Respectfully, such a statement only illustrates that you don’t have a scientific or medical background.
If you knew about statistics and how clinical trials are set up to identify potential safety concerns of a drug than you wouldn’t be saying such stupid things. Using and systematically studying a drug are two different things.
To provide an analogue to illustrate how ridiculous this statement is:
Smoking cigarettes started to pick up around 1900 and it wasn’t until the 1950 that the first concerns with regard to its cancerous potential were becoming apparent. And there were many many more people smoking cigarettes in this time period than men doing TRT in the last decades, so the ‚power‘ of the cigarettes data was much stronger than it’s in the case of testosterone. So your conclusion in the 1950s would have been that smoking is safe because it is was ,studied’ for 50 years and no harm was seen?
Smoking increases the risk for developing lung cancer about 25 fold. And it hasn’t been picked up be ‚studying’ (aka observation) for 50 years.
Can you imagine what the data basis needs to be to detect a 2 fold increase in the incidence of eg coronary artery disease after being on TRT for 20 years if there was such a risk?
With TRT we are seeing immediate benefits (I doubt I have to list them all) that exponentially improve health parameters across the board.
My position is this: I can either be afraid of the unknown and not have any of the health benefits or I can say there is currently no evidence after 80 years (there may or may not be down the road) but I will take advantage of the health benefits now as they will have an immediate benefit on my quality of life moreso than probably anything else I can do.
Called it an educated, calculated risk. Fair enough?
I personally think all of you should be careful with your advice as NONE of you are doctors. This forum has more “Internet MD’s” than any forum on the entire internet.
@dbossa, don’t take this personal, but until you have a certificate on your wall saying you are a board certified endocrinologist, your advice should be put in the same file as most internet medical advice. I am not saying your opinion about E2 is right or wrong, i just dont think you should be holding it out there as the gold standard of TRT. The details do matter and you are missing quite a bit of the details without the 8 years of education that an endo would have. The whole “I have talked to 20 doctors and this is what they say” rational is a load of crap. It is possible that the 20 doctors you have chose to talk to are docs you have chosen to speak to because they happen to agree with you. Its called confirmation bias. I have gone to TWO TRT clinics for my care and BOTH of them have said high E2 is something that needs to be controlled, preferably by using smaller more frequent dosing…but if that doesn’t work, then by using an AI.
I’ve spoken to a number of endocrinologists. The head endo in Montreal suggested that I take 400mg once a month, in his office. You and I both know that’s a load of horseshit. Do I need a degree to know this? My own doctor is a brilliant man with 40 years of experience. He admitted that I know more about the TRT side of things than he does and I’ve been teaching him. If you think you need a certificate on your wall as evidence for having learned something, you are gravely mistaken.
I also do not cherry pick the doctors I speak with. I’ve invited docs that have a hardline position on AI use (keep the patients between 20-30 regardless of T levels) and they have refused to be on the YouTube channel. Why? I believe they know damn well that they cannot provide any evidence that this should occur and it is simply their ‘own way’ of doing things.
If you believe I have conformation bias, I can assure you, you’re about as wrong about me as one can possibly be. I go by what the evidence shows. Present me with evidence that contradicts what I am saying, that demonstrates your own claim, and you WILL change my mind. That is not an indication of confirmation bias. Right now I am reporting the best information I have.
There is ZERO evidence, and I do mean ZERO evidence, that anyone should be trying to control E2 when raising testosterone levels. I keep repeating this and I keep waiting for the evidence that will change my mind but, alas… my inbox is empty when it comes to that one. Funny how that works. Yet I’m the one with confirmation bias?
Ya I cant trust Danny personally, Way too insecure about himself which is apparent in his My way or the high Way. We simply dont know IF high e2 is harmful or not, we dont have the answer. Lets leave it at that.
You guys need to put your big boy pants on. Dbossa speaks frankly about what he believes. He doesn’t force anyone to believe his way. He says what he believes, and doesn’t beat around the bush.
I’m skeptical that I don’t need an AI. But the protocol dbossa suggested for me, is completely logical. If I try it and it works, great. If it doesn’t work, I just go back to what I was doing before.
Maybe its because they believe it to be below them to debate an internet MD? Thats what i would think as an expert in a particular field.
Like i said above, i am not stating your advice is right or wrong. I have a feeling its probably right, I just think that holding it out there as the only way to go is the wrong approach without the 8 years of training needed to truly understand how hormones work in the male body.
I have zero education or certificates for what I’ve built my career on (nothing to do with TRT). It’s completely self taught. I’ve also been doing it for over 25 years. I can guarantee you that no diploma or certificate in the world would have any effect on me right now.
So for someone to walk in to my office and state that I don’t know what I’m doing because I don’t have a certificate would be utterly laughable.
