Surgery seems hasty at this point sir. You have barely just started therapy and there are a lot of changes and balancing your body is going through. Also to note one of the sides of anastazole is “breast swelling/tenderness/pain” and you just barely dropped that drug from your regimen.
I appreciate the words of caution. I was thinking about surgery summer before last though. I want to get down to around 204 and see how I look. I’m at 212 now. I was 220 just last summer. I do agree though it would probably be wise to completely stabilize on a protocol and maintain a good body weight for a little bit before getting surgery. I think the leaner and fitter you are when you do something like that the better result you’re going to get if you do end up doing it. Believe me I’m not crazy about parting with 5K and I’m not crazy about surgery.
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Question for you, or anyone really. I just did labs. I’m waiting for my numbers to come back and I guess will need to do a 90 day and then I’m not sure. 6 months? Since I adjusted my protocol to 100mg a week, no AI what would you recommend I do to get my numbers checked again? How soon, what tests? I want to know where my E2 is with no AI and the lower level. Should I just order the E2 test? Do they care at Defy if you go a la carte like that?
It is always best to shop around for mini blood tests. You will be surprised at the on sales you find. I just got an email from discounted today with a huge sale depending on what you buy up to 80 bucks off and free E2 sens. Last year you could get TT/FT limited range 0->1500 on sale for 30 bucks.
If you are using T cyp or T E you need to wait 40 days for the T to reach steady state in your blood. Do it sooner and both TT/FT and E2 will still be climbing. Keeping that in mind you can do quick peaks early and if you have already over shot your goal well hell there is no reason to continue that protocol. Get my meaning?
Ya I have already decided to do a simple test to check the basics every 4-6 weeks until I hit the 3-4 month mark. My doc then wants one every 3-4 months.
Gives me Peace of mind and those discounted lab places make it afffordable. I think I spent 65$ on T, Free T and e2 sensitive.
I already learned my lesson. Thought I had high e2 and got my labs done. Come to find my e2 was normal. So symptoms with labs are better than symptoms alone.
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Is it linear like that though? Or does aromatizing happen immediately while T takes a while to climb? I just don’t know.
you just came off of the AI and just lowered your level…Id wait at least 90 days. Whats the harm in waiting?
From what? What is going to go so far off the chain that quick that you need to hit the lab so often? Even if you are altering protocols every 6 weeks you are still looking at months to stabilize. A snapshot in the middle just seems like a waste of money even if you are getting discounts.
Reaching steady state is pretty linear.
Testosterone Cyp (Half life 8 days) - Steady state in 40 days
Medication in your system doubles when it reaches it’s steady state (5 half lives of that specific medication). So if you took 100mg of test cyp/ week, the milligrams in your body would constantly be increasing until roughly 40 days go by.
That means at 40 days, you will have 200mg in your system, not 100mg anymore. So if you don’t feel anything that great even after a few weeks on a specific dosage of testosterone, just be patient. Your total testosterone should constantly be increasing from day one until day 40.
So with test cyp, only make dosage changes after 40 days of being on that specific dosage and frequency. This is why people always say it takes testosterone sometimes 3-6 weeks to “kick in”.
It has to do with your receptors getting acclimated to these new testosterone levels, but it also has to do with the fact that maybe that 100mg in your system when you started didn’t really make you feel that great or raise your testosterone levels high enough, but after 40 days (5 weeks), you now have 200mg in your system and your total testosterone should now be doubled from when you first started, and this amount of milligrams in your system might be just what you needed to feel good and get your numbers where they should be.
I do not believe ones E2 moves linearly overtime to many moving parts. That old every responds differently thing kicks in.
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So many guys end up crashing their E2 because they just don’t understand how half lives work with meds. This is also why AI’s get a bad name when in fact they are a powerful tool if used correctly.
Mini blood tests along the way can help you from crashing your E2 or over shooting your TT.
NOTE these values in the example below were choosen to make the math easier they are not a dose recommendation.
