Hey guys, I'm new to this forum so please bear with me. I'm in need of some experientially informed guidance, and I hope I've come to the right place! I'm considering going on TRT for a second time, and I need some advice. I apologize for the length of this post but I want to cover all my bases so that you guys can (hopefully) best help me out.
Basics: 21 y/o male, 5'9.5, 167 lbs, very fit/lean. No drinking, no drugs, healthy diet and ample exercise (resistance and cardiovascular).
Background: About this time last year (beginning of spring), I was dealing with crippling exhaustion (both physical and psychological, excessive sweating/hot-flashes, moderate depression, an absent libido etc. However, I had little trouble putting on muscle mass - my only issue is maintaining it. Anyway, I had a hunch that my testosterone was low so I asked my doctor to check it. I don't have all the labs in front of me so I can't provide every figure, but my total testosterone was 215. None of the other figures were out of the normal range, however the free testosterone number was quite near the low end of the range. My doctor put me on Androgel 1.0%, 6 pumps daily (6.25mg if I remember correctly?)
I noticed instant improvements, both psychologically and physically. Within a few weeks, my hot-flashes had largely subsided and I had returned to more normal energy levels. My body composition changed to some extent, which was a bonus. I was currently enrolled in a PT course with ROTC at my university, so that definitely compounded my results. Anyway, after about a month or two I started to experience some ups and downs in terms of my energy levels (and thus, most likely, my testosterone levels as well). I expected this because it's near impossible to match the release 'schedule' of endogenous testoerone. Either way, I was feeling much much better than I was before, and I was willing to put up with a few down days here and there; the results were worth it to me. The only thing which really persisted was my depression, but surely for other reasons as well.
The catch: Androgel is god-awfully expensive. I was (and am currently) without health insurance, and it was costing me 300-400 dollars a month. This was entirely unsustainable for me, so I asked my doctor about other alternative methods for TRT. He suggested shots, gave me one that day, and tested my levels again (it had been ~3 months since I began treatment). He called me back saying that my levels had returned to a healthy, normal range ~700, and that this meant that I didn't need treatment anymore. He discontinued my treatment and recommended I see a therapist for my depression. He discharged me as a patient and that was that. Absurd, right?
Anyway, I took measures to try to manage these symptoms which (unsurprisingly) began to come back after a while (though less severely). I looked into the actual causes of low testosterone, and made the decision to start supplementing with Zinc. I already had most of the other bases covered: I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't stress, I sleep well, I do resistance training, I get lots of sun and supplement with vitamin D, I take fish oil, I eat very healthily (including lots of fats). The zinc helped pretty considerably, and seemed to offset the peskier side effects of low T that I had been experiencing, whether or not it actually helped to raise it (via natural aromatase inhibition). Most of all, it combated my exhaustion.
Fast forward to now, and I decided to have my levels out of curiosity rechecked by an old physician of mine (not the asshole mentioned above) at my university's health center. I pursued retesting because I had since thinned out a good deal, and my libido had returned to nill. My results were unsurprising:
SHBG 29.1 (normal 11-80),
total testosterone 287 (normal 300-1080),
free testosterone, 2.1% (normal 1.6-2.9)
albumin 4.3 (normal 3.5-5.0)
estradiol E2 24 (not given range, I don't have this lab in front of me) - but within normal range (not elevated significantly).
This physician has agreed that it would be reasonable to resume TRT and she's willing to do so. I came to this forum to ask your guys' recommendations about the various forms of TRT and which you think might be best suited for me. In my experience, the shots were more prominently effective than the Androgel, but the brand-name gel was out of my price range. The only shot I had, however, made my my nuts atrophy to pre-teen size within 2 weeks.
So,
Naturally, these are questions I'll be asking my doctor when I see her next week, but I'd also value the input of those more subjectively experienced herein. I really appreciate any feedback from you guys. From what I've read, you guys are a supportive community and I feel that I've come to the right place. Please let me know if you guys have any questions for me, and I'd be happy to provide any and all information I can. I'm a biology student too, so please discuss this as scientifically as you wish
Cheers,
Lucas
Basics: 21 y/o male, 5'9.5, 167 lbs, very fit/lean. No drinking, no drugs, healthy diet and ample exercise (resistance and cardiovascular).
