K. Trying the opposite more or less first then I’ll try this next if necessary and see what happens
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Another 2 weeks have gone by… still crazy how fast time goes. Anyways.
Couple of updates:
-I kept having crazy anxiety 1-2 days after a shot when I was doing 70mg 3x a week so I’ve cut that down to 40mg 3x a week. I had this weird head buzzing feeling like I used to get when I took too much of the 20% cream, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t calm down. It was nice when I was knocking shit out but sucked after work was done and I was trying to relax. Call me crazy but I couldn’t handle the anxiety. Injections have never done that to me until recently, but for whatever reason, real or placebo, it was happening and sucked, so I feel like lower dose is best for me right now. I’m considering just biting the bullet and going daily, maybe 20mg/day, something like that, and seeing how that does. That would at least keep me super stable. Haven’t had any full blown panic attacks the last 2 weeks. I’ve learned if I wake up in the middle of the night to just put on some sweatpants and take a quick lap around the neighborhood and not fight it… when I feel tired again, go back to bed. I used to just lay there and try to force myself to calm down/go to sleep, which seemed to have the opposite affect.
-I went to the ENT this morning at the behest of my wife and holy f my sinuses are screwed. Picture below. Black = air. There should be several areas showing up black, which would represent sinus cavities that aren’t full of junk. He was shocked I could still breathe through my nose at all. He wants me to try another round of antibiotics + prednisone + a steroid nasal spray. I’m a little worried about the prednisone given it can cause anxiety and sleep issues but at this point I’ve got to try something. If that doesn’t work then I think it’s going to go more towards possibly having surgery to get all this junk out. I go back in 2 weeks. The two red circles are where my eyes are, lower oval one is where my mouth would be, just to give some perspective to what the picture is showing. The big black spot on the right is the literally the only sinus cavity that isn’t filled with crap.
-I did a semen analysis last week, test results came back yesterday and weren’t great. 4.9 million swimmers per ml. “Normal” is closer to 15M/ml. I still say 4.9 million/ml seems like a lot but I’ve got an appt with the doctor in 2 weeks to get his take. Wife is still only 2-3 months off of birth control so IMO there’s not a very high chance right now regardless but who knows. The rest of the semen analysis test results were blank as far as motility, etc. so I’m not sure wtf is going on there. It took every bit of an hour to get the sample back to the lab so I wonder if that messed something up? Not sure. Considering throwing in some FSH before I take another test. It’s a royal PITA to wait 2-3 days then whack it into a cup then drive to the lab at a scheduled time and blah blah blah so I really hate to do this again but I’m probably going to have to
-I’ve been doing 200 IU’s of HCG per day but have read a few things saying a larger dose 2-3x a week is more effective than a little bit all the time, so I may go back to 500-600IU’s 3x a week. TBD. I’m researching doses for FSH/HMG/whatever all of it’s names are now to see what my options are there. This stuff is insanely expensive through legit channels, may have to see if my insurance will cover it or if I can get it from India or something but it think it has to stay cold, not sure.
That’s about it. The funny part is sex wise I’ve actually been totally fine at the lower T dose and I’ve lost 8lbs. At one point I went 10 days without any T and was still fine, though I’m still taking HCG so my levels might not entirely suck yet. Sensitivity was starting to suffer but I dunno, wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting.
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haha, meh, details.
Almost done with the prednisone… I have developed a love/hate relationship with the stuff. It does work to help clear out my sinuses some, but then I try to go to sleep I’m either still wired from the stuff (but can breathe), or it’s worn off and I’m tired (but can’t breathe). I do feel better than I did though overall, no more panic attacks in a little while now
I still can’t breathe very well out of my right nostril except when prednisone is at it’s peak, so I have a feeling that side is not going to clear out all the way. Hopefully it doesn’t turn into needing surgery but if it fixed this long term I’d probably do it
Anyways. Couple of T updates.
I figured out how to run my labs through insurance now, so I just had 8 vials of blood taken for all kinds of stuff. My insurance covers 100% of labs through Labcorp, no deductible, no coinsurance, just 100% free. Just needed a note from the doctor stating what tests to do and then Labcorp bills insurance. The semen analysis a few weeks back was totally free. This is going to save me quite a bit of money and make it easier to do any labs I want. Also I am going to turn in everything I’ve paid out of pocket this year which should finish the rest of my deductible for the year, so pretty much anything else this year is free or close to it for the rest of the year. Awesome.
