Ed was getting better, but then went back to square one.

[Baldur2630]

I was diagnosed with very low Free T, low Estradiol and high SHBG. The fool endocrinologist wouldn't prescribe me anything, but told me that he would give me a script privately for Sustanon, that I could buy on my own. I asked another doctor friend of mine who is retired and lives abroad, and he told me that I should get T Cyp or T Enanthate and forget about Sustanon. I found a reliable source of T cyp.

I started TRT on 16 October. Since then, I've been taking 200 mg per week in 2 injections of 100 mg each. So it's now been just over 7 weeks.

I'm 73, 6' 5" and weigh 230 lbs. I feel MUCH better. I go to the gym 4 days per week and do weight training. Since I started on the T, my lifts have gone up.

After 3 weeks my ED was better and I could get an erection of sorts, my libido was also better.

After a month, I thought that my nipples were a bit sensitive (it may have been my imagination) so I took 1x 1mg Arimidex. I took another one about 3 weeks ago. I took the last one because my ED was starting to come back, but it didn't help.

Although I still feel OK, no itchy nipples or anything like that, my ED is back to where it started, I'm sleeping very badly at night and my elbow joints are painful.

I'm not due for more Bloodwork until March.

Should I lower the T to 100 mg/ week, should I take anything else?

Anyone got any ideas?

 

[Mprtz]

Without more frequent bloodwork you are flying blind and you can't expect that to work out well on a 200mg/week dose.
1mg Arimidex is a lot to take at once, it's very possible that you drove your E2 down too low. The elbow joint pain certainly suggests that.

I don't know what the situation in Belgium is like, but you should see if you can get bloodwork earlier, even if you have to pay extra.

If you take arimidex, start with 0.25mg or 0.5mg per week and increase gradually if needed.

 

[Megatron28]

I agree with mprtz. If your blood work shows that your estradiol is high, try taking .25mg of arimidex with each injection.

 

[Baldur2630]

When they did blood in mid October my Estradiol was too low. For EVERYTHING to do with politics / medicine, Belgium is impossible. Home of the EU and all it's utterly insane directives. A few examples of Belgium : -

1. I have more computer qualications than I can count, but NONE of them are recognized here.
2. My wife is a qualified Accountant, but her qualifications aren't recognised here.
3. My friends wife is a qualified nurse from Poland, but her qualifications aren't recognised here.
4. I have another friend with a degree from the UK. It isn't recognised here.
5. To start a business you have to first deposit 18,000 Euros into a Bank Account.
6. You also need to take a mandatory 2 week Course to learn how to pay the myriad of taxes.
7. If you get a tax rebate it can take up to two years before you actually receive it.
8. Your VAT refunds can take up to 3 years.
9. Doctors are a waste of time, they have so many laws, but they boil down to f**k anyone over 65.
10 They want people to work until they are 70, but there are thousand of young people that can't get jobs and your chances of getting employed after you are 50 are ZERO.
11. My daughter has qualifications for Microsoft, Novell, Linux and Mac, but she can't get a job on computer work in ANY Govt dept, because "She doesn't fit the profile" What IS the profile? You need a degree from a Belgian university, so if you have a degree in Underwater Basket Weaving, you fit the frofile better than my daughter. Who cares what the degree is for!

Get a private blood analysis, yes, but it would cost me a months pension!

Basically, I'm lucky to even get a diagnosis, it took me over a year to get that and even then I have to pay for the treatment myself.

 

[Mprtz]

Wow, didn't realize that Belgium was that difficult, though I can sympathize and there are reasons that I left Europe many years ago and do not intend to live there again.

I don't have any personal experience, but maybe you could order a saliva home test like ZRT? TestMyHormones.com - Saliva Hormone Test and Home Test Kits - Hormone Levels For Hormone Imbalance
It looks like they will ship internationally.

Might be better than nothing, but I don't have enough experience with the test to know if the accuracy is worth the price.

 

[Mprtz]

At 200mg/week you are very likely going to have to do something to control your hematocrit levels. My hct rose pretty significantly in the first few months of TRT... I started donating about 4 months in and my hct was already about 53.

All else being equal, a lower dose will make it easier to control the side effects. If you have no access to bloodwork, it would be more conservative to start at a lower dose (maybe 100mg/week) and see how you feel. Then make small adjustments, varying only one element at a time. If you feel an itch and respond by taking 1mg of adex, you are going to be overcorrecting.

 

[Baldur2630]

OK, I think it's pretty sound advice under the circumstances. I'm dropping it down to 50mg twice per week. I'll stay away from the Arimidex.

I got some HGH a few days ago (and yes, it's genuine). I'm not sure if I should start taking it now or when my ED improves again. What effect will that have on my hormones, bearing my age and activity in mind?

 

[Mprtz]

I have no personal experience with HGH... I do notice that on TRT my IGF levels are already pretty good - top of range for someone 20 years younger than I am.

From what I understand it's expensive, and I have to wonder if the resources are not better applied to getting on solid footing on the testosterone therapy.

Also, have you tried ED medications like cialis or viagra? Do they help you? I suppose using them could mask problems with your TRT protocol, on the other hand at 73 I don't imagine you really necessarily have to have a hormonal imbalance to have some ED.

EDIT: as some others have been doing, I should emphasize that I'm giving suggestions based on personal experience that should not be taken as medical advice.

 

[Baldur2630]

When I started the TRT and my ED was getting better, Cialis helped. Now I gone backwards, Cialis has no effect.

