I’m not a doctor, I’m just opinionated. Maybe that is a discussion you should have with your healthcare provider/urologist/endocrinologist.
If you care to hear my opinion, I can’t quite agree with you. But, I do speak from a biased point of view and since I’m speaking from a position of bias feel free to weigh what I say but don’t assume that I’m correct (or wrong). I’ll elaborate on my bias at the end of this post.
Before elaborating on why I don’t agree, I should probably ask: why do you believe you need TRT? What symptoms are you experiencing? And, are they not explained by other factors in your life?
My line of reasoning to counter your conclusion would be that if your T is within decent ranges* and your lifestyle suppresses it below that threshold then, no, I don’t think it is as easy as saying that this is effectively your T-level as there is nothing problematic with your ability to produce sufficient testosterone. I’m assuming, I don’t know this to be true, but I’m assuming that for instance the T eaten up by training isn’t not being used. I assume it’s actually being spent. I recall an old Charles Poliquin article stating that when athletes came into camp they oftentimes illicited symptoms of low T and by having them deload their levels returned to where they were expected to be. Then they went back to hard training, but it was a clue that taking the foot of the gas every once in a while might be a good idea.
I’m not saying your line of reasoning is wrong, I do not know, but I’d like to point out a parable that I’ve drawn. I don’t know if you know this, but creatinine levels are usually elevated in training populations (and/or? people that consume a lot of protein) as a consequence of the training. It is also elevated if kidneys are shutting down. If we evaluate your line of reasoning on a merely logical basis, then if you have elevated creatinine levels when you take a blood test you should assume your kidneys are shutting down and not explain it by virtue of your lifestyle.
*let’s say decent as opposed to normal as that span encompasses a bit more than where you’d be presumed to feel and function well depending on your age
My bias is that I’m actually on HRT but it is questionable if I should be. I was being blind to how much of a deficit I’d been in and was running and ended up receiving HRT, and now I have to go off to figure out if it is really required. Unlike in some other countries the only TRT here is Nebido, so it has a very long half-life and will take a significant amount of time to clear out. Also, no PCT.
Here’s an addendum. Let us postulate that you do not stop training before your test and that you come up with something that is lowish but not so that you receive any care. So, you gain nothing. Let us compare that to you resting, getting a result now that shows your T is fine, and then in a few years when you are checking your blood again, you take the same kind of rest, test your T and it is significantly lower in a way not adequately explained by aging now then you have a data point worth seriously considering.
