I’ve been taking adex four times a week at 1/8 mg (1/8ml = 6 drops) per dose for a total of 0.5 mg per week. I take 6 drops with each bi-weekly injection and 6 drops between each injection. It has only been 2 weeks and I feel so much better. I started with 0.5 mg on the first day. I swear it started working in just a few days. Better energy, mood, libido. Less water weight and swelling. I was (and I am still, sort of) skeptical of liquidex, but it has been 100% worth it to get my E2 down since no doctor around here will treat me for high E2. I’ll get more bloodwork to see my actual numbers at the 4 week point.
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I wish I could sit down with my doctor and tell him, “This is what I did, and it cured the anxiety, helped the ED, returned my energy. I was right. You should have taken the time to listen to me.” I’m a huge fan of modern medicine, but I think most docs are stretched too thin and care too little.
Soon, I need to go in to renew my Rx for Test. I wonder if the Adex will increase my T numbers and I’ll need to titrate off of Adex before the blood draw. Any advice? (I’ll do blood work on my own before I go to the doc.) I hear there is a rebound effect with a-dex, so I think I should cut back slowly. Half life is about 50 hours, right? Maybe cut the dose in half for a week (2 weeks out) and then drop Adex completely for a week before the blood draw? (My E numbers won’t matter, because he refuses to check them anyway. I just don’t want to feel terrible for any longer than I have to.) I don’t want the Adex to boost my T numbers and have him drop my Rx dose of T. He wants to keep my total T at 500. If I come in higher, he might prescribe less T.
[In an effort to give the full picture, I need to add that I have made other changes in the last few months. I have started getting 8 hours of sleep a night. I stopped drinking at night to help me sleep. I started wearing a mouth-guard to stop my snoring and sleep apnea. These changes have obviously helped my overall wellness in addition to TRT. But it all started after TRT, and I wonder if the TRT cleared up the mental fogginess and gave me the focus to start making other better life choices. Just a thought.]
Any suggestions or advice on reducing Adex before my next blood draw and rebound E2?
I wouldn’t recommend purposely going on an E2 roller coaster. The Adex will not have that big an effect on your T. Your best bet is to find another doc. I’d be upset if my TT was 500! You need a doc who understands TRT.
Looks like liquid Arimidex is working. I’ve been taking six drops, four times a week, for a month. That 0.55 mg per week. Six drops with each shot and six drops between shots. E2 dropped from 58 to 37.5. I feel way better. Helping with ED, weight, edema in legs and hands. I read that 20 to 30 is ideal for E2, so I’ll increase to 0.75 mg per week. T was at 660 at near peak (1.5 days from shot.). Glucose has been high at 100 to 120 for 10 years despite exercise and low sugar diet. This lab it dropped off to 73 and I wasn’t even fasting! Fixing my T didn’t affect blood sugar, but E2 sure seems too.
I still get compliments that I look more muscular. I try to hide it sometimes by wearing baggy shirts. Some people are shocked by the change to my physique but I’m happy for it. It’s still weird to freak people out a little though. Some people have asked me if I’m on “roids.” I work out hard, so I don’t like that some folks think it’s just drugs. It’s close to a year since I started this journey and it has been worth it all. Thanks everyone for the help. I hope this helps someone else.
Next stop: finding a doctor that I can be honest with and who will listen to me.
Great to hear. If you’re feeling good now, wait until you get your E2 in the mid 20’s! I feel like shit at 37. You will also amplify the muscle gaining power of T as your E2 drops into the optimal range. Just try not to overshoot that mark. Low E2 sucks also.
This is how I deal with blood tests that might show T levels that are too high.
My insurance company will not cover TRT if T levels exceed 800 ng/dL. My doctor is OK with somewhat higher T levels, but wants free T within range. A T level of 800 will put my free T level a little above the top of the range.
When I have a blood test coming up, all I do is half the amount of T that I inject for about 2 weeks before the blood test aiming for a T of about 600. I am pretty good with numbers so I can usually get it close.
