I suppose the reality is if you think it will help, then, given your circumstances, despite the risks it might be worth a trial at replacement doses, do a 3-6 month trial (ensuring you buy enough up front including meds to do a restart should you not get enough benefits to continue).
Risks to consider:
No Dr supervision if things go wrong (can you get private labs in Germany?).
A restart might not work if it didn’t bring you any benefits, it might just make things worse.
Legality and potential to screw with the rest of your life/career (if trt is frowned upon presumably a criminal record for illegal steroids is a big deal?).
If it works and you might end up reliant upon illegal sources for the rest of your days - which also means that you might get stitched up by dosing issues which can cause fluctuations which some people are very sensitive to (I’m still of the opinion in most people’s cases this is in their head, but there are some geniunely sensitive people).
Health risks - properly dosed and supervised TRT is lower risk but not no risk, black market is riskier because of the unknown element.
Not a light decision and I don’t envy your situation as in your shoes I’d be desperate to try it. Ever thought of moving country?
With TRT it’d be so helpful if knowledgeable doctors were able to prescribe across borders. Now after Brexit it’d be hard to argue for making that a EU thing.
@alex_uk thanks for that write up. A very accurate and thoughtful analysis of my current presicament.
See, I never read up on how to actually do this shit. I have a friend who uses steroids and knows lot about the topic. He has s a guy (pharmacist or physician, not sure) who advises him from outside of Germany. He isn’t too keen on me going down this route either because he wants the doctors to help me but he wouldn’t let me hanging if it comes to this.
I am not sure about this one. It is absolutely illegal but I assume not on the level that you have to disclose it to potential employers. Like you don’t go to jail if you just have it for self use.
That’s a good thought that I actually didn’t pay much attention to.
Not really. Not in the near future anyway. But yeah it would be easier in the UK for sure. Regarding the black market thing btw. - it is my understanding that my friend in question actually gets it from the UK. You have much less strict laws in that regard.
It is kindaaaa what my friend does but it wouldn’t work for actually getting the drugs necessary. You can pay someone (handsomely if that someone is legit) and he advises you based on your blood work. But that someone wouldn’t be able to prescribe you anything that you could then get in a German pharmacy.
@Voxel very true… but a model like that would probably only be available for wealthy people. In general I assume my position would be less complicated if I was able to pay myself or have private insurance (opposed to the public healthcare).
3 hours of tennis. Lost one single, won one single and lost a double.
I realize I am playing too much and too intense tennis atm while I am in peak week. I don’t know if it has a huge impact but I’m not hardcore enough to seriously concern myself with it anyway. It is fun, it’s some cardio and sprinting and it takes my mind off… well my mind, I guess.
Well at least I’m top of the class in something, I guess.
Nah I don’t think it’s a huge factor tbh. Plus I’m the one to blame if I make it harder on myself, so I’m fine with it. If anything the internship work and my lack of sleep because I can’t or won’t fall asleep fast enough makes it harder than ‘the default’.
Sorry they are being shits about your issues. I think it is a common thing in northern European countries in particular, excluding UK where you can buy all the drugs down at the corner store.
TRT is tough because doping. Hypogonadal men, people with FSH/LSH problems and people wanting to change their gender all have to pay a price because SpOrTs
I wish! TRT still costs me way more than I am happy with, although you can buy “pro hormones” which aren’t even pro hormones just oral steroids, legally, so if you want to screw up your liver and lipids we’re ok with that!
Yeah, pretty much. The point being that, while those issues exist all over the world, northern european doctors are in particular nearly impossible to deal with in this respect. Some of it may just be due to socialized medicine, the money just isn’t there for them.
And probably true in part, but I also feel that particularly in the NHS the focus is mostly around life saving/emergency medical csre (laudable but short sighted) with virtually no focus on the preventative.
Yes indeed and I am incredibly grateful of and proud of socialised medicine - but a balance on preventative medicine would in the long run save a massive amount of money and lives, instead our services are as stretched as the waist bands on the obese, diabetic, hypertensive, population.
