Hey everyone,
I’m a 36 Y/O male, I’ve been on trt for the last couple of years, starting July 2016. My current protocol is 125mg test-e/week injected IM once a week (I have tried injecting half the amount E3D but noticed no real differences) and aromasin 12.5mg at the time of injection. This protocol has worked wonders for sexual health mostly, I haven’t noticed many other improvements. I have been on finasteride 1mg/day for hairloss for a bit longer, probably 3 and a half years, with no subjective side effects.
6 months ago my wife and I decided we wanted to have kids. No luck so far. Being on trt I knew what was the possible cause of course, so I went to have a fertility test and I came back as azoospermic, which means I’m literally shooting blanks. This came as an obvious downer, but an expected one. Having kids has become a priority for me now and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to recover fertility. I have not used hCG before since I did not get it prescribed by my doctor, who proved to be pretty useless in the long run.
After lots of investigation I have come to conflicting conclusions. Some places recommend not quitting trt and adding hCG/nolvadex swap. Some recommend going through HPTA restart using hCG and after a couple of weeks after the last test-e injection, start using nolvadex alongside aromasin for the whole duration of HPTA restart and afterwards. To be on the safe side I suppose quitting trt and doing a full HPTA restart would be my best bet. I have already started using hCG 250 iu EOD a week ago.
I have 2 concerns: what would be best for fertility? quitting trt altogether or keep on it but doing the hCG+nolvadex swap (and aromasin 12.5mg EOD), or just stopping and hope for a good restart? for the record, I have noticed very little reduction in testicle size during trt.
The other concern: finasteride. there are not many official reports around, but there is enough evidence that suggests it is really bad for sperm quality. Should I quit it while I change (or stop) the trt protocol or wait for bloodtests to keep the many variables as controlled as possible?
Thanks a lot for any input. I’ll keep the post updated, I want to get blood tests done next week to see if hCG is working or not.