How long should you wait to see if protocol changes are working?

[bshank]

This seems like something you should be able to google easily but either I'm coming up blank....

TL;DR version:
When you start tweaking your protocol is standard wait time to see if your changes are making a difference? That's the general question below is one more specifically related to my case.

TL version
I've been on TRT since July with the following protocol:

• 200mg of test cyp once a week
• some HCG dosage I don't recall twice a week
• 1mg of AI twice a week.

Despite the higher AI dose when I did my peak blood test two months in and my Test was 1466 and my E2 came back at 21.7. Not bad and I was certainly feeling better and had libido again and zero acne.

The past month or so I have been getting a lot of acne on my back and shoulders and a loner zit popping up on my tricep area. I've also noticed that my libido has been dwindling slowly. It's still there as opposed to pre-TRT where it was non-existant but I would probably be fine with making whoopy once every 2 weeks these days and I don't find myself admiring(leering) the lady folk as much as I did a few weeks ago. From what I read low libido and acne can be a sign of E2 going too low as wlel as E2 going too high. Certainly with my AI dosage we can say that my E2 is not too high but getting too low is certainly possible. I've lost a lot of fat since I've started so I think my aromasation(sp?) has probably decreased.

What I want to try to do is cut my AI dosage in half and see how I feel. My big questions is how long should I wait to see if this has any affect?

I'm not so worried about my blood test numbers at this point but more of how it makes me feel. Once I feel good I want to get a blood test so I can try to determine my 'happy range'

 

[novaman]

Amazing!! I was logging on here to ask the exact same question. I've been on 100 mg Test Cyp 1x per week for a month now. My new doc added Hcg and its been a week and a half.
Adding the Hcg madfe a definite difference. Libido has improved but having sex 4 times in a single week has left me lethargic, brain dead and foggy. Recovery seems to be fairly quick though. I'm wondering if upping to 200 mg per week will help eliminate this.

 

[bshank]

Libido has improved but having sex 4 times in a single week has left me lethargic, brain dead and foggy.

You son of a bitch.

 

[Megatron28]

A general rule of thumb I use is to give changes 3-6 weeks to see what effect they have. In reality the type of change you make affects the time though. Changing Test Cyp dosages for example take longer to play out. Test Prop would play out a lot faster but most guys on TRT don't use it.

Changes in AI abs hCG dosages manifest themselves on the faster side. But for example, it is a lot easier and faster to reduce estradiol than it is to raise it.

If you want to be sure changes have had time to be fully incorporated, I have always found that waiting 6 weeks works well.

 

[Megatron28]

If you have the Regular Estradiol Assay done, it sounds like your E2 is too low.

I would recommend injecting 100mg twice a week and try taking .25mg of arimidex with each injection.

 

[bshank]

If you have the Regular Estradiol Assay done, it sounds like your E2 is too low.

I would recommend injecting 100mg twice a week and try taking .25mg of arimidex with each injection.

Thanks for both your replies. I know I should switch to twice a week test for best results but I am using that as a last resort since I really dislike the IM injections heh. I'll keep it in the bag of tricks if I can't fix things with adjusting AI dosing.

 

[jozifp103]

it's very difficult to find a protocol that never needs adjustment. Your ai dose may feel fine for a while, but likely your e2 is sloooowly rising or dropping to a point where you need to readjust to get back on track. So far in the short time i've been on trt (lost track, somewhere around a year or so) i've had to adjust twice. I was on .25mg 2X a week. felt fine for months. bloodwork showed my e2 at 28 (20-40). then i could feel a slight increase in e2 and bloodwork confirmed it was at 60. So i went on .5mg 2X a week for 3 weeks and got it back down to 20. Then 4 months later i was back up to 50 lol.