Is there a possibility that your absorption rate has slowed over time? I’ve heard this happens with creams fairly often, though I’m not sure if this problem applies when using the scrotum?
Good to know, brother. Thanks for sharing.
The pregnancy has been awesome! The little guy is super active, non-stop kicking, and mama is healthy. Feeling so fortunate to have a loving, growing family!
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Hmmm, maybe that’s true. My experience with cream this time around has been similar to the first time – I’ve just found it really inconvenient.
I’m stunned by those numbers, though. I thought the cream would get me to at least where I was with injections.
One other weird thing: my DHT on this test was 366 (Ref 30-85). The highest I’d ever seen before was 147. So clearly the cream is obviously having an effect! But somehow my total and free are both in the gutter, and my estradiol is the lowest I’ve ever seen.
How do you feel now versus how did you feel when injecting 200mg a week? Did you feel way better when your labs were way higher?
Honestly, I don’t feel much different at all. I felt a slight uptick in libido when I switched to cream, but I’d say overall everything has been pretty similar.
The best I’ve ever felt was summer 2019, when I was at 260 mg/week – and had a best-ever free:total ratio of around 2% – but I felt that wasn’t sustainable.
In 2020, I’ve been around 1.5%. I think clearing 2, or even hitting 3, is the ultimate goal.
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In this case I was wondering if feeling good with lower levels on the labs could be safer in the long run
Could be true. It’s so weird, though. I was sub-700 on this test. Before I started TRT, I was always above 1000. Since starting, I hadn’t been below 1600.
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I think the main point why you still feel better now with lower TT versus when you had higher TT before TRT is your SHBG being sky high before TRT?
Yeah bro, going from 168-79 is a big difference! I got it as low as 46 with Danazol, but decided not to stick with it. I’m hoping to eventually get my protocol all the way down to just T and nothing else – keep it simple.
Do you remember your SHBG back in the summer 2019 when you felt your best?
Yessir, I actually have a spreadsheet with all my labs dating back to 2017. Super helpful. My SHBG in summer 2019 was 72.
If we follow this line when your SHBG was lower you felt better, better T FT ratio, etc, now the 2 labs you posted both with identical SHBG and you feel identical despite one lab shows way higher TT and FT, SHBG is maybe more important than TT, etc
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Now that’s an interesting thought. You might be on to something. Though I will say I’ve felt my best when the free:total ratio is highest.
Interesting to see how SHBG is the key in setting the % of free T, for example someone with TT 800 and another person with the same 800, one with 79 SHBG like yours, the other with 30 SHBG which is still in range so it is still a healthy number , one guy has 1.2% the other 2.4 crazy difference with the same TT
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I saw this post about cream levels hour by hour and thought you might find it interesting, @bkb333
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Did you take it 4 hours after dose? I mean that shouldn’t hurt labs that much. I think it could be quality of cream and that’s why I always use MedQuest. It’s easy to screw up a batch of t cream and you are the fifth or sixth who came across this issue. They had symptoms of low t though and fixed the issue by getting a new script.
If levels were that high on 200 I think it’s the quality of cream. Using empower or that Florida pharmacy right?
That’s exactly what I was thinking, brother – could it be the cream?!
I’ve been using Empower. MedQuest isn’t an option through Defy, so I’m planning on going back to injections. Just frustrated with how long it’s taken me to get this thing dialed. I’m almost 2 years in.
What do you make of FT3 going from 4.5 to 2.4 and FT4 from 0.8 to 0.92? I’ve been taking 25mg T3 each morning.
Super interesting! So it looks like my level (at about 17 hours after dose) would definitely have gone down, but it still should’ve been elevated. Gotta be the quality of the cream. I don’t know how else to explain such a dramatic reduction in T level.
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Yah thats some crap. I would say its the cream at this time since the other guys all had issues with defy/empower cream. I would call empower and tell them their cream is not working like the other batches and you want them to fix it.
If your t3 is this low on thyroid meds I would first suspect you took labs at a different time after dose. T3 half life is short and this shows you probably should be taking it more often if t3 drops that much a few hours after dose. Perfect example why I always tell guys to dose it 3 times a day. I take my 2 grain tablet of armor thyroid twice a day.
And yes I would just go back to the injections, but it would be nice to take cream because it just works better and simple/short duration. Sucks to start injections and spend a long time dialing it in.