So I am basically wondering if it is possible to have success in raising and maintaining high/normal levels of T with T-gel alone in the long term (5+ years)? I hear that it is ineffective for many men but also that even for those who it is effective initially, the effects wear off after a couple of years or so. Is there anyone with long term experience with gel who can chime in? Thanks.
Do you have kids or a wife? I’m sure its possible but I’d rather use the gel in conjunction with injections but I’m assuming you don’t want to try injections.
Well I don’t personally have anything against injections it’s just that it is much harder to get a prescription for injections in my country and the only option is Nebido injected at a clinic every 10 weeks or so which, fro my understanding, causes uneven levels and is not great for alleviating symptoms, especially for someone with low SHBG (25) like myself.
If you are talking about HCG injections, then that is something I would try to get a prescription for too when taking gel. Getting a script for that should be possible.
TRT will suppress your SHBG probably <20, so you may need smallet injections more often. High normal levels may very well create symptoms. TRT worldwide is a disaster as far as treatment protocols.
The problem is a lot of doctors are like robots, they follow procedure, rarely does the average doctor think outside the box.
Nebido would be so much better. If you injected it more frequently there’s no reason you couldn’t have good results. Look around the forum for folks that started on gel. None of them are still on gel.
Well the problem is that I don’t know if doctors will even allow me to take shots at home here and actually control the frequency of injections. Then again, I don’t know for a fact that it isn’t possible so if I was to get on TRT, I would certainly give it a shot.
And I guess I will ask the same question about shots that I did about gel, does it work long term? I mean I can’t think of a reason that it wouldn’t, it’s just that it’s hard to find studies on it as a 24 year old I am a little paranoid about how I will feel on TRT after a decade or two.
There’s an 18 year old here that has been on TRT since they were 16. (he may be 19 now)
There’s plenty studies about TRT.
I’d like to reiterate here as I’m seeing this more often once again. Injection frequency and dose of injections has nothing to do with SHBG. SHBG WILL fluctuate based on metabolic/physiologic response to a variety of different parameters as well as individualistic hormonal output on any given day.
Androgens drive down SHBG (moreso DHT than test, but T does have affinity for the protein). For the average individual using testosterone enanthate or cypionoate, the half life is roughly 7-8 days. If one is all about replicating natural circadian rhythm (which isn’t all that important, sometimes science triumphs over Mother Nature), circadian rhythm differs in relation to age (higher variation the younger the person)… but you can be damn well assured the fluctuation is higher (and I have graphs/studies that prove this) than the tiny fluctuation you’d receive from ED shots of long estered testosterone. Let’s put it this way, 8 days to reduce testosterone concentration by 50%. 50/8= a 6.25 percent decrease daily for TC and perhaps like a 7.14 percent decrease daily for TE. So if you’re at 700ng/dl, you’re decreasing between 43.75 and 49.98 ng/dl… FAR less than the decline one naturally receives throughout the day (unless you’re 70+, then this is about on point)… This fluctuation will be even LESS if injected sub q, as testosterone is lipid soluble and tends to hang around longer in fat tissue.
The mind is a powerful diety, however perhaps as an individual one may occasionally metabolise and eliminate testosterone at a vastly accelerated rate… In which case then perhaps more frequent injections are for you. Me personally, I’ve gotten by just fine on e7d shots, 200mg/wk, I’ve never over-complicated things… nor have I ever had any symptomology develop from having high normal testosterone with an SHBG (FLUCTUATING) between 14-30…
I know you’ve had bad experiences with medical professionals, however this simply isn’t the truth at ALL. In medical school doctors are taught to treat each individual patient as unique as everyone’s biochemistry is different. The same protocals/drugs CANNOT be prescribed to the everyone in uniform fashion, and doctors do know this… If doctors followed procedure and treated everyone like robots then there would be no account for my hyperactive cyp2d6 enzyme prior to me getting medication prescribed, but that isn’t the case.
Post-op I’m never given codeine or any medication that has the potential to interact dangerously with me in relation to hyper metabolism. (codeine dumps morphine into my body at an unpredictable and vastly accelerated rate, I found this out the hard way when it was given to me after I broke my ankle by a family member… I was about 15, I passed out due to profound respiratory depression and threw up everywhere whilst barely conscious). To actually become a medical professional it takes many, many hours of HARD work. Thus to see everyone disrespecting doctors and acting as if they know better irritates me. Perhaps many know more about TRT, but even the laziest, most incompetent endocrinologist knows more about the endocrine system then just about all of us on here… Just because he doesn’t know how to prescribe testosterone at the correct intervals doesn’t mean that he’s inept… it merely means perhaps he’s focused on treating more important (while hypogonadism is important, it isn’t acutely life threatening like graves disease has the potential to be) issues of which present a far higher burden of disease.
Your paranoia is getting the better of you, don’t feed the paranoia. TRT will work long term unless you get another disease which can happen as we age.
Alright cool, I’ll stop being paranoid haha. I am wondering though, if I was to go on TRT, is it possible to feel good on injections every 10 weeks or should I do everything to try to inject more frequently myself in smaller doses?