Colbyt3420's TRT Log

Pharma TRT
1

-age…33
-height…5’9"
-waist…34(was around 30 through most of my twenties)
-weight…before TRT 165, 3 weeks later 178
-body and facial hair…average…mild male pattern baldness
-where I’m carrying fat and how changed…mid section, lower back…never had this before
-health conditions, symptoms [history]…anxiety, lethargic, insomnia, no libido, crap for amition, foggy head(weird stuff), depression

-Rx and OTC drugs, any hair loss drugs or prostate drugs everLexapro for last 6 years, quit just before TRT. No hair loss or prostrate drugs.
-never used steroids. Achieved 185 at 7% at age 26, then I started noticing symptoms, lost desire to work out.
-lab results with ranges

Name 03/24/2011 09/08/2008 Normal Range
Testosterone, Bioavailable 184.5 227.6 131-682
Testosterone, Free 63.4 76.7 47-244
Sex Hormone Binding Globulin 62 39 13-71
Alb 4.7 4.8 3.3-4.8
Testosterone 507 464 280-1100
Testosterone, % Free 1.3 1.7 1.6-2.9

Name 03/24/2011 Normal Range Units
BUN 12 6-21
Na 138 137-146
GFR Est. by MDRD eq. >60 >60
Creatinine 1.01 0.71-1.18
Prot 7.9 6.0-8.4
Alb 4.7 3.3-4.8
Alk Phos 75 40-120
K 3.8 3.5-5.0
Cl 98 98-109
Bili, Total 0.8 0.2-1.3
AST 28 16-50
ALT 35 12-61
Anion Gap (Na Cl CO2) 11 3-16
CO2 29 19-30
Glucose 73 65-99
Ca 9.5 8.4-10.4

Date 25 Hydroxyvitamin D2 And D3
03/24/2011 31 Normal Range 30-80

-describe diet [some create substantial damage with starvation diets]
Moderately health. Around 2800 Calories a day, try to get about 150 grams of protein, lost of fruits and vegetables.
-describe training [some ruin there hormones by over training]…jujistu 2x a week…no gym yet
-testes ache, ever, with a fever? No
-how have morning wood and nocturnal erections change…absent

So I started TRT just 3 weeks ago. Have administered 100mg injections a week. Is it too late to go back and do lab work for E2, LSH/LH, and all the other thing suggested on this site? I’m not on HcG or Adex. Doctor looked at me funny when I mentioned HcG. I’m going to go to twice a week or E3D with the 29G 1/2" insulin needle .5ml. I feel a small amount of drop off at the end of the week, but not huge.

Anway, what should my next steps be? I want to go back in at the end of week 4 and discuss HcG and ADex with him. Any advice on how to go about it?

Thanks KSMan for getting me headed in the right direction on the forum.

2

your huge increase in SHBG may be due to a huge increase in Estradiol. Having a baseline Estradiol would have been helpful, but testing it now is still essential - and will be required if you want to start on Arimidex.

Your Vitamin D is in the toilet and you really need to start a minimum of 6,000 D3 daily. It took me 15,000 to get my levels to the 70s.

I also don’t see any tests for TSH or 8am cortisol. Those are critical. Too many people (and so called doctors) overlook them in their rush to fix the patient and kick them out the door to make room for the next person. If TSH is > 1 then you should test for Free T4, Free T3, Reverse T3, and ferritin.

what about your CHOL, RBC, hemocrit levels?

3

“Have administered 3 100mg injections a week.”: If you are taking 300mg T per week, cut that back to 100mg/week.

Too late for LH/FSH

You need to test E2 at week three. Your E2 was probably high, projecting from SHBG, which would be expected to be lowering T as a SHBG depressant.

You will not survive without anastrozole if E2 was as high as we suspect.

4

Sorry KSman, that’s where I’m at…100 mgs/week. Going to twice a week subq shots next week.

PureChance my Cholesterol total is 115, not sure what my HDL is. RBC is 4.94, HCT is 46.4

If E2 is high, which it sounds like it probably is, will the doc prescribe arimidex? Or will I have to show him something to back up why I need it?

Also, what about HcG? Is it a must if I want to have kids in the next few years?

Thanks guys

5

hCG would be a good idea…I’m a firm believer in it, and I’m through with kids. I feel much better with it than without. If your doc won’t prescribe adex, there is always research chems.

6

CHOL is the basic building block of your entire hormone chain.
low CHOL = low pregnenolone = low cortisol + low progesterone + low DHEA + low T etc. etc. etc.
low CHOL is just as bad if not worse than high CHOL.

with such low CHOL, I would have thought that a good doc would have worked to increase that to see if the rest of your system picked back up. failing that HCG or pregnenolone supplementation may have helped.

too many docs just jump to prescribing T instead of looking for and fixing the actual root cause of the problems. well too many docs don’t know anything about T, but of the ones that do know something still make wayyyy tooo many mistakes.

before you start on an AI, I would recommend testing and fixing if necessary your thyroid and cortisol first.

with those CHOL numbers, I can almost guarantee that your Cortisol is low which means that your thyroid is probably messed up as well.

7

So just met with my doc today, about a sinus infection actually. We discussed my recent results and I asked him about testing my E2 and he agreed, I’ll also get him to test my cortisol, should i also have him run the entire thyroid? He wants to do this in 2 months when I’m “balanced out”…going to start subq injectsion with 29g 1/5" .5ml insulin needles next week…this really works? I’m not doubting you, just uneducated and seems surprising to me. Any other tests I should request?

