Hello everyone. I’ve been reading the forums for a while but haven’t actually seen anything specific to this so figured it was time for me to post. Forgive me if it’s already been addressed but I haven’t found it yet.
Anyway, I started TRT 4 months ago as I was generally fatigued and scatter brained. T was in the low 200’s then. My doctor put me on the following regimen:
1CC Test Cyp 1x weekly
.5MG Anastrazole the following day after Test
.5CC HCG per day 2 days preceding Test
So far I’ve seen my overall mood improve as well as some improved gains at the gym. Overall I feel better with one exception, my libido.
Maybe it’s because I never had a problem with low libido before but now it seems as if most of the time with sex I can take it or leave it and when I do have sex with my wife it’s just not nearly as physically pleasurable as it used to be. I can still get into it, it’s just not the same.
In addition I’ve had the oily skin issues crop up and associated acne. I’ve talked to my doctor about it and his only response was to just lower the T and keep everything else the same. Not sure if I want to do that as I do like the other changes. Just curious about anyone else’s experience because I though if anything changed about my libido on T it would increase not decrease.
Have you run any blood work? Total test, free test, SHBG and Estradiol (using a sensitive assay) would be helpful. You could have a higher estradiol as a result of trt that could be affecting sex.
Post pre-trt blood work as well.
How much test are you taking per week? 1cc makes me think 200mg, which is a pretty large dose, which is probably causing too high of an estradiol spike.
1CC doesn’t really tell us how much T you’re injecting as that’s only the volume, describe in mgs. It should state mgs on your vial, if 200mg than 1cc would be 200mg.
Your TRT protocol may just be wrong for you, injecting T once a week has problems, your levels peak within 48 hours and then your levels start dropping and by the end of the week levels are much lower. This may be why your libido is missing, I didn’t get a libido until I moved my injections from 50mg twice weekly to smaller 20mg injections EOD do to my lower SHBG.
SHBG will determine injection frequencies, you may just need to inject smaller doses 2-3 times per week to keep levels more stable. You will feel better and libido should come online. I didn’t even get erections until I started injecting EOD.
Usually it’s best to take the AI with the injections, your try to block estrogen conversion and you are already on your way to peak within the first 24 hours and the time to block estrogen is almost lost. Another thing, taking the AI once weekly is not ideal because the half life of the AI is 2 days, so by the end of the week it’s cleared out of your system. You need to take the AI twice weekly, split it up into two doses.
I don’t understand why doctors continue to ignore the half life of the medicine their prescribing.
It appears it’s 200MG as that’s the bottle so my 1ML = 200MG once per week with .5MG Anastazole the next day following T and 2 consecutive days of HCG preceding.
My pre-T labs were as follows:
T Serum - 242
Estradiol - 17.8
Bizarre that your E2 went down AFTER trt started. After weekly shots of 200mg it should rise quite a bit.
It being kind of low may be due to the effect the anastrazole is having on you. I’d drop it (or reduce it to .25 weekly with shot) and see if you can get your e2 up a bit.
You didn’t get shbg tested, did you? That’s a pretty major player in things regarding trt.
I know when mine is lower, I feel better mentally and physically at the gym, but I have no libido.
I am still trying to tinker with my e2 level. But most would say yours is too low.
Drop the anastrazole and see how you feel in a bit. Maybe then consider splitting the dose into 100mg twice a week (or lower, like 75mg twice a week). That 200mg is rather high.
Tip: don’t tell your doctor you’re reducing your dose. You don’t want to be cut off of a good supply in case you want to go back up. 200mg/week is a GENEROUS helping.
Best to address high E2 by lowering your dose, or using natural methods. Anastrazole will cause you nothing but problems. (you don’t even know if you need one because you started right off the bat using one) Although 200 a week is kinda high, you might need to lower dose, or try some natural methods, if it does end up aromatizing at a high rate.
Lowering E2 absolutely negates TRT.
I spent over a year chasing the lower e2 numbers. Kept myself in the 16-17 range, like you. and I ended up with knee issues that have lasted over a year and a half. Not worth it man.
Wow, running I started getting fluid on my knee after starting this. Chalked it up to being an old man (42) and not in my 20’s anymore. Perhaps there’s something there.
I’m going to start by taking everyone’s advice and drop the anastrazole for a few weeks and see what happens. I’m also going to cut my T in half at the same time. Give it a month and see if things get better.
100mg a week (split up into 2 shots), No AI, is a great starting point.
I would bet money you knee issue has EVERYTHING to do with anastrazole.
E2 plays a major role in your joints… As well as your eyes, brain and a lot of other tissues.
DO NOT IGNORE THIS, consider yourself lucky you caught this early.
No bullshit, I squatted 85 pounds yesterday and it was a BREAKTHROUGH for me. I haven’t been able to run, squat, or jump for over a year now, because of lowering E2.
My knees are JUST starting to come back to normal, I hope.
I would drop AI and have blood test for SHBG, FT, TT, and e2.
Wait 4-6 weeks for testing.
At that point, you can see if you feel any different. Also, at that point, if your e2 has gone too HIGH. THEN you can alter dosing protocol to twice a week to naturally lower it…
Man, joints. Yeah, my knee developed fluid which is going away since I way cut back on running and I stretched out my shoulder, too. I’ve never been one to have injuries but considering they’re both joint related and only had them after starting TRT it makes me wonder. Going to discuss all of this with my doc who I think would be pretty open about it.
