18 months on trt....ready to quit

[willnorthwest]

Hey guys...I have been on trt for a year and a half and I am ready to stop. I have had panic attacks and anxiety that i never had before (even when estradiol was in range), but the absolute worst part has been the cystic acne. It has gone from my back, to my chest, to my stomach, and now it is starting on my face. With the exception of my face, which has smaller pimple - like zits, my entire body is covered in painful cysts that swell and burst causing major pain and discomfort, not too mention horrible scarring. I have tried panoxyl and neutrogena with little to no success. The only thing that will stop it is cessation from testosterone. I have also had to increase my paxil dosage from 15 to 30 mg per day to stave off the panic and anxiety. All of these issues combine for a pretty meager existence.
I am meeting with my trt doctor next week to discuss my exit strategy. He is a fairly open - minded doctor who will listen to suggestions as far as customizing a treatment protocol
I would like some of the more experienced members of this forum to help me concoct a good protocol.
For almost the entire duration of my trt, i have been taking around 100mg/cyp per week(45mg e3d), hcg (around 500iu/week) , and adex(.25mg only as needed). For the past 3 months however, I have not taken any hcG.
Please help me come up with a detailed exit strategy. Please do not lecture me on why coming off trt would be a bad idea. I am aware of the possible pitfalls of stopping treatment. Thank you all in advance.
Sincerely,
Willnorthwest

 

[SolomonGrundy]

So no experience with topicals? just straight to Injections. Id try topicals else your quality of life will go back to what it was before, assuming it sucked and this is why you went to see a doctor

 

[willnorthwest]

Nope, never tried topicals. Not really interested. Looking for restart protocols only

 

[3J]

wow with such a low dosage its hard to believe you are reacting that bad.. what are your levels at 100mg a week?

 

[willnorthwest]

On just cyp alone, my t levels are around 600 the day after injection. When I was doing cyp and hcg, levels were around 800 the day after cyp inject.
I have had acne issues my whole life, especially my back, but trt has amplified the issue tremendously.

 

[SolomonGrundy]

how do you measure E2 levels? Estrogen is a more likely source of the acne. why dont you use the Aex the day after injections on a regular basis and have E2 measure with blood work

 

[Jimstigator]

On just cyp alone, my t levels are around 600 the day after injection. When I was doing cyp and hcg, levels were around 800 the day after cyp inject.
I have had acne issues my whole life, especially my back, but trt has amplified the issue tremendously.

I had zero acne on TRT alone for 4 months. Then I added low dose HCG (100iu a week) and broke out on my back immediately. Not to mention immediate gyno flare despite low E2 readings.

-Jim

 

[Megatron28]

Will,

You are going to have to run hCG for a while to restore testicle size and function. And then run Clomid to get your HPTA working again. But you most likely will just return to your original hypogonadal levels unless you stay on Clomid permanently.

 

[willnorthwest]

Jimstigator....I have been off hcG for 3 months now and my acne is still just as bad.

Mega....ok so i could use some help with an actual protocol. Should i continue with the 100 cyp and add hcG for awhile, or just stop taking the cyp and start the hcG? I want to be able to tell my doc a specific plan of action, like day 1-15, day15-30, so on and so on. I need a generic restart plan

 

[Megatron28]

Jimstigator....I have been off hcG for 3 months now and my acne is still just as bad.

Mega....ok so i could use some help with an actual protocol. Should i continue with the 100 cyp and add hcG for awhile, or just stop taking the cyp and start the hcG? I want to be able to tell my doc a specific plan of action, like day 1-15, day15-30, so on and so on. I need a generic restart plan

I think that is up to you depending on how quickly you want to stop doing injections. Staying on a low dose of test with the hCG would be less traumatic, bit it would extend the amount of time that you remain on TRT.

I would also give consideration to trying gels if you never have/ Some guys respond well.

 

[Alpin]

Jimstigator....I have been off hcG for 3 months now and my acne is still just as bad.

Mega....ok so i could use some help with an actual protocol. Should i continue with the 100 cyp and add hcG for awhile, or just stop taking the cyp and start the hcG? I want to be able to tell my doc a specific plan of action, like day 1-15, day15-30, so on and so on. I need a generic restart plan

If you had panic attacks and anxiety off TRT and everything was normal range I'd tread careful with clomid.
I noticed some insomnia and anxiety off it.

 

[Alpin]

Jimstigator....I have been off hcG for 3 months now and my acne is still just as bad.

Mega....ok so i could use some help with an actual protocol. Should i continue with the 100 cyp and add hcG for awhile, or just stop taking the cyp and start the hcG? I want to be able to tell my doc a specific plan of action, like day 1-15, day15-30, so on and so on. I need a generic restart plan

Run labs asap....
Estradiol and the works...

 

[Alpin]

On just cyp alone, my t levels are around 600 the day after injection. When I was doing cyp and hcg, levels were around 800 the day after cyp inject.
I have had acne issues my whole life, especially my back, but trt has amplified the issue tremendously.

You are sensitive to aromatization. ...
Thats why the acne and response to TRT I'm guessing.

 

[Alpin]

Sounds like your adrenals are off. Maybe no DHEA, high cortisol. You took out the HCG a while ago I remember that but then you disappeared from the board only to resurface today with bad news.
Plz keep us in the loop from here on out.
I hate when ppl do this.
It's like we are suppose to troubleshoot you when you took off on us when the problem was first appearing.

 

[halfwit]

Your test compounded or from a run of the mill pharmacy? Ethyl oleate is a common carrier used to reduce the amount of benzyl alcohol - to achieve a less painful injection. The problem with it is that many folks are allergic to it, which can cause a wide range of symptoms - including cystic acne.

I would look into that first, and make sure you're getting GSO based testosterone solution (or any other common oil carrier) .

As far as restart protocols go, it's a crap-shoot and you're probably best off going with Cashout's protocol that's here somewhere. I've heard of a few that did well that route at least.

Best of luck to you, I know it's not an easy choice to make.

My .02c

 

[willnorthwest]

Appolon....I never had anxiety or panic until AFTER I started trt. Anxiety and panic have not been bad lately though, probably due to increasing my paxil dosage from 15 to 30mg.

Halfwit....my cyp is made by Pfizer. I will check the label for all inhredients. I will also check cashout's protocol

 

[willnorthwest]

Sounds like your adrenals are off. Maybe no DHEA, high cortisol. You took out the HCG a while ago I remember that but then you disappeared from the board only to resurface today with bad news.
Plz keep us in the loop from here on out.
I hate when ppl do this.
It's like we are suppose to troubleshoot you when you took off on us when the problem was first appearing.

It hasn't gone bad lately for me. In fact, emotion wise, I have been doing much better. At the time, I was having bad anxiety, and I was advised by many people on this board to drop the hcG and the adex, which i did. My anxiety has been next to nil, and I haven't had a panic type episode in months. The reason why I took so much time away from the boards was because I was also advised to stay off the boards for awhile because I was obsessing too much about ways to stop the anxiety. It seems to have helped

 

[ceo]

Pfizer does not use EO.

What was your last estradiol level? And has that been consistently within range?

 

[willnorthwest]

Pfizer does not use EO.

What was your last estradiol level? And has that been consistently within range?

Estradiol was just checked a few days ago. It was 24.

 

[ceo]

Estradiol was just checked a few days ago. It was 24.

That's definitely in range.

So you stopped the HCG for several weeks and still had the acne, right?
What about the adex? Did you stop it to see if that may have been causing any of this?
Is it prescription or RC adex?