Hi all, hoping for some feedback. Have been on 200mg/week test c(pinned 100mg every 3.5 days) for about 6 months now. I feel fantastic, best I’ve ever felt. Bloodwork mostly looks fantastic, as well – I’m low SHBG, so this dose has my peaks around 850 and troughs around 650. Free test a little high @ 31.
The only areas of concern in bloods are estradiol and prolactin are a little high, at 52 and 26* respestively(labcorp values). Doc wants to get those down, so he’s telling me that he wants me to drop to 160mg/week.
I’m worried as hell. I currently feel better than I ever have. The only negative side effect I’ve seen at all is water retention. I read about other low SHBG guys struggling to have a good TRT experience, and dropping by 20% overnight is going to get my trough values down close to my pre-TRT fasted morning peaks. Am I overreacting here? Am I overworrying for nothing? I really don’t want to feel like I did before TRT again for months.
@readalot can you plug that into your little calculator? This seems to be really odd based on the 1) low SHBG and 2) your estimated 1.4x multiplier peak/trough when injecting e3.5d. The peak seems really low I guess is what I’m getting at
Without units or ranges for the PRL, I’m assuming that’s about 3x the upper limit? Lowering your dose 20% isn’t likely to move that down enough; I’d investigate why it’s that high to begin with. Maybe it’s elevated cos e2 is elevated, and taking an AI would be more beneficial for both?
A lot of men on TRT typically run higher on the estrogen. Prolactin is controlled by two hormones, dopamine and estrogen, both of which are affected by testosterone.
Equilibrium dialysis would be typically within 10-20% of this so about 27 ng/dl.
Since your FT units are in pg/ml this tells me your FT assay is the direct assay. To convert from direct over to correct (and non-nonsensical) units of ng/dl you would multiple by 7 (correlation factor) and divide by 10 (unit conversion). Hence 31.7*7/10 = 22.2 ng/dl. This is typical of direct assay as it usually is lower than equilibrium dialysis.
If you didn’t see a marked increase in Hct/Hgb or PSA and you are otherwise healthy then looks pretty good. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I have been running FT above 25 ng/dl lately but I am different person.
Remember this is all a big experiment running FT above range over many years. Understand we don’t know long term complications at individual or population level. Your DOC is trying to practice MED (minimum effective dose) and you can’t fault for that. Always workarounds but up to you.
I suppose that’s fair. I’m just super concerned because everywhere I look, I see other low SHBG guys struggling to have positive results on TRT, and I’ve had stellar results since I started. Afraid that dropping my dose by 20% is going to lead to me feeling like shit and then spending months trying to get to somewhere close to where I am now physically and mentally.
Dropping dose would still get you quite high FT compared to where you started. Unless your Doc pulling bloods every week they have no idea where your bloods sit most of the year. Hint: elimination half life of test cyp is about 4.5 days (smile).
That’s going to be a common occurrence on these TRT boards, men having problems and seeking help. The men not having problems are continuing with the lives with no need to visit a forum.
I have low SHBG, 12 last time I checked and feel great.
Interestingly, elevated BP and RHR were symptoms of my low T. RHR is down by 15 since I started TRT, and my BP went from 150/90 to 130/80. No other changes except TRT.
Jatenzo @ 237 mg twice daily, peak 998 ng/dL at 2 hours, 298 at 12 hours. HCT 51.2%, HGB 17.5. I don’t tolerate cypionate and enanthate esters injecting every other day or daily, which are the only two protocols for which I respond to therapy.
Jatenzo is very expensive, $3400 per 12 weeks without insurance. Most insurance companies will not pay for it, unless you get a medical exception from a doctor.
Thanks. My insurance won’t cover anything beyond my appointments unless I have multiple tests below 200ng/dl, so definitely wouldn’t prefer to jump into something like Jatenzo.
It’s stories like that that make me nervous, though – my 100mg every 3.5 days has been great since day 1. Hopefully this doesn’t derail me, but I’ll trust my doc I suppose
