Exactly and this tells us that normal may not be healthy for everyone. I see guys with Free T midrange and symptomatic and they don’t feel good until Free T is at the top of the ranges or higher.
This tells me our testing is less trustworthy and we need better testing methods to determine what normal looks like and find out what is optimal. It seems optimal is a foreign word in sick care.
The sick care system restricts treatment to reduce healthcare costs, so seeking hormone therapies and optimizing hormone levels in sick care is ludicrous. The doctors are overly focused on standard of care and reference ranges and ignore that patients pleas.
@johann77 - this is an interesting statement. I’m 43 and before I started TRT, I was having big time issues with ED… Like relationship/marriage interfering issues. Over the past 2+ years on TRT, my levels and doses have increased from 251 (pre-trt) to 1312 as of now.
On lower doses, when I’d have TT values of 600-690, I’d still have ED issues.
As my TT and presumably FT have increased over time, I’ve seen a vast improvement with my ED. As a matter of fact, I’d say my erections are bordering on the best I can remember having since high school.
I’m definitely above the top of the range at 1100, but I feel this is the first time in 2+ years that my issues have subsided and I’m feeling pretty good right now.
Even though I’m over the range and my symptoms have subsided I feel like it would be a regression to drop dose just to get into range… And if I still had symptoms at a lower dose in the range, it would be almost the same as I was before starting and not worth taking TRT if I’m not getting relief from it.
Strange game for sure, but I’m liking how I feel right now.
I’m in the exact same boat. There is no evidence of testosterone causing harm. My health and well-being are the best they’ve ever been and my dose had to get up there to experience it.
I would bet less than 10% of folks on TRT are on 50-100mg and that’s doubling what I really think it is. The guys on this forum take less than the majority of TRT users because they over-respond or have mental issues where they just can’t handle it. I don’t know a single person outside this forum that are on 200mg/week from NYC to Louisiana and most have different docs. If people are that worried about long term health they’d also be much more careful about the food they ingest. We eat crap full of Monsanto’s mystery mixtures and preservatives but we are careful about doing an extra 50mg/week of TRT. Sounds stupid to me.
This has been a good thread but just to bring it back around for a second, I am now getting these crazy hunger spells. Only for the last week as my new T dose has settled in. I have been eating balanced with more protein and trying not to carb load.
Everything TRT treats is feeling “best ever” right now, and I really don’t want to change doses but I don’t feel like I can live like this. Anyone else experience it? Is it possibly just a phase that will pass, like acne and the other shit that seems to appear for some time, and then eventually go?
I did go to the doctor the other day because I’d had a rare weak low blood sugar episode (different from these hunger spells, but seemingly related). They tested hemoglobin, hematocrit, electrolytes, glucose and a1c. All were well in range. My a1c is 5.3 which he said was perfect as it comes out to a three month average of 99. Glucose was 113 (I had eaten) but I felt pretty weak and hungry at that time. Still waiting on thyroid results.
I have read some people on here complaining about TRT hunger but this is the first time I have experienced it. It’s happening about once a day. Anyone go through this?
I’m 13 weeks in. I’ve been consistently more hungry, pretty much whole time. Ive kept calories the same and had some minor hypoglycemia issues before lunch a couple of times.
Depends. I had been having progressively worse sleep over past few years and tried everything short of prescription sleep meds to fix it. I wake up at 2-3 am in the morning and often can’t fall back asleep. If i get 7 hours sleep i feel like a champ. I get 6-6.5 i can get through my day. Less than six i feel bad. My sleep isnt great but it has improved slightly since trt.
The hunger is tolerable i went hypo around 1115-1130 a couple of times, not pass out hypo, just tired and cranky that resolved within 20 minutes of eating. I kept calories exactly the same