Trying to Dial in Numbers

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
1

Trying to go off the format requested in the ‘Advice for New Guys’ post

  • Age: 35
  • Height: 5’11
  • Waist: 34.5
  • Weight: 205
  • Body hair: Maybe an average male. Patch of hair on chest, regular hair on arms/legs. No back hair. Can grow a fairly full beard. Hair on head is full, no recession to the hairline.
  • Fat is carried in lower abs, love handles, upper thighs, glutes

I’ve been self-dosing since 11/2017, with labs before I started and two labs since then.

I usually run fairly lean, around 10% bodyfat, but I’ve been eating a slight caloric excess since last summer in an effort to put on some weight. So my bodyfat is a little higher right now, estimated 12-14% which I’m comfortable with since I can get lean pretty quickly and easily.

Current diet is usually 5 meals per day, high protein, pretty high carb, low to moderate fat. I try to get some staples every day or most days, e.g. wild blueberries, a few servings of broccoli or cauliflower, some spinach.

Supplement wise I take a multi, probiotic, fish oil, vitamin D3, and turmeric extract. About 6 weeks ago I cut out all caffeine as I used to have a real problem with it.

Training wise I go to the gym 5x per week about 75-90 minutes, training most bodyparts 2x per week. I’ve been doing sports and weights most of my life. I used to compete in Olympic weightlifting and did some crossfit back in the day. But I’ve managed to accumulate a fair number of injuries over the years, so I do more bodybuilding type training now. Usually some heavy compound movement and then some more isolation / pump work. I don’t do cardio usually unless I’m trying to lean out, but I tend to walk at least a couple miles per day between taking walking breaks at work and walking with the wife and dogs at home.

Morning wood and nocturnal erections have definitely increased in frequency. I don’t like to wake up early, but my work hours have me waking at 5:15 am. I usually try to get to sleep around 9-9:30 pm, so I get adequate sleep but am still fairly tired as the week goes on. The nocturnal erections seem to roughly track the tiredness levels I am experiencing.

Will post labs and injection protocols in follow up posts.

2

I am reading your tiredness as low energy. So no surprise when I ask for your history of using iodized salt and for you to post your oral body temperatures. If not using iodized salt the whole family can be affected.

Please read the stickies found here: About the T Replacement Category - #2 by KSman

  • advice for new guys - need more info about you
  • things that damage your hormones
  • protocol for injections
  • finding a TRT doc

Evaluate your overall thyroid function by checking oral body temperatures as per the thyroid basics sticky. Thyroid hormone fT3 is what gets the job done and it regulates mitochondrial activity, the source of ATP which is the universal currency of cellular energy. This is part of the body’s temperature control loop. This can get messed up if you are iodine deficient. In many countries, you need to be using iodized salt. Other countries add iodine to dairy or bread.

KSman is simply a regular member on this site. Nothing more other than highly active.

I can be a bit abrupt in my replies and recommendations. I have a lot of ground to cover as this forum has become much more active in the last two years. I can’t follow threads that go deep over time. You need to respond to all of my points and requests as soon as possible before you fall off of my radar. The worse problems are guys who ignore issues re thyroid, body temperatures, history of iodized salt. Please do not piss people off saying that lab results are normal, we need lab number and ranges.

The value that you get out of this process and forum depends on your effort and performance. The bulk of your learning is reading/studying the suggested stickies.

3

I get all of my blood work done through LabCorp, so I’ll post these reference ranges and they are the same for subsequent lab results.

  • Testosterone, Free+Total LC/MS: 264 - 916 ng/dL
  • Free Testosterone (Direct): 8.7 - 25.1 pg/mL
  • LH: 1.7-8.6 mIU/mL
  • FSH: 1.5-12.4 mIU/mL
  • Estradiol: 7.6-42.6 pg/mL
4

KSman,

Thanks for the reply. I will work on getting the temperatures for the thyroid thing. I should clarify re: fatigue that I meant I get more tired as the week goes on due to waking up early, work stress, etc. But on the weekends I’ve been feeling pretty good since cutting out caffeine. I do tend to sleep closer to 9 hours without an alarm on the weekends though.

Also for iodine, I think my wife gets some sort of sea salt from Trader Joe’s, but I do get 150 mcg (100% Daily Value according to the bottle) of iodine from my multi, which is Synergy 3000 from Vitacost.

I have a delay in posting these replies, so I’ll try to get my protocol plus first few labs up in the next little while.

5

Initial Labs 10/25/17

Total Test: 591.6
Free Test: 10.4
LH: 6.3
FSH: 3.7
E2: 38.2

I do shallow IM injections with a 29g 1/2 inch insulin pin, rotating through thighs and delts. I do the HCG pins SQ into belly fat using the 29g 1/2 inch pins as well. Arimidex is oral - they are 1mg tabs with a perforation to be able to split into 0.5 mg halves.

Starting Protocol 1
75 mg Test Cyp E3D
250 iu HCG EOD
1mg Arimidex split into .5mg doses 2x / week

Labs from 12/29/2017
Total Test: 1514.1
Free Test: 33.5
LH: 0.1
FSH: < 0.2
E2: 20.8

I saw the total test was way too high, so lowered the dosage. Also from reading some of KSMan’s posts, I thought I was supposed to be taking HCG as a bridge to the next shot, so I adjusted to E3D with HCG as well, just the day before my testosterone shot.

Revised Protocol 2
62.5 mg Test Cyp E3D
300 iu HCG E3D [Day before test shot]
1mg Arimidex split into .5mg doses 2x / week

Labs from 04/05/18
Total Test: 1385
Free Test: 20.2
LH: 0.1
FSH: < 0.2
E2: 16.5

I inject E3D for test, so I get the labs done the day before (and before I inject HCG, which is at night).

I’m thinking of lowering my test dose and decreasing the frequency of Arimidex to hopefully get my E2 up.

This is the protocol I was thinking of trying.

50 mg Test Cyp 2x per week - Sunday morning and Wednesday evening.
250 iu HCG EOD
0.5 mg Arimidex E5D

Thanks for any advice and let me know if there is info besides the thyroid / temperature data that are required.