Thats awesome brotha! Theres definitely nothing wrong with staying on something that can keep you living a normal life. Kind of the same argument to get on TRT. It was just a nightmare to get off of and when I was on it, I couldn’t stay clean. I’m one of the few who successfully got off of Methadone and stayed off of everything afterwards. That appears to be rare.
I looked that place up. It’s in Florida yeah? Unfortunately I’m in Los Angeles so if anyone has any suggestions for Los Angeles, I’m all ears!
Damn! They’ll do over the phone consultations and would be willing to work with someone out of state? That sounds killer actually.
As far as fertility goes, I have an appointment at a cryobank Wednesday to freeze a sperm sample as an insurance policy in case I end up wanting kids. So I’d probably only want to do HCG initially to make sure I can get a couple deposits in over there with everything still working properly.
Its telemedical its all done.via phone/ internet/ups. If your insurance is paying for the labs then you just go to whatever lab you normally use or you buy there labs through labcorp
I’m going to send them a message and get some more information from them. Thank you for the recommendation brother.
Question, will insurance companies cover labs like that every 6 weeks? I imagine they would cover the first few sets of labs. After that, they’d probably fight for medical necessity and T levels that aren’t under certain numbers won’t provide that for them. Have you been able to use insurance in your experience?
Idk i have BCBS coast to coast. Its a really good policy. Blood work is like no question with them. They just cover it 100% i even told them they could reinburse me the like 300 for discount labs that they usually get charged like 3000 for and they didnt even want to hear it. They just said go to your normal lab so we can cover it. You get your first set of labs pre consultation then the next set is at 3months unless you request more early for something. Then if you stay on that protocal i think it moves to 6 months. Also they have no say in your T levels. They are not paying for the treatment they are just paying for blood work they wont even look at it because there is nothing to try to fight except more blood work
Some good news. The dr upped me to 100mg today and said in a couple weeks, he’ll let me take it home and administer it myself. And that 2x weekly dosing would be fine. So things are looking up. When it comes to the bloodwork though, I’ll be coming to the forums for answers. It seems like the people here have it down on what levels should be where regarding hormones, thyroid, adrenals, etc.
Also one other quick thing about Thyroid. I just had them send my original bloodwork. They only did TSH. No T3 or T4. My level was on the very low end.
So my doctor actually recommended I sign up with Defy. I put an email into them to get the process going. He admitted they probably know TRT better then him and since its cheaper, it makes sense. It was surprising to say the least.
On another note, I have felt like shit almost the whole time since starting this. I have brief days of feeling good and interestingly enough, its towards the end of the week when the shot is wearing off. I can’t help but wonder if I made my situation worse by starting this. I also know that these things take time. I just can’t believe how shitty I feel. Brain fog to the max, fatigue, emotional. I almost started crying during Aladdin the other day hahaha. Sex drive has been fine though which is good.
I started my protocol on May 2nd with one 50mg shot and went up to 100mg the next week. So I’ve been at this almost a month. 100mg every Thursday. I feel like I would’ve started to adjust to it a little bit by now. Estrogen spiking maybe? My E2 was pretty high before I started TRT.
I would venture to say it’s not a maybe. Your dose is probably too low, and you probably need some E2 control - at least initially. Your E2 was stupid high to begin with, you should almost certainly be on an AI or something. E2, total T and free T would give a good picture of what’s going on right now, it is very early going though. My guess is that you shut down immediately and your dose is not getting your high enough, or more likely your E2 is so high that nothing else matters at the moment.
Thanks for the response brother. I just see so many people on here saying AI’s are no good and if you can normalize without them, that is the way to go. I imagine most people don’t start with E2 that high though right? I’m going to the doctor today. Maybe I should have him run TT and E2 just to see where I’m at. Or should I wait for that 6 week mark and give myself a chance to stabilize?
Most guys are fine without an AI or normalize within a few weeks. You were out of ratio to begin with. I would want those basic labs right now just to see what happened. Be careful with dose though, start small and see how/if you respond.
Your Free T was in the gutter, estrogen above ranges and can only imagine how high it is now. Weekly and even twice weekly dosing will just add more estrogen on top of more estrogen.
You will need daily or EOD dosing and maybe an AI to nudge E2 down to a reasonable level, otherwise I see you benefiting little from TRT.
Alright fellas, thanks for the responses. I’m going in today and will ask for that basic bloodwork. I’m also setting something up with Defy and from there, I’ll be able to start split dosing my shots to twice weekly or more and will probably move to subq at that point.
I forgot to mention. I also put on 10 pounds since I started this (not muscle). Another sign of high E.
I just started intermittent fasting last week to hopefully help. My diet is so so. Theres definitely some days where I fail. Over the weekend during my 8 hour window, I had some questionable snacks. I also started taking supplements since starting this. Magnesium, Vitamin D, GNC mega men time release multi, Fish oil and a probiotic. I don’t hit the weights, but I surf and box. Although with work and everything else, I’m only able to do those things a couple times a week. I’m definitely not a couch potato though. I’m just surprised that I actually felt better before starting TRT. I’m going to do a thyroid panel next week with tsh, total t4, ft4, ft3, rt3 and antibodies to rule out any thyroid problems. I’ve been taking my temperatures in the mornings though and they have been solid.
I have seen a lot of guys with normal thyroid labs pre-TRT and months later are showing problems, my TSH increase from .6 ->1.01 after starting TRT.
Always had very low TSH and mid range Free T3, good Free T4 and insulin resistance is a known cause for slightly elevated Reverse T3.
TSH correlates with symptoms poorly, you can have a person with a TSH <3.0 and fully symptomatic and and other person with TSH >3.0 (more rare) and zero symptoms. Free T3 is what is in the cells and active, it seems every endo I speak with about thyroid labs, the belief is the same across the board and becomes more what they were taught in medical school which we now know is wrong.
Seen a more than a dozen people with TSH in range and fully symptomaic, yet doctors keep preaching normal status and we suffer. My endo visit less than two weeks ago had my endo state TSH and Free T4 tells all, but doesn’t pick up on those who have conversion issues do to other medical conditions like elevated insulin levels and increases in Reverse T3 and lower Free T3.
Here are the labs I just received back from Defy that I did last Thursday. My levels actually seem okay. This was in my trough right before I did my injection. So 1 week after my last shot. My estrogen levels are much better ( I changed my diet completely and took out all processed foods and sugars so maybe that has helped). My total T is much better then it was and my Free T is a bit better now too. What do you guys think of these new labs?? I should have the full thyroid labs back in about a week as well. I decided not to go through Defy on those because I get blood work done super cheap. It just takes a bit longer.
The print is too small to see clearly. Remember Total T is not bioavailable, if Free T is anywhere close to 15 pg/mL, weekly injections is not optimal for you. You want Free T high normal 24/7 to see maximum benefit on TRT.
