Good to go last night and tonight
Seriously considering 47mg 3x a week to cut down on the number of injections. Maybe I won’t change for a bit longer, we’ll see.
I knew you’d start to recover! Plus you’re already past the “2 week” mark that the PFS boards say is all the recovery you get off you take trt, so looks like you really night be ok!
I also gained about 15lbs when I started. I inject twice a week subq and feel fine. I personally would feel like daily is a bit overkill but I suppose it makes sense from a biological mimicry standpoint. My trough is still way higher than my pre finasteride levels though so I’m def on the high end of things.
Well, no go last night and pretty numb feeling so I dunno, makes me feel like I’m going backwards. Also am swollen like crazy, I put my feet in an ice bath last night trying to get them to go down a little. I think it helped but not totally sure. The swelling also seems to happen any time I drink and I had 2 beers Saturday night. So yeah, no more drinking.
I guess I expected better results by now which has me worried based on the typical PFS mantra. But I have no idea where my levels are even at right now. Most with shbg this high seem to need a bit more test and sometimes danazol added
@samguy19 did you lose the weight? How long did it take and how much test are you taking?
No I didn’t lose the weight. It was definitely some bloat at first, but mine ended up being a lot of muscle mass and some fat.
I’m on 200mg/ml test taking .45 ml 2x week. .25ml hcg x2 week (had taken .5 x2 but e2 went too high). Free t is around 26.
So around 180mg a week. Do you have a thread with your history / story?
I do feel like I have more muscle than I have in a long time. Whether it’s placebo or not, I have no idea. But I don’t look like I’ve gained 18lbs of fat fortunately.
I wish I had checked more thyroid hormones before starting. I may look into doing some testing there just to make me feel better.
No I don’t, mainly just a post history of people saying various unhelpful things to me about PFS.
My shbg was high and free t was low around 7, went to Dr Alan Jacobs and Defy medical. After speaking with both and their sizes of treating finasteride damaged people I got on trt. Took me an adjustment in dose and some messing with e2 but I feel great now.
Your problem seems like it’s primarily numbness and anorgasmia?
Yes, those are def the main things. And usually a longer refractory period. If I wait 2-3 days then I’m usually good to go in a relatively normal length of time, otherwise it turns into what I’ve called a marathon haha
I’m still really tired in the mornings but I’ve always been like that. I was just hoping for some improvements there too while I was fixing the sexual parts
I agree on PFS though, lots of unhelpful posts out there. I almost didn’t bother trying TRT because of them but my low free T and low e2 lined up really well with my symptoms so I thought fixing those might help. I haven’t been consistent for long enough yet to say it won’t. I guess I just get really frustrated at the sexual issues so then I want to change something to fix it.
My free t was 6.3 so we’re pretty close. And shbg 151, lol
Oh, one last thing @samguy19
How long did it take you to start feeling better? How long until you really felt better?
I started going through my notes earlier and I’m wondering if HCG is causing issues. I was fine Thursday, Friday and Saturday… I took HCG Saturday night then had issues Sunday. I think I’m going to skip HCG for at least a week and see if that helps. Some of the dates where I’ve said things are awesome, etc. are in timeframes where I was a day or two late taking HCG.
I injected HCG last on 7/14, had issues 7/16 then was fine the next few days. Injected Saturday 7/20, had issues 7/21. I hope this is a patten.
I started at 100mg a week on Halloween which was way too low, around Feb 1st switched to 180mg + 100 hcg a week. That dosage worked much better but got some high e2 symptoms (42 on the scale or something), so I dropped hcg by half and I feel really good and have more muscle than prior to trt working a 5x5 bulking program.
If you’re like me, due to high shbg you may need a slightly higher e2 (I’m an anaztrozole over responder as well). I may drop HCG post kids (have none but am in similar boat to you).
I think based on my muscle growth and also grew a ton of body hair I never had, that I’m not damaged at a receptor level. It seems like there may be different “PFSs” but the scientific research is all over the board so we may be chasing ghosts anyways.
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Thanks, yeah I agree on everything you said. I’m already starting to grow hair I never had haha, my fiancé makes fun of hair on my ass now. I’ve also noticed I have to shave every other day now where I used to be able to go for close to a week without shaving when I was taking FIN and 3-4 days even after I stopped.
I feel like that’s probably going to be true for me too regarding the high SHBG needing a bit higher dose. I’m not super worried about E2 numbers and don’t have any plans of taking an AI; mine was fairly low to begin with so I hope increasing it some helps. Perhaps the HCG is pushing it too high though based on these swelling feet, who knows.