Background: About this time last year (beginning of spring), I was dealing with crippling exhaustion (both physical and psychological, excessive sweating/hot-flashes, moderate depression, an absent libido etc. However, I had little trouble putting on muscle mass - my only issue is maintaining it. Anyway, I had a hunch that my testosterone was low so I asked my doctor to check it. I don't have all the labs in front of me so I can't provide every figure, but my total testosterone was 215. None of the other figures were out of the normal range, however the free testosterone number was quite near the low end of the range. My doctor put me on Androgel 1.0%, 6 pumps daily (6.25mg if I remember correctly?)
I noticed instant improvements, both psychologically and physically. Within a few weeks, my hot-flashes had largely subsided and I had returned to more normal energy levels. My body composition changed to some extent, which was a bonus. I was currently enrolled in a PT course with ROTC at my university, so that definitely compounded my results. Anyway, after about a month or two I started to experience some ups and downs in terms of my energy levels (and thus, most likely, my testosterone levels as well). I expected this because it's near impossible to match the release 'schedule' of endogenous testoerone. Either way, I was feeling much much better than I was before, and I was willing to put up with a few down days here and there; the results were worth it to me. The only thing which really persisted was my depression, but surely for other reasons as well.
The catch: Androgel is god-awfully expensive. I was (and am currently) without health insurance, and it was costing me 300-400 dollars a month. This was entirely unsustainable for me, so I asked my doctor about other alternative methods for TRT. He suggested shots, gave me one that day, and tested my levels again (it had been ~3 months since I began treatment). He called me back saying that my levels had returned to a healthy, normal range ~700, and that this meant that I didn't need treatment anymore. He discontinued my treatment and recommended I see a therapist for my depression. He discharged me as a patient and that was that. Absurd, right?
Anyway, I took measures to try to manage these symptoms which (unsurprisingly) began to come back after a while (though less severely). I looked into the actual causes of low testosterone, and made the decision to start supplementing with Zinc. I already had most of the other bases covered: I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't stress, I sleep well, I do resistance training, I get lots of sun and supplement with vitamin D, I take fish oil, I eat very healthily (including lots of fats). The zinc helped pretty considerably, and seemed to offset the peskier side effects of low T that I had been experiencing, whether or not it actually helped to raise it (via natural aromatase inhibition). Most of all, it combated my exhaustion.
Fast forward to now, and I decided to have my levels out of curiosity rechecked by an old physician of mine (not the asshole mentioned above) at my university's health center. I pursued retesting because I had since thinned out a good deal, and my libido had returned to nill. My results were unsurprising:
SHBG 29.1 (normal 11-80),
total testosterone 287 (normal 300-1080),
free testosterone, 2.1% (normal 1.6-2.9)
albumin 4.3 (normal 3.5-5.0)
estradiol E2 24 (not given range, I don't have this lab in front of me) - but within normal range (not elevated significantly).
This physician has agreed that it would be reasonable to resume TRT and she's willing to do so. I came to this forum to ask your guys' recommendations about the various forms of TRT and which you think might be best suited for me. In my experience, the shots were more prominently effective than the Androgel, but the brand-name gel was out of my price range. The only shot I had, however, made my my nuts atrophy to pre-teen size within 2 weeks.
So,
- should I do shots?
- should I get a cream/gel compounded?
- should I try troches (sublingual form)? I'm especially curious about these.
- are there any other options you guys think I might want to try?
- will I need to 'cycle'?
- what might a cycle look like for someone on TRT for legitimate hypogonadism (i.e., not for bodybuilding purposes)?
- can I/will I need to account for testicular atrophy (HCG)?
Naturally, these are questions I'll be asking my doctor when I see her next week, but I'd also value the input of those more subjectively experienced herein. I really appreciate any feedback from you guys. From what I've read, you guys are a supportive community and I feel that I've come to the right place. Please let me know if you guys have any questions for me, and I'd be happy to provide any and all information I can. I'm a biology student too, so please discuss this as scientifically as you wish
Cheers,
Lucas