Yes, that’s the current understanding.
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I want to give a try, some people say that they feel better and get better libido on it.
If I didn’t aromatize a lot, the doses of AI that I use would quickly crash my e2 which I have never done expect the one time I got bunk test. The recent sensitive e2 tests I have done has been between 30-40 so I don’t really see how I am blocking the hell out of my e2 everywhere.
I hope you are right since that means that I would be feeling better with the hcg but so far it hasn’t made any real difference other than having a harder time getting it up and some nipple sensitivity.
I am getting a estrogen test tomorrow to see what my levels are now after adding in 250iu e3.5d
That’s not necessarily true. There was a period up until somewhat recently (5ish years ago) just about everyone used an AI because they believed they needed to “keep E2 under control”. Group think is very powerful. Not everyone crashed their E2. Most didn’t. When the thinking started to change about set E2 levels folks came to the realization that they eventually felt better without it. That’s what led to so many here not using an AI. Go to reddit or somewhere like that and you’ll be bashed for not using an AI. They won’t be able to conceive of a person having higher estrogen than the levels of a hypogonadal man without instantly getting gyno and transitioning to a woman. There’s probably a lot of talk about “high aromatizers”.
One of the reasons this forum changed is a guy that purported himself as an Endocrinologist armed with heavy knowledge on the subject debated many of the “gurus” and had a better argument usually backed up by facts. That gave people the ability to put their trust in him, change their way of thinking and allow them to get past the idea that estrogen is bad. It turned out he wasn’t exactly what he said he was but by that time the change had already taken place and the rest is history. I know for me personally if it wasn’t for him I would still be scared to death of Estrogen, constantly in fear of getting gyno a third time and never quite getting to the highest level that is possible on TRT. It’ll be hard to change your mind without something bad happening first but hopefully down the road when someone new to TRT reads this they’ll think about it before an opinion is already embedded in their head.
As you said, everything is aromatised or 5-a reduced IN the cells. The levels of E2 and DHT we measure in the blood are the result of the leakage from the tissues.
Obviously if there’s an increase in E2 and DHT in the blood from baseline, it means that there’s an increase of aromatase and 5-a reduction in the tissues. So I still think it is worth to check the blood levels of both, despite of what dbossa was saying.
I’ve been focusing the past months on studying DHT and came across this big methanalysis of the paracrine effect of DHT:
It’s pretty long, but everyone on TRT should read it.
The giveaway is that the tissues have their own homeostasis and don’t really get influenced by serum levels of DHT.
High levels of bio- identical exogenous DHT failed to aggravate or induce the usual DHT related conditions, especially in prostate, skin and scalp.
Which makes me think that DHT and E2 in the blood don’t really get back to the tissues once they have been leaked in the serum.
But in any case, as several studies found out, the levels of paracrine hormones in the cells are way higher than the serum (the DHT levels in the prostate are 10 times higher than the serum levels), so that serum level doesn’t really contribute much even if it makes it back to the tissue, since it’s bind to SHBG as well.
All of this just to say that you’re right.
My question would be another one though.
Since finasteride has been proven to enter the cell and inhibit the 5-ar at tissue levels, why AIs can’t reach teaticles tissue and bind to aromatase there?
I don’t understand the mechanism completely, but there is a barrier like the blood/brain barrier. Some things can get through and some things cannot. AI cannot. Just like some things get to your brain when injected or taken as a pill, and some do not.
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