Keep us posted please.
Will do. Only five days. Experiencing more random, transient erections and two nocturnal erections last night. I’ve read enough to understand that these ‘improvements’ might be due to changing a protocol and they can be short lived; maybe a few weeks. Certainly hornier. At the time I started this protocol, I also started sublingual magnesium carbonate 2X daily for its mood stabilizing properties. I have bipolar illness. Magnesium, though,is also a vasodilator. BP went down. Maybe some more blood flow to the penis. My great experiments continue.
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Have you ever tried magnesium glyconate? I am trying to see if you have a comparison between the 2.
I’ve been experimenting with magnesium for years, primarily because of its calcium channel blocking properties. A CCB was the only medicine that worked in controlling bipolar but I developed pains in the chest(1995). Stress test was negative. My psychiatrist at the time, a researcher, suggested magnesium. All that was out there was the oxide form. It did keep me stable but even using it sublingual still caused loose stools. When I relapsed, nothing helped, though I kept trying mag glycinate because I’d read how effective and tolerable it was…but not for me. I eventually tried the carbonate form about two or three years ago after experiencing gastro issues and worsening sleep with other forms of magnesium. For whatever reason I tolerate mag carbonate and as we know, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’, LOL.
Nice. I saw carbonate on the shelves at vitamin shoppe the other day but wasn’t sure. Have to check it out.
I do glycinate. Most are low and should supplement it.
How is your new less frequent protocol going out of curiosity?
7 days, and already gained 5 lbs(151 to 156); it’s around the waist. Always happens. And taking thyroid; 40 mcg T4 at night to help with sleep, 88 mcg T3 in the morning for depression(self treating/psychiatrist knows about it). Likely suppression of HPTA by testosterone, alluded to by Dr. Mariano on his site, several years ago. It’s discouraging. My choices, now; small daily dose of Test E, small dose every 4 days or test prop, which I have from Empower. Always seemed to feel ‘off’ on prop. Either my imagination, grapeseed oil or benzyl alcohol.
I’d been losing weight before going back on test. Was at 147 a couple of months ago. The progressive weight gain + little improvement in erectile function is why I never stay on testosterone. I’m 5’ 5" and wiry… A few years ago, on 30 mg daily, got up to 170 pounds. I was miserable.
I just took a diuretic prescription and lost 4 pounds and belly looks like normal again. Am trying lower injections to see if I don’t get the water weight back. Frustrating as fuck.
Am trying 90 mg a week split like when I first started and didn’t have this problem. Let’s see. I do not want to take a diuretic on a regular basis.
I tried dandelion root and it didn’t do it for me.
I don’t think for me it’s estradiol it’s the actual testosterone.
Dr. Crisler had addressed this issue. Some patients would gain weight so he’d take them off testosterone, IIRC, then restart after a few weeks at a lower dose. Off of T, the patients would lose the weight but once back on T, they’d start gaining, even at the lower dose. He was a smart doctor but he never found an answer or solution.
Either there’s a thyroid/metabolic connection or, as I’ve talked about, on excelmale, one guy, working with his PA, started on anastrozole, slowly titrating from once a week, to twice a week, to 3x weekly, then the dose was increased and the sequence repeated. The more .5 mg that he took, the better he felt and functioned, eventually taking .5 mg seven days a week, along with his twice weekly 100 mg. Most definitely, IMO, an outlier. There was a guy on Reddit who posted about taking anastrozole several days a week and found his erections returned, as well as improvement in mood and energy. He’s stayed away from an ai because of what he’d read and believed from that particular FB anti-ai group. For some men, maybe more than not, letting T and E reach their own equilibrium, works. I’m not going to dispute that. On the other end are men , who, for reasons unknown, need an E2 of <5 to feel good. We all want things to ‘make sense’ and when it contradicts our knowledge or beliefs, we reject it. I’ve come to the place where I try not to judge. If a man says his E2 is 100 and he has erections are like a teenager, I accept that. If a man says his E2 is <5 he has erections like a teenager, I accept that.
If we try to make something conform to some arbitrary standard of what we want to believe or think we have to believe, we lose critical thinking. Endocrine physiology is complex and there’s much that isn’t known. What works for most men doesn’t mean it works for all men. The doctors who are smart understand that and accept that there are outliers who will be challenging to treat. Those doctors like a challenge.
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They respond better due to being low shbg types. Guys with low shbg do better with smaller more frequent doses…or at least thats what they say.
Not true.
Explain why its not true
Because we don’t have any statistical data showing this, while we have plenty of guys enjoying life on twice a week or once a week dosing. My question was even posing why some guys feel better on LESS frequent dosing, not more frequent, such as myself in which my SHBG is around the low 20s on average.
Check out @highpull posts where he shows guys as low as 3 SHBG injecting once a week and doing just fine.
You are right. Sorry i misread that. I thought you asked why some respond better to more frequent.
Anyways, its been years and i still havent found a proper protocol.
Im still debating whether subq or im is the right way to go. 1 thing for sure, IM gave me way faster results and 30% higher levels. But also affected e2 more as well.
How low have you gone with your dose?
Currently doing 12mg a day subq
For a long time i did 20mg subq eod and it was ok but lacked libido
For me the main sign to know im on the right path is this: morning wood
If i can achieve daily morning wood, then i know everything is in order from e2 to t levels
If i do not, then something is off.
One thing that is highly annoying is the extended wait period to bring levels up while starting subq. Takes a good 6 to 8 weeks or so versus IM where after 2 or 3 weeks u r good…
Have you tried something like E5d or once a week? Currently I swallowed my pride and went down to 100mg per week, I wanted to try and see what twice a week will be like. Over all I felt better, then ego came back and I thought well 120mg is still rather low let me try it. Started feeling so so again.
Long story short I dropped the T for 1 scheduled injection and some. Once starting up again injected 70mg to go back to a e5d protocol, libido raged wildly at the end of the day and I woke up with an erection the next day. This actually happens to me all the time I just sort of drop T for a “soft” reset in a sense and then Inject a nice bolus of T. Could never get too frequent shots to work no matter my dose. To be fair I have not tried 100mg doing ED or EOD injections, but it just seems insane to inject so damn much for such a low dose.
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No ive never done e5d or once a week. At most i did 2x a week mon and thurs.
My question has always been in that if we are so sensitive to higher dosing TRT, how would we hypothetically run a full on cycle? Like legit question lol.
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