I have to come off of TRT. Several reasons; the main reason is that it’s affecting my mood very negatively and a lot of anxiety. I also started to have problems with prostate issues like waking up 3 times a night to go to the washroom. I switched from Cypionate 25ml every 3 days to Testim every day thinking that I might stabilize but that never happened. I did do well in the energy department and of course saw some gains at the gym for awhile but I also have adrenal fatigue and depression so something was just never right with the TRT.
I don’t take any psyche medication. Had E2 checked and it was in a good range. I’ve been on full-time for about a year with Cypionate and Testim for about 3 months. My Endocrin says I can just taper to 2 Testim gels a week for 4 weeks and then stop. I can’t get an appointment until June 12th. I feel like this is complete BS from what I’ve researched and that I could suffer (on top of other issues) for many many months. I’m 43 and I’m not sure what to do. I don’t think continuing to take Testim is going to do me any good and a cold turkey is just as bad. But now every time I put Testim on, I feel like crap.
Any suggestions / guidance would be very much appreciated.
thank you for your help,
EDIT:
Read everyone’s comments… thank you all for your time and effort as per usual.
Agreed… Adrenal fatigue is definitely a big part of the problem and probably was from the get go. Not too much out there to cure this except some light supplements that don’t seem to work ie. Relora / licorice root, etc… Anyway, this is a T forum so I won’t bog it down with adrenal fatigue stuff but if anyone has any ideas, please reach out. I’ve pretty much tried everything and have seen 2 ND’s. Labs are available in previous posts. I have lot’s of blood work but nothing recent since I came off of Testim 2 weeks ago. I haven’t really noticed much of a change yet but I guess that’s probably coming. My doc won’t do anymore blood work at this point. He’s done a lot already and here in Canada (where the sick just get more sick), you can’t just go and get you’re own blood work done unfortunately. I think I’m going to give some peptides a go namely BPC-157.
What do your labs look like? Where did that much test get you?
Was it just too high a dose? When I first started TRT, it was a nightmare for me. I had horrible anxiety. Had to start with low doses and work myself up to where I am now.
With elevated rT3 your effective fT3 effects are lower and energy levels are low. TRT increases/restores metabolic demands cannot then be delivered and TRT + hyperthyroidism or TRT + low thyroid function can make some people feel worse. It is not appropriate treat TRT as the only villain.
More to the point would be managing the adrenal fatigue. Thyroid meds containing T4 would need to be avoided as more T4 means more T4–>rT3. You could try 25.5mcg T3 twice a day or 25mcg time release T3 from a USA compounding pharmacy. The objective is to have T3 depress TSH so the thyroid produces less T4 and T4 levels are reduced.
Transdermal T creates higher FT peaks than injections which may not have been good, but with thyroid problems you may have not absorbed T properly. So there are unknowns there.
Going back to low T and adrenal fatigue [low thyroid function] is not going to make you feel great, maybe less bad but still messed up. There are possible aspects of taking T away from the brain that are also not positive.
Sounds like you may have thyroid or adrenal problems, if you attempt TRT and have either of these undiagnosed issues going on the outcome will be the same. It’s common for those with low testosterone and low thyroid to feel worse if thyroid goes untreated as KSman has stated. We see it all the time, doctor tells their patients that their thyroid is within range, treat the patient and not the number.
What’s really going on behind the scenes if your cut rate insurance won’t touch you until you fall below these ridiculous statistical ranges, insurance companies are always looking at ways to make treatment out of your reach.
Higher T levels on TRT generally do not have any -ve effects on the prostate or PSA levels. Estrogens are seen as a problem for the prostate. There can be other sources of prostate inflammation.
Yeah it just doesn’t seem logical that healthful testosterone within what healthful humans usually have would cause problems… outside of aberrant reactions
Man I appreciate this! My RT3 went from 40 to 25 with TRT and TSH went from 0.668 to 1.06. I have Cytomel and need to bring down RT3 more. My Free T3 went from 3.5 to 4.0 with TRT and Free T4 was 1.82, which is tad over range. FT3 was and is upper 1/4 range but since RT3 is so high I assume you’re saying at the cellular level FT3 is lower? I feel hyper and hypo. Go from hot to cold sweats and temp problems. Thanks for this! I plan on starting Cytomel after next Labs.