Low T here so last year doctor started me on T cyp at 300 ml a month. First month no real issues, 2nd month kinds numb, 3rd month depressed, 4th month horrible mood (anxiety like, depressed, emotional, pains), water weight, eye twitching, headache, sleep issues, 5th month ( two days after the shot I felt like I was going to have a stroke with all the above symptoms. Tested 10 days after the last shot and my levels of free and total were 4 times higher than I have ever had. 14 days after that they had crashed. The first 10 days after the last shot I have never felt that bad in my life.
Doctor did not other labs and I have been off for about 7 weeks. I feel better now but still some residual anxiety and tiredness but I can’t be like I was for the last 2 months, I would rather be off TRT than feel like that. Doctor says I will need something and am looking to see an endocrinologist.
Anybody have an idea like I felt so damn bad and it got worse each month? Scared to try something again but scared not to as my levels are medically low.
I am assuming you mean 300 mg/month. Is that all at once?
Your issue is your doctor doesn’t seem to understand the the drug he is administering to you. Specifically, half life of the drug. It is about 7-8 days for Test C. Here is what your levels look like over the month.
You are too high in the beginning, and too low for the latter half. Also your dose per month is likely too low even if it was injected in smaller amounts more frequently.
If it was me advocating for myself, I would be asking to start at 60 mg injected by myself twice a week (this is about 515 mg/month). I would use blood work from there to adjust dosing up or down, until FT is close to the top of the range (at trough), or a bit above it if using an average level.
Yes, sorry, 300 mg all at once. I will say I am a slow metabolizer of medications so they build up in my system. I generally take half or 1/4 of normal medication doses. That said, I have no idea if that applies to injections but I would think so.
If the half life is that long and I was in the upper ranges after 10 days I would assume I was much higher than that a few days after the injection.
I don’t understand why I felt progressively worse and felt out of my mind the last two months. Scared the hell out of me as lot’s of mood type symptoms and sleep disturbance.
Would cream be something advocated besides injections? If I was feeling ok at the lower end of the range for 7 years I don’t know why the upper ranges would be necessary. Seems like my body cannot handle high doses.
Is it crazy to think I just need to be in low to middle ranges to feel good?
TBH, I am not sure. How fast Testosterone gets metabolized has several known factors. The ester, location of the depot, the carrier oil, the individual person, etc… (those are the big factors). So half life of the drug is just an estimate.
Some don’t feel good super high Test either. 300 mg all at once wouldn’t be an issue for me (assuming I am not waiting a month for the next shot), but we respond differently. The dose all at once also has larger downstream effects than smaller dosages spread out. You estrogen (E2) is going to spike (among other things) with a big dose all at once. High E2 can make some guys feel crap, while others feel good or even great.
Basically, though the month, your hormones are all over the place. Many don’t feel good like that. I can tell you almost every guy would feel crappy at the end of the month on that protocol, since that protocol leaves you with less Testosterone at the end of the month, than you had when you started TRT.
Personally, I wouldn’t be interested in cream. It seems like a lot of work compared to injections. It also seems to raise DHT more than injections, and I am not really interested in that.
I would not jump to that conclusion in the context of TRT. You don’t handle 300 all at once. There is a big difference between 60 mg twice a week and 300 mg once a month. Your issue (in the beginning of the month) may be too high of Testosterone, but it may also be something like E2. You may feel great with higher end of normal Testosterone, you may not. I don’t think you have the info to determine that yet though.
Would you even need TRT? Maybe a PCT is what you need at this point? Something to think about.
Thank you for the responses. PCT? Sorry, new to all of this.
To feel good I would apply 5 times a day. I am sleeping better finally but tired. Finally have some libido back but being 56 I want to have a stable mood and energy first.
So if I understand this correctly, Injecting smaller doses twice a week could keep E2 in check better (IF) that is an issue? Wouldn’t every 3.5 days eventually lead to a greater amount of test and E2 based on the half life? Seems really tricky and I’d really like to have something mimic the daily ups and downs of hormones.
I do feel, rightly or not, dosing smaller more frequent might help me but it’s hard to wrap my head around.
Depending on what levels you had before and if you felt okay before, you could run a PCT (post cycle therapy). It is what guys who cycle steroids often do to recover their natural production.
Yes, if high E2 was your issue from the large dose, then smaller ones seem to help out. They help by creating a more stable hormone environment). Basically, if you spread your dose out, you get lower peaks, and higher lows. I do every other day shots (50 mg each of Test E), and I don’t have E2 issues. I could probably do less, as it is likely overkill (but I am kinda OCD haha). Right now, in the beginning of the month you have high T and E2, and at the end of the month you have very low T and E2. Blood work won’t tell you much if you pull it towards the end of the month, since your hormones are all over the place.
Here is what your current protocol (except using every 4 weeks vs once a month), vs 60 mg twice a week looks like over 20 weeks.
As you can see, your peaks on your current protocol are 2.5X what your peaks would be on the twice a week protocol, and you lows (once you reach steady state), are about 10X higher. You would be staying in a window that is like 9-13 mg Testosterone released per day, vs a window of like 1-30 mg Testosterone released per day.
Basically, your protocol is so horrible, that I think the only thing you can conclude at this point is that what you are doing isn’t working. I don’t think you should inject any less frequently than once a week (with some caveats, but I won’t get into all that nuance).
I haven’t had any shots for 7 weeks as we take a better hormone panel and will be switching to a endo since my natural level is low and that is why I started. I want a specialist not a GP to play with this. I had a pretty bad 3 weeks and finally got some energy and sleep improvement the last 4 days. I assume it was my body trying to produce on it’s own again. Will have to treat again for sure. I just can’t go down this rabbit hole again of feeling a mess. Once a month is a terrible protocol.
Wow, you’re doctor is the problem! Please find a competent doctor asap because this isn’t treatment, it’s torture.
TRT is a field of medicine that means not every doctor is going to be a good choice to manage your TRT. TRT makes up a very small percentage of their business and so it can take years for them to gain experience prescribing it, so there’s no guarantee any doctor you see will be any better than the one you have now.
The guidelines state 75-100 mg weekly, or 200 mg every 2 weeks, the latter not being a good protocol and is dated, but the protocol you’re on is out there considering the half-life of cypionate.
You have to keep a realistic mindset, everyone’s response to testosterone will be unique, what works for Charlie won’t necessarily work for you.
If you can get on Jatenzo (oral TRT) (at 237 mg twice daily), get on it. The dialing in process will be very short (7 days) compared to cypionate (4-6 weeks). This way you don’t have to worry about incompetent doctors as much, the protocol is simpler to where any idiot can prescribe it and have it be a successful treatment.
Yes, I have felt tortured the last 2 months, worse feeling physically and emotionally. I thought I was losing my mind. Feel better off but obviously not great. At least I can sleep again.
Without the labwork we’d just be stabbing in the dark. But, 300mg once a month is a terrible idea. You’d be better served doing more frequent injections, like once or twice per week, and getting labs after 8 weeks or so to see what adjustments need to be made
