You need to give yourself a few months off of everything so that homeostasis can be reached in your body. Then, you need to go and get blood work done again, see where your test levels are at, and go from there. If you are still in the low end of the range for total test, then you should consult with your doctor about starting a TRT regimen with him supervising your bloodwork every few months. That’s how I do it with my Dr., he’s a great guy, will prescribe me almost anything I want WITHIN REASON (e.g. I asked him for low dose daily cialis, he said sure no problem, no questions asked), but he is very adamant about looking at my blood work 3x a year, just to keep an eye on anything that may be affected by my taking prescribed testosterone. He’s also a stickler about me donating blood since I’m unfortunately one of those people who respond to TRT by producing a lot of RBCs, which of course pushes my hematocrit well into the mid to upper 50s if I don’t donate blood somewhat regularly.
I know there is a BIG debate on donating blood on TRT due to hematocrit, and I can see the merits of both sides, BUT I just tend to lean towards the donate side because when your hematocrit is high, and your blood is much thicker….I would just rather do all I can to avoid a stroke/heart attack, etc. by donating and “thinning out” my blood. I’m not wild about its effect upon my iron/ferritin, but I also DO feel better, breathe better, have lower BP, etc. when I donate regularly.
As I said, after your PCT is done, you should still wait 3-4 months I’d guesstimate to give your body time to figure out all of the different levels of hormones in your body, adjust them, and reach homeostasis (where everything is “normal”). THEN you would go to your doctor, tell him you would like your blood work done, full panel and to include Free test, total test, LH, FSH, Estrogen, SHBG, and anything else related. IF the test results indicate low testosterone levels, then you have the discussion with your doctor that you would like to begin TRT and he will [hopefully] prescribe you testosterone. You can tell him that you are okay with doing your own injections, you jsut need the prescription for the test. Then he’ll prob want you to come back in after a few weeks to check your levels. An important note!!! When you go to do bloodwork, be sure that you schedule your appointment on the DAY you are supposed to do your weekly shot! That way your test levels are in a trough and not real high. The period of about 1-4 days after you take a shot, your test levels will shoot way up, so you don’t want to test then because he’ll see those figures and might want to back off your dose, haha. so, be sure that it’s been a full 7 days after your last shot…that’s what I do and even then my total test is usually around 7-800ng/dL! SO imagine what it would be right after my shot! lol, I don’t want him backing off my dose, I rather enjoy getting a higher than normal dose (yes, I know, I’m taking more than replacement but I was lucky to get a doc to prescribe me 200mg a week! most don’t really need more than 100-150mg/wk) but fuck it, I’m being safe, donating often, getting blood work done several times a year, and I actually work out hard and heavy, so the extra test is nice.
Another thing I was thinking is of doing my TRT myself, with regulard blood testing. Would I need to do PCT after my current cycle, or could I just reduce my dosage myself and start the Tamoxifen to deal with current Gyno?
If your gonna stay on test you would not PCT. You would drop down to your TRT level and carry on.
As far as the gyno deal with it now. No reason to wait,
My blood tests showed high MCV last year (then 76 years old). My doctor said that I was most likely low in B12 and folate. My treatment is vitamin B12 and folate. I take a single sublingual 1,000 mcg B12 daily and a single 400 mcg of methyl folate every other day.
My MCV dropped back into the normal range. I am due my annual blood tests in December. I will see if the treatment is sufficient.
This could be a result of lifting weights or doing high physical exertion close to the blood draw. I made sure that I had a rest day before the morning blood draw and that the previous workout was not high intensity.
