Hello, I am 24 and rather new to trt after testicular cancer in December that was resolved with just a surgery luckily. Related medical history involved loss of a testicle at birth and now loss of the remaining one in December. I may have been a little low (10%-15%) for most of my life to this point though I would be very happy to feel that level of normal again at this point.
Sadly I do not have a t test from before the last surgery to use as somewhat of baseline for normal. Blood work from 3 months after surgery resulted in a T score of a whopping 12 total not ng at which point I was finally put on trt starting with 25mg of cypionate IM into the upper quad weekly for four weeks resulting in T of 300 that is low though still far better than 3 months at 12. Dose was then upped to 50mg after 4 weeks and later 100mg resulting in T of 913 4 days after injection, by the 6th day it was down to 722 with a free testosterone of 224. I moved to pellets to avoid the peaks and valleys of cypionate, with the 4th day at 913 I am guessing the day of injection put me around 1300 while the 7th day was probably 600, either way I had energy 5 days a week with an increase in impatience followed by 2 days that where an absolute slump for energy and emotions.
My Dr. moved me to testopel a month ago with 6 pellets equivalent to 75mg of cypionate in an attempt to deal with the fluctuations, a dose I thought was low and resulted in T of 547. I am trying to be patient as the correct dose will likely be with me for decades though I find my memory drops stuff more than usual, the gears upstairs are a bit slower as well and sit in neutral far to often, energy has been good at probably 70% of normal though I find that if I have an excellent day with lots of physical activity than the following day is a slump and the next is a bit better as if free t is building up again.
Will the patience of waiting to up the testopel dose to say 8 pellets fix some of this? Or should I be considering some other routes?
Is it possible to feel normal again after complete loss of natural T production (does anyone have experience with this)?
Has anyone else experienced dips from increased activity, possibly burning through the free t that has dissolved to that point or am I just simply very sensitive at this point and a hypochondriac?
Does anyone have recommendations for long term things to know going into what will probably be a minimum of 50 years on trt?
Are there any phenomenal oncologists that you guys know of in the LA area that I can work with for second opinions?
Thank you for your collective patience as I clearly have a lifetime of learning ahead of me that I only barely grasp at this point.
Yes. And a simpler solution to your “peaks and valleys” with injections is to just inject more often, not switch to pellets. Once those are inserted you have very few (if any) options to adjust things if you don’t feel good.
I’ve been on injections for 4 years (after a decade of AAS use) and feel great injecting e3days. Took me a while to find the protocol I liked the most, but once I did, it was worth it
Yes, don’t think about it. You’ve got to shower every day for 50 years, brush your teeth every day for 50 years, change clothes do laundry drive to work buy groceries for the next 50 years. You just do it
This doesn’t follow any kind of guidelines and is a laughably low dose to the point of incompetence. If you were having ups and down on injections, simply inject more often.
We have members injecting (50mg) twice weekly, (25-35mg) EOD and even (10-20mg) daily. Your doctor is making this entire process more difficult than it has to be and is prolonging your suffering
You seem pretty sensitive to cypionate, so my suggestion is a lower dose of about 60-80mg weekly split up twice weekly or EOD.
You want to be looking for doctors privately, outside of the sick care system for TRT.
Hello and thank you all for your advice, I am wondering if it is possible to supplement the testopel with cypionate for now to bring my levels up while I wait for the pellets to dissolve. My t test with pellets was 547 so perhaps 25mg of C once a week till the pellets are gone at which point I will move to a large enough dose to split into 3 day injections?
Odd question, I brought up the possibility of doing injections twice a week to my doctor before moving to pellets and he dismissed it sighting wear on the liver and that it was just somthing body builders used. At this point I will probably swapping docs though I am wondering if there is any truth to his statement regarding the liver. I find it unlikely as the liver would be processing cypionate over a longer period of time rather than getting slammed all at once. Has anyone played with or considered an insulin pump or some other form of medical tech to mimic the bodies own production through a steady flow of t?
Well, that would be like asking a formula one driver how to take a corner. It seems silly to dismiss the protocols of the people with the most experience actually using testosterone.
For most guys stability is better (notice I said most). At a certain point more injections doesn’t buy you any noticeable difference, and doesn’t make sense to do. You also need to balance frequency with how much you dislike injections. If you feel great at day 7, but not at day 10, once a week is probably better than every two weeks. If you feel great at day 4, but not 6, then twice a week makes sense.
It is something bodybuilders use, but not because they want to feel “level” or “stable”. They inject more often because they are taking like 2 grams a week, tough to take that in one dose. As for the liver, he’s putting testosterone into the same box as synthetic anabolic steroids. It’s not.
Zero.
I have not heard of this. Keep in mind that testosterone levels fluctuate naturally throughout the day. I know some, I am not one of them, who have their patients move the dose around from week to week based somewhat off that concept, 170, 190, 180, 200, 170. Ultimately, go with whatever works best for you.