I have been on TRT for a little over 3 years and about a month ago my doctor decided to try a SERM restart. So he prescribed me Clomid 25mg daily and letrozole 2.5mg every other week. My question is I had been taking this for about 3 weeks and was having some bad side effects. I know my e2 was in the 50’s and my T was in the low 400’s at the time of that visit.
We’ll after the 3 weeks I called them and told them I was having some moodiness and depression and just didn’t feel right, felt like I was real emotional too along with no energy. He told me to stop taking the Clomid and continue with the letrozole . It has been about a week since I stopped the Clomid and I feel worse I think and my vision seems like it may be blurry at times.
I don’t go back for labs until June 13 and am about to go on vacation and really need some advice before I ruin our trip with my mood and other problems. Any help would be appreciated.
I did clomid for about a year. The convenience of taking a pill was nice, but the best way to put it was it left me feeling cold and dead inside. I was a borderline candidate for Clomid, my doctor warned me it may not work. He was right.
I now self inject once a week and feel great. There is nothing you can do for your vacation except suck it up and deal. Do you explain to your partner what is going on?
I did and she just don’t think it would mess with you this much. I was on the pellets with two insertions before this, and before that I was self injecting but my doc at that time passed away. I felt great up until he wanted to try this Clomid. My T would be in the mid 800’s and every now and then I would be given arimidex for e2 levels rising. I just don’t understand why he wanted to try this out of the blue after I’ve been on TRT for over 3 years. I guess my question is by me stopping this suddenly will it make things worse or should I taper the dose. This stuff feels like it is messing with my head a lot and I just feel like you said kinda dead inside.
I have another question about my hematocrit levels rising to. About 4 months ago I started having some chest discomfort and felt like it was a little hard to breathe. I told the doc and he said I needed to donate blood, so I did and my hematocrit was 16 16 or 17. We’ll just this last week since stopping the Clomid it started happening again and I felt like I might pass out a couple of times, so I went 2 days ago and gave blood again and the level was 18 and she said one more point higher and they couldn’t use it cause it would’ve been toxic. What does this mean, it had been 3 months between donations. It did seem like it helped a little. When I gave blood did it screw my Clomid or t levels up since I’m only taking letrozole right now. Has anyone else had an issue with hematocrit levels? Thanks for any advice.
I should also add that when I was originally put on TRT the doctor I was seeing then didn’t check to find the cause and I didn’t know any better either so I started without knowing what I was getting myself into.
Did gels for about a year or so then shots for about the same amount of time and then switched to the pellets because after my doc passed away I didn’t know anywhere else to go and he said he doesn’t like to give people injectable. I should add that this guy actually seems pretty knowledgable on this subject but I’m questioning him a little now. It can’t be for fertility cause I already had a vasectomy last year so I won’t be trying to have anymore kids.
It just sucks to know how good I was feeling and then have it yanked out from under me. I have absolutely no libido and no desire to do anything just like before I got on TRT, maybe even a little worse. I also have been having what feels like hot flashes. I just don’t know what I should do, I guess wait it out for three more weeks till I have labs done. Is a month of Clomid enough to tell if it’s gonna work? Thanks for anyone’s help.
I’m sorry guys I just realized I should’ve posted all this under my first thread it’s labeled, I seriously need guidance.
Almost sounds like your E2 is out of whack. YOu may be driving it too low without the T. Clomid is known for having some sides with some guys. I’d tell my doc - you are paying for a service - that you’re not happy with the restart and want to go back on true TRT. I’m not sure what could be causing the issues with your hematocrit, maybe KSMAN can chime in.
I think the restart would be best for my health in the long run if it works cause I’m only 33. When I mentioned it to the doc that’s what he thought also that e2 was high, it was high already when he decided to do this it was in the upper 50’s. Would just stopping it all at once make things worse or better.
I may have said the wrong thing instead of hematocrit it may be hemoglobin. It’s when they give you a finger prick at the donation place. I was wondering what kind of things would indicate that it is working other than labs, I know my testes have not regained any size. I was thinking that he should’ve tried this when I first saw him instead over a year later.
