Glad your feeling success. I’m curious what you might attribute that to in terms of your changes. Do you think switching to Subq made much of that difference, higher dose, or more frequent injections (or all the above).
I am doing 35mg/eod test cyp shallow IMs. I’m curious if anyone experiences improvement moving to Sub q over shallow IM --hence my questions here. I’m curious to what degree the sub q is making a difference.
Honestly, I’ll wait for blood results to speculate, but I’m going with all of the above. I also am only about 3 weeks in to this protocol and understand that things can continue to change for 6ish weeks or more, so I’m holding my breath and hoping for these results to continue.
TBH, I really wanted to reset and go with more of the @dbossa approach (SubQ w/ more frequent shots + following his suggestion of higher dosing from months ago) as I’ve been researching constantly since September and felt that it was a worthwhile endeavor to follow a different approach and see how it worked out. In theory, I’d like to see how these blood results come back to make sure that everything looks good and adjust from here as needed, but I can certainly say without a doubt that I’m MUCH closer than before to my desired end result.
Update roughly 5 weeks in to new protocol. Still planning on full bloods in a few weeks, but primary care doctor ordered bloodwork and I asked to attach a few areas that I’ve been monitoring to check in.
As a refresher - My current protocol is 42mg EOD SubQ. I’m 272lbs, husky boy lol. I’ve been feeling significantly better overall… But as I’ve progressed another 10 days since my last update, my blood pressure has started to elevate again, and I see some concern in the test results that came back today.
Total Testosterone - 883 (264-916)
Free Testosterone - 22.4 (8.7-25.1)
Hematocrit - 49.5 (37.5-51.0)
TSH - 3.64 (.450-4.50) - Has gone up significantly
Prolactin - 38.7 (4.0-15.2) - Has gone up significantly
Estradiol - 45.5 (7.6-42.6) - Has gone up significantly
Obviously I’m quite concerned about the prolactin… And the rising TSH highlights what is probably a thyroid issue - Kind of curious where I should head with this next…
The rise in TSH and increase in prolactin may be linked. You need to order a thyroid panel checking free thyroid hormones (not T3) Free T4, Free T3, Reverse T3, thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) and peroxidase (TPO) antibodies.
After continuing the roller coaster for another several weeks, my blood pressure began rising significantly in April, reaching as high as 150/100 (typically in the 125/80 range most days). I reached out to my doctor and they suggested that I meed with an endocrinologist in order to continue. They also suggested that I titrate back and discontinue the TRT until I’m able to see someone. Feeling like there were no remaining options, I discontinued my TRT 15 days ago.
Much to my surprise, each day that passed, I felt better and better. By the 12th day, I was waking up with the strongest morning wood that I had experienced since I originally started on TRT last fall. Finally the last day or two things started to settle out and I’m really starting to feel the crash incoming. I do have Clomid that was prescribed as a PCT… Haven’t started it yet, and have read a lot of dicey stories about anxiety and depression, which I already struggle with…
Soooo… After a lot of ups and downs, I’m basically no further than I was last summer. I do believe that I have an underlying thyroid issue, and am open to seeing an endo, but it’s nearly impossible to find a reputable “modern” endo in my area. Does anyone have any suggestions for online doctors with experience beyond simple/basic TRT prescribing? I am very open to trying anything at this point. So frustrated.
Sorry to hear of your struggles. Many people here think highly of Dr Justin Saya at Defy Medical. You may want to use a calculator to estimate what your levels would have been by that 12th day and target that as a dosage that seems to work for you. Use SteroidPlotter, fill in what your protocol was (I think 42mg EOD), and see where you would have been at 12 days after stopping cold turkey. Then you can experiment with what dose you’d have to be at to get to that level regularly.
I just tried it for you in the above image. You can see that if you stop cold turkey on Day 82, by Day 94 your levels have declined to 3.14mg based on the half life of testosterone cypionate.
It looks like you’d have to inject 5mg every day to get to that level on the regular.
Maybe it’s worth trying that and seeing what happens? I know it seems crazy to inject such a small amount, but maybe that’s what your body needs to feel good.
