I’d be grateful for any help and apologize if I’ve posted in the wrong place. Newbie poster, long time lurker:
Started TRT on 7/4. Did 4 months at 100mg cyp injected per week. Felt great at first, then anxiety kicked in, and I decided I just wanted to restart. Last test was 10/31. My original labs showed test level of 345 before TRT and honestly I felt pretty good, far better than I feel right now.
My doc told me to cycle off with only HCG at 500iu EOD for 30 days. Started on 11/15, 2 weeks after final TRT injection. First 2 weeks, felt amazing. Last two weeks, started getting anxious. Ran labs. Test at 445 and estrogen at 19. Because I’ve read these forums, kept asking doc if I should add Novaldex to PCT. he’s a well known TRT doc and said no, my estrogen is too low (I’ve never taken AI). Says HCG alone, given relatively short time on TRT should provide a “smooth landing.” Well, I stopped HCG on 12/15 and started to feel worse, so I’m back on at 500iu every 3 days but still feel like crap.
I’m certain my anxiety has jumped up lately. This forum shows HCG can do that to some. I’m so tired of injecting all these neurosteroids and just want to get back to how I felt before all this, which was a hell of a lot better than right now. So, my question:
Am I going to crash if I just stop HCG? Does 6 weeks of HCG give me a better chance of a quick restart? (Balls grew and libido spiked right after HCG and balls remain full so I know at least they work…) Have others had honeymoon on HCG fade? Any guess as to how long this will all take? I’m 50 years old, exercise 3-4x per week, never been a bodybuilder. Thanks for any responses, I’m starting to feel desperate.
Yeah, but you were 345 before TRT, doesn’t get much worse than that.
Yes.
Not really, but as a competitive weightlifter, we used to stop cold turkey all the time. Go for 8-12 weeks prior to a competition, stop the week of the competition. We lost weight, our lifts dropped gradually, until we started back on. Based on that, I’d say most would be back where they were within three months. It’s not as though you were on for three years. Good luck
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You don’t add anything to HCG, you stop taking it when you start Nolvadex, if you’re doing that. If not, you may lag and crash a little depending on your pituitary response. Some guys never recover/restart correctly. Either way, it will take a while. As in months, not days to be all the way back up.
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Some guys are sensitive to testosterone and estrogen spikes that injectable T is known to produce, the way around this is smaller more frequent dosing. This has worked for countless guys who report similar experiences, the daily dosing produces the smallest hormonal spikes.
HCG will get the testiscles working, but will suppress the HPTA, so you are probably not guaranteed to avoid feeling unwell for a time. The 345 ng/dL is well below the risk for cardiovascular disease.
There are many ways to do a restart, I stopped TRT cold turkey and didn’t experience a major crash, 4 1/2 weeks later my HPTA restart. If my HPTA hadn’t restart in this time frame, I would be preaching a different tune. Your mileage may vary.
I believe 6 months on HCG is a little too long and unnecessary, you could get away with 1-2 months on HCG and stop and let nature take its course. Like hardartery mentions there may be a period of time where you are in limbo waiting for your HPTA to come online.
I know for a fact I was in limbo for at least a week, my joints had never been loser even at my natural 91 ng/dL level for 8 months when compared with that one week. If I had to do it over again, I would without hesitation rather than use drugs.
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