I’m not sure if im posting this in the correct place but hopefully someone sees this and can help. I started on Testosterone injections in January and it has completely turned my life upside down, it has been one of the worst experiences of my life so to say I am very disappointed is an understatement. I initially had labwork done by my GP in September of 2025 and my testosterone was part of all my bloodwork it measured 439 total and free testosterone was low at 8.1 pg/mL, my doctor called to tell me all my bloodwork was normal and nothing was found wrong, it was good news but also concerning news as I was having multiple issues such as low energy, depressed, ED, low stamina, and had been losing muscle mass for about about 4-5 months at that time ( This was my biggest concern ) I had felt like a very different person in terms of my energy and strength and this had been going on for 4-5 months then, so when he told me all my bloodwork was good I just went on with life, however I continued with all the same issues but things continued to get worse so in December I decided to actually look at the bloodwork results and I saw that my free testosterone was flagged as LOW but total was within range, So I did some research online and found multiple sources saying that if your free T is low you can experience symptoms even in your total is normal, I was confused why my doctor never mentioned this and had said that my bloodwork was fine so I called him and brought it up and he said this wouldn’t have anything to do with my issues and that my free T was just barley low and he offered to give me an antidepressant which I declined, But everything I was reading online actually did correlate the low free T to my symptoms. I did some research online and found a place that had great reviews and decided to see them and get their opinion on this, it is a “men’s health clinic” not a regular doctor or endocrinologist. They tested my testosterone on the spot and it was measured at 386 Total and 8.1 Free, they explained to me that I would greatly benefit from Testosterone therapy and that all my symtoms would indeed be related to my testosterone levels, I decided to do it and sign up with there program which was a monthly plan, they told me they would have all the additional lab work results in a week and would call me but started my first injection that day and was started on 140MG cypionate injection once weekly. When they called me about my other lab results they mentioned my prolactin levels were elevated at 19.46 ng/ml but not alarmingly high and that in about 6 weeks they would see if it had increased or not and that my cholesterol was a little elevated too but other than that all good. I noticed the same day of the first injection an increase in energy, and motivation however the next day I was extremely lethargic and the complete opposite which I thought was weird, after the second injection I noticed I was more tired and lethargic than before I started them, I was getting headaches, hot and sweaty and a bit irritable. I happened to have bloodwork scheduled from my actual doctor that was already scheduled prior to starting the Testosterone injections and he had called me to tell me my lab work was all good however my total testosterone was high at 1,056 ng/dl and free was high at 289.3 ng/dl he had asked if I was on anything and I had explained I had started taking the injections, he advised against it but said he would have the dose reduced if I decided to keep with it, I was confused how my levels would go up that high after just two injections and I brought it up to the clinic I was getting them from but they said that is where I actually want to be and that those levels were not high, the 3rd week is when things started to get weird for me, I started getting very irritable, complete insomnia, high blood pressure, racing heart rate, anxiety attacks, sensitive nipples, a very strong sexual desire but to much of one, and short tempered with everything and so I had asked them to lower the dose thinking this would help, they lowered the dose to 120MG once a week, about a week after being on that dose I felt very depressed, felt weaker and felt I was actually loosing muscle mass which was really confusing me, still had very sensitive nipples and noticed so hard lumps in my right chest pec, started loosing sexual desire, ED symptoms started getting worse, very irritable and very tired ( the most tired I have ever been in my life, after every injection I noticed the next couple of days I was so tired and unmotivated) They recommended upping the dose back to 140MG but I did not want to do that as I could not handle how I felt, however I guess that day when they gave me the injection they accidently gave me the 140MG instead of the 120MG and the week after my next injection of the 120MG which Is what it was supposed to be all hell broke loose… looking back I kept telling myself all these symptoms were normal as my hormones are changing and it has to take time, but I had been gaining weight, about 9lbs at that point in just 6 weeks with no change to diet, I felt heavy, slow, so weak, the worst ED, I kept sweating all the time, no patience whatsoever, horrible headaches, couldn’t sleep at all, dizzy, nauseous, extremely depressed, couldn’t get out of bed until 11am, bad acne, the highest blood pressure i’ve ever had, and the panic attacks I was having were out of this world, I had painful lumps in chest pecs ( worse on right side) I gained about 12lbs since I started the injections, and now I could not complete a workout for the life of me, miserable wouldn’t even be the right word for how I felt and I decided I was not going to keep doing this, I called the clinic to explain to them everything and they said that my 6 week evaluation ( which was really 7 weeks) was in just a couple days and to come in and they would