This is how half lives work. For example, lets say you take 1mg of Arimidex EOD. The half life of Arimidex is 2 days. So in 2 days when you take another dose, you still have 50% of the the previous dose in your system.
So if you took 1mg Monday, then took 1mg Wednesday, you have 1mg from Wednesday’s dose, plus 0.5mg from Monday’s dose. So 1.5mg total in your system. Then you take another 1mg Friday. You now have 1mg from Friday’s dose, 0.5mg from Wednesday, and 0.25mg from Monday’s dose. So on Friday you have 1.75mg in your system.
Then on Sunday you will have 1mg from Sunday’s dose, 0.5mg from Friday, 0.25mg from Wednesday and 0.125mg from Monday’s dose.
So 1.875mg in your system on Sunday. So on Tuesday you will have 1mg from Tuesday, 0.5mg from Sunday, 0.25mg from Friday, 0.125mg from Wednesday, and 0.0625mg from Monday. So in total on Tuesday you will have 1.9375mg in your system.
So do this math one more time for Thursday’s dose. Which will equal 1.96875mg, basically 2mg in your system on the 10th day. On the 10th day you have now reached a “steady state” of this medication. This means from the 10th day on if you keep taking 1mg of Arimidex EOD, you will always have roughly 2mg in your system at all times. The amount of milligrams in your system does not continue going up from this point.
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That seems a bit excessive, it makes it look like your doctor is overreacting.
Defy wanted my blood tested every 6 weeks for my first 5 months.
3-4 months sounds pretty normal when starting or tuning up ones protocol.
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Nice break down. Thank you @hrdlvn. This is still an “all things being equal” situation though. This does not take into account a gradual drop in fat mass of an individual and how that affects aromatase enzymes. Along with other things that may wreak havoc on estrogen.
I got my tests back and will post soon.
I’m concerned because my creatinine went up and it was already high/over the threshold by .01. My egfr went down and is now low.
So I’m concerned about my kidneys.
My fasting blood glucose was also high 104.
I feel like I’m in a metabolic rut. Even on T and doing reasonable intermittent fasting and exercising. I’ll post soon.
T levels are borderline high too so that was surely achieved.
I agree. The old we all respond a bit different is in play. Some of us metabolize the T very fast and some don’t.
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yeah I dont know if I metabolize it fast per se but I metabolize it well. lower doses push me high.
Shit dude I don’t know I jsut don’t like not knowing. At first I thought it wasn’t even building up in my system and I might need to increase dosage. Then I thought my e2 was probably crazy high. I got a test done and I felt better. I am still having rediculously sensitive nipples and feeling a tiny bit better but not much.
Numbers below.
The good.
Total T high
Free T high
The bad
Creatanine high. I was directly at top of reference range two months ago and had been there since at least 2004.
eGFR low. That’s new. Never seen that. I wonder if fasting is doing this or being dehydrated?
Glucose high. Even with intermittent fasting and having eaten pretty clean for a couple months this still is happening. My weight is still stuck at 215 too.
LDL cholesterol high. Not crazy high but not good. More consistent use of fish oil in order.
E2 high at 40.5. Not sure what to make of this. It was taking .25 mg of anastrozole a week in 2 doses.
Please let me know what you guys think. I’m a bit demoralized. Thinking a week off an AI my estrogen probably even higher and thus the weepiness. Feel like my tits are swelling up again and am having a gut flare too which sucks.
If you know you have high creatinine issues it is good to stay away from the gym or any strenuous work for 48 hours.
How do you lower creatinine levels?
Talk to your doctor about ways to help lower your creatinine levels, including these eight natural options:
Cut back on vigorous exercise.
Don’t take supplements containing creatine.
Reduce your protein intake.
Eat more fiber.
Talk to your doctor about how much fluid you should drink.
Try chitosan supplements.
Take WH30+
Sorry I’m wrong . I asked and they said every 6 months after my initial 6 weeks blood work … I got the 3-4 stuck in my head for skme reason. Too much reading on this topic probably.