My pre-TRT blood work put my E2 at less than 5. I’ve read that 22 is a number to shoot for. So, this entire time while B&Cing, I’ve kept as close to 22 as possible.
However, about two months ago, I had symptoms of low E (groggy and cracky joints). I got tested and it came back at 11 – I somehow became an over responder to my regular dose of adex. I cut back, and fell within range. But, I remembered that my skin somewhat cleared up.
So, I began purposefully crashing my E to where my body’s baseline was originally. I’m only taking 12.5mg Aromasin per day, but it’s nearly tanked on 500mg test/wk.
Though, my chicken pox acne arms as well as my back and shoulders are cleared up. I just have to deal with cracky elbow joints.
Is there anything I should be concerned about running my E into the ground for a, in my opinion, big, cosmetic change?
Guess I should’ve transitioned better to clarify, but didn’t want to write a book.
After becoming an over-responder to adex, I looked back on the times that I did take it and the ups and downs that I had on it. My sex drive would be put into overdrive the day after and decline from there, never getting any worse (i.e., not being able to at all). But, I wanted it steady instead of ups and downs so I switched to aromasin to just keep it the same level week-round and to see if you can over-respond to it.
I was on 0.5mg adex M/Thu.
I tried out 6.75mg aromasin ED and got to E2 of 11. I didn’t figure that 12.5mg would be any different, and, the pharmacy would give me 1/2 pill instead of crushing 1/4th into a powder since it’s such a tiny pill. I still need to test E2, but I’d say it’s in the near-0 to 11 range still.
I kept my e2 in that range for a long time while I first started TRT. I was riding MTB every weekend and very soon my knees began to hurt so bad that I thought I caused permanent damage. Had MRI done, they couldn’t find anything “wrong”…
It wasn’t until I started doing research into AI induced Arthralgia. Which is something women who take cancer meds (such as aromasin or anastrazole) get frequently when they drive their e2 too low.
I looked into it further. So not only does the joint get dried out from lack of e2, but the presence of e2 actually curbs some chemical in your blood that tells nerve cells to grow.
So basically, by lowering my e2 for so long, I allowed additional nerves to proliferate in my knees, causing constant, dull, aching, nerve pain in both knees, that has just recently started to subside after a few months of not messing with an AI…
Moral of the story: Be careful what you do with your e2, and listen to your body.