After many years of lurking on here and personal deliberation I decided to start my first cycle, cycle was started in Jan of this year. I am 31 y/o and have been training since my high school football days. I decided on a test only cycle as all my research seemed to show this was the recommended beginner cycle . Cycle was as follows:
Weeks 1-12 500mg Test E (pin Mon/Thurs)
3 week break
PCT: Nolvadex 40mg/40mg/20mg/20mg
Anastrozole was on hand but was not needed as I did not experience any side effects while on cycle.
Strength and mass gains were great, had labs done before, during and after my cycle.
The only issue is that according to my latest labs I am still shut down
TESTOSTERONE,FREE 1.19 ng/dL
TESTOSTERONE,TOTAL 286.2 ng/dL
LUTEINIZING HORMONE (LH) 0.0 mIU/mL
FOLLICLE STIMULATING HORMONE 0.1 mIU/mL
I am concerned that I received some low grade or even fake Nolva, in your opinion what should my course of action be? Any and all criticism would be greatly appreciated.
What were your numbers pre-cycle?
And when was this last test taken, at the end of the 4th week of pct, or later?
Total testosterone was 448 ng/dL, cant remember LH or FSH, I will have to ask my PCP for those lab results but I am thinking they were normal since my total testosterone was normal.
The last labs were taken around 2 weeks ago, my original appointment was cancelled and since I get my treatment at the VA its usually a little bit of a wait after a cancellation.
so pre cycle, your total t was about 450. Now it’s about 290. You’re very clearly not shut down. There’s actually nothing surprising about your total t numbers. This happens to a lot of people who run a cycle. Your HTPA clearly restarted. If it had not, your number would be 0.
What happened is that you have not yet made a full recovery. And you may eventually, you may not. Welcome to the world of steroids.
Thanks for the input, I guess I saw the goose eggs for FHS and LH and that kind of concerned me, I was feeling like garbage but it turned out that my Vitamin D was real low.