Agree with C Hunter here. TRT has revitalized my life! Unfortunately, I went a long time feeling like shit.
I know! So weird how when you get it into the zone everything just is like POW! I am like a freaking teenager chasing my Wife around - she hates it, lol. But I love it. I am starting the HGH on Friday @ 3iu (They said 2 iu but I told them I wanted to start with 3 iu and they agreed to do it).
In the end, the onus of my health is on me. I am intelligent and while I do listen to my docs, in the end, they work for me. If I tell them to do something and it is within reason and not dangerous I expect them to do it. But I ask in a friendly way. Many people need to be told what to do because they don’t research or listen to random advice from people who know no better. If you research and use only very credible information (such as endocrinology textbooks or books by doctors & scientific studies that are cited), you can be in the driver’s seat. And who knows my body better than me? Nobody.
I will update when I start the HGH (it will be Humatrope from Eli Lilly). But I do hear that it takes a good while before you feel / see any results on HGH. I also hear that TRT and HGH intensify each other so maybe I will have some cool stuff to report back with.
I love having people to discuss these things with. It is a support network, a learning experience, and fun.
Thanks Guys, CHunter
Thanks for this. I would have been so optimistic about this being a turning point if I had full blown ED but I still got a few morning erections when I was Low, my main problems is the libido and drive. I’m just waiting for a 10% kick in energy levels along with this and I’ll be a lot more optimistic.
I know how you feel, the waiting times for effects and protocol changes make you feel life is getting away from you at light speed, once you find a likely reason for a life of suboptimal living.
My life story is crazy and winding, how I finally got tested with 1.3nmol/l at age 55 is by virtue of a minor trauma fracture to the foot. ffw 5 months bad healing… I asked for a Dexa scan Osteoporosis T score -3.5
…Dr suggested Thyroid work and I asked for T levels also (thanks google)
Testosterone:1.3 nmol/L ( 8.0 - 38.0 ) L
LMP:Not Applicable
FSH:32.1 IU/L ( 2.0 - 12.0 ) H
LH:16.7 IU/L ( 2.0 - 9.0 ) H
Prolactin:307 mIU/L ( 50 - 350 )
17B Oestradiol:<44 pmol/L ( < 190 )
FFW 3months and an Endo
1x 2.5mg patch only raised FT to 6.8nmol/l after 4 weeks. was able to request T undecanoate 1000mg “Reandron” NZ label I believe identical to Nebido
blood results 2 weeks post initial injection
Testosterone:59.0 nmol/L ( 9-38 ) H
Free Testosterone:1785 pmol/L ( 250-800 ) H
Sex hormone binding globulin:28 nmol/L ( 9-60 )
Free Androgen index:2107 ( >400 )
I know, looks extraordinary from 1.3nmol/L to 59nmol/L 45000% increase
I don’t know if my rough ride is because of how long before my diagnosis, I had no idea being on T would make me feel worse I felt not quite as bad on the patch (although suboptimal dose @ 2.5mg) I have likely been primary hypogonadism since puberty lets not go into how it made my life turn out.
E2 is a little high taking 2nd blood panel at 5 weeks think best not to upset results yet with AI dosing, my Dr is onboard and OK to look at my research with an open mind although we are way out here in NZ ( I should just pay him to watch a 30min talk by Dr C )
Sorry to hijack you but can relate right now but the waiting is the hardest part when you don’t know if it will be the right protocol. And now I have to get the Nebido level down unless I have hyper metabolised it.
Getting 2 weekly bloods from here.
I meant 4500% increase, harder than ever to focus these days
Hi Trtlabrat,
Your story seems to be less talking about the subject and more about TRT making you feel worse.
If you are looking for help, I might begin a new post and paste this into it. I don’t understand how your T levels being higher could make you feel bad unless you shot past your “sweet spot.” I would try to be of some help but those ranges are all different than what I am used to looking at.
Best of luck! Let us know what you find out! We can all learn from each other’s journey!
