I am not a lifter, but have made some progress with weights improving my lean mass ratio and strength.
I have been using an age management specialist.
Started on .5ml/week 200mg/ml test cyp and found a big hit that lasted a couple of days then fizzled out. Some weeks did not feel a thing. Other wise, the classic hormone roller coaster.
Injections with 23 gauge 1.5" in the proper location was not a problem for me. I am flexible. Found that when land-marking the location, then it is best to feel the bulk of that gluteus medius muscle to get right on. If painful afterwards, muscle may be tight. Found that RHS was bad and after massage loosened up the muscle there were no problems after that.
After blood tests, E low and unchanged, HDL still high and not changed, triglycerides way way down, LDL down. Total T way up, 900’s, free T 3.7%. So I would judge my blood work response as ideal. (Still cannot get my DHEA up while taking 100mg/day.)
Added 250iu of HCG twice a week, my testes had been tender and a bit smaller. With HCG my testes feel much better… so that is good. I think that this tenderness is related to my vasectomy of 5 years ago and may not be representative of anything for others.
Having 29 gauge .5" insulin syringes on hand for the HCG, I tried drawing up the test cyp. It is slow to load but does draw up. The test cyp does inject much faster. Started injecting 1/7th of the weekly dose every day in my leg muscle (see other sites for descriptions of safe injection sites on the upper leg).
I have thin skin there and with the syringe pressed to compress the skin I am getting good IM. IM depth requirements for such small amounts should be fine with 1/2" needles (my opinion).
You still have to aspirate to see if the end of the needle is in a blood vessel. You need to understand all of the usual IM injection details.
So that way I do not get the peaks and crashes of a weekly dose. I have increased the amount per day to find the right level. I have written my specialist to discuss this. I think that there are some good merits.
-Takes time to draw up.
-Takes very little time to inject VS IM in the butt.
-One can draw up multi day amount and reuse the syringe.
-I open the swab and clean the needle and end of the syringe, then the injection site, inject, the clean the needle and end of the syringe and recap. So the needle gets cleaned after and before use. One swab is used, tear and clean the needle with the swab not pulled from the package, then pull part way out to clean the injection site, then after injection, pull out the swab and use the other end to clean the needle before re-capping. I never use the syringe once empty as to not insert anything but a new needle into the vial.
So this seems to work very well for me. I feel better and the same every day. The test cyp was less than 1/2 at Sam’s Club (business membership) pharmacy compared to local major pharmacy shop. HCG was also very cheap there too.
With the HCG, I have an increased appetite which may represent risk for reversal of fat losses. My rings are a bit tighter and some shoes feel a little tighter. I will monitor these things to see if they are transient in nature.
For the HCG, I draw up 500iu and inject 250, clean the needle and end of the syringe that touched the skin, recap and place in the refrigerator with the vial. Then clean the needle once again before injecting. As the HCG is in water, never insert a used needle into the vial.
With HCG, I definitely felt a change in my head. There must be some kind of receptor hits in the brain or activation of other things that influence the brain. I do not note this so much now after a month. HCG is injected SC into fat just like insulin.
I have done a lot of web searching and have not seem anything that deals with test cyp injected every day. So this is new territory and you must assume all risks yourself as a pioneer if you try this out. There can be bleeding if you hit a surface vein. I have trouble seeing those and I have a good tan this year that does not help.
When you go through a vein, you can feel it and you will get bruising. When I get a good spot, I often get no blood at all when pulling the needle out. But if you hit a vein with a #29 needle, this is minor compared to a #22 or #23.
I considered deep IM injections, 1.5" #23 gauge twice a week. I am very glad to have this alternative!!!
Note that with a 1/2" needle, there is a requirement for a location with thin skin and very little fat. Thus one will need to be lean to do any of this. My BMI is 22 and fat ration is around 17%.
To be continued…