Test Microdosing article

There seems to be a variety of different opinions out there regarding Test Cyp and Test Eth dosing frequency. Some saying that because of half-life you should only need to inject once a week. Personally, that hasn’t worked for me and I felt worse at once a week when I started (one of the original protocols from an Endocrinologist). I subsequently engaged with a men’s clinic after pushing my GP for a referral, and was thankfully dialed in (2x / week) for awhile although I’m now looking to change frequency to MWF or EOD. I’m 50 and only take test cyp and nothing else.

I found this article (below link) online, I hope I’m allowed to paste it here for reference as I want to understand what / how the general community feels and / or has experience with this topic.

I don’t live in the UK (I’m Canadian) but this is where the article is from. It’s a fairly comprehensive read and needs to be read in its entirety.

Its an opinion article from a Clinic not a scientific study. They show readily available charts for the half life decay but then exacerbate the peaks and valleys along the horizontal axis by showing extremely large increments.

You don’t need to pin C/E more than 2x per week.

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So this is your second thread on this. If your “dialed in” why do you want to change?
The response here is the same as the other thread. If your taking testC going from 2x per week to 3x or EOD will make 0 difference.
After the initial 5 or so weeks your blood levels will be stable and 1-2 shots per week is fine.
As @blshaw stated, that article is opinion, not a study.
If you look hard enough you can find info supporting any theory you have.
2 posts in now and you still don;t mention why you want to change?

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do what you need to do to get the results you want. if that’s injecting daily, or every other day, or twice a week, or whatever, do it up. doesn’t matter what works for someone else or what a clinic thinks the meta should be. we’re all different that’s the beauty of this.

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I’m not sure one size fits all as some have eluded to here which is why I was seeking alternate opinions and found the article to be somewhat useful. My mens clinic who I’m wating to get into again, was extremely helpful and my first impression was that this was a medical doctor who specializes in TRT and purports to be fighting with the NHS / the governing body regarding Endocrinologist protocols. Which I believe everyone here is doing as well to some degree. And frankly why many people come here to this board / forum because they have received bad Endocrin / GP guidance and need help. So although I understand the points that have been made, it’s difficult for me to understand why a medical doctor would drive protocols that seem to work very well for his patients versus simply putting them on 2x / week. He could market his clinic as being different and better in some regard but would there not be more harm done to a patient from having to pin every single day? It’s just hard to believe there is bad intent in this article. But I leave it to the experts here in this forum to disagree and provide opinions. That’s exactly what I’m here for and what I posted the article for.

My story goes like this. I was dialed in on 2x / week (90mg total) cypionate IM but after the disaster protocols with the Endocrin it took the men’s clinic some time to get it right because of the clinical depression, and anxiety I was experiencing from Benzodiazepine (prescribed) protracted withdrawal… which took me 7 years (3 of those in bed) to recover from. Subsequently TRT got me back on my feet, back into life, out of clinical depression, and back to work (I’m 50 now and was 40 when this all started). A miracle to say the least.

Last year at some point I started having ED, pronounced anxiety, and some rage type feelings I remembered experiencing very early in my TRT trials. I had bloodwork done in July and my levels looked high including E2. So finally had enough and the beginning of December 2024 I decided to try E3D at 40mg. That was too high of a dosage as I had made an error in my calculation… and this switch to E3D from twice a week and with the higher dosage made things worse. Then a couple of weeks ago my GP told me I should just reduce my dosage to 35mg E3D which I did for one week and things got even worse, major depression, morning panic / anxiety all day. It’s not all in my head because I can “feel” the changes and I had a ton of lethargy last week at 35mg. So I pinned Monday / yesterday, another 35mg, I had forgotten that today was my pin day and not yesterday. But I felt much (much) better than the past 6 weeks just from that Monday pin. So I’m confused and not sure if I’m a strange / sensitive case because of the protracted withdrawal I went through, my nervous system is somehow compromised still, or what but I’m trying to find some justification to go every other day or at least MWF… as again, I’ve actually felt the difference with an EOD pin; I had way more energy yesterday and today, I didn’t feel nearly as depressed as I have, and my anxiety has reduced significantly. I can’t explain it if everyone is telling me that it doesn’t matter… so I’m a little lost here.

My basic blood work below:

Jan 10, 2025
Estradiol - 145 pmol / l (Range <162)
Testosterone - 37.2 nmol / l (Range 8.4 - 28.8)
Free Testosterone - 715 pmol / l (Range 179 - 475)

Jul 13 2024
Estradiol - 133 pmol / l (Range <162)
Testosterone - 33.2 nmol / l (Range 8.4 - 28.8)
Free Testosterone - 690 pmol / l (Range 179 - 475)

Dec 9 2023
Estradiol - 80 pmol / l (don’t remember why it came down so much)
Testosterone - 39.9 nmol / l
Free Testosterone - 878 pmol / l

Jul 8 2023
Estradiol - 113 pmol / l
Testosterone - 33.1 nmol / l
Free Testosterone - 648 pmol / l

Jan 24 2023
Estradiol - 130 pmol / l
Testosterone - 35.1 nmol / l
Free Testosterone - 738 pmol / l

I’m glad you were able to get the depression/anxiety sorted. It sounds like it was a very difficult time.
Clearance rates of test are higher in some individuals than others so I could see the test levels dropping a bit faster then the majority but I think what your experiencing is rare.
Right now you can only go by your experience and what is happening to you as you change things around. I would give 2 pieces of advice.
1-When you make a change to your protocol give it 3-4 weeks. Your body needs time to adjust and you don;t want to discount a protocol because a few days later you didn’t feel right.
2-It seems like you react best to even levels in your body. If that’s the case then as @swoops39 said, do what makes you feel best. There really is no wrong approach here unless you are abusing and doing your body harm which obviously is not the case here.

I hope you get this sorted soon. Please update your thread if you don;t mind so we can follow your progress.

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Summed up perfectly

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Things are coming along ok I guess. Energy is a little lacking but I believe that’s related to the ongoing headaches I’ve been experiencing. I’ve read that changing frequency or protocol can cause headaches for up to a month… ugh. It’s only been about 15 days. Anyway I’ve been taking a lot of Tylenol or at least a couple a day most days and trying to stay hydrated by drinking lots of water.

Same dosage per week as the original (90mg) so not sure why the headaches… maybe it has to do with all the changes I stupidly made over the last couple of months. Shouldn’t have touched it looking back.

Anyway some mood related issues because of the headaches and vision seems to be up and down ie some blurriness. But I’m sticking it out and will evaluate again where I’m at in another 15 days. MWF 30mg (total 90mg / week).

Thx all,