Yeah I agree am not feeling the positive vibe right now from T, and early days for an old dude like me
Hope I haven’t fried my receptors with that record breaking crazy spike
bloods for levels this am
More on topic YES have had some great days where I felt exactly like this thread title 
And yes SO amazing it is like a physical time warp, the sense of confidence on those optimal days is something completely new to me though!
I wasn’t a happy kid you might say lol some very clear signs of Primary Hypo were there back then.
I need to not overdo it on those streaks of good days I think there may be a burnout effect, I find I just want to get everything done at once after a long crash, last was 9 days long you know the drill. Woke up this morning feeling GOOD
Will keep you “dialled in” as dose changes
Nice man! I agree there may be a burnout when we “overdo it” on the days we feel so good.
But I think that is normal - our brain can only release so much endorphin and chemicals in response to our behaviors.
I don’t think you burned your receptors out - I think I ready that you actually will increase the number of receptors that way. But I was told by a doctor that we feel the best when the Testosterone is ON THE RISE!
Even say you were low and went from 250 up to 400 - that would produce a good feeling for many people - not that 400 is the target but just the fact that the body was so low and all of a sudden all the empty receptors get filled and BAM!
Also, coming down from 2000 to 1500 will feel BAD! Not sure if that is what was happening to you or not but my last Total T was read >1500 and Free T was like double the normal maximum. It was pretty awesome but I don’t want to be too high and >1500 could mean 4000 for all I know. So I ramped it down a bit. I felt pretty back to shitty normal during that time. I think that is why most doctors try to start low and slowly increase the doses - you have a longer time period where the levels are rising which feels good and then you can just stop and hold the dose when you get up around 1000-1200 total testosterone levels.
Over shooting and then having to come down will make you temporarily lose the awesome benefits. But as I understand it, your body will normalize and benefits will return. In this case, if some is great, more may not be better. Bottom line is we are shooting for a FEELING - not a number on a lab report.
If you have a day that feels awesome like before, I recommend going to Walk In Labs (online) and ordering the Hormone #3 Extreme Blood Test Panel, Men and adding SHGB tests. Or go to your doctor but GO THAT DAY!!! I just did that.
Get a snapshot of what your levels look like when you feel amazing energy, libido, all of that. Then you know what you are shooting for. We can’t go by the labs ranges because every person is different.
Know what I mean? My great feeling day results looked like this:
CMP12+LP+6AC
Chemistries 01
Glucose, Serum 87 mg/dL 65 - 99 01
Uric Acid, Serum 4.9 mg/dL 3.7 - 8.6 01
Please Note: 01
Therapeutic target for gout patients: <6.0
BUN 20 mg/dL 6 - 20 01
Creatinine, Serum 0.93 mg/dL 0.76 - 1.27 01
eGFR If NonAfricn Am 105 mL/min/1.73 >59
eGFR If Africn Am 121 mL/min/1.73 >59
BUN/Creatinine Ratio 22 High 8 - 19
Sodium, Serum 146 High mmol/L 134 - 144 01
Potassium, Serum 5.0 mmol/L 3.5 - 5.2 01
Chloride, Serum 101 mmol/L 97 - 108 01
Calcium, Serum 10.1 mg/dL 8.7 - 10.2 01
Phosphorus, Serum 4.1 mg/dL 2.5 - 4.5 01
Protein, Total, Serum 7.0 g/dL 6.0 - 8.5 01
Albumin, Serum 4.8 g/dL 3.5 - 5.5 01
Globulin, Total 2.2 g/dL 1.5 - 4.5
A/G Ratio 2.2 1.1 - 2.5
Bilirubin, Total 0.5 mg/dL 0.0 - 1.2 01
Alkaline Phosphatase, S 63 IU/L 39 - 117 01
LDH 174 IU/L 121 - 224 01
AST (SGOT) 24 IU/L 0 - 40 01
ALT (SGPT) 20 IU/L 0 - 44 01
GGT 17 IU/L 0 - 65 01
Cholesterol, Total 161 mg/dL 100 - 199 01
Triglycerides 53 mg/dL 0 - 149 01
HDL Cholesterol 59 mg/dL >39 01
Testosterone,Free and Total
Testosterone, Serum >1500 High ng/dL 348 - 1197 01
Comment:
Adult male reference interval is based on a population of lean males
up to 40 years old.
