Had my first TRT Injection yesterday. Will be keeping a journal here.

[TRTnooby]

Background if you haven't read any of my previous posts:
38, in decent shape, used to be able to train 4-5 days a week (Martal Arts), have only been able to do 3 for the past 6 months. Lots of little injuries that take forever to heal, no energy, cardio went to shit. Put on about 15 lbs in the past year. Tendency to feel depressed for no reason.

Got my Test checked, it was 144TT 3.7FT and 294TT 6.2FT, my doctor prescribed 100mg/week TEST E. I got a big bag of syringes when I filled the script and I'm self injecting so i decided to break it up into 50mg every 3.5 days. I've read so many stories of people doing better on that than once a week and the injections don't bother me so why not.

Doc was resistant to prescribing HCG if I'm not trying to have kids, so I'll wait and see about that. If I feel the boys start shrinking I'll make him, or I'll get it myself.

Going for Blood Work in 4 weeks.

I feel fucking great today. Hooray for the placebo effect!

 

[3J]

yea i felt the same way my first week.. i had a burst of energy

 

[TRTnooby]

2nd Injection this morning. Feeling good. Will continue. Have to talk to endo, the blood work script he sent me to be done next month didn't include Estradiol test.

 

[Alpin]

2nd Injection this morning. Feeling good. Will continue. Have to talk to endo, the blood work script he sent me to be done next month didn't include Estradiol test.

They usually exclude that. Thats a tell tale sign of TRT knowledge. If they don't test it...
The chances are really likely you are being treated by the wrong individual.

 

[TRTnooby]

Yeah, he's definitely not my first choice, but the 2 local HRT clinics aren't in network and he is. Thankfully he's open to listening to what I want so far. He wanted me to do the gel, I wanted injections and he agreed. I mentioned testing estradiol and managing it if it was high, and he got nervous that I was just manipulate him for gear. When he heard I only wanted to inject 100mg a week he relaxed a lot. Probably just forgot to put Estradiol on the blood work. If he won't test it than I'll be on the hunt for another doctor to treat me.

Idk if this is just placebo effect or not, but in less than a week I have a ton more energy, have not felt nearly as beat up after working out and my libido is noticeably higher.

 

[Madhaya]

NOOBY <> Are you hesitant to do your own blood work privately because of the cost? PrivateMD labs is around $50 for a basic panel.

 

[TRTnooby]

NOOBY <> Are you hesitant to do your own blood work privately because of the cost? PrivateMD labs is around $50 for a basic panel.

I live in a state they aren't allowed to do business in unfortunately.

 

[Madhaya]

That sucks.

 

[Alpin]

Let us know what your TT levels are on this protocol.
Get them tested a month in. You can go 50 mg E3D as well if the two time a week shots are mediocre.

 

[Captain America]

I started a little sooner, but almost the same protocol, only I'm on test C. It will be interesting to see how our results differ. I'm sticking with the once a week for now. I'll be taking my 4th dose Wednesday morning and getting my blood test next Wednesday. My TT was 308.

Is your doc shooting for a number? Mine wants me in the 500-700 TT range. (trough)

 

[Alpin]

I started a little sooner, but almost the same protocol, only I'm on test C. It will be interesting to see how our results differ. I'm sticking with the once a week for now. I'll be taking my 4th dose Wednesday morning and getting my blood test next Wednesday. My TT was 308.

Is your doc shooting for a number? Mine wants me in the 500-700 TT range. (trough)

Get us peak levels too and post it in the TRT forum again (48 hours from shot).

 

[Captain America]

Get us peak levels too and post it in the TRT forum again (48 hours from shot).

I wish I could, but I just started a new job and already asked for time off for my schedules bloods on next Wednesday. I wont be able to get time off this week. I could do it Friday, but it would be after 3pm.

 

[Alpin]

I wish I could, but I just started a new job and already asked for time off for my schedules bloods on next Wednesday. I wont be able to get time off this week. I could do it Friday, but it would be after 3pm.

If T is injected time doesn't matter. Just stay within the time parameter of 48 hours or 2 days from T shot.

 

[TRTnooby]

Let us know what your TT levels are on this protocol.
Get them tested a month in. You can go 50 mg E3D as well if the two time a week shots are mediocre.

I will for sure. Going the first week in October for blood work. that will be exactly 4 weeks in.

Had an interesting phone call when I asked my endo to test my Estradiol yesterday. He called a the end of a long day and was in a bad mood. He started to tell me he'll check it this time but its not something he's willing to keep checking. His tone was really paternalistic and confrontational which was out of character for him. I told him that was fine I would find another doctor, as I'm not interested in that kind of relationship with a provider. Then he got really defensive and started backing up. I think it is a combination of him being wary of me trying to get him to prescribe stuff for me to run a cycle, and also a bit of ego at the fact that I've done more research on this topic than he has. I asked his nurse and the overwhelming majority of his practice are Diabetes and Thyroid patients. Likely all he does for his TRT patients is follow the old guidelines and hasn't given it much thought beyond that. Doctors don't like to be challenged about why they do things, and I'm very direct in the way I tell people things, so we're bound to but heads sometimes.

