Hey everyone! Let me just say first thank you for this forum, I have been reading it for a while and it has helped me immensely with my TRT journey.
Okay so I am 27 years old and have been on TRT for over 3 months now at 200mg/week and 1000iu HCG/week. I split my T doses into two shots and on my last bloodwork my total T trough came back around 550, 4 days after my last shot. This seems pretty low for being on 200mg a week doesn’t it? I can’t remember what my free T value was, but it was exactly in the middle of the reference range. I have been doing subQ injections which I know are preferred, but I am starting to wonder if I should try IM again. The first few weeks I did IM and felt a lot better than I do now. Granted it could have been the honeymoon phase I realize. My SHBG was initially tested in the beginning before starting TRT and came back around 20. Is it possible that my body sucks at absorbing SubQ or I just need more test than the average joe? Would love some input thanks.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard that subQ injections are preferred. IM is typically the way to go for testosterone.
When I ran 250 my total test 3 days after injection showed 1011. I would try one IM injection per week and see if that helps. Injecting twice per week will probably keep you more stable but your total test and probably free test won’t rise as high.
Studies have shown that one injection per week at 100mg kept test subjects in the normal range. Also showed 200 every two weeks kept test subject in the normal range. It’s when they got to 300 every three weeks and 400 every 4 weeks that the test subjects went below normal range.
I think 550 is fine for TRT depending on where your other numbers are but that is normal range.
I believe you would do better off with more frequent injections. You seem to be metabolizing the test quickly which also makes sense with your lower SHBG. Going more frequent will keep it your test from dropping as low between shots. If you felt better on IM there is no reason why you can’t go back to it. Some prefer SQ some prefer IM and some it makes no difference.
You are a hyper excreter needing more v.s the next guy. Your SHBG is low and therefore will not need a high TT to have sufficient FT levels, in fact high TT is expected to increase negative symptoms because free hormones are in excess.
You should concern yourself with testing the active portion of testosterone, not the inactive hormone bound to SHBG.
Low SHBG men should be on protocols where injections are very frequent, daily is preferred especially if a hyper excreter, otherwise you may not feel good.
I still believe weekly injections to be a suboptimal approach to TRT, levels peak within 48 hours and are lower 7 days later. My SHBG is low and feel almost nothing injecting twice weekly, not much of an improvement.
Injecting daily will allow you to keep levels in a tight range ensuring levels are not in excess or excessively low days later.