Oh yeah, that CHOL number was from a year ago, I just recently got it checked and it was at 160. Again, thanks for your guys help. Still waiting to ask about HcG again. I want to bring him some litrature to back up what I’m saying. You guys are awesome!

8

you need at least to check TSH. which I would bet $500 is above a 1.

if above 1, then ask for Free t4, free T3, reverse T3, and ferritin.

9

PureChance: My TSH was 0.57

10

hey, that is the first bet I have lost so far (I think I am like 4 for 5 now)… interesting… I wonder what your thyroid antibodies look like. were those ever tested?

160 is the minimum ideal CHOL. CHOL should be 160-200.

extremely low to normal CHOL numbers and lowish TSH. hmmmm… not sure what to make of it given the limited test results you have. makes me want to see your Pregnenolone, DHEA-S, 8am Cortisol, ferritin, etc. etc.

I do all T injection IM, but other say that SQ works just fine. If you are injecting multiple times a week I don’t think it matters as much, but just keep an eye on how you feel and/or try both to see if you react differently.

some say SQ results in slow absorption but additional aromatase as the fat cells in SQ contain the aromatase enzymes. some say IM results in faster breakdown/absorption due to the proximity to increased blood flow in the muscle. I don’t know what to believe.

can you post all of your blood tests with dates because the information you are providing is piecemeal which is making it hard to see the overall picture?

11

Wait until balanced out? You cannot get there if thyroid is wrong. Many good docs, hard to find, want to make sure that thyroid and adrenals are up to taking the increased [restored] metabolic demands of TRT.

12

I’ll post everything they tested as soon as I get home. TSH was all that was tested as far as thyroid. wasn’t tested for pregnenolone, DHEA-S, 8am cortisol, ferittin, but I’m going to ask for all those. I’ll post every test I was tested for when I get home. Probably should have done that in the first post. Sorry, but thanks so much for the input and help guys.

13

These are all my labs…

All where done on 3/24/2011. A previous testosterone test is listed as well(with date)

Vitamin D, 25 Hyrdroxy
31

CBC with Diff

PLTS 235 150-400
MCH 32.1 26.0-34.0
Baso, Auto 0.3 0.0-5.0
HGB 15.9 13.5-17.5
Baso, Abs 0.0 0.0-0.3
Mono, Abs 0.6 0.2-0.9
Eos, Auto 2.7 0.0-5.0
Lymph % 19.3 24.0-44.0
Mono, Auto 7.8 0.0-12.0
Diff Type Automated
Lymphs, Abs 1.5 1.2-3.4
Eos, Abs 0.2 0.0-0.5
Neut, Abs 5.5 1.8-6.8
Hct 46.4 41.0-53.0
WBC 7.9 3.6-10.6
MPV 10.0 6.6-10.1
MCV 93.8 80.0-100.0
Nucleated RBCs, Automated 0.0
Neut, Auto 69.9 36.0-66.0
MCHC 34.2 32.0-36.0
RBC 4.94 4.50-5.90
RDW 13.7 11.3-15.6

Comprehensive Metabolic Panel

BUN 12 6-21
Na 138 137-146
GFR Est. by MDRD eq. >60 >60
Creatinine 1.01 0.71-1.18
Prot 7.9 6.0-8.4
Alb 4.7 3.3-4.8
Alk Phos 75 40-120
K 3.8 3.5-5.0
Cl 98 98-109
Bili, Total 0.8 0.2-1.3
AST 28 16-50
ALT 35 12-61
Anion Gap (Na Cl CO2) 11 3-16
CO2 29 19-30
Glucose 73 65-99
Ca 9.5 8.4-10.4

TSH-0.57

B-12(RIA)-628

Testosterone
First Number from most recent test 3/24/2011, second numbers from 9/8/2008

Testosterone, Bioavailable 184.5 227.6 131-682
Testosterone, Free 63.4 76.7 47-244
Sex Hormone Binding Globulin 62 39 13-71
Alb 4.7 4.8 3.3-4.8
Testosterone 507 464 280-1100
Testosterone, % Free 1.3 1.7 1.6-2.9

14

So if SHBG and estradiol are good indicators of each other, do you think my doc would prescribe arimidex before he tests again? I’m going to the pharmacy to pick up some insulin pins in a minute and I’m going to ask the pharmacist if he could refer me to a doc that prescribes arimidex and HcG.

15

SHBG and Estradiol typically track one another , but not always. Get an Estradiol test before starting on AI.

not sure if you should test for Thyroid antiboidies given your low TSH value.

16

[quote]PureChance wrote:
not sure if you should test for Thyroid antiboidies given your low TSH value.[/quote]

I could be wrong, but aren’t there some thyroid disorders that make TSH go very high then very low (hyper to hypo)? If so, then he could have just caught it at the low point.

I would also push for tests to rule out something if that something could be causing symptoms. But if refused, I could probably let this one go.

17

yes, hashimoto’s causes fluctuating thyroid levels you can be hyper then hypo, etc.

18

So…is it possible TRT could have a positive impact on prostate health? I swear my urine flow is much better than it use to be. I’m 6 weeks in.

19

yes. if you successfully balance your Testosterone, Estrogen, DHT levels, etc. then yes, TRT can have a positive impact on prostate health.

20

[quote]PureChance wrote:
yes, hashimoto’s causes fluctuating thyroid levels you can be hyper then hypo, etc.[/quote]

How often do these fluctuations happen? Daily? Weekly? Is it just from the antibodies attacking?