Free Testosterone(Direct) >50.0 High pg/mL 8.7 - 25.1 02
FSH and LH
LH <0.2 Low mIU/mL 1.7 - 8.6 01
FSH <0.2 Low mIU/mL 1.5 - 12.4 01
Hemoglobin A1c
Hemoglobin A1c 5.3 % 4.8 - 5.6 01
Please Note: 01
Pre-diabetes: 5.7 - 6.4
Diabetes: >6.4
Glycemic control for adults with diabetes: <7.0
Thyroxine (T4) Free, Direct, S
T4,Free(Direct) 1.29 ng/dL 0.82 - 1.77 01
Cortisol 7.1 ug/dL 01
Cortisol AM 6.2 - 19.4
Cortisol PM 2.3 - 11.9
TSH 1.180 uIU/mL 0.450 - 4.500 01
Prolactin 10.4 ng/mL 4.0 - 15.2 01
Estradiol 8.1 pg/mL 7.6 - 42.6 01
Roche ECLIA methodology
Prostate-Specific Ag, Serum
Prostate Specific Ag, Serum 0.8 ng/mL 0.0 - 4.0 01
IGF-1
Insulin-Like Growth Factor I 288 High ng/mL 83 - 233 02
Vitamin D, 25-Hydroxy 36.9 ng/mL 30.0 - 100.0 01
Growth Hormone, Serum <0.1 ng/mL 0.0 - 10.0 02
Progesterone 2.0 High ng/mL 0.2 - 1.4 01
Insulin 4.5 uIU/mL 2.6 - 24.9 01
Sex Horm Binding Glob, Serum 28.2 nmol/L 16.5 - 55.9 01
Now I know about where these need to be and can test if benefits drop off to see what needs adjusting.
I Googled up a discount code and this cost be about $400. Information is power and worth it if can be afforded.
Just make sure there is a Labcorp or participating lab near you with their lab search thing before you order. The cost is right about the same as when I did through my doctor. However - if your insurance is paying for your treatments, my bet is they will not pay for labs you order. I am paying for all out of pocket.
If you are being covered by insurance the labs will only be paid for by insurance if on order from your doctor. For me, it was worth it to get them on that day without waiting. I felt great once and it went back to normal and I kicked myself for not getting labs done when I felt great!
Interesting that you felt that good with a pretty low E2. Also, should add a CBC once in awhile to be sure the really high T isn’t causing your blood to turn into mud!
I know - I forgot about Hemadocrit being in a hurry but got those on the next set with doctor.
And I agree that the E2 was low for me to be so sexually charged. I thought that was weird too. But it was. I think I will reduce the Arimidex from 1/2’s to 1/4’s and see how I feel. But at the end of the day, if I feel better with lower E2 I am going to go back to that.
For me it is all about hitting the levels that show me the benefits! But I thought the exact same thing! I was thinking that ratio of T to E was pretty off with T being so high and E being so low. I was thinking that E2 around 20-30 would have been more likely.
With regards to the de ja vu, I think it’s possible we may have re created a similar chemical environment to a time being a certain age - that’s my uneducated theory only though.
The ‘peaks’ with daily prop injections are impossible to not notice and I wonder if it would be similar with a more traditional ester. They may not actually be peaks per say, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the rapid climb in chemical that causes a ‘rush’, in a similar way to slamming a few shots of hard liquor does - three shots in and you’re feeling a slight rush/elevation. 16 shots in and you’re on the floor feeling like shit… whatever chemical reaction that happens in the brain during those first three shots of liquor would be the closest analogy I can use to describe the feeling obtained from my TRT.
It’s absolutely fascinating that it doesn’t happen when I raise the dose beyond a certain point though
I totally agree with the “similar chemical environment” from a previous age. That is the best way I think it can be put into words that others will understand!!! Nice Chalk!!!