My 6 Month TRT Journey

Pharma TRT
1

Hi, wanted to share my progress with a few questions.

Mid 50’s male 6’2" and 240lbs. with a starting testosterone level of 317 NG/DL. Coming out of a car injury and back into working out I felt so lethargic with minimal strength. Libido was really low with not much interest. In talking with my primary we agreed to start TRT.

Starting dose in May
Testosterone CYP: 180 mg week divided into two shots per week

Lab results 2 months later in June

  • Testosterone level: 950 ng/dl
  • Estradiol: 84.8 pg/ml

How did I feel?

  • Had more energy and motivation to work out.
  • Lifts were increasing but so was some joint pain (leftover RA issues) and a nagging shoulder rotator cuff tear was bothering me from my accident even after 6 weeks of PT.

Started noticing side effects after 2 months with acne, water retention and the worst was arthritis flare ups in small joints that I haven’t experienced since my bad RA days. After discussing with doc, we made some adjustments.

Dosage from July - today

  • Testosterone CYP: 200 mg week divided into two shots per week
  • Nandrolone (for joint pain and shoulder): 200 mg once per week
  • Anastrozole: 0.25 mg per week

Current test results from this week

  • Testosterone: >1499 ng/dl
  • Testosterone, Free: 513 pg/ml
  • Testosterone, bioavailable: 1202 ng/dl
  • SHBG: 16.44 nmol/l
  • Albumin: 4.3 g/dl
  • Estradiol, sensitive: 65 pg/ml

How do I feel?

  • libido is excellent but sometimes issues with maintaining erection
  • Acne, water retention and flare ups have subsided
  • Shoulder pain is almost completely gone having lived with this for a couple of years
  • Increased weight of about 10 pounds but showing significant body comp changes in 6 months

A couple of questions?

  • Does “>1499” test level mean it’s more than that and that’s the top measure range? How does this compare to other levels like free and SHBG?
  • Should I be concerned with my 65 E2 level? About 4-6 weeks ago doc asked me to increase Anastrozole by taking another .25 mg but after a couple of weeks, I felt off with depression out of nowhere and some issues with energy levels. Is .25 mg once a week even doing anything?
  • Looks like Nandrolone helped significantly with my joint and shoulder pain. Does this raise your T as well as it’s a pretty big jump from 950 with only a 20 mg T increase?

Thanks!

2

Congrats on your prescribed cycle. This is NOT TRT so now that we have that out of,the way I will answer your questions.

  1. Yes it means your levels are far too high. As in… steroid cycle level high.
  2. No. Relative to your T level it’s minuscule.
  3. Nandrolone shows up as T on blood tests, but it’s not a T replacement. It’s has its own host of side effects and should not be used long term. It also aromatizes at a 5th the rate of testosterone.
5 Likes
3

Yes, your free testosterone is very high, even with your SHBG low, and I would suspect total testosterone is much higher. When was the blood drawn relative to your injection.

No, given your testosterone level, it’s low.

It does help and yes. Keep an eye on your lipids.

4

It means the Total T is higher than that particular test can read. There are tests that read accurately below and above 1500ng/dL.

Your doctor bet on the wrong horse. Also the normal ranges top out at 916 ng/dL, you were at 950 with low SHBG and so your Free T must have been sky high already.

I can only wonder what your hematocrit and hemoglobin are on your new protocol now that you’re added nandrolone.

6

I hear you and my goal is be at what levels make me feel at my best. I didn’t realize that Nandrolone would elevate Levels that much more but having been on RA meds for 30 years living with those lasting effects that are now reduced is a trade off that I need to decide for how long I stay on. I plan to reduce levels of each slowly, assess and measure.

I don’t have my free numbers for when my
Levels were at 950 and currently my Hemoglobin is at 17.9 and Hematocrit at 51.8 with a blood donation 2 months ago.