So here are my labs on 160mg/wk of test C; 150IU HCG EoD; and .25mg of adex EoD
This was taken on a trough day (Wednesday before my injection)
Total Test: 955 (264-916) This was the first time in a while I’ve been above range, weird
Free Test: 22.8 (6.8-21.5) typical
E2: 10.5 (8-35) I lessened my adex amount from my previous lab, but by not enough it seems
SHBG 13.2 (16.5-55.9)
Total Cholesterol 197 (100-199)
Triglycerides 113 (0-149)
HDL 48 (>39)
VLDL 23 (5-40)
LDL 126 (0-99)
lp(a) 222 (<75) Fucking genetics
I’ll get labs done again after a month in the new protocol. I figure that will allow the test C to clear and my body to adjust to the test P.
Speaking of test P, this is my new protocol:
20mg/test ED
200mcg of Kisspeptin ED
no AI
I’m a week in, and I’m now a lot sorer from my workouts than before. I was told this would happen due to a drop in nitrogen retention. I haven’t noticed any bloat or other signs of elevated e2, will just have to wait and see. The doctor had me switch to Kisspeptin because it’s cheaper than pregnyl (though with my insurance it’s not by much). I’m interested to see how this plays out because Kisspeptin doesn’t seem that well researched, so I’m a little worried that I’m being a guinea pig.
If I’m still struggling with soreness/gainz, I may indulge myself with 25mg provirion ED.
Got my labs back. Here’s where 20mg ED of Test Prop puts me:
Total Test: 1189 (range < 916)
Free Test: 30.8 (range < 21.5)
E2: 51 (range < 35)
SHBG: 14.4 (range >16.5)
Honestly I’m REALLY surprised at the E2 level, as I’m not really experiencing any noticeable bloat and the acne on my torso has diminished quite a bit. However, I’m going to see how I feel on 15mg ED, and may get a retest done soon. …It’s kind of cool that 140mg/wk of test P puts my higher than 160mg/wk of Test C. Perhaps it’s because there’s no real trough day? Anyways, am lowering the dose and will redo labs after a month of 105mg/wk.
I’m also only doing 150mcg of Kisspeptin EoD instead of the prescribed 200mcg ED, because everything I’ve seen online says the prescribed dosage is too much, and I figure there’s less potential harm with the lower dose. …I still may switch back to HCG, although now that I think about it perhaps it was dropping HCG that caused my bloat and acne to go away. Will have to see.
How do you feel? If you feel fine why would you lower your dose?
I feel fine, but every time I have lowered my dose I have felt better. Going from 300 to 200 to 180 to 160 and now 140mg a week, with each drop I find myself realizing how much the extra test was making me feel. I would like to see how I feel with results in range. If I feel worse I can very easily bring the dose back up. Good question.
I forgot while I was typing my previous answer: Cadio concerns. I have a rather high standing heart rate (80-85 bpm), and sometimes my BP shows a touch above where I’d like it, like 130/70. This is despite working on my conditioning though some LISS. but more HIIT 3-4 times a week. …Honestly that all I’m really doing right now with the COVID and me not going to the gym.
So yeah have lowered my dose to 15mg/day.
Also, I’ve switched back to HCG to see if the HCG was, in fact, what was causing the high e2 symptoms. Because I had more bloat and torso acne with e2 levels of 25 on Test C and HCG than e2 levels of 51 on Test P and Kisspeptin. Since I changed two things at the same time, I’m switching back to HCG to then isolate it to only one factor that changes. I’m two doses in and so far things seem ok, but obviously things like bloat and acne take time to develop, so I’ll report back in like 2 weeks as to how I feel. I’ll also take labs again at 4 weeks in on 105mg/wk of Test P.
Got Labs back from doing a month of 15mg/day of Test P and 150IU EoD of HCG, with no AI:
Total Test 594 (264-916)
Free Test 22.5 (6.8-21.5) HIGH
E2 28.2 (8-35)
Doc says my e2 is perfect, and I’m inclined to agree. I feel good, I find myself singing along with the radio more (a great personal metric for how I’m feeling), also dropped my bupropion, which I was originally taking to help mitigate mental affects of doing a cycle.
Now that I have this, I’m going to try out Kisspeptin again. I seemed to lose even more bloat and torso acne when I had originally made the switch so I’m looking forward to see if that actually happens. I’ll do labs again in probably a month or so, this time including my LH and FSH values (which have been close to 0 for years because of trt).
I use this same test myself. I know i’m “feeling good” if i’m singing along.
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I know this post is old but I came across it and wanted to mention, Ive been looking into lipoprotein(a) as mine is 57mg/dl and i’m trying to figure out why.
Something i’ve come across is it is thought to be an acute phase protein which means it rises in response to inflammation, tissue damage and infection, I noticed a huge jump on your labs and you also mentioning that you felt much more sore lately, It may be worth you stopping training for a few weeks and taking another test to double check your numbers.
I had hamstring damage at the time of my test so im waiting a few more weeks to check mine again, my AST was also raised which indicates muscle damage too.
Here is the link to a study -
Transient changes of serum lipoprotein(a) as an acute phase protein - PubMed. << behind a paywall but this is about the acute response to inflammation
Thanks for the reply/info. I do wonder sometimes if the lp(a) levels are elevated in response to having a lot of damaged tissue. The abridged story is about ten years ago I ended up tearing pretty much every core muscle on my left side, and all the muscles around my right hip when prepping for a weightlifting competition while on antibiotics and prednisone for a sinus infection. Also had some old high school wrestling injuries like tears in three different labrums, and damage to various ligaments in my spine/rib cage/shoulder. And for whatever reason these muscles have stayed damaged. Over the years I’ve tried various modalities of soft tissue work and physical therapy, but the only thing that seems to permanently fix the fix the damage, the only thing that causes my body to actually repair the damage and make the pain go away, has been PRP injections.
Anyways, the point of all of this is that even though I’ve treated/repaired dozens of muscles (from the omohyoid to the obturator internus), I still have some damaged/torn muscles that still need repairing, and perhaps these tears, this damage to my muscles, is what is raising my lp(a).
I will say that I don’t seem to have much inflammation going on. I try to eat a healthy diet and do fasted workouts, as well as just lead a fairly low stress life with 8 hours of sleep. Bloodwork also now shows inflammation markers as being low. I also don’t seem to be dealing with an infection. But tissue damage? Yeah, that’s definitely an issue I’m dealing with.
I am VERY curious if my lp(a) levels will go down once I’m no longer in constant pain from just existing (meaning my activity levels don’t really affect my pain). I feel like I’m nearing the end of my healing journey, so hopefully this will be in the next year or so. I mean, I don’t feel like there’s much left the Dr hasn’t treated.