Hey guys. This is my first post, obviously. I came over here from bb.com becaue y’all seem to be a little more open to things and people don’t seem like jackasses here.
So, like most people that sign up here I guess, I’m planning my first cycle and I need some help. Being new to this sort of thing.
Little about me: 25 years old. Been training since I was 15. I used to be a fatty, weighed in at 305 at 15 years old. I lost a bunch of weight and got in to bodybuilding. Right now I’m at 197lbs and calipered at 10% bodyfat.
I recently found out I have low test. 240ng/dl. And my Doc says It’s normal, won’t treat me for it. So I decided I want to run a cycle because I’m just feeling like total shit. Libido is down, irritability is up, feeling depressed and getting to where I don’t really want to train anymore, all that kind of stuff. I’ve been this way for a while and I just need to do this for me, and if it only improves my mood I’ll be happy. If I gain 20lbs, hey… great side effect.
And before anybody says “Have you tried …” Believe me, if it’s out there, I’ve treid it. I tried a clomid restart, I’ve tried supplementing with HCG, nothing really worked. I’m committed to doing this.
So here’s what I’m looking at:
Weeks 1-8 - 500mg Test Enanthate twice a week at 250mg on monday/thursday
Weeks 1-8 - .50mg Arimidex Every day
Weeks 2-8 - 500 IU of HCG injected twice a week at a dose of 250IU
For PCT I’ll be running nolvadex 20mg a day for 6 weeks, 500IU of HCG every day for 4 weeks and 1000IU of vitamin E every day for the duration of PCT.
Getting another doctor isn’t an option. My job insurance will only cover this one and it would cost more for me to pay out of pocket to see an Endo than it would to do this cycle.
Plus even if I got some kind of TRT from the endo, my insurance wouldn’t cover it since I paid out of pocket and didn’t get a referal from my main physician.
[quote]82nd_Fister wrote:
Should I taper down my Arimidex use towards the end? Do I need to dose it every day or every other day?
Also, I’ll have 500mg of test left, because of the way I have to buy it. So should I just run an extra week or front load 1000mg the first week?[/quote]
Adex is fine every 2 days. One of the benefits of doing a test-only first cycle is getting a fix on what sort of dose you do best with. Just keep any adjustments relatively minor.
Frontload for sure. The numbers aren’t that precise because it’s hard to pin down the half-life of test E in each of us, but taking 500-600 mg of test E on your first day (and then dropping back to the normal 250 mg shot later in the week) is about what it takes to reach your on cycle test levels as soon as possible.
Also, as you’re running hCG while on cycle, you don’t want to use it during PCT. Read the stickies for more info…
BONEZ gave some good advise. After the cycle you are likely to crash big time since your HPTA is not working well to begin with. Try to educate your doctor as to the fact that the “normal” ranges for testosterone includes men of all ages, including 80 year old men. 240 ng/dl is NOT normal for a 25 year old. A full blood panel including thyroid tests could diagnose the root cause of your low test and possibly prevent TRT. Even if you need TRT, you need to think of the long-term health risks of having low-normal levels of test (increased chance of cardiovascular disease, increased risk of osteoporosis, increased risk of type 2 diabetes, and alzheimers to name a few).
Once the initial visit and labs are taken care of, the cost of TRT is actually minimal if you do injections. For example, a 10 ml vial of test cyp that would last you 3 months or more runs about $60.00, and Arimidex is now availble as a generic, so that cost should be minimal.