Androgens Impact on the Adrenergic System

Pharma TRT
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I’ve been on HRT for 6 years and for nearly the entirety, still not felt well. I initially had classic symptoms in my early 30’s- with a total T of 190 ng/dl; I’ll be 39 this July. No other pertinent labs were measured by my first Dr unfortunately. I’ve had approximately 6 Dr’s over these 6 years in varying capacities.

I’ve used the following compounds independently or in combination with one another: testosterone cypionate, anastrazole, hcg, nolvadex, clomid, bpc-157, cjc-1295, ghrp-2, ghrp-6, gonadorelin, kisspeptin-10, ipamorelin, oxytocin, tb500, thymosin alpha-1, a couple SARMs and deca.

I’ve always struggled with sleep and stress specifically and although I’m in good physical shape currently: 6’, 200 lbs around 13% BF; I feel like shit most of the time. I consistently feel extremely burned out, exhausted & tense, all at once, with an emphasis on extremely. The symptoms would be present regardless of my estrogen markers, but they would get worse with very high e2.

Lately, I began learning about how elevated androgens activates our alpha and beta-adrenergic receptors. The past 6 months, my resting heart rate would often be 90 bpm laying down and my rest blood pressure would be 150/70. I could also see my heart beat in my vision and feel it in my ears.

Beta blockers like propranolol helped, but only temporarily at reducing heart rate and came with unwanted side effects. Angiotensin receptor blockers like telmisartan also help with BP, but mostly diastolic, and my target has been systolic. I also take high doses of omega 3, magnesium & potassium to aid in blood pressure reduction as well.

At first I decided to lower my dose a couple weeks back. My most recent protocol was 200 mg test & 120 mg deca per week, both injected daily, so 28.5 mg test and 17 mg deca every day.

I cut the above dose in approximately half, 100 mg test and 50 mg deca per week, still injected every day. I decided to expedite lowering the androgens in my system faster, so I haven’t injected since Friday and every day I’ve watched my blood pressure and resting heart rate significantly decline without any other changes. It’s reduced from 144/74 on average to 120/69 and I FEEL much better. Significantly calmer.

I know there will come a point of diminishing returns, where my test and estrogen will fall out of range and I’ll become lethargic and depressed, but I’ve failed to this point to get dialed in and find any real relief from symptoms.

I’ll likely resume my half dose (100mg test and 50mg deca) at some point this week to try & return to a stable baseline.

I just wanted to share because it’s been my experience that very few other people are talking about the stimulatory effect on our nervous systems and hearts with higher testosterone levels and the deleterious effects. High chronic blood pressure is an ideal way to damage our kidneys, eyes, brains and cause left ventricular hypertrophy of the heart.

I’d urge everyone to keep close tabs on their blood pressure and resting heart rates and be sure to use them as markers to track for longevity purposes.

I hope this helps someone and if anyone has any info or advice pertinent to my situation, thanks in advance.

3 Likes
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Same experience here. When running 210 mg/wk, I had trouble eating, anxiety was through the roof, heart rate was significantly elevated, and I had that constant tense feeling.

After dropping to 140, all of these symptoms resolved.

What’s weirder — I got bloods on both doses (pharm grade test, by the way) after 6+ weeks on each, and my numbers really weren’t all that different. The one thing I did is add 10 mg t3 daily. From what I’ve read, it seems TRT can drive down thyroid output, such that norepinephrine release increases to compensate for the reduced energy thyroid provides.

It’s n = 1 (well, others have reported this too), but I feel calmer since adding thyroid (and my TSH, T4, and T3, and rT3 levels weren’t too bad). My TSH was a little high (around 2) and my rT3 was a bit higher than I liked.

This may not be your issue, but it’s worth looking into.

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Opposite for me. I dropped to 160mg/wk and my heart rate went up, anxiety came back, blood pressure went up a bit. After a month of feeling crappy I went back up to 220mg/wk and within a couple of days I felt great, started to see things in color again. Sleep is back to awesome, back pain is gone, heart rate is steady. Im low SHBG so you have to take everything into account. Some do well with higher doses, some simply dont. So I urge people who struggle, to find a better dose, cutting your T supply from healthy levels can be just as bad as having too much. In my case I have to run higher TT so that the rest of my hormones follow the delicate dance of homeostasis. When we dont feel well, we research and look for answers. I spent an entire month doing the same thing. We are all different, perhaps the dose that works for you is based on some arbitrary number and not the basic dosing protocols that we are accustomed to settling on.

1 Like
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Thanks for the info! I forgot to add I’m running 25-50mcg of t3 as well. My rt3 has also measured high in the past as well.

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True - likely Free T and not specifically dose dependent for men on TRT.

1 Like
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Did it help at all with the other symptoms?

Have you measured ACTH, cortisol, DHEA, pregnenolone and other steroids to get an idea of what’s going on downstream? If you did, how did these look? If not, this may be a starting place.

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I don’t think the t3 helped me significantly, but I still take it because I know it reduced my RT3 in labs.

I did not measure those, but that is a great idea and wish that I had. I seem to be pretty aware of changes, good or bad. I’m due for blood work in about three weeks. I’ll get them added on to hopefully get a baseline of those markers when I’m feeling “ok”, so I can compare against future disturbances.