He kept falling back on the fact that the Endo Society doesn't recommend monitoring Estradiol in TRT patients, and that since I don't have any symptoms of high estradiol he doesn't think that is the cause of my low T. I resisted the urge to tell him the Endo Society are a bunch of idiots that are out of their depth in this case, and calmly explained that I'm not looking to establish a cause, just monitor it. Whenever you introduce exogenous T there is going to be an increase in E2 because there is more T available to aromatize. I also assured him that I'm not a drug seeker, and one of the reasons I want to monitor it is that if it starts to rise I can try supplements to keep it in range first. After I said that he was silent for a moment and then said, ok well that makes sense, and this will be interesting to see because he's never monitored E2 in a patient on TRT before, and that he was sorry for reacting with the tone he did. I like this doctor, he's a hardass who's going to keep me in check, but he's willing to hear me out when I call him on his doctor bullshit tendency to act like he knows everything and all patients are stupid. He even said to me at the end that I know more about TRT treatment than 99.99% of his patients he treats for Low T and that will take some getting used to for him. I just have to be careful not to be too arrogant about it.

I started a little sooner, but almost the same protocol, only I'm on test C. It will be interesting to see how our results differ. I'm sticking with the once a week for now. I'll be taking my 4th dose Wednesday morning and getting my blood test next Wednesday. My TT was 308.

Is your doc shooting for a number? Mine wants me in the 500-700 TT range. (trough)

We don't have a specific range. I'm going by how I feel mainly. I really don't want to take any more medicine than I need to so if I feel good on 50 2x a week and my E2 doesn't go to high an thats all I need to take that would be great. If I could use private labs I would get both peak and trough tested, but since I have to go through my insurance I can only do one. I'm doing shots Sunday morning and Wednesday Night, so I'll probably get the bloods done Wednesday Morning.

 

[TRTnooby]

3rd Shot Last night. Couldn't get to sleep as easily as I usually do, took me about an hour, wound up taking a melatonin. Usually I'm out when the head hits the pillow. Could have been many factors though, I had a 2 hour BJJ session that started an hour later than usual so I could have been wound up from that. Will keep an eye on it though. I need 8 hours every night!

Keep checking my balls for shrinkage since I'm not on HCG. I'd prefer as little medicines as possible, but I don't think I can handle that. We'll see. Too early for there to have been much if its going to happen.

 

[Jimstigator]

Haha - like it or not, the balls will shrink. Its not a maybe thing. I checked mine daily for a month or two, then stopped. After about 4 months, well, they were WAY smaller. Some seem to shrink more than others, but everyone shrinks to a degree. Plus - fertility suffers which I am sure you are aware. I have been paying for semen analysis every two months and there was an extreme drop after starting TRT.

Pre TRT I was about 10-15x over the standard semen count, as in excellent. After 4 months on, no HCG, I was borderline low.

-Jim

 

[TRTnooby]

Haha - like it or not, the balls will shrink. Its not a maybe thing. I checked mine daily for a month or two, then stopped. After about 4 months, well, they were WAY smaller. Some seem to shrink more than others, but everyone shrinks to a degree. Plus - fertility suffers which I am sure you are aware. I have been paying for semen analysis every two months and there was an extreme drop after starting TRT.

Pre TRT I was about 10-15x over the standard semen count, as in excellent. After 4 months on, no HCG, I was borderline low.

-Jim

The low sperm count is fine by me. I don't want any more kids and my wife is hoping for an oops, so anything that lowers the chances of that is A ok in my book

I just don't want little tiny balls lol. Some shrinkage is no big deal, just not too much.

 

[TRTnooby]

I've had 2 nights of insomnia since starting TRT. Last night and last Thursday night. Took me hours to fall asleep, usually I'm out when my head hits the pillow. Anyone else have this?

 

[swilk]

3rd Shot Last night. Couldn't get to sleep as easily as I usually do, took me about an hour, wound up taking a melatonin. Usually I'm out when the head hits the pillow. Could have been many factors though, I had a 2 hour BJJ session that started an hour later than usual so I could have been wound up from that. Will keep an eye on it though. I need 8 hours every night!

Keep checking my balls for shrinkage since I'm not on HCG. I'd prefer as little medicines as possible, but I don't think I can handle that. We'll see. Too early for there to have been much if its going to happen.

They will shrink ... no doubt. The question will be can you handle it when they do.

I added HCG to my protocol after the first 8 weeks and used it for the next 12 weeks. I have since stopped using it. My boys are shrinking again but I think I can live with it. If I were a single guy I would more than likely use HCG ..... first impressions with the ladies and all that jazz.

 

[TRTnooby]

They will shrink ... no doubt. The question will be can you handle it when they do.

I added HCG to my protocol after the first 8 weeks and used it for the next 12 weeks. I have since stopped using it. My boys are shrinking again but I think I can live with it. If I were a single guy I would more than likely use HCG ..... first impressions with the ladies and all that jazz.

Yeah, 2 weeks in its not bothering me that much. I don't care about the look of it, not single so doesn't really matter, I've just heard of people having pain from it, so far so good on that.