I’m 45, had symptoms of low T. I went to a local clinic and got tested, my T came back at 253. The doctor started me on 200mg T cyp a week. The first 4 weeks i felt amazing, sex drive went through the roof, energy went up was feeling great. I dont honestly ever remember feeling that good or having such a high sex drive. Got my first blood draw at 4 weeks, T was now almost 800. Now im about 9 weeks in and feel like shit, NO sex drive, almost cant get an erection. Whats going on? Im calling the clinic today to discuss with them, but am reaching out here for ideas.
TRT starting protocol…75 to 100 mg/week. Reassess with blood work in 12 weeks.
Less may be more…
Especially when starting TRT.
Blood work relative to injection? Peak/trough?
Protocol? E7D, ED?
200 mg/week is not TRT for most. Way overboard to start that high if your intent is replacement.
See threads on here to understand why this is.
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You got adapted to the test. The point of TRT is to have your levels normal for your age. At 45, unless you worked for that all your life, your hormones shouldnt be like you described your first 4 weeks on TRT.
Most 45 year old men, who are not athletes with healthy lifestyle for 20 years, feel more like you described now, not like you did in the first 4 weeks, so id say - you are where you are supposed to be?
As far as sex drive and erection goes - what happens when you look at the hottest porn you can find? Still no interest and nothing?
OMG what great responses huh? FOH. Anyway. Things you could try… pin more frequently to make sure you stay more stable. Get your estrogen checked and your estrogen/test ratio. I actually feel best when both test AND estrogen are high. For example, if your test is coming back high end of normal then your want estrogen to also be high end of normal. If none of that is helpful… go up on your test. Who are these fuckers to say that everyone should do what they did or that’s too high? Well guess what, here we are and you need a little bit more. So what? Ohhh maybe you are supposed to feel like shit… ha gtfoh! So helpful.
Brilliant.
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Post #191983283 about starting TRT and libido and erections gone.
Good look op. Seems like most have this issue.
I wish there was some sorta feedback as to how many going on TRT this happens to.
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When you started TRT you were taking exogenous testosterone and your body was still producing it naturally. Some call this the “honeymoon phase” because your sex drive is through the roof. When your testicles finally shut down after a month or so many men start to experience low libido and ED. It’s complicated, but your dose may be way too high. You went from low androgens to Superman levels overnight and your body needs time to adapt. You need a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks on the same dose for your body to acclimate. I experienced the same thing when I hit 3 months, lowering my dose from 100mg of test c to 80 totally fixed me. You might need to experiment with doses to eventually find your sweet spot. Do not take an AI if you can avoid it, higher doses of TRT aren’t always better.
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You started out too high a dosage, 200 mg per week on average puts men well above the normal range the majority of the time and for some this can cause side effects.
Also, the first couple of weeks you experienced what’s known as the honeymoon period, testosterone affects dopamine and now your testosterone shoots high after being low for a time and the dopamine surges and then the body finds normality.
TRT doesn’t give you instant results, it takes time for the hormones to force changes in tissue. How fast this happens depends on your Gene CAG repeats, some men have a very heavy door, the androgen receptor, needing more androgens to open that door and to force gene transcription.
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What is an Al?
An aromatase inhibitor, Anastrozole, Arimidex and Aromasin are the most common that inhibit estrogen from being made.
Also, other things i noticed, my balls shriveled up to almost nothing at like week 2 and i got acne real bad on my back. Now ive read those are all what would be considered normal, but now my balls are back to normal and the acne is mostly clearded up. Is this just my body adjusting, or did i get a bad batch of test? The way my mind works is that i got a bad batch of test.
Why would i not want to take one of these? I remember the doctor telling me at my first appointment that i may need to take something prevents the conversation of test to estrogen, or slows it down or something like that.
I’d post the rest of it. E2, TT, FT, Prolactin, etc… Post what you have with reference ranges. Include when you got the blood draw, your injection frequency, and when the draw was in relation to the injection.
Most likely the former.
Because you may not need it. What does the blood work say? Would it be better to adjust T dose, or use an AI?
Ill have to look into all these numbers, i didnt look at the results i just got a phone call from the nurse. I do know that i got bloodwork done on a Thursday morning and i always inject on Thursday night, so the blood work was done at the very end of my injection week.
The doctors that script bad protocols, sure, you’re going to need drugs to compensate for a lousy protocol. I’ll bet a million dollars every poor lad that walks into this clinic gets the same protocol and when problems begin, drugs are used to counter the side effects.
Aromatase inhibitors have side effects also, like lowering bone density, messing up your lipids, causing osteopenia and even osteoporosis if the dosage is irresponsible.
There’s no way to truly know how one will respond to AI’s and often times dosages are too high. A 1 mg dosage of Arimidex on average is too much.
Here’s a thought, if you want to lower your conversion rate of testosterone to estrogen, try lowering your dosage.
A good plan with any TRT regimen is daily Cialis, which changes T:E2 ratios long term (9 months) and has many health benefits beyond its intended purpose, that doesn’t involve messing with your other bio markers.
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Just read the study done by NIH on long term cialis use having effects on T:E ratios. Very interesting. Along with this i believe cialis helps reduce BP, which mine was a little high. I wonder if TRT clinics can prescribe cialis?
Lower dose to 100mg. Experiment adding pregenenolone 10mg a day.
I’m on beta blocker which puts my blood pressure at 135/75, adding 5 mg daily Cialis dropped it to 100/57!
Your mileage may vary.
What about the rest?
So a little follow-up, i called the clinic today. They suggested upping the test cyp and adding a pill for the test to estrogen conversion. At the last blood work my estrogen was at 66. From what i see online thats high. Thoughts?