Starting TRT: 200mg/ml @ 1ml/wk

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
1

Hell all.

As the title states, I’m starting TRT and my doctor has prescribed 200 of mg of test cyp. / wk. I’m actually going to the clinic tomorrow so that they can show me how to self-administer. Good times ahead (I hope)!

I’m not a gymhead these days, but have some leftover muscle from when I used to be. I’m 6’2" 228 lbs., and have slowly and steadily been losing weight as I focus on portion control. I’m out of shape, to be sure, but thankfully some of the mass I gained in my early 20s has stayed on.

I noticed that I was experiencing crazy mental fog, apathy, and very low libido, so I went to speak with my doctor about it. On a related note (?), I also took ages to heal from scratches, bumps, and bruises compared to when I was in my 20s. Something that used to take 5 days to heal now took a whole month. With these things laid out, my doctor made the call to get some labwork done to determine if low test was the culprit. I’ve attached my lab results for reference. As you can see, I’m definitely someone with low t.

Nevertheless, my doc didn’t want to start with testosterone right off the bat, so he prescribed clomiphene citrate (clomid) to see if that would help any. Screenshot 3 (03/17/2021) shows that it did almost nothing for me, and in fact drove my free test down.

Baseline 1 [10/02/2020]
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Baseline 2 [10/15/2020]
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After 5 months of Clomid [03/17/2021]
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That being said, I am looking forward to seeing what TRT can do for me. I think that pairing this with a return to the gym is going to get me right where I need to be. Let me know if you have any questions, suggestions, concerns, etc. I know that 200 mg / week is on the “higher” end of TRT, but I’m glad not to waste any more days, weeks, and months with nearly non-existent T-levels and seeing my prime years wasted.

2

Yeah it does that. SERMs raise SHBG along with TT

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3

If those are the only tests run prior to starting, i would definitely get some others done prior to starting, just so you know where you were prior:

SHBG, E2, LH and FSH.

I wish i had done E2 prior to starting test.

4

Make sure that you have this under control as you start trt. It’s very common for you to get an appetite boost when you first start. Mine lasted for about two months before it normalized. Add test to more workouts (you’ll be feeling so good that you’ll go more often and a lot harder when you’re there) and you could easily find yourself eating way past your usual goals. Be mindful of that as you start and it can be controlled.

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5

On 10/12/2020:

  • SHBG of 10.9
  • TSH of 1.610
  • LH of 4.1.
6

The prescribed protocol is going to crush your SHBG and you may not feel very well. I would recommend topicals to guys with super low SHBG.

If you’re stilling wanting to try injections, your dosage is too high. I would start out out at 100mg weekly and split up the shots multiple times per week.

7

It is on the higher end, you would not find many taking more than that. However, if you surveyed a thousand guys on TRT, from various sources, you’d find more taking 200mg/week than any other dose. Given your situation, my guess is you’ll be fine with that dose, because most guys are. You can always lower it if that does not turn out to be the case.

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8

Indeed. I look forward to seeing my progress over the next few weeks and months. I’ve decided to inject M-W-F so as to try to minimize the peak-trough delta. If you guys see any reasons not to go for that, let me know!

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9

This is a good starting point and may also have a smaller impact of the suppression of SHBG compared to one massive dosage.