I normally run higher T levels than most people, typically about 1000 to 1100 measured just before next injection. No adverse effects that I can detect. Hematocrit, lipids, and libido are good. The positive effects are stronger, more muscular, leaner, more energy and stamina.
KSman,
I’m a little confused by that. Since my dose was 0.55 mg (24 drops) per week. Is “a factor of 37.5/22” (by my math, that’s 1.70) an increase to 0.55*1.7? That looks like 0.94 mg per week. I was only going to go to 0.75 per week, so I might change plans based on your advice now. Please let me know if I got it straight.
For future reference, what is the basis for that formula, sir?
Thank you.
Many have found that dose adjustment method works very well. You will not find this in medical or research publications. It stems from the fact that this is a competitive drug, competitive to T at aromatase reaction sites. Double the dose, double serum concentrations and you double the competition and T–>E2 production rate falls by a half. Its very linear. My theory and worked for me [and my doc likes it too].
If you increase T dose, change anastrozole dose by the same factor. You can stack both changes and correction factors and get a good result.
Firedog, your story sounds a lot like mine, but I’m now onto Pellets because I could never get my numbers stable. My blood pressure has gone up as well and my E2 is either way too high or way too low. The doctors just can’t help me find a good balance. We tried Anastrozole, HCG, bi-weekly shots and now pellets. Here’s to hoping. I have no sex drive, can’t lose weight to save my life, incredible mood lows, incredible anxiety, no drive except through willpower and so much more.
I’m close to giving up on everything. I’m just done. So glad something in the same position found answers…Cheers to you mate!
I’ve been moody, aggressive, and irritable for the last few days. I even had one bout of insomnia, which is unheard of for me. Nothing has changed with my meds. I restarted creatine this week, but I don’t think that has anything to do with it. I’m planning to get my E2 rechecked. Maybe it has been slowly getting lower? I still have morning wood, so I don’t think it’s high again.
I have been doing the Female Panel with PrivateMD Labs, but I just noticed that it doesn’t say “Sensitive E2” for that panel. There’s more expensive panel that says it’s for sensitive E2. Can I keep doing the cheaper Female Panel, or am I not getting useful numbers with that?
Just a little update: A couple months ago, I crashed my E2 on 0.75mg Arimidex weekly. I got E2 tested, and at E2=18, I’m apparently an angry crazy person. I held off Adex for a month and then started back on my old dose of 0.5 mg Adex. That got me straight, but it was a miserable week or two!
After that, I was stable on 150 mg T weekly with a TT of 800 and E2 at 30, and I felt good. So a few weeks ago, I decided to push my luck and get my T bumped up to 200 mg weekly. I heard so many guys say that they feel better closer to the top of the range (1200). After all, 775 is only 50th percentile, right?
Within a couple weeks, I was emotional, very anxious, had trouble staying asleep. My BP was 180/100. I took extra lisinopril the last couple days and took 1/4 mg extra Adex, and dropped back down to 150 mg T. I’m feeling better now.
Do you think that it’s not worth keeping TT at the top of the range? I know a lot of guys do it and rave about it. Maybe I just got high E2 from not increasing my Adex. I’m going to hold at 150mg T to get through Christmas as a normal person.
Does anyone have advice on running TT near 1200 and feeling good?
I didn’t feel any better with TT/FT above range. I did gain weight, but I feel best with everything in range. I have this philosophy (which is my own), that my body runs good on lower hormone levels. I really didn’t have terrible symptoms before TRT, mostly low energy and brain fog. I have IBS so suspected gut problems, and went in for a colonostomy. It was my ass doctor that said maybe I had low T. After being on TRT and experimenting to dial in, I came to the conclusion my low energy and brain fog symptoms were probably because of low E2 (10), and less because my TT was 270. I concluded that because I have the same symptoms when TT is 1000, and E2 is crashed. Just food for thought.