The strange thing is, that my grandfather and all his age group were randy old what names. Rum our has it that he fathered a child (to a married woman) when he was 87. Seems like hubby was away right through all the possible dates of conception, but my grandfather was a "good friend" to her.

It's probaly all the plastics and crap they put in, on and around our food these days. We have men in their 30s and 40s that have the same problems as I do.

Another strange thing is that I lived in Rhodesia (as it was) and then South Africa for 35 years and I was worse than my grandfather! The difference was, that then, I grew my own veg and we bought meat from neighboring farmers and help slaughter and cut it up, so we knew exactly what was in it!

It's soon after we came back to Europe that the ED and loss of libido started.

 

[bigben66]

I wouldn't advise you to run HGH unless you have got a minimum of 6 months worth...

Too expensive for little reward if you have any less than 6 months....

If I was in your shoes, at your age, I would focus 100% of my efforts on sorting out a TRT protocol that works for you... that involves estradiol management and dialling in a dose of T that works for you.... I'd also be topping this off with a low dose of Cialis, not only to help the ED, but also for it's blood pressure and prostate benefits too.

Good luck bro, as a fellow EU citizen, I feel your pain!

 

[Megatron28]

Save that money you are willing to spend on HGH and put it towards getting blood work. It sounds like you can afford the blood work.

 

[Alpin]

73, 230 lbs and 6'5" wow....
impressive.
How bout some blood work so we can see what your hormones are on this protocol.

 

[Baldur2630]

Best 1RM Bench 90 kgs, best seated military Press 65 kgs.

Next bloodwork March.

You can get genuine HGH at very reasonable prices. Ex doc friend of mine in SA is using it. Been on it for a couple of years.

 

[Alpin]

Best 1RM Bench 90 kgs, best seated military Press 65 kgs.

Next bloodwork March.

You can get genuine HGH at very reasonable prices. Ex doc friend of mine in SA is using it. Been on it for a couple of years.

No....
won't do for me. If you want input and advice for some constructive benefit then. ...
decide what you are going to do.

 

[Baldur2630]

I told you what I was going to do. Drop the T to 2 x 50 mg per week, and stay away from the Arimidex unless I get itchy or sensitive nipples.

I got some HGH - Somatropin for my wife to try, she already started. She wanted me to go along with her, but I told her that I first need to get my T under control and get rid of the ED. our ex-doctor friend suggested it. My Missus is also training with me. She used to be a ballet dancer in her youth and she can squat 145 kgs. She's been on the stuff for 2 weeks and she says she can already feel that its doing something.

 

[Gbrad]

When they did blood in mid October my Estradiol was too low. For EVERYTHING to do with politics / medicine, Belgium is impossible. Home of the EU and all it's utterly insane directives. A few examples of Belgium : -

1. I have more computer qualications than I can count, but NONE of them are recognized here.
2. My wife is a qualified Accountant, but her qualifications aren't recognised here.
3. My friends wife is a qualified nurse from Poland, but her qualifications aren't recognised here.
4. I have another friend with a degree from the UK. It isn't recognised here.
5. To start a business you have to first deposit 18,000 Euros into a Bank Account.
6. You also need to take a mandatory 2 week Course to learn how to pay the myriad of taxes.
7. If you get a tax rebate it can take up to two years before you actually receive it.
8. Your VAT refunds can take up to 3 years.
9. Doctors are a waste of time, they have so many laws, but they boil down to f**k anyone over 65.
10 They want people to work until they are 70, but there are thousand of young people that can't get jobs and your chances of getting employed after you are 50 are ZERO.
11. My daughter has qualifications for Microsoft, Novell, Linux and Mac, but she can't get a job on computer work in ANY Govt dept, because "She doesn't fit the profile" What IS the profile? You need a degree from a Belgian university, so if you have a degree in Underwater Basket Weaving, you fit the frofile better than my daughter. Who cares what the degree is for!

Get a private blood analysis, yes, but it would cost me a months pension!

Basically, I'm lucky to even get a diagnosis, it took me over a year to get that and even then I have to pay for the treatment myself.

If it were me, I'd probably be able to get throbbing erections within weeks of leaving that hellhole you describe as Belgium. What keeps you there? I must have missed that part.

Deo Vindice

 

[Baldur2630]

Well the UK, even without all the Belgium Bullshit is MUCH worse. Almost a million people are living from food banks. And cost, rents, houses are outside the reach of normal people. My UK Pension is 0.80 pence per week.

We speak English, Afrikaans & Dutch. At least Belgium gives me a pension. And at least we can afford to have a roof over our heads and buy food.

If I wasn't so old, I'd be heading for Russia. Looking at the way things are at this moment, America is going to burn in the not too distant future.

 

[Alpin]

I told you what I was going to do. Drop the T to 2 x 50 mg per week, and stay away from the Arimidex unless I get itchy or sensitive nipples.

I got some HGH - Somatropin for my wife to try, she already started. She wanted me to go along with her, but I told her that I first need to get my T under control and get rid of the ED. our ex-doctor friend suggested it. My Missus is also training with me. She used to be a ballet dancer in her youth and she can squat 145 kgs. She's been on the stuff for 2 weeks and she says she can already feel that its doing something.

What "stuff" is she on?

 

[Baldur2630]

Somatropin

 

[Gossamer]

Ed was getting better, but then went back to square one.

Ed,

I'm sorry you're not getting better. But hang in there, these guys here can help.