Doc put me on the following regime to help with retaining muscle while losing fat after I told him I want to get on an aggressive fat loss regime:
200mg/week TRT - injection every 3.5 days
Lipo-C Injection each day
B12 Injection once per week
Anavar 25mg - approved for 14 weeks total
Anastrozole - 0.125mg 4 times per week
Long story short - my E2 was high (80’s) and erections were effected BEFORE I started this regime.
Then I picked up on the AI (4 times per week) and erection issues went away.
Now with the Anavar, I’m starting to notice softer erections, harder to maintain etc - is this from Anavar lowering SHBG and causing more conversion from T to E2?
If yes - do I add in a bit more AI and see how it goes?
No, I do not have a recent blood test after starting Anavar (been 3 weeks only).
You added a bunch of stuff all at once, and you are wondering what caused the issue. The AI could have made erections better for a bit, then caused E2 to go a bit to low, and caused the issues. Anavar is not great for erections in many men. It could be one of these thing, none of these things, both of these things.
I think you should probably get E2 checked in blood work.
I wouldn’t do this, you are guessing at this point. 0.5 mg of adex is a fairly strong dose for 200 mg of test. Your best course of action is blood work.
I started Anavar 4 weeks ago, with my TRT (140mg/week), 25mg Var daily. Didn’t notice any erection issues during the first 3 weeks, but starting a few days ago noticed libido isn’t what it was before starting. I had heard this would happen, but I still don’t understand exactly why. However, strength and muscle gain/fat loss has been so good I’m just going to put up with it for another 3 weeks (I only get it for 6 weeks at a time).
I would imagine that your AI is affecting libido, try stopping that first and see if you feel better. Like the other guy said, you’ve got like 5 things in the mix so it’s hard to pin it down, so you need to start eliminating items and seeing how it affects you.
So I looked through that other thread, and I’ll be honest, I didn’t comb through all the linked papers and such.
The conclusion you came up with goes against all the anecdotal information I have heard. Most say SHBG going down will increase Free T and E2. The crux of your argument seems to be that SHBG going down increases clearance rates of the testosterone, but how do we know that the clearance rate increasing is a bigger factor than having less SHBG to bind to?
I have seen blood work results of men with low SHBG taking low TRT doses with super high Free T. I have seen the results from men with high SHBG on larger doses with lower Free T. I guess I am not convinced, but if there is good evidence, I am willing to evaluate it.
Damn at least you did the bloodwork yourself. Did you stop it right away? Or lower the dose? My HDL and LDL are good, however HDL is the lowest it can be and still be in range. So I’m curious what my labs will show
Okay so AI, High T, low SHBG…for 14 weeks/3.5 months max - is this going to cause me life long issues? I am eating a VERY clean diet - 100% homemade, organic, protein, fats, veggies, and carbs mainly on workout days. Lot’s of good fruit etc. Lots of cardio. I forgot to mention - he also prescribed CJC/IPA to inject at nights. Fat is coming off fast. This is going to do lifelong damage with my HDL is crushed for 3 months?
So, I have heard frequent injection for low SHBG to address clearing quickly. Now I didn’t see in the study how often they were administering Test. That could be an important variable for the end Free T values. Additionally, is it possible that the anavar itself (could be that the VAR and SHBG together caused faster clearance) had an impact on clearance times? It seems like the body might clear out testosterone faster with a higher total androgen level? Not sure on it, but just asking some questions about your conclusion.
2X is pretty good. So you saw your own total testosterone drop from 1054 to 494 ng/dL on the same dose, same dosing schedule, and same blood draw timing?
Sorry if I am asking a lot of questions, I just want to make sure I am justified to believe something. Especially if that thing goes against what I thought I knew.
Hmm, thanks for that last post. I am having a bit of difficulty coming up with any conclusions from the results table from the study (what a cluster fuck).
Were you using the same testosterone? UGL? Pharma? Ester? Blood Work lab? Since it is anecdotal, I want to make sure variables are accounted for. Anecdotal evidence is evidence (sometimes the best you can get) in AAS.
I will say I am more convinced than before. I may have to run this experiment myself. I have heard big names in bodybuilding say that anavar (and other AAS) increase the effectiveness of testosterone by way of lowering SHBG which results in higher Free T. That makes sense, but not if lowering SHBG results in lower Total T and about the same Free T. I suppose how much SHBG gets lowered is dependent on the individual.
I guess I have seen even some TRT doctors (IIRC, the anabolic doc mentions this effect, but he is not the only one) on YouTube say what I described in the post above. Logically it makes sense (probably why I have heard it a few times), if you don’t account for increased clearance.
I think with several compounds one would be wise to do blood work mid cycle to evaluate how they respond. I think before using EQ in an actual effective dose, I would run it low (with just my TRT dose which I have blood work on), and see what it does to E2, and kidney markers.
I was told I was an analytical person early on. Went into engineering which is far more tedious than analytical than I thought it would be.
Did you ever track down the most probable factor in the afib? IIRC, you were using T3 (cytomel), right? To me, that seems about as probable as the AAS?
I have brought my T3 dose down to a max of 10 mcg per day (using liquid stuff, so a bit hard to tell exactly), and feel about the same (was using it to bring down RT3). I have lost some weight, so I will try to get off and do blood work after a month off of the T3.
I’ll try. For a bit I was taking 50 mcg of T3. Hope I didn’t F myself up with that. It was only like a month, and I had done research, but not enough. I guess many are running it at those dosages and up for BBing. My chances are good, but not something I will play with again.
I am the type of person to ruminate on past decisions, and really hope I didn’t cause damage. I did get heart racing and such with the higher T3, but nothing else. Seems normal now.
I have no idea what happened in this thread of mine hah! So is there a temporary cure I can use for the ED during Anavar? I’m already on 75mg Sildenafil when needed. Also, someone said my E2 might have crashed. Is that really possible? I twas in the 80’s…I am prescribed 0.125mg of Anastrozole. Isn’t that a Tiny dose even at 3-4 times a week?