I’ve been sticking with 20mg/day T, injecting every day. 500IU’s HCG mon/wed/fri. Also have been taking P5P to see if it helps with the high prolactin. Nothing else. Yesterday/today I’ve been feeling really good. Lost 8lbs or so since dropping my T dose. Not sure how to explain it but I feel lighter. Almost like lower blood pressure or something but my blood pressure is never high so I don’t think it’s literally that.
Bad side is the whole genital sensitivity thing has gone backwards some, so that’s a little worse. Hopefully it’s just the dose change and not the actual amount but I guess time will tell. Not horribly, but def worse.
I think I’m going to stick with this for a while and see how ED works for me. May bump up to 25mg/day at some point and see if I do better on a little more again. For now I’m afraid to change anything since I haven’t had any panic attacks and am feeling pretty good.
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Got my labs back from last week. Labcorp missed the ft3 ft4 tests that were on the Lab Req. Numbers outside of “normal” are in bold. This is just the main things we tend to look at, not everything.
This is at ~20mg/day with a day skipped here and there
HCT 42.9 [37 - 51]
Albumin 4.8 [4 - 5]
Cholesterol total 234 [100 - 199]
Triglycerides 152 [0 - 149]
HDL 65 [ > 39]
VLDL 27 [5 - 40]
LDL 142 [0 - 99]
Total T 1349 [264 - 916]
Free T 14.6 [9.7 - 25.1]
Estradiol 38.3 [8 - 35]
SHBG 59.4 [16 - 55.9]. Close to “normal”. I started at over 150.
DHT 115 [30 - 85] (this one surprised me). Not sure why my DHT is high. I had it tested once before and it was in the 50’s
DHEA 43 [31 - 701]. I may try supplementing this since I’m at the very bottom end of the range.
TSH 2.71 [0.450 - 4.500]
Prolactin 14.9 [4.0 - 15.2]. I’ve been taking P5P but I’m surprised prolactin dropped this much. I’m not sure if it’s related to lower hormones or the P5P. Not sure.
PSA 0.8 [0 - 4]
Weird. I wonder what your levels were before TRT? Ever test iron?
Also weird
The test right before starting T was 46. It went down to 44 after 6 months of 200’ish a week somehow. No clue how that one happened.
Which part?
Could the cream have been the reason your dht was higher? I’ve seen that in posted labs here before.
Your free T and estrogen is very low for the total T levels especially on a daily schedule.
I haven’t used it in a few weeks but otherwise I would have agreed that could do it. I’m not really sure why DHT is up like that
I’m blaming it on the whole used to take propecia thing somehow. It’s always propecia’s fault.
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Yeah, it at least made a little more sense when my shbg was 150+ but it’s not too ridiculous now so I don’t know what the reason is
The first blood work I ever had was probably crazier though
Total t was 1077
Free t was 7.2
So I literally had a “high” total T and a “low” free T at the same time. Wish I had tested more back then but that’s all I had checked. That was 2018
Well… to everyone saying HCG will get fertility back in anyone no problem… my lab results say otherwise. I re-did the semen analysis last week to shorten the time to when they actually do the analysis because I was a little over the hour “limit” last time, so I was hoping this would improve my results. Not so much apparently.
This is with me on HCG since April or May at 1400-1500 IU’s a week. I’ve flip flopped around a little bit on whether I was trying to do daily or 500 3x a week but either way, it ain’t doing shit. I wish I had had this test done before starting TRT so I could be sure it hasn’t been a long term issue. The only point of reference I have is one ex saying she was pregnant once upon a time. Other than that, no babies, so I have no idea if that is because I’ve had an issue long term, or I was just lucky.
I added FSH last week so that should directly stimulate sperm production. If that doesn’t get things going then I don’t know what will.
I’m also questioning why my test says the labs were performed in CA when it should have been in NC. The test has to be done ASAP so there’s no way they shipped it to CA then tested it there. If they did, then these results are totally invalid.
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Not a lot of updates.
I’m still taking 500IU’s of HCG Mon/Wed/Fri and 50IU’s of FSH Tue/Thur/Sat. So yeah I’m getting stabbed every day at this point pretty much. I’m going to give it about 2 months before repeating the semen analysis and see what happens. Worst case I’ll need to up the dosage but we’ll see what that does.
