment should be considered with the knowledge that there are potential side-effects (like most drugs). I also believe that the dose needs to be carefully titrated to the individual’s need and monitored regularly.
Hope this helps!
Not the only way. One could switch to injections which convert less to DHT. One could lower their dose if losing too much hair. One could use minodrixil.