24 years old in Canada, messed around with steroids when I was younger and completely shut down my HPTA, ran a restart protocol and ended up with very low T levels. Now I’m currently self administering my own TRT, doing 150mg/week of Test Cyp and feeling okay. My issue is regarding fertility though, I’ve been in a relationship with my girlfriend for the past two years and plan on having kids with her. We don’t plan on having kids for at least a couple more years though. I’ve heard that running HCG alongside with TRT can complicate things and bring up symptoms. My question is how should I go about HCG? My main concern is losing fertility and becoming permanently infertile. Should I save the HCG for when I plan to have kids and come off TRT and run a fertility program or should I be running HCG alongside my TRT to retain fertility? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
“Ideally” running it alongside is probably the safer option fertility wise, but like you mentioned a lot of people don’t feel great on HCG.
I’d almost consider getting a fertility test now just to see where you’re at. It would have been better to do before TRT so you could see where you were then but can’t go back in time.
Between HCG, Clomid and FSH, there’s likely something that will get your fertility back if necessary but it’s tough to know for sure until you’re actually trying for kids
This isn’t common, you can start using HCG and FSH injections when wanting to have children.
Stopping TRT and starting clomid is a sure way to restore a functioning HPTA and restoring fertility.
Doing a sperm test now will most likely show azospermia and therefore maybe doesnt add value now.
I would add the hCG as soon as possible, something like 3x 300 IU per week and reduce T alongside and 3 to 4 months later do a sperm test. Might take some twists to find out the optimal dosing again.
The problem is that the long you are on T only and the longer therefore you shut down your testicles the higher the probability gets that you run into fertility issue later even when you add the hCG then.
Sounds good, is HCG something that can be ran reliably long term? Is Leydig cell desensitization something I should be worried about?
Yes.
Desensensitation only happens if you use high hCG doses like 3x 1500IU per week. Such doses correspond to mimicking unphysiologically high LH levels and the testicles respond by decreasing the levels of LH receptors, ie desensitation.