I’ve never read anything about Merformin depleting Calcium, except in relation to B12 deficiencies. I dont mind throwing a little Calcium in the mix, but would like to be sure it’s needed, as everything I have read until this point is that it is dangerous for men to supplement with much Calcium due to increased cardiac events. Interesting.
I currently use luer-lock syringes now. I’m just curious, what is the issue with them?
Are you telling me that you’re BP is NORMAL if you don’t inject daily? Furthermore, it’s very possible anxiety stemming from placebo effect (security from knowing you’re getting a daily dose etc) stems the increase in BP, I’ve had my systolic and diastolic go from 90/60 to like 145/90 from an extreme bout of anxiety.
I don’t note this to be the case with me. Though I do notice that I feel better with synthetic derivatives of testosterone (neurological impacts, probably temporary… comparative to test alone)
Really? Isn’t the HL of test E like 6 days, in which case 1000 at the start of the week would even out to be like 500 at the end give or take 100ng/dl?
If HDL drops below 40… I’d say 35 for a younger individual such as myself… then drop the dose or improve lifestyle factors/ supplement intake (krill oil is a goooood one) until lipids normalise… messing around with impaired glucose tolerance isn’t shit to be messing with. The potential complications that can be induced from a prediabetic/diabetic state are numerous and severe. Furthermore, those who do well on high dosages (some even do well on 300mg long term, we have no data other than short term (say 6 months) to say this is safe, however given how many have been on 2-300mg for decades… we don’t see many dropping dead… I think it’s safe to say 300mg long term probably takes a good ten years off ones lifespan on avg… but that’s just my opinion.
Actually, I was prediabetic prior to starting TRT, borderline legitimate type 2 diabetes… Since TRT my glucose tolerance, hbA1C, insulin etc isn’t just normal… it’s what one could consider “optimal”! There was def an effect regarding T supplementation/androgen supplementation in general and insulin sensitivity. Whilst impaired glucose tolerance is associated with high dosages of methandienone, oxymetholone, trenbolone etc… Nandrolone has been demonstrated to have negligible or in some cases perhaps even improve glucose homeostasis
Okay, but that doesn’t mean lower A1C is better. I know that in Type 2 diabetics they actually want them at 6.5 now, not lower. Which was my point, lower isn’t necessarily better with A1C.
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/crie/2018/8316017/
There other articles and studies. In my case I was hypocalcemic in under two weeks in spite of calcium supplementation. But I have another underlying condition affecting that. I am not B12 deficient.
It is my understanding (as a type 2 DB myself) that the reason for the 6.5 target is because as a patient degrades, the treatments that bring the A1C below 6.5 tend to raise the likelihood of hypoglycemic events. If you an keep it to 5-5.5 on nothing but diet and/or metformin, that’d be great. Adding additional medications to get there (insulin, insulin secreteogogues, etc) is problematic.
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I don’t have an opinion on your T-Levels. I tend to roll my eyes when people say that the dose is way too high, but I have only have the experience of one, so any comment would be based on my experience alone and in my experience as a fat guy starting TRT, more has been better than less. Where I am confident to respond, is that the best thing you can do for blood pressure is lose weight and get your heart as healthy as possible. I was where you are. Overweight for 20 years with higher blood pressure and low T. I’m down 65 pounds from my heaviest ( still 40 or so to go) and that has completely eliminated the higher blood pressure, which I was told was hereditary (bs). To paraphrase David Goggins “you better create a mother fucker who will get off his ass and get to work losing weight”. I had to create a mother fucker who got up at 5am everyday to go the gym before sitting in an office all day and actually did cardio. Just do it, man. Fix yourself. I can say that, because I was in the same place. It’s easier than you think.
I am not sure on the reason, honestly. I just know that with my father they changes his target. He’s been on the same diabetes med for probably 20 years and they changed where they want his A1C, nothing had changed in his numbers or treatment. I pay attention because he and all of his brothers (3 brothers) are Type 2 and have been since younger than my current age, as was their father. You pay attention to what is probably your future. I personally cannot take Metformin, so I really pay attention. And it’s good to poke at Systemlord anyway when he says something off.
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Heh. I get where you’re coming from. However, here’s where I’m coming from…
" An A1c goal of between 7% and 8% is reasonable and beneficial for most patients with type 2 diabetes…
…though if lifestyle changes can get that number lower, then go for it. For patients who want to live a long and healthy life and try to avoid the complications of diabetes, they will need to keep their blood sugars as normal as possible — that means an A1c under 6.5%. However, studies show that using medications to achieve that goal significantly increases the risk of harmful side effects like hypoglycemia and weight gain. "
So yeah - the lower the better, but not if you have to load up on meds that do more harm than good.