just do it early and take bloodwork and that it sounded like to much testosterone was converting to estrogen and that it happens and is easily fixable. I met with them and they are very kind and seemed like they knew what to do so I decided to not stop and do what they told me to do, they gave me 0.125MG of anastrozole to take twice a week and wanted to do two injections a week instead of one at 140MG a week, when they got the bloodwork results the next week they said all labs were fine even my estogen levels were good but that I could be sensitive to it and also that the testosterone to estrogen ratio was not where they would like it to be and to still take the anastrozole even though estrogen was at 24 pg/ml but I noticed on the lab work that they didn’t even mention was the prolactin was still high but even higher than when I started the injections it measured at 23 ng/ml but she didn’t mention it like she did when I first started. The anastrozole helped a bit but not as much as I had hoped, I’m not kidding at this point I straight up had discharge coming from my nipples which freaked me out, I didn’t even know this was possible to experience as a male and had to do research online about it, I continued with medication and the next time I went in I told them I wanted to lower the dose again, lowering the dose helped a little bit along with the anastrozole but at this point I still was feeling bad, I had lost more muscle mass that thought was possible, ED was still horrible, depression etc. They gave me 0.25MG of the anastrozole and wanted me to take that twice a week instead of the 0.125 and once I took the 0.25mg I would get horrible muscle cramps, my neck muscles would lock up, jaw was tight, more anxiety, nausea, couldn’t get out of bed, even worse headaches, So I told them Im done and need to stop, they said I should do a taper process but didn’t really come up with a plan as for how long and the reduction in dosage each week, I went down to 100mg a week ( with two separate injections so 50mg each time) , and some symptoms got better but not all, last week I had the one dose of the 50MG and I didnt even get the second dose because I had to work since i’ve taken so much time off work the way i’ve been feeling since I started all of this, so technically last week I only had 50mg that’s going from 120mg one week to 100mg the next and last week 50mg. I made an appointment with a endocrinologist that is this week to see what they say but i’m wondering If I should just stop it at this point or if i should continue with a taper or what anyone’s advice would be. I have all the lab work too if that would help, I don’t understand for the life of me why I continued to get worse and why nothing got better or helped, It makes me think I never needed the testosterone in the first place like they said, or that there is an underlying issue that is the problem. I do take a couple of medications but they assured me there were no interactions with the medications and the injections but I was so hopeful for this to help me but it really backfired on me.
Well, what is is your body weight or BMI? do you exercise, how often, how long? What’s your diet like? What’s your typical meal plans like?
^^^^ this is not a result of the test injection based on pharmacokinetics.
I currently weigh 160, I’ve gained 12lbs since starting the injections. Before Injections I was working out 4-5 days a week (lifting and running) currently now I’m struggling to work out at all.
You don’t believe my issues are from testosterone? I know that prior to starting it I didn’t have hard lumps in my chest and I certainly didn’t have discharge coming from my nipples haha I also had much more energy before starting it as well has no headaches. Everything started after taking the injections that I know of.
No, what he’s saying is you don’t get an immediate response from a Testosterone injection. Its takes over a month to reach peak plasma concentrations and your body takes awhile to adapt. Any ‘feeling’ you had the day after your injection was created in your head.
This 100%.
Leakage sounds like a prolactin issue.
You weren’t supplementing your trt, right?
No nandrolone or tren?
Sarms?
What other meds are you taking?
That makes total sense, I could totally see how it was a placebo effect. However Im more interested in getting advice on what to do to help my situation but I certainly appreciate the response and informing me of this.
Thank you for the response! No supplementation, just the injections from the clinic… it’s weird because they told me it was not a high dose, and based on what I’ve read none of the doses I’ve been on are that high. I’m new to all of this and really wish I educated myself better before starting. I feel like the elevated prolactin levels make the most sense as they were at the threshold of high before starting and went higher while on the testosterone, the clinic said the levels are not elevated enough to need a MRI for some tumor I guess so that’s good I guess but everything they have tried to do to help hasn’t helped. Medication I’m on are 45MG adderall ( been on this for over 10 years for adhd) as well as 200MG Lyrica or pregabalin ( been on this for a year and a half for supposedly fibromyalgia). I’m trying to figure out if I should just stop at this point or if it’s to late to stop without experiencing a bad withdrawal or situation that could mess me up more or what any advice would be to correct and balance it all out but regardless I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to read and respond.
You are making it very difficult to help by the way you’re posting. You have completely run-on sentence sentences and no discernible time frames for each of your protocols. You also haven’t posted any labs. I would advise posting your actual labs along with a succinct timeline of each dose protocol, you’ve tried.