Hey everyone. I am relatively new to the forum so if I am posting in the wrong spot please forgive me. I have been on TRT since March 2013. Male, 33, low libido, poor mood, tired. etc etc
As of the labs being posted below, I was on Test Cyp 170mg/week injections.
I do the shot once a week. The bloodwork was taken the morning I would normally do my
shot but drawn BEFORE I took my shot. That being said, these numbers are the lowest they would be during the week. The Dr. has lowered my dosage to 150mg/week but he also says he
does not treat E2. He says that number is fine and he has seen higher than that and it’s not
an issue.
I felt great when I first Started TRT… more energy… clarity of thought… started to have goals again and most importantly, libido! I would say after a month or two this slowly went away and I started to feel the same as before TRT if not worse. I am guessing it would be because E2 is so high where I am seeing guys post that optimal levels should be between 20-30 but different for every guy. I am most likely going to order Anastrozole from Purity Solutions as an AI. Since this is not a pill and I believe it is drops to be taken orally, does anyone have any advice or experience on what dosage to start with? Any and all input is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Probably around 28 drops per ml for that product, check if you can somehow. If so, then 8 drops EOD will be 1mg/week. Try that and expect to have some good effects in 7-10 days. You can do E2 labs in 3 weeks then adjust dose as per stickies. At 150mg/week we would expect that you would need 1.5mg/week. If you feel good at 1mg/week, you can try 1.5mg/week and see if that feels better and you might try that before the labs.
However, it can take a few weeks for your brain to adjusts to the lower E2 levels as many processes are involved and your brain patterns will also shift and it takes a while to reach an end point. I guess the key observation would be if you increased the dose and then felt that things were not as good, it that happens and you need to revert to the prior dose, stop anastrozole for 5-6 days then resume at the lower dose.
Most of what you need can only be obtained by more reading and study. Please read the advice for new guys sticky. There is an estradiol sticky as well, and for finding a new doc if needed. Also note the protocol for injections sticky.
Your experience with lost gains is typical. Lowering E2 should be transformational. As your brain patterns are changing, it would be helpful to have a positive attitude and that may be engrained into the final product.
Please post more info as per the advice for new guys sticky, perhaps we can find the cause of your low T.
Thank you for the quick response. In regards to the Anastrozole, the web site says:
“Each bottle contains 30ml solution at 1 milligram (mg) per milliliter (mL) - in etOH/ Glycerin (Ethyl Alcohol and Glycerin). The total amount of Anastrozole per 30ml bottle is 30mg which is in solution and does not require to be shaken or stirred prior to administration.”
That being said, are you recommending 8 drops EOD to start? Maybe you can help me understand how what adds up to 1mg per week. I definitely understand the process of letting your body and your brain adjust. I wish there was a study to see how T and E affect serotonin and dopamine.
I will read the stickys you recommended and post back here to my specific case if I have any questions that pertain to me personally.
As for the cause of my low T, I believe it is hypogonadism. Here are my labs before TRT:
Obviously my LH and FSH are low resulting in low T and FT. Thats actually the highest I have ever seen my TT. Last time it was tested it came back as 290. I have mad multiple MRIs to check for a tumor in the pituitary gland. They found no tumor but mentioned the gland itself
is a little bit smaller than usual. One other fun fact to add to the equation is I have a total cholesterol level of 80 (0-199 mg/dl). The doc mentioned he believes it could be for genetic reasons and related to something called hypobetalypoproteinemia. I know T is synthesized from cholesterol at the top of the chain. I had all my fat soluble vitamins checked and I was low on vitamin D so I take 5000 iu daily. That about sums up where I am at between this post and the last. Hopefully the AI will get me feeling better.
Again thanks for the update. I have one more question for you. If right now I am on 140mg Cyp per week (once every seven days), would changing this protocol to 100mg every 5 days be more beneficial to the whole TRT experience? It is a lower does, but more frequent, so I would
assume it would keep the T levels more consistent rather than highs and lows.
Another question would be, in doing 100mg every 5 days, would this slow down the bodies desire to convert T into other things (DHT, Estrogen, etc). I have started taking liquid Adex in the recommended doses, but I just want to have the best TRT experience I can and not constantly be subjecting my body to high amounts of T then having it come down… then giving it another spike. I feel like that spike of T feeds into the conversion processes.
Try this:
50 mg T cyp twice a week
0.5 mg anastrozole at time of injection
This will reduce T–>E2 and provide steadier levels that should provide a better experience. Do labs after 4 weeks, labs done 1/2 way between injections. Increase T dose to get to 900-1000, if at 800, increase dose by 950/800. Calculate new anastrozole dose. If E2=28 and 22=target, new dose is 0.5mg x 28/22. Then alter that result by the same factor used to change T dose, so new dose might be 0.5 x 28/22 x 950/800
Injecting once a week creates T and E2 peaks and anastrozole cannot manage T levels that are changing so much. These issues are in the stickies and should not need to be explained here. So you may have missed a lot of other good info there.
[quote]testostersele wrote:
I have started taking liquid Adex in the recommended doses, but I just want to have the best TRT experience I can and not constantly be subjecting my body to high amounts of T then having it come down… then giving it another spike.
[/quote]
What is your opinion of purity? Have you done labs to verify estradiol level? I have been told if it’s liquid it’s most likely fake.
Lots of mixed reviews expressing under dosing of purity products: