New Member with a few Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) questions

[Husa]

New Member with a few HRT questions

Greetings everyone. Long time lurker, first time poster. Of all the sites out their, this one is absolutely top notch. Well done, I am learning everyday, and I thank you.

I am 43, 6ft and currently 180lbs. by a constant high protein/ no junkfood diet. I have been skinny all my life, as in painfully thin. As in high school graduation at 140lbs. and 150 thru probably late 30's.
I always have had huge fatigue issues and dizziness and lightheaded-ness all my life. Finally diagnosed at age 35 with some wacky heart rhythm and low pressure issues.
Anyway, a year ago I mentioned to my Internist about maybe my Test was low as I was showing all the signs.
Blood Test comes back at 200. Started the gel packs at 1 a day. Test comes back at 310. Did 2 gel packs a day- test comes back at 360. Started 200 Test-Enth injections e14days . After 2 months blood work shows 600 and I finally feel like a real human male - energy, morning wood, sex drive - WOW !
The problem is it didn't last - within a month or so you could feel things level out as expected as my natural Test shut down (I assume, anyway). Went on with this protocol for about 8 months and sliding backward and got my Dr to up it to 300 e14d. ! Also got set up with self-injection permission to save on the co-pays of nurse injections.

Now, here we are - I am a mechanic contractor and just got sent overseas for 6 months so I am going to miss my physical and blood work scheduled this month to see what's going on.
Got 2 vials of Test-C 2000 to carry me through 6 months until I get back. The bonus is the pharmacy kicked in a 3rd vial by accident.

Now to you experts in Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), with my rudimentary math it looks like I can do 300 every 10 days until I get back or even 300 every week for 5 months (and just go without any the last month) if I so desire.
Their is no temptation to go higher since the two 300 doses I have done so far have affected my heartrate since I am HYPER sensitive to adrenaline/epinephrine and for a few days after the 300 shots I am massively lightheaded and dizzy.
Should I add in HCG since giving self-injections doesn't bother me in order to bring the boys back into their natural production and give myself a bit of a natural Test kick? Their definitely has been shrinkage going on and they were working a little bit before HRT. I have been researching all of this about a year now, but I take tampering with my body very seriously and haven't wanted to experiment without more input .
Or maybe a bit of an Aromatase inhibitor (AI) , could high Estrogen be causing the lack of the wonderful initial Test boost I first was feeling?

Any thoughts you all might have for slight additional add-ons? I am seriously considering HCG.

I have been doing light workouts with freeweights the past few months and have been really pleased how quickly things have been tightened and firmed up at my age (very little previous workouts, but have always kept busy, and do not own video games or cable TV to turn me into a couch blob) so it is apparent that my body really likes the missing Test being administered.

Sorry for the long rant - I appreciate any and all commentary from this fantastic group of people.

 

[3J]

so you doc had you shooting every other week?? every 14 days?

 

[Spunkey71]

Welcome

I am still new to testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) but have learned from the wise Vets on this site as well as through other reseach that it is best to pin twice a week, so if you are pinning 300mg a week you would pin 150mg on Monday morning and 150mg on thursday evenings which will allow for more stable test levels.

 

[Lift-on]

Like 3J said 14 days?? I would go to once a week at minimal. The sad thing is that my boss just got put on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) and his doc has him on every 14 days. And hasn't checked his E or discussed the elevated blood levels or anything. The sad thing is that I know more than his doc.

For you question. I wouldn't go a month without ur test. U will regret it and may find it hard to get ur Portical back on track. First I would consider injecting more often. And you could just double up or increase ur test intell your extra bottle is gone. But like u minchened u may need an Aromatase inhibitor (AI) with the increase of test but that's hard to tell without blood work. You may want to take hcg but I would discuss it with your doctor and see if you could get a scrip.. I'm no expert but just trying to help. I'm sure the vets can help you out more. Good luck.

 

[Good.2.Go]

My opinion is that is a healthy amount of T to be taking without having any Aromatase inhibitor (AI). I would seriously reconsider until you had enough Aromatase inhibitor (AI) in hand.

 

[halfwit]

My opinion is that is a healthy amount of T to be taking without having any Aromatase inhibitor (AI). I would seriously reconsider until you had enough Aromatase inhibitor (AI) in hand.

Totally agree. Not only are you taking 150mg/wk, but it's all at ONCE - which causes a spike in estrogen. Have you had your estradiol checked recently? It's just as important, if not more important than your total testosterone. As mentioned above, switching to 2x a week injections (75mg Su and Th for example) will likely help you feel MUCH better on top of checking that estradiol. I would also have your hematocrit checked as testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) increases your red blood cell/platelet production astronomically. Many doctors are ignorant to this fact, and don't act until it's too late; necessitating therapeutic blood draws.

My .02c

 

[Husa]

Thanks for the input everyone.
Regarding the above questions -
I did the gels for 4 months then went to being pinned by the nurse e14d at 200. The first month or two it was as if I had been awakened from a deep coma; energy, allot of the mental fogginess lifted, ridiculous wood and drive like a teenager.
Then it quickly tapered off which I had expected to happen. Ran this for 8 months (200 e14d Test-Enth). Total Test running at 610 in the beginning when the positive effects could be felt.

Been telling my Dr. how quickly the effects had worn off, and eventually agreed to take me to 300 e14d; script is for Test-Cyp.
Immediately got a call to go out of country for my job for 6 months (Fak !) so here I am now. Had planned for full blood work this week back home, now have to delay that until I get back to the USA.

My math tells me I have enough to run 333mg e10d if I so desire since the extra vial was included (3 vials @ 2000mg).
But if this will be too high to cause possible chemistry issues then I am not going to push it.

My other concern was atrophy and very noticeable shrinkage. I got achiness and a dull pain in the jewels almost immediately from day 1 and it has not let up. Therein my thoughts on minimal Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) to bring back the McNuggets to normal and productive again. Been researching Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) for awhile now, still learning.

Thanks all for the input. - -
At the least I will start to break up the pinning more often at a lower dosage so things are not spiking. I think I may have enough pins on hand to do that.
Will this bring back some of the positive effects I experienced in the beginning, by theoretically lowering the estrogen levels?

Husa-berg

 

[Good.2.Go]

Thanks for the input everyone.
Regarding the above questions -
I did the gels for 4 months then went to being pinned by the nurse e14d at 200. The first month or two it was as if I had been awakened from a deep coma; energy, allot of the mental fogginess lifted, ridiculous wood and drive like a teenager.
Then it quickly tapered off which I had expected to happen. Ran this for 8 months (200 e14d Test-Enth). Total Test running at 610 in the beginning when the positive effects could be felt.

Been telling my Dr. how quickly the effects had worn off, and eventually agreed to take me to 300 e14d; script is for Test-Cyp.
Immediately got a call to go out of country for my job for 6 months (Fak !) so here I am now. Had planned for full blood work this week back home, now have to delay that until I get back to the USA.

My math tells me I have enough to run 333mg e10d if I so desire since the extra vial was included (3 vials @ 2000mg).
But if this will be too high to cause possible chemistry issues then I am not going to push it.

My other concern was atrophy and very noticeable shrinkage. I got achiness and a dull pain in the jewels almost immediately from day 1 and it has not let up. Therein my thoughts on minimal Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) to bring back the McNuggets to normal and productive again. Been researching Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) for awhile now, still learning.

Thanks all for the input. - -
At the least I will start to break up the pinning more often at a lower dosage so things are not spiking. I think I may have enough pins on hand to do that.
Will this bring back some of the positive effects I experienced in the beginning, by theoretically lowering the estrogen levels?

Husa-berg

Husa- It's not necessarily the more the better mentality. You simply must get dialed in & it can take some time to find the sweet spot. You can take 750 ng/dl & feel like crap. Think of it as a recipe, you can't simply add a large quantity of flour or cinnamon & expect it to taste better. It's finding the right amount of all the necessary ingredients to get the results your looking for. Also some feel better at certain ranges ie....Some guys feel better if there E2 is on the higher side & some on the lower side. I like a higher ratio of Peanut butter vs jelly on my sandwich...someone else likes the opposite. Trying to dial in without blood work is a guessing game. Slow down don't get into a rush, read these forums backwards & forwards & save certain topics to your favorites where you can refer back to them. If you have any doubt that you simply cant resist experimenting with the amount of T. DO NOT attempt without having Aromatase inhibitor (AI) on hand. G2G