Brief Stats
25 y/o, 10+ years lifting, 6’2.5" 211 lbs
TRT for 8 weeks
Truly dialed nutrition and lifting past three years, gave up the bro split to hit muscle groups multi times per week (4-6 weight sessions per week) rep ranges per session either power/strength or strength/hypertrophy sessions
Started a slow cut in February and went from 235 ~18% BF to 205 ~13% BF while maintaining or increasing Big 3 (used diet breaks to maintain strength, never a straight cut). Above 405 on all 3
Goals are to look natural and lean while pushing heavy weight. This isn’t a shot at guys that look “unnatural”, I have shit insertions anyway so competing has always been out of the picture for me. More power to you guys.
Why TRT
I reached a plateau at 205 with fat loss, p/c/f 192/245/51 2200 kcal (at this level calories ingested is where bloodwork was taken). Weight could shoot up in a couple of days if not meticulously counting macros. Digestive issues, apathy, shit recovery.
I am willing to admit adding calories may have raised the T, but the body fat gain was just unacceptable and a lot of it was lower ab region.
Job is extremely stressful, get called into the hospital at all hours Sunday to Sunday (no off switch from work).
I wanted to find a way to increase my calories, get rid of brain fog/apathy, and achieve a leaner physique.
As it stands now (after TRT) I am stronger and slightly losing weight at 211 (~13% BF) with high/low day calories at 3200/2400 (200/430/80 and 220/212/80). Digestion has gotten better as well.
Initial Bloodwork with ranges in ( )
-LH 5.4 (1.6-8.0)
-FSH 9.2 (1.5-9.3)
-TT 466 (250-827)
-FT 7.55 ng/dL [used online calculator with measured values of 5, 44, 466 (albumin, SHBG, test respectively)]
-E2 24 ( <39 pg/ml, quest sensitive)
-Prolactin 12.9 (2-18)
-PSA 0.2 ( <4.0 ng/ml)
As an FYI these measurements were slightly high
Bilirubin 1.5 (.2-1.2)
Hemoglobin 17.5 (13.2-17.1)
Hematocrit 51.1 (38.5-50%)
LDL 106 mg/dL
Where I went wrong
I put all my trust in the clinic, the guy although not a doc has advanced degrees in physiology and assured me all his recommendations were run through the on site endocrinologist. It wasn’t until I crashed really hard (fatigue, extreme apathy/depression, loss of libido, no morning wood) that I started the deep dive on the forums. He was responsive with me whenever it came to adding to the dosage, but went dark after I had my E2 crash.
He was very quick to tinker with the plan (which should have tipped me off) and before I knew it I was unknowingly on a blast dose. He verbally told me we were doing 100 mg per week so I was stupid enough to not pay attention to the label and when he told me .5 cc I did .5 cc. Without further adieu…
Schedule
Using Test Blend Cyp/Prop 200/20 mg/ml
110 mg twice weekly (E3.5D) = 220 mg per week initially then currently with 440 mg per week (when issues arise)
Week 1-4
110 mg Blend, 1 mg, 200 iu HCG anastrazole Monday morning and Thursday night
Week 5-6
Added 200 iu HCG and 1 mg AI on Saturday, had terrific erections and morning wood after the Saturday addition. Haven’t felt this good sexually probably ever.
Week 7
Started on Anavar 50 mg ED, on Thursday he told me to up the T dose to 1 cc or 220 mg of the Blend
On Friday I had my first crash feeling and continued to feel bad after HCG and 1 mg AI on saturday. Seemed like Arms were not as vascular, but couldn’t quite call it bloated (also I take Linzess 72 mcg so this may have hid the bloat?). Libido was gone. Morning wood gone. Could maintain erections and ejaculate but just didnt care enough to watch porn or have sex.
Week 8
First full week of 220 mg Test Blend E3.5D
Stopped using AI with Monday morning injection (suspected low E2), still had a crash feeling Tuesday afternoon (clinic stopped answering me), didnt use AI with Thursday injection either, felt a little better but eventually noticed puffy nipples so I sloppily cut AI in 1/3 and took that (~ .33 mg) with my HCG on Saturday. Puffy nips are gone today and I only feel a little foggy.
TLDR
Provider was very quick to add AI or increase test without seeing an bloodwork. Started at 220 mg per week and after 6 weeks went to 440 mg per week. With this increase, E2 issues began. I know that current bloodwork is necessary for you guys to help with E2 and I am demanding to see the endocrinologist this week, but my question is what do I do in the meantime? Also, there has been so much tinkering in the past few weeks will the bloodwork be meaningful? Should I decrease dose and then get bloodwork?
My thinking is to decrease my T back to 110 mg E3.5D and maybe just do .25 mg AI. Also thinking of switching to 300 iu HCG E3.5D?
Sorry for the long post, but for the guys that like the deep dive I hope this is helpful. I did my best to not make newbie errors (except writing a novel), so my apologies for whatever I messed up on!