Taking 200 mg test per week in 100mg q 3.5 day doses. I was also prescribed HcG but have not started yet. I am now two weeks into therapy and am wondering what people think of adding in the HcG. I am 38 years old and I want to preserve fertility. I don’t necessarily want to have a child tomorrow, but within the next 12-16 months for sure. Should I wait on the HcG until “I’m ready” to conceive or knowing that the time is going to be within that 16 month timeframe just start dosing it now? There is so much conflicting opinion on when to start, how to dose, and effects on fertility when it comes to HcG out there. Thoughts and opinions much appreciated on my personal situation or HcG with TRT in general. Thanks!
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I’d get started with just test first. Hard enough dialing in one drug. Then add in HCG a few months before you want to start trying for pregnancy.
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At 200mg your levels are climbing and you’re barely shutting down. In 3 months you should be leveling out. Do not add anything to your protocol. Once you receive your test results you will know where your levels are. In 6 months you will have to adjust your T dose down a bit and then you can cycle HCG twice a year to keep the balls going. 200mg plus HCG will make both your T and E levels rise in a lot making your doctor make too many changes. T alone is fine, instead of cycling the HCG you can blast it before you need to conceive.
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Thanks for the reply. I think I will wait as you and the guy above have suggested. I was also prescribed 50/50 mg of DHEA and Pregnenolone. Is this something I should also be holding off with so not to skew T or E values or is it something which won’t alter the overall values and I should be using in conjunction with the Test? For frame of reference pre labs showed DHEA value of 270, T 269 with free of 18.2, and E of 14.4.
You can add the DHEA and Pregnolone in 3 months. Start with T only. The reason for this is so that if you have a side effect or bad results you know what caused it. If you start with too many moving parts, you will never know what is making you feel that way.
Yes to all the above recommendations to wait a few months. I did, then added the HCG.
Then, after a few months (not six weeks, the often recommended “settling in” time), I adjusted the HCG and Test C down to the minimum effect dose. Then added daily Tadalafil. Perfect.
Took well more than a year. The results were worth it.
With hormones, at least with the knowledge available at this time, allowing your body adequate adjustment time, and being conservative and methodical, wins, at least for me.
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You could start now, but you’d be wasting your money. Only two reasons for hCG, you’re ready to start working on the family or you are troubled with the testicular atrophy.
In my practice, testosterone is decreased 20% and hCG started one to two months prior to attempting to conceive. They’re typically pregnant in two to six months.
I have appreciated your experience, shown in your posts. There is speculation that HGC may stimulate production of benefial substances beyond T. What do you think?
This still boggles my mind. Why not start low and go higher if necessary?
Like thyroid medication.
Men and women (except during pregnancy) produce very small amounts of hCG, which makes me think that, naturally, we are not supposed to have high levels of it. In fact, if we checked serum levels in a man and found them high, the hunt would be on for a hormone producing tumor, first on the differential is testicular cancer.
Therapeutically, hCG is used for fertility purposes, and secondarily, to increase testosterone. In those cases, it is used for a “drug” effect. This is not unlike the guy taking 10g of vitamin C and rationalizing it is natural because it is naturally found in food we eat and we need it. However, considering an orange contains about 50mg of vitC, you would need to eat 200 oranges a day to reach 10g. What is “natural” with that?
In attending numerous medical conferences throughout the country, hCG is never mentioned except for its value in stimulating spermatogenesis. In speaking to numerous doctors, during breaks, lunch, etc., I have yet to come across anyone who uses it as part of an ongoing TRT regimen.
I do see guys moving from other clinics, both locally and nationally, who were placed on hCG as “part of the program”. They can never give me a good reason why, maybe “have to keep the testicles working” (they weren’t, which is why they need testosterone) even if they have had vasectomies or simply are not looking to have more children.
In speaking to local doctors who subscribe to this practice, I have yet to get an acceptable answer to this issue. Many use the same explanation they give to their patients or go on about “back filling” downstream hormones.
Maybe I just don’t get it, but I do not hear of hCG being used as part of the protocol from those I consider to be experts, and especially those who are private practitioners and not part of a mill or chain clinic owned by someone other than them.
Having said all of that, I have a handful of guys who really like the way they feel on hCG and run it on an ongoing basis. They typically have higher testosterone levels with it and I suspect that is why they like it. I don’t see a downside health wise, and it’s their money.
On the other hand, many feel no different with hCG or even feel negative effects.
Hope this makes some sense and helps, just my take on it.
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@highpull Thanks so much for your thoughtful and detailed post.
BTW, I am one of the fellows who “likes” HCG. Within 20 minutes of my first injection, I felt significantly increased well being and vitality. The effects progressively decrease moderately starting when the reconstituted HCG is more than around 30 days old.
Suggestion and the placebo effect are always possible, but I am not consciously aware of expecting the listed positive effects.
You’re welcome. Glad you are getting good results. I keep an open mind and have no problem with guys doing whatever helps them.
Do you believe there’s any value added in disallowing testicular atrophy, through the use of hcg or gonadatropins outside of fertility maintenance?
I don’t.
Some women are impressed with increased testicle size, LOL.
Yes, I guess, according to the guys.
I did have a woman who sat in with her husband during the consult and stated she wasn’t concerned with testicular atrophy as long as “the other thing works”. Three days later, he called in and asked for hCG.
When the wife came in as a patient herself about five months later, she laughed and told me that as soon as they left the office, in the hallway, right outside the door, she told her husband, “I don’t care what he says, the boys aren’t going away.”
LOL 
Some guys will not experience any change if their balls are shot. I cycle the stuff, but the longer Im on TRT, I prefer monotherapy and would rather inject more T.
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I’ve gone years without hcg before or any kind of gonadotropic compounds before. My biggest complain of the testicular atrophy is an eventual reduction in volume during sex, leading to much less pleasurable orgasms.
Question why are you on testosterone to begin with?
Second I am facing the same barrier. Honestly at the end of the day I would do what ever It takes to make sure retain your fertility status. With testosterone and they was the medical field looks at it your kind of on your own which is ridiculous. So with that being said the last thing you want to have to deal with is not being able to have a child at all over what this medication did to your body. So I would start the hcg rite away and if possible try getting off testosterone if you don’t really need it. It will do more harm then it will help if you do not reallly need it.