I agree that there are likely different forms of PFS for lack of any better terminology. Some of us seem to be super high SHBG/low free test and respond to test fine, others already have normal or high-normal levels and increasing or decreasing doesn’t do anything. It’s very strange honestly but hopefully research catches up soon and figures out what is happening to people on these medications. I saw one guy on I believe a different forum with PFS that didn’t have a response until he got to 300mg of testosterone a week… but once he got there, he felt normal
The really strange thing in my case was the 6 months to a year before I stopped finasteride, my libido was INSANE, like no doubt the highest it’s ever been. It was awesome. Then I stopped/started/stopped taking it and went downhill after that. Never terribly so compared to a lot of folks, but I never got back to even my original “normal” I don’t think
Beer is essentially an E2 supplement. Especially a good one (and I know you can get some good micros where you are).You’re just riding a fine line with E2 atm. It will probably get better with time and you haven’t been on very long. Those sides are what drive people to use the AI’s, even if just temporarily while the body adjusts.
That makes sense… I may cut out the HCG for a week or two as well and see how I do. I’m just glad to hear an explanation of how alcohol could do that
2 weeks ago I had a LOT of cheap beer… but this last weekend the 2 beers I had were “good” beers, so I guess it isn’t shocking. I took HCG that evening as well.
Just be careful to not mess with too many variables too quickly, this is where people seem at TRT. You may want to ride out HCG for at least 3/4 weeks and see if you adjust.
That being said, it does seem like a large portion of people have poor tolerance to HCG, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that was contributing.
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Good point. And unfortunately easier said than done sometimes it seems. I’m trying to stay fairly stable though. I still think I’m going to drop the HCG for a few weeks and see if that helps, then try adding it back later. I guess that’s still a change, oh well
Still having anorgasmia issues with a little ED thrown in. Finally got it done last night but the struggle was real. Very much a marathon.
I’m still having crazy morning wood so I dunno. I’m still adjusting I guess.
I’ve almost been with defy for a month now as of Thursday.
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I called defy today about switching to cream, apparently they offer it now. Haven’t heard back from the doc yet but I am considering that route
Felt pretty crappy today until I did my injection then I feel really good now. Sex was quite quick for a change. That was a nice surprise but strange because I was still a little numb. Weird. Oh well, I’ll take it after the recent difficulties.
Have not taken any more HCG since possibly connecting that to my anorgasmia issues.
When you say you feel crappy, what specifically are you feeling?
I don’t know man, I feel like generally people have best results on injections. Why not just try without HCG first? You gotta wait long enough to get some follow up bloods. Could be answers by doing that.
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Super tired, no libido, no motivation. Basically all the normal low T symptoms. I am skipping HCG for a few weeks to see how I do. So far, better. My ankles aren’t swollen anymore for one. I felt good last night after injecting and this morning I feel pretty good as well.
People are absolutely loving the new transcrotal creams. I would never bother with the old school gels or anything like that but the creams apparently work very well. As good or better than injections even. They tend to offer more DHT than even injections do
Defy approved me to switch over to cream this morning and I have the option of running out the test I already have (about 7-8 more weeks worth) or going ahead and switching. I haven’t decided which to do
I’m going to do blood work in the next few weeks if I stay on injections. I might before I switch if I do decide to switch just to see where I’m at first.
Wow, can’t believe it’s been over a week since I updated.
I still have not taken any more HCG. I did go to 3x per week IM dosing and feel the best I have so far. I am doing Mon/Wed/Fri, 50mg each day. I was prescribed 140mg per week so I’m slightly over that but whatever.
One thing I’ve noticed is I don’t take Monday’s until Monday evening, and I felt like absolutely shit most of the day Monday at work. No energy, felt like my legs and arms had bags of sand hooked to them or something, I could barely move I was so lethargic feeling. By Tuesday I was back to normal
Also had some sexual issues Sunday night, so I dunno, maybe coincidence, maybe not.
Ever since Monday I’ve been the best I recall sexually. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, no issues at all. I’ve even gotten back to the trying “NOT” to finish feeling vs. always feel like I’m having to really concentrate to make it happen. It’s quite nice.
I don’t know if it’s the doses being larger or if I just do better with IM or maybe not having the HCG. I don’t know, but I’m feeling pretty decent right now.
Hopefully it stays this way or improves further when I switch to the creme. I guess we’ll see.
The one bad thing about the creme is I can’t get extra without it being prescribed, so I’m kind of stuck sticking to doctors orders for the most part on that one. We’ll see though. I’m almost hesitant to switch now that I feel good but I’m probably going to anyways. I can always switch back if I have to.