Hey all. Newbie here so please be gentile. 32 yrs old.
Started Jan 29 and was prescribed Delatsryl 200MG/ML. .5ml intramuscular once a week and Pregnyl HCG 10000iu- .4ml, 3 times per week. HCG is precautionary as I had no issues having our first child but we do eventually want another one down the road and doctor said HCG was good to be on in combo with TRT. First week I started feeling fantastic off the bat, and have gone through a bit of a roller coaster last couple weeks as far as everything. Mood sex drive fatigue extra energy. I know my body and hormones all have to balance out and it takes time but when did you all start to level out. Side note, last couple weeks been noticing weight gain - which I’m guessing is water retention, quite a bit. Second side note, I also have anxiety and I am on Paxil which I am trying to cut down now with the TRT but not changing anything just yet.
Basically just need some positive OR negative feedback with different experiences etc. I work out 3-4 times per week.
Blood levels before starting
Were all in normal range.
Testosterone was 15.9 which I know is measured in a hundred dif ways, but the specific specialist I’m seeing said this was in the LOW range.
Have blood work to check upcoming beginning of March to make sure levels are all right. I also know it’s a bit of trial and error at the beginning!
100mg/week is likely too low of a dose. It will shut down your natural production, and might not be enough to replace it. The minimum starting dose that I would recommend is 120mg/week.
1 shot per week will likely not be ideal, especially with test-e, you will have high blood levels at the beginning of the week, and low levels at the end. I would look into splitting your dose and inject twice a week to start. You may need to inject even more frequently than that depending on how things go.
HCG is good for fertility, but not necessary if you aren’t actively trying to have a child. It makes a lot of guys feel worse. I would recommend dropping it, then add it on to your restart protocol when you are actively trying to get a woman pregnant.
thanks for the reply brother. At the moment we are not actively trying but probably in the next year or so for our second and this was told to me by the doctor to be precautionary as it will keep sperm count at bay… not to start it when trying as it may take time to build back up. I guess I’ll wait to see first lab after the month mark to see levels as well as they will check but your right feel good at beginning of week and it feels like it tapers off near end as I inject Saturday morning and by Thursday not feeling same effects.
Why are you taking zinc and probiotics? There are some reasons to take zinc, but probably won’t do anything if you have sufficient levels. It’s typically used as a mega dose for some skin conditions, or as a supplement if serum levels show a chronic deficiency. Probiotics are a waste of money.
A good multi vitamin will suffice, but not required if your nutrition is on point.
Up your vitamin d3 to 5000-7500iu / day and check again in 6 weeks. Some people (like me) need 10000iu per day to gave levels within range. A lot depends on the latitude you live at, how much you can absorb from an oral supplement, and how much you go outside with skin showing.
Next time be sure to measure SHBG as well as Total Testosterone. You can not diagnose hypogonadism with total T only, you need to know your free T levels which are calculated from Total T and SHBG.
Every time you change the T dosage levels will be unstable for 6 weeks and may take longer for your body to register these changes. I feel the full benefits of said protocol at 8 weeks, but your mileage may vary which greatly depend on sensitivity to androgens.
HCG can cause anxiety and may be a trade off, HCG increases estrogen inside the testclies which is stacked on top of estrogen from TRT via aromatisation. So you are getting estrogen from two different sources.
You T dosage is modest, please note large infrequent injections has a tendency to spike estrogen high in some men, injecting smaller doses more frequently can greatly decrease estrogen and change your T/E2 ratios.
The same applies to HCG, smaller more frequent dosing goes a long way towards lowering estrogen.
I’ve Also heard about huge benefits from the HCG as well in combo with the T. Can anyone else contest to this.
I don’t want to mess with dosing just yet as I am just at the 4 week mark this Saturday.
I agree with this premise. My initial mistakes with TRT were 1) Not enough time to sync and 2) Not enough of a dosage. I kept trying 100mg for like 5 weeks or so, then would quit and add new shit like an AI because I thought E2 was the problem (it wasn’t) or HCG (it helped a little but that’s because it increased my T). Over and over I would try 100mg but with different variations and always felt like shit. Even after 8 weeks on 15mg dailies I felt shitty. I then boosted my dailies from 15mg (105mg weekly) to 22mg (154mg weekly) and so far I’m at week 6 and it’s a night and day difference after week 3/4. Every week I’ve felt better than the week before.
Had I just known to give myself more time on a protocol and that I needed more testosterone (free T), I would have saved myself a whole year of suffering. That said, I’ve heard of very few people who are optimal at 100mg, most need closer to 150mg to feel good. And a lot of people are optimal at 200mg. Ultimately it depends on the person, but you’re best off playing the probabilities game when determining your initial dose.
Thanks for advice brother. Once I get labs back I will ask doctor to increase as I am guessing this is the issue to as I felt great first week then it tapered off like I mentioned.
Yeah that always happens to me. First few days to a week are great, then the next few weeks are Hell. Then, I may feel a lot better all of a sudden and that just keeps happening everyday. For me better on 22mg was after about a month, for others that might be after a whole 8 weeks.
Part of the feeling great for the first week is you were putting exogenous test in, combined with your natural production. A lot call this the honeymoon phase. After you body recognizes it is getting test from elsewhere it shuts down its own production creating the slump you felt. As the half lives build and get to a stable level you should start feeling better. That is if you have enough of a dosage, but as everyone else said your dosage very well may not be enough.
@pasquale13
Quite a few people (including myself) have used zinc and found it made them feel like crap. Some folks have even crashed their estrogen on it. It may make more sense to do T only and get that where you want it and then reintroduce zinc so you can tell how each variable is making you feel. It would sure suck to find out zinc has effecting you negatively and it took you a year to figure it out.
As @marcus007 stated time and patience are very important. It takes me about 8 weeks for my body to normalize any change I make. So that 8 weeks sucks but after 8 weeks it starts getting better. Don’t make any decisions based off those first 8 weeks as they are totally irrelevant
Makes total sense. Thx brother. Already cut out the zinc. It was recommended along with a bunch of the other supplements. Think I’m just going to stick with my vitamin d and fish oil for now!!
