Oh wow, I have a question for you.
What were your levels?
Would you go back to age 19 and start TRT earlier?
Why or why not?
My story is a little more complicated than a simple answer would explain, but in short:
When I first got tested at 19 my TT came in at 250. My primary doc assured me that my levels were fine as I was in the "reference range" (fucking joke). Decided to get a second opinion from an endo who retested; levels were around 400 and trusted the doc when he said I have nothing to worry about.
Fast forward a year later: noticed I hadn't had any sort of erection or even life in that region for well over a month. Contacted and endo, test came back at 300. Started on injections @100mg every two weeks. Started feeling even worse symptom wise than prior to treatment shortly after beginning this regimen. Tried to contact doc, found out she was on medical leave, but her associate increased me to 200mg/week. Felt great aside from the hot flashes, but I had this constant dull pain in my testicles as they continued to atrophy. Knew I needed HCG; couldn't get it prescribed.
Sought out another endo; they "never had heard of" HCG being implemented in a trt protocol, nor of anybody having testicular pain associated with the inevitable testicular atrophy. I then met with a urologist, extremely desperate due to this literally debilitating testicular pain. He advised me to try clomid (already knew I was secondary hypo). Took clomid @ 50mg/day for nearly 3 months. Felt like complete shit the whole time (testicular pain went away as I resumed producing my own test). Had absolutely no energy, no libido; literally felt the same as before I first began any sort of trt.
I then got tested after having been on clomid for 3 months, was astonished to find out my test level was close to 800. Came off clomid to see if my natty levels improved (I know now that the 3 months was far longer than needed for a HPTA restart attempt). Natty TT level was then in the low 300s. Resumed testosterone injections, but my doc would only prescribe 100mg every TWO weeks even though my levels were previously tested at 100mg every week and was 174. Not to mention the doc refused to prescribe any HCG unless it was monotherapy. Thought I'd by myself some time from such a terrible protocol by getting the test script and then "changing my mind" and "reverting to" the HCG monotherapy. Began 125mg test/week w/ 500 iu HCG/week (both split in two doses).
Back to doctor shopping. After two months of self administering this trt protocol I got in to see another endo (which I'm currently seeing). Was the only doc I've seen since I began this journey that had a semi open mind and was willing to listen/work with me. Being well versed in proper trt protocols, I presented my case in short (yes, shorter than what I've typed here lol) and told him I'd like to start a protocol of ~125mg test/week with 250 iu HCG twice/week. He actually listened to what I said and my reasoning, and admitted to not having read up on the most recent protocols/research. Sent him a study about HCG administered alongside test to preserve fertility, which he said he'd read.
Currently waiting to start any sort of trt regimen with this doc. Not very confident that the initial protocol he proposes will be suitable, but I'm willing to bear with him in the meantime until my bloodwork persuades him to alter my protocol to something I can maintain long term.
So to answer your question: knowing what I know now, yes, I do wish I could go back to age 19 and start TRT. It sure has been a (unpleasant) roller coaster, but I did learn a lot over the course of the last year and a half. The main thing I hope you get from my story is that you should exclude all other options before starting trt, because it's difficult going back and trying other stuff after you start (especially psychologically since you'll feel much, much better on trt).
Good luck bro. You really do have to learn your shit, because if you blindly follow the advice of an ignorant/uneducated endo (the first three I saw) you could easily be in a worse position than when you started.
