Estradiol came in at 36, doc prescribed arimidex, I think it might be too much.

[thegreenpander]

Sorry in advance if this is too long of a read or is hard to understand, but I'm feeling pretty crappy right now and delirious.

Currently on 100mg test cyp a week split into two doses a week. At an appointment with my endo I told him I was having symptoms of ED. He couldn't figure out what the problem was at that appointment because a few days before my bloodwork was due I messed up my inject schedule, forgot to get syringes, anyway, my total T came back at about 240 because of the irregularity in my injections. I know that's my fault, that doesn't normally happen but I've been especially busy lately. I asked him if he thought the ED could be from estradiol and he said that it's a very good possibility, so he told me to get my injections on point and go get bloods in a month and he would figure out what it was then, gave me a months supply of cialis to hold me over for the next month until he could figure out what was going on.

Anyway, bloods came back, I didn't go in for a visit, they just called me and told me that my estradiol was at 36 and 40 is the top of the range, but he wants to get me into the mid 20s so he prescribed .5mg of arimidex twice a week. It's been about a week and a half since I started taking it I've been very fatigued all day. I'm currently trying to write a research paper for one of my college classes and my mind is so foggy I can't even concentrate. I've also still got mild ED. When I was on the cialis I would get wood in the middle of the night so bad it would wake me up and every morning I would have wood. I'm of the cialis now, don't get wood at night, and if I do get wood in the morning it's weak. Also, starting yesterday, i've been feeling really warm. I don't know if this is related to the adex. After doing some reading I was thinking that either the dosage was too high or taking it twice a week was causing too big of a fluctuation, so I started taking .25mg eod. So far I have taken for the first week .5mg twice, and then 3 days after the last dose I took .25mg, skipped a day, and .25mg again. The last dose was last night.


Estradiol: 36
Test level was not discussed in the last phone call with my doctor but my main concern is the estradiol, but I will call him next week to find out.
Testosterone: 50mg 2x a week
Arimidex: prescribed .5mg 2x a week, switched to .25mg eod.
21 years old
190 pounds
16% bodyfat

Honestly I'm thinking about not worrying about the estradiol at all since 36 isn't that high and just getting him to write me a script for cialis. The only thing I'm worried about is the price. Everything I've seen on the internet says it's about $10 a pill. Can anyone confirm this? I have cigna insurance.

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this and to anyone who responds.

I know this is a long read and might be hard to understand, but I'm feeling pretty crappy right now, probably due to low estradiol.


EDIT: To clarify on mild ED, aside from what I mentioned about wood at night and in the morning, I've also got no desire to have sex. I CAN get it up with stimulation, but other than that it's not likely.

 

[halfwit]

I'm curious what your TT is. Yes, that's WAY too much adex for your dose, which I suspect is also too low. Cialis is a great drug, but at 21, I really think your problem lies in the T:E side of things.

I'd tweak that test dose and see if getting you to the upper third of the range doesn't fix your problem. 0.25mg E3.5D is where I'd put the AI, if even at that.

My .02c

 

[Megatron28]

I didn't read the whole thing, but you are taking way too much arimidex. You have crashed your estradiol.

Estradiol of 36pg/ml is actually a pretty good number. Do you know if the Regular or Sensitive Estradiol assay was performed. The regular one is often overstated as it is not that accurate. If so, your 36 was likely actually 10-20 points lower than that.

Given your protocol twice weekly injections and body fat% I find it hard to believe that you actually need an Aromatase Inhibitor

On a different note, read the following thread. It has a link to the Basic TRT Overview thread. That will help you understand estradiol better.

http://www.steroidology.com/forum/a.../675497-ology-frequently-asked-questions.html

 

[thegreenpander]

That's what I was thinking. Thing is, he had me on a dermal testosterone called fortesta which worked great, had my TT around 1000, but after the 6 month discount card he gave me ran out, even with insurance it was about $130 a month so I had to get on the injections.

I'm not sure my endo would be willing to increase my test dose, though. It has crossed my mind that it would be easy to get away with increasing my test dose, as I have 5 refills of the 2000mg/10ml vials, which at 100mg a week is about 2.3 years, so I doub't he'd notice if I started taking twice as much and asked for a refill once a year, but I wasn't sure if that's something they check before rewriting a script. I've actually been meaning to ask about that here.

Thing is, I felt great on cialis, but I'll take your advice and switch to .25mg E3.5D and see how I feel.

Thanks for the help.

 

[thegreenpander]

I didn't read the whole thing, but you are taking way too much arimidex. You have crashed your estradiol.

Estradiol of 36pg/ml is actually a pretty good number. Do you know if the Regular or Sensitive Estradiol assay was performed. The regular one is often overstated as it is not that accurate. If so, your 36 was likely actually 10-20 points lower than that.

Given your protocol twice weekly injections and body fat% I find it hard to believe that you actually need an Aromatase Inhibitor

On a different note, read the following thread. It has a link to the Basic TRT Overview thread. That will help you understand estradiol better.

http://www.steroidology.com/forum/a.../675497-ology-frequently-asked-questions.html

Then perhaps the ED is caused by my test still being low? I went over the TRT overview when I first started TRT but I probably do need to go over it again and I don't think I've red the frequently asked questions yet, so I'll check that one out too. But if I up the test dose, I may need the .25mg E3.5D, but I'll figure it out then.

Thanks for the help. It seems like every time I browse 'ology you two are always on here helping people out.

EDIT: I'm going to look into this more, but I've been doing sub-q injections. Could that have anything to do with it? I've heard it affects absorption rates, but would it affect TT level?

 

[halfwit]

100mg/wk put me around 400ng/dL, which did not alleviate my symptoms at all. It wasn't until I explained to my doctor that I was still feeling like shit and wanted to go higher - that I found relief. Yes, ED problems can most definitely be caused by having too low of testosterone.

Subq just slows the release a little as there aren't nearly as many blood vessels in that region to carry the depot to the rest of the body as quickly. However, all things being equal, it will arrive to the same destination - value wise in time.