TRT patient here- protocol for TRT has ranged from 140mg per week to 175mg on occasion. 140mg puts me at top of reference range for total T at trough. 175mg puts me over.
I’m high SHBG and often run at 175mg for symptim resolution.
Been doing a minor blast now (about 3 weeks in), at approx 300mg (125mg e3d).
Small amount of tamoxifen used ad hoc if i get itchy nips and also 1/4mg anastrazole if I can feel e2 is raising (getting bloated a bit), I just do this with trt and it works well for me/avoids high e2 and avoids me crashing e2.
Anyway- I’m starting to feel the sporting benefit of the blast- more energy, better recovery (road cycling is my sport). Eating in a slight calorie defecit at the minute too as im looking to shed 6kg coming into the spring/summer).
How long is the general feeling a blast of 300mg is ok to run? Could I do say through spring and summer then drop back to base trt of 140mg late autumn and over the winter?
Other than heomatecrit and blood pressure what else should I do labs to keep an eye out for adverse affects?
8-12 weeks is typical.
I, however, dont really feel like i benefit a lot from steroids, so i couldnt get anything done in 12 weeks, so i have blasted for as long as 2 years straight. I do not advice it, i just say how it works for me.
There is no point to look at labs when you are blasting as shit is supposed to be fucked up while blasting.
And just knowing that its bad, does not make you healthy unless you are willing to stop the blast when you see shit being bad.
Typical labs are blood panel, cholesterols, ast and alt, and some kidney values, but as i mentioned - they are supposed to look bad on a blast, so i dont know whats the point of just seeing - how much.
My cholesterol goes to shit as soon as i start, so i dont really follow it.
What is better than doing bloodwork is actually looking at the organs after a blast.
Would I be right in assuming your blasts are a lot more than 300mg?
I guess rhe whole point was if the bloods look bad yeah I’d drop back to trt levels straight away. Was hoping on a small blast like 300mg I mighr not see adverse blood effects for a bit…
Yes. I rarelly notice any difference in anything even in high dosages. I am what @RT_Nomad calls a “sink” as in i could just dump the drugs into the sink and get the same resuls, lol.
Basically i feel no different on 250mgs of test or 1g of test.
But anyways, when i decided to gain some size, i did blast for a year and a half on different compounds, i also did gain like 40lbs first, then cut down 20, and gained like 25lbs back. At the end i managed to gain around 15lbs of lean muscle. It just takes time and a boatload of drugs.
On the other hand, i dont get much sides also. I was doing lots of stupid blasts for years but i recently did a lot of health checkups, i did heart, all internal organs etc, and nothing is damaged at all.
If you ar ready to do that then its a plan. But take notice that bloods WONT look good when you blast. The shit that goes bad is supposed to, and its kind of a way of knowing that it works.
Its like blood panels - people blast test, then panic about RBC and Hematocrit, but test is supposed to raise those, so its kind of weird to take drugs that push those up and then quit drugs because they did what they were supposed to do.
Anyways, one of the worst sides of steroids are cholesterol. You should check HDL, LDL, total and trigs.
But the higher the test the worse are those.
Also, take notice that there are health hazards of steroids that do not show up in bloodwork. Like LVH or atherosclerocsis. Some people have shit cholesterol all their lives but have no problems. Some have good cholesterol numbers but end up with atherosclerosis.
What im trying to say is - dont be TOO afraid of sides, and also - dont think that bloodwork shows much.
Just blast and then do organ scanning if you want to be safe.
That’s like asking if a little cocain is ok and for how long? Let’s be real it’s not “ok”. High hormones are a stressor to your body. That being said is it really “that bad”? Probably not as long as you keep it reasonable and infrequent. @hankthetank89 gave a duration I would agree with.
Labs are just labs. You mentioned a couple good markers to watch in addition track your lipids and liver enzymes. At the end of the day I am more concerned with cardiac implications which can’t necessarily be seen by labs.
Make sure you get those echocardiograms and look out for heart remodeling and beta-adrenergic receptor sensitization. I know you are a cyclist so you value your heart muscle!