The luer-lock syringes have dead spaces that trap medicine and if you inject multiple times a week you will waste medicine and run out before your next refill. The Easy Touch insulin syringes have no dead spaces.
My luer-lock syringes trap .1 ml and after 10 injections I’ve wasted the equivalent of 100mg of Test which is a weeks worth of medicine if injecting 1ml/100mg weekly.
My body is effected by the changes in dosing and when levels aren’t stabilized, get symptoms on and off for 6 weeks, then everything is good and dandy at the 6 week mark. I don’t have these problems injecting daily even after dosing changes, it’s as if I’m at a stable state right away or at least that’s what it feels like.
I can inject EOD and by the time I reach stable states, BP is normal but a little higher, however I feel better when injecting daily across the board because Total T is higher in relation to estrogen whereas estrogen is higher on the EOD protocol even with similar Total T levels.
When my estrogen starts getting close to 40-50, I do have blood pressure problems, nothing serious, I just don’t feel as good. I’m sure a lot of this has to do with high body fat, if I can drop some serious weight, I’m sure it will be a moot point and can probably get away with more.
Dismith,
I’m tickled for you and admire your commitment. I am talking here about doing a lifestyle change, but also educating myself about these side effects. If I could wave a wand and be sixty pounds lighter due to hard work and effort that would be great, but the issue is not that it is going to take work, effort, and commitment to have a better diet and fitness. Instead, the point of this whole discussion is that I don’t want to have super-increasing BP and blood glucose that are doing damage to my body in some significant way why I am working on that. In short, I’m educating myself by asking questions in order to make sure that in my attempt to charge my car battery by revving on the gas to turn my alternator quicker, I pay no attention to the fact my temperature gauge is steadily moving into the red, busting a head gasket in the process. Getting off my butt and eating decent is the main thing, but this post is not about saying that it is not or getting around it. It’s about my individual experience as a newbie and my side effects which were resulting in blood glucose as high as 190 and BP as high as 171/105.
In my book fixing myself included educating myself and, like you, fixing myself also includes the addition of a synthetic drug created in a lab. I admire your motivation and commitment. Keep up the great work.
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I gotcha. I guess one could always do the “zero waste” method Danny Bossa advocated with the small bit of air. However, I would be super paranoid about injecting even the small bit of air that might inadvertently be done using it, even if it is supposed to be safe doing a subq, according to Danny. Whether rational or not, I have a major fear of injecting an air bubble.
Thank you again for all the info!
Injecting a little air isn’t going to hurt you.
Update
Okay, so starting this past Friday, I modified my 16/8 intemittent fasting window, bringing it earlier from 1pm-9pm to noon-8pm. My idea is that this may aid my body a bit in handling the macro-nutrients. I also let the first four hours of the eating window (noon-4pm) be only high carb and extremely low carbs <5g. My thinking was that this would potentially help by keeping my insulin levels lower for a longer period, hopefully burning more fat and helping my glucose levels. Saturday, I went ahead and increased my Metformin XR from 500mg/day to 1000mg/day, anticipating my doc would agree this was warranted with my fasting glucose never getting below 130. I’ve also been extremely consistent getting my walking in. Sunday, my glucose was down to 95, even during the first four hours of my eating window. Possibly as much mental as it was physical, I felt tons better with my glucose down again in the appropriate range.
I spoke to my provider about my concern over the consistently elevated BP and started Lisinopril 5mg today. So far, so good with no real side effects. I think it takes maybe a week to reach full effectiveness, but I am hopeful the side effects will be minimal and it will bring the BP down to a more acceptable range.
If the glucose stays the same and the BP is down, I will feel more comfortable experimenting more with my dosage, frequency, and exercise intensity. However, I’m feeling much more back to my initial TRT-self with the glucose regulation.
Thanks everyone for all of the input and information, thus far. I greatly appreciate it.
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The air will not fit through the needle, I have a hell of a time getting the air bubbles out. Even if the air made it through the syringe, you’re injecting into muscle tissue and its extremely unlikely you will ever go directly into a vein.
The bigger the needle, the more likely air will get injected. You have a greater chance of getting struck by lightning than injecting air directly into a vein.
Air will fit, when done drawing the test, pull the plunger back once needle is out of the vial… this works even with a slin pin and def works in regards to a “zero waste” philosophy.
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Happy for you!