Past due question on labs.

[gruntwerk]

I have a few questions on labs that need to be completed, I am 30 and have been on TRT for 11 weeks now.

Test dose is 100mg a week of test-e, 500iu hcg and .5mg arimidex all split between 2 days as per normal.

This provides me a TT of 736 and I'm still trying to dial e2 in (I crashed myself with adex).

My questions are about labs I need done, I've been reading the TRT book written by Cambell and the other one from Crisler, as well as talking to halfwit a lot. They've brought up a few things I have not had done yet.

Just to make it clear I am currently treating myself and have taken all the steps thus far to keep myself healthy of course with CBC labs and donations, wellness labs etc. Have not had a H/H issue yet with donating E56D, in fact I was 48% HCT right before my last donation, then I did labs 2 weeks later (standard wellness GP labs) and HCT had dropped to 40% and hemoglobin actually went anemic at 12.7 or so, I know it will come back up but point being so far so good.

I am getting ready to have this all legalized the start of August as my normal doc is finally back to work and willing to start me on a shitty protocol but I will be able to make it work thanks to the help of halfwit and supplementing the dose from home, either way it gets me legal.

The labs I speak about above are prolactin, DHEA, SHGB and DHT, they're all mentioned on here and in both books. I will hopefully be able to get the doc to run them but if not I will run them on my own. The doc I am seeing is on a lost beyond the ages protocol so it will be a temp thing until I find a better doc in my area, or if I have too I will bite the bullet and pay the full cost of IMT.

Other then the mentioned labs am I missing anything else I should run in lab work? Thyroid is still a bit funky with high TSH and normal T3 and T4 so I will likely have to see the endo on that soon but I want to get my TRT legal prior to that so I don't have to deal with the whiplash there.

Really no questions on TRT its self as I'm long beyond that thanks to the ology, just trying to find out every lab I should have ran. I read in one of the books if your TT is below 150 then prolactin test is a must, which I was 149. I will say so far TRT has changed my life for the absolute better and I would never give up T at this point, which is why I'm set on getting legal.

 

[daleb]

Prolactin has to be tested at least once. Mine bounces around 15 to 25 pg/ng. ED comes and goes. Fatigue comes and goes. B6 seems to help a little bit.

TSH is part of the thyroid picture. Free T4 and Free T3 have to be up into the 3/4 quintile of the lab range. Some people have normal TSH but low T4 and/or T3. The best treatment for Thyroid issues is Natural Dessicated Thyroid. It can be purchased on Amaz0n. Some people NDT doesnt work, but it usually means they have other things going on, ie cortisol and liver issues.

The important thing to remember is that doctors are fine for the most part handing out scrpts for test, but they dont have any experience with hCG and an AI like Arimidex, which is fine but asking them about hCG and Arimidex will make them nervous, so dont. The Test prescription is the most important thing. Dont do anything to jeopardize it. hCG and an AI is easy enough to find online.

 

[Megatron28]

Read the Basic TRT Overview sticky. I talk about blood work in there.

 

[gruntwerk]

Read the Basic TRT Overview sticky. I talk about blood work in there.

I have but thanks anyway man, was more curious on anything extra that should be done besides the standard stuff, or maybe anything else I can ask to be ran on my thyroid to get a better picture of what's up there?

The initial labs and doc visit to the VA determined I am primary, but at that time my doc there was an asshole and refused to give me test because of my drug abuse history. I felt that was unfair and I fought it with the VA administration and did not win, they sided with the doc.

Since then my doc at the VA retired and I received a new doc (well actually a PA) that is really well rounded in endo work, she actually spent 15 years in the endocrinology department within the Buffalo VA. I'm hoping with her there that they will finally start to get to the bottom of it and she is on top of her work. I perused a private civilian doc on the outside that my family uses after the VA told me no, she had went out on emergency leave for surgery so everything was held up. Now that she's back she offered to out me on a protocol but it;s a bad one, some how she and her office believes only one shot every 4 weeks of test cyp is needed, so 200mg every 4 weeks.... OUCH. I showed her the books and she says she gets it but her hands are tied and she cannot do anything different other then LESS test, she is the NP.

So what I am going to do after talking to halfwit about it is take the once a week shot from them and then do the other 3 weeks from home, I will ask her just to do 100mg a week this way it keeps it simple, but if I have to accept the 200mg I would do the 200mg, then 50mg the following week, and then 75-100 and 75-100. halfwit said that should keep things steady enough until I find a better doc, ultimately I just need the docs order for any amount of test so I have a legal treatment set. She already knows what I'm doing and is cool about it, willing to check my CBC and stuff more than normal but I know this will eventually back fire so her giving me any amount of test of paper is a good thing for both of us, hopefully she will just mark it down for 100mg to start off so I can keep the current protocol.

From there I would go back to the new VA doc and show her I have legal test so I can get rest of my labs done, obviously if she is thorough she will mark down FSH and LH and I did not want her to see that suppressed with a 736 test