T wise I’ve been keeping things pretty low for now until I figure out the sinus/panic attack thing. It’s surprising that I don’t feel worse than I do, I guess the HCG is keeping some natural production going so I’m not abysmally low. I’m still only taking 20mg at a time and honestly I’ve missed days pretty often and I don’t really notice it other than being pretty tired if I miss too many in a row. I skipped almost a week at one point and didn’t even notice it until towards the end of the week when I started getting really tired. Libido and drive are definitely less but I haven’t had any actual bedroom issues so I dunno, I’m starting to question whether I need to ever be back at 200mg/week of T again. I guess I’ll figure that out later.
Otherwise things are fine. Waiting on insurance to approve the sinus surgery then have to decide if I’m going to actually do it or not. I’m trying to talk them into letting me only do the turbinate reduction on my right side and leaving everything else alone in hopes that I can avoid being completely unable to breathe through my nose for a week or two, because panic attacks sucks. My left side is pretty much always open so if I can get the right side cleared out some I’d be way better off.
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Update after another 3+ weeks.
Still trying to make babies. Still taking 500IU’s of HCG 3x a week and 50IU’s of FSH 3x a week. I have an appt in December with an actual “fertility” doctor that my wife and sister in law (urologist) want me to see. The sister in law almost did a fellowship under this guy and supposedly he’s really, really good. I don’t see how he could really change anything med wise other than upping the dose though. There’s only like 3 male fertility drugs that I know of (Clomid, HCG, FSH) and I’m already on 2 of them, so I don’t see what else he can really do. I suspect he’ll try to get me to stop TRT and add Clomid, which I’m pretty against, but I won’t say I’m 100% against trying it short term to see how crazy I go.
T wise I’m barely taking anything, haven’t taken any in at least a week. Every time I take virtually any T the following day my congestion and anxiety are off the charts. I have no idea how they could be related in doses that small, but it’s happened probably 5x now and a few of the times I had completely forgotten about even taking testosterone, so I don’t think it’s 100% in my head. Maybe partially, but not 100%
Someone in one of the T Facebook groups posted the other day about how they were having problems with anxiety since switching to a new brand of T. He posted a picture and it was the same brand I switched to as well. It’s a new brand in the US that’s from Indian company if I recall correctly. Several people posted (before me) that they had had major anxiety issues (that they had never had before ever) on this brand as well and that it went away once they switched back to a different brand, so I’m going to give that a try. I ordered some of the real deal over priced “Pfeizer” stuff the other day, so hopefully I’ll get that this week and be able to see if I do better on that.
Libido wise, the lack of T is starting to show. I’ve almost never had ED issues but I’m getting to where it’s kind of borderline. Still not a full blown no-go, but I’m not hanging off the ceiling from my boner either, as Mr. Bossa would say. Sensitivity sucks again as well. I feel like shit, I’m always tried, have zero motivation to do anything and I’m borderline depressed feeling. I really hope this other brand of T somehow doesn’t cause the anxiety issues but helps with everything else, because this sucks.
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Jesus, are you me? I just saw your total/free numbers. We do have the same problem. I’m going to have to read through your thread. Hopefully I can skip ahead to whatever treatment of yours works.
I ended up at 210mg per week. 70mg 3x a week. Yeah I literally have a test result before TRT where my free T was “low” and total T was “high” ON THE SAME TEST. But my SHBG was 150+
But long story short I’ve had some other weird issues with panic attacks coming out of nowhere after I was on that dose for like a year straight, so I’m trying to figure that out. And on top of that trying to get fertile enough now to knock some girls up, so that adds some more stuff into the mix
Wich is the name of the brand you were taking that gave you problems?
For what I know testosterone isn’t expensive. I dont know why you say is overpriced from Pfizer.
A month supply cost me $40 from bayer
Cipla.
Clinics in the US usually won’t give a regular prescription. If they would, I could get brand name stuff for $40 that would last 10+ weeks, but instead they force people to pay several times that through their preferred pharmacy. I’m assuming they get some sort of kick back from the pharmacy but I don’t know that for sure. They also offer compounded T that they make in house, which is cheaper than the brand name stuff but still quite expensive compared to what it should be. That’s just how it is here for those of us that go through clinics.
My clinic does, actually. Was trying to get Pfizer brand from Empower (they mark it up, kinda redic). Anyway figured I’d ask the clinic if they could just send an Rx to CVS and they said yes. Westward-Hikma brand from Portugal. You’ve probably already asked your place, but maybe press a little? $5/mL with goodrx