I am having trouble getting my Estradiol in the low 20 range.
I take 1/4 tab A-dex every 3rd day. I inject 74mg Testosterone Cypionate (200mg/ml) E3D.
my current 2/12/14 blood work is as follows:
Total T…1328 ng/dl
Free T… 32.3pg/ml
Estradiol… 16 pg/ml
Since I cannot go any smaller than a quarter tab of A-dex, I believe by going to a every 4 day cycle versus E3D, I can get my Estradiol to rise and also lower my Testosterone values some. Overall, I feel great. I do have problems maintaining an errection and that is my primary reason for trying to get my E2 value in the low 20’s as this should help.
What do you guys think?
Wow, that’s a lot of testosterone for TRT. 350mg/week?! Do you think that might be the problem? Possible downregulation of the necessary receptors?
I’m curious how much body fat you’re currently carrying? I’m on 0.5mg anastrozole E3D since December 18th, and even though the gyno pain in my left nipple gets worst on the day I need to take it, I still suspect that my E2 is going low. The body fat is just burning off me right now and it’s causing me some concern because it’s not my goal right now. I am about 2 weeks away from getting labs to confirm.
Made a mistake which I corrected…should have read 74 mg per injection… to answer your question, I am carrying very little bodyfat, but come summer will be carrying even less as I drop 5-10 lbs .
Does anyone think it is a good idea to try the 4 day cycle … Seems logical that my E2 should go up and my T should remain high enough. I will just have to test it on myself. Just wanted some of your thoughts.
By the way I have been on TRT for 3 + years and am 55 yrs old.
Ahh that makes more sense. It’s a pretty common mistake to use the wrong units or misplace the decimals as I’ve seen on here. 175mg/wk is way more reasonable.
The reason I asked about fat is it would make sense that the need for an AI is lower for you. Maybe you don’t even need it? Since the half-life is 50hrs after 4 days you’ll be at approximately 25% serum levels compared to your peak. Worth a shot right? It’s not a very significant change or very risky.
My estrogen was at 8 pg/ml I had no problem getting an erection
Since I have heard that we should have our Estradiol levels at approx. 20-24, and mine is at 16 currently, will it make a noticeable difference in my ability to maintain an errection or my overall health? 16 is not that far away from 20, just wondering if this is going to work? Should I attempt it or just stay where I am?
Another possibility would be to cut my injection dosage to 50mg and stop the 1/4 tab of adex and see what happens?
What do you think?
Was hoping to get some more info from you guys… especially KSMAN… guess the only thing to do is experiment…gonna start .
I figured out another alternative I may try after I finish trying my E4D routine. Instead of injecting 74mg E4D and taking 1/4 tab of Adex, quite possibly doing 32mg EOD and eliminating the adex might be the answer… The total T dosage is similar with this approach, yet the volume of T is so small, it might not have much of an effect on my own natural E2 . What do you guys think?
Is the 1328 total T a trough level, or peak? If you’re at 1328 trough, I would think dropping to 100mg/week, split into doses every 3.5 days would be the way to go. You may not even need an AI at that dose and frequency.
[quote]Gossamer wrote:
Is the 1328 total T a trough level, or peak? If you’re at 1328 trough, I would think dropping to 100mg/week, split into doses every 3.5 days would be the way to go. You may not even need an AI at that dose and frequency.[/quote]
^This.
You don’t need T to be that high, and arimidex can cause erectile problems independent of E2 levels, so eliminating it would be a good idea if you can.
To answer Gossamer, the 1328 total T figure was on Day 3 of my E3D cycle, just a few hours before injecting for the next. So, on day 1 the level would have been higher. I kept raising my T levels a bit at a time trying to make my E2 levels increase to around 20 . As you have seen, my T levels are higher than the high end of normal, but not by that much, which may or may not be a bad thing. .
Since I did not want to increase my T anymore, I decided to try the every 4th day program ( E4D ), using the same dosage for T and Adex as on the E3D program. My thought is my E2 should rise via the lessened dosage of adex . I am hoping this will be the case, although my T level will drop somewhat and this could cause a decrease in E2. I will stick with this for about 6-8 wks then get another blood test and see where I am at.
In respons to Seekonk, I definitely like the idea of not using arimidex at all, if possible. So, depending on how this current deal works out, I will try lessening my T dosage and either going back to a E3D program or maybe an E2D. The E2D would be require the least amount of T and would have the least impact on my E2. I would eliminate the arimidex at this time and see what happens. But I am ahead of myself here. First to see the results of my E4D program.
Well I did about 7 wks. on the E4D plan. I took 1/4 tab adex and injected 74mg T as i did on the E3D plan.
the results are:
Testosterone…1427ng/ml
Free T…26pg/ml
Estradiol…21pg/ml
my last results on the E3D plan back in early Feb were
Testosterone…1328 ng/ml
Free T…32.3 pg/ml
Estradiol…16
I don t understand why T was higher, although I have seen several instances in past bloodwork where T was higher and Free T was lower. But, I assumed Free T would drop and E2 would rise which was exactly what occurred. The numbers look pretty good, seems to be exactly what I wanted, however, during this period, I observed my body seemed to have “softened” to a degree. I seemed to have increased fat, water retention or a combination of both around my waist and lower pecs which should not have been happening due to the fact I had increased my cardio and was reducing calories slightly and it also seemed like my recovery from workouts was not as good. Is this the result of the lowered Free T and increased Estradiol? I will go back to my E3D protocol and see if I get back to where I was previously.
When are you drawing blood in relation to your injection time? The numbers look like you’re doing lab work the following day.
I always do my blood work at the very end of my 3 or 4 day cycle. For example if I injected and took the adex on monday at 7 pm, I would then have the blood work done at 4;30 pm on friday ( E4D plan). I would then inject again around 7 pm that evening.
Well, it has been a bit over a week since I resumed my E3D cycle, and already I am feeling and looking better than I did on the E4D deal. Can anyone explain why I had trouble recovering from workouts , had to take lots of time off during the E4D cycle. And why I seemed to have lost muscle and gained fat ( subtle difference , but I could definitely tell). Was it the lowered Free Testosterone or the increase in E2? I thought E2 around 21 would have been perfect?