So my curiosity got the best of me and I started doing daily injections (normal weekly total divided by 7). I was previously doing twice a week.
The questions I have pertain to conflicting information I’ve seen posted here about daily injections. In this thread I’m hoping to get some definitive answers.
Overall, I’m assuming aromatization will be less because of the elimination of peaks and troughs. However, what I’m wondering is:
Will my SHBG go up or down?
Will my free T go up or down?
Will my E2 go up or down?
Will my DHT go up or down?
Will my hematocrit go up or down?
For all of those questions I’ve read polar opposite answers. But putting exceptions aside, I’d like to know the real answers and the reasons behind them. Thank you!
E2 likely won’t go down but seems to be less of an issue because levels aren’t fluctuating as often. For me at least. My hematocrit went down a little. The T levels likely won’t be as high as someone’s peak doing the same amount once a week or as low as their trough. The point is to have a same steady amount. Works best for me but everyone is different.
Not sure about SHBG as I only tested after which was 39.9.
If anything SHBG will increase because excess androgens lowers SHBG and is the protocol for men with very high SHBG. If you ever see a guy that has abused steroids, sometimes SHBG levels are very low because they have been suppressed/crushed for so long.
Your Free T will go up and stay up with almost no decrease all the way until levels are stable. I never felt these fluctuations on a daily protocol. I was injecting every 24 hours and I peak every 36-48 hours.
Something else to consider, I used less T (100mg v.s 49mg) to achieve similar levels.
E2 will go down because there is less T to aromatize in a given 24 hour period, let’s say you aromatize 10% of T to E2, now you decrease the dosage by more than 50% per injection, you will aromatize an even smaller percentage of that T as it becomes released from the ester.
Generally it will, unless you one of those rare type that just goes crazy in producing thicker blood, these guys are unicorns. When I was doing 50mg twice weekly (Total T 496 ng/dL) HCT was 50%, 7mg daily produced 417 ng/dL and 46% HCT.
We are talking about a miniscule 79 ng/dL difference, my estrogen was also lower and estrogen influences HCT because without T you don’t convert to E2. There is something else to consider, I used less T (100mg v.s 49mg) to achieve similar levels, so a 50% dosage reduction and only a difference of 79 ng/dL!
Don’t forget about when you are in excess of T, you may also be in excess of E2 which can account for a portion of an HCT increase. Also dosing isn’t linear, the comes a point when levels shoot up high once you reach a tipping point.
So can you attribute your lower E2 and hematocrit to daily injections, or the fact that you’re taking less T per week with daily injections?
Also I’m confused about something…how can I expect free T to go up if SHBG goes up?
Currently I am on the same total dose per week as before, at least until next labs, or unless I get to a point where I can “feel” the need to decrease.
Because currently (just before going to daily), all my levels and labs (including lipids etc) are perfect. It was kinda dumb to experiment now and try to fix something that ain’t broke, but hey, like I said, curiosity…
When I was injecting 50mg twice weekly, I’m compensating for the decline that occurs between injections, now that I’m not over compensating I need less T to get the desired levels.
If you inject a large weekly dosage and normally peak at 1000 ng/dL, well what if you only need 650 ng/dL to be optimal, all that extra T is going to increase HCT and estrogen and now you are in excess and libido is taking a hit and you don’t feel your best.
I’ve seen high SHBG men try daily and it works for some, but others find better results on moderate doses EOD because they need that little bit of excess to suppress SHBG and still keep estrogen a bay.
That surge in hormones at peak suppresses SHBG if that’s what you are trying to do. This is why I almost never recommend twice weekly dosing for low SHBG men, they SHBG to increase, more the better.
If it isn’t broke, leave it along until it is broke.
Daily injection would change your Free T. It wold be very steady, twice a week still gives two spiked (albeit small). Top of the spike post injection would be a ton of free T and increased opportunity for aromatisation, followed by diminishing levels up until just after the next shot. So, while your average T level might be exactly the same or slightly higher, your E2 should theoretically be a little lower overall. Enough to matter? Depends on the individual. Higher androgen levels lead to lower SHBG, unless something else is impacting the SHBG substantially.
You’ll notice that the most vociferous anti-ai guys (the one’s that just try and shout any contrary opinion down instead of discussing it) also advocate daily only, and really like daily cream. It’s not an accident. And daily is not a bad way to control things without additional drugs - even if you don’t want to admit that’s why it’s being done.
Yeah that’s another point…between the 3 of you. It seems 2 of you kept the same dose, and systemlord lowered his. Now, when I punched my numbers into the steroid calculator, it showed that my divided daily dose would perfectly match the middle of the peak/trough of twice weekly.
In other words, if on twice weekly, my peak was 21mg and my trough was 14mg, then on daily I would basically be steady at 17.5mg. Dead center of my old protocol’s peak and trough. But who knows how accurate those calculators are in practical reality.
These were my results last month at 170mg/week, every 3.5 days…
What I’ll do in the future is post my next labs with this daily protocol for comparison. Unlike lucky dextermorgan, my libido wanes once I get into the 30’s with my E2. At 23 where it is on these labs, I want to bang everything with a hole (and without). I’ve been doing daily for 12 days now and I’m sure my E2 has crept up because currently I could care less about sex. Been that way for about 5 days now. But I’ll stay the course and see what happens.
Yeah, I lowered my AI by 30% when I switched to daily in anticipation of needing less. However, I think my E2 has already crept up. I’m going to wait a few weeks before tweaking anything though.
Sorry to anyone who was waiting, but I abandoned daily injections after 20 days in. I felt no advantages and did experience disadvantages (acne, loss of libido), and yes I know 20 days was not enough time to reach a steady state, but the other thing that was getting to me was the tedious routine. One of the things I LOVE about TRT aside from it being effective, is that it’s so low maintenance.
And daily started becoming a chore. It also limits things like camping or just staying over at someone’s house for a night or so, traveling, etc.
The final factor was that my labs were great right before going daily. I just wanted to get back to my old great numbers and simpler routine. Another thing I thought about was some injection math…the possibility of an infection or something else going wrong is multiplied by 350% when doing daily as opposed to bi-weekly.