My insurance quit paying for the brand of pellets that he uses and they were gonna have to order the other brand and it was gonna be about 3 weeks so I think he may have just done this to fill in that time, just a thought may not be the case.
If you really want to give this a fair shake, you need to get E2 in check. Use some Aromasin. 25mg MWF seems to work for me, but you’ll have test.
He only wrote me the letrozole 2.5 mg every other week, is that going to be sufficient to bring it down? He normally writes me the anastrozole I can’t remember the dose and timing.
You can always go the research chem route for your AI if your doctor won’t play. If you’ve been on test for 3 years with no hcg, your boys may be shot. A restart may not work in your case but it is certainly worth a try. Either way, you need to get your E2 in check and figure out what is going on.
If my t levels have dropped would I have trouble waking up in the mornings, seems like lately I can’t seem to get right up. Yesterday evening I felt like I was getting dizzy or something, I know that I felt great until this Clomid was introduced to me and now I just don’t feel right. Maybe I should call him today and see if they will do labs earlier.
I have another question that I forgot to ask, is it possible that even while taking Clomid that I may not be making any t? If this is true maybe that’s why I feel so bad cause I have no t in me and my e is way up. When I was first diagnosed tt was only 87 and after a month of fortesta gel at the lowest dose it went down to 36.
We’ll I just got back from having labs drawn so maybe I will have some answers in a few days. I ask him about the blurred vision and he said he didn’t think clomid would do that.
blurred vision was a common occurrence for me and associated with really shitty cortisol levels. You should do the 4x saliva test. You can order in online and do it yourself. I get mine from canary club.
Thanks dhickey for the info, I will check that out for sure. This was really freaking me out around the 5th day of this I was wondering if I was screwed up for good. What do you guys think about the letrozole as far as effectiveness and sides?
Never tried letro. Only one way to find out, test E2 and adjust.
Since I quit taking the Clomid my symptoms have improved some the vision problems seem to have gone away and my mood and energy levels have gotten better. The morning erections have returned to almost as good as they were. Do you guys think I should take the letrozole every week at 1/4 th a pill instead of 1/2 EOW?
I had a message left from the nurse that my test level was 619 and my E2 was 25. That’s all I got so far, I took my letrozole dose the day before the blood was drawn would that cause it to mess with those E2 numbers. The reason I ask is because when I was taking the Clomid I felt like my E2 was high cause I was very emotional and just wasn’t acting like myself. I have read that letrozole can start to reduce E2 in as little as 2 hours and has a long half life.
Since my test level was 619 does that mean this restart is gonna work or just that my boys still do? From what I understand if after stopping the Clomid and my fsh and lh stay up along with test that means success but if not that makes me primary. Does this sound correct?
get you full results. You want to look at Free T as well. You know your balls are capable of producing. That’s good news. You’ll have to test again to see it your levels stay high without the clomid. Ideally, you would cut your weekly dose in half (smaller dose or less frequent) and retest after a couple weeks. You would keep doing this until you found the minimum dose that produced the desired results, hopefully zero.
Thanks for the reply dhickey, I will check on that tomorrow. I have also been weighing myself since starting the restart and then stopping the Clomid two weeks ago and I have lost down from 168 to 153 in the last couple of weeks, I’m not tall I’m 5’8" but I really wasn’t fat before just a little pudge in my gut.
I swear I am getting smaller in size, I feel like I’m losing muscle mass my arms feel smaller and not as hard, I just feel smaller overall. I don’t think it’s fat cause it’s all about the same, I have acne all over my stomach also. I just got done with a workout and I feel way weaker than before and hardly any stamina. Is this even possible or am I really just making myself think this?
If this matters any I went for a sleep study 4 or 5 months ago and got put on a cpap and that didn’t help much with daytime sleepiness so I had an mslt test done and the sleep doc said I have narcolepsy, as if I’m not screwed up enough. I should add that my balls have suffered pretty bad atrophy they are probably half the size or less and have been for about 2 years or better. I have read so many stickies and posts and I still feel lost.
You shouldn’t have stopped the clomid. Should have tapered and retested like I suggested above. 25mg MWF would have been my next step. Do that for three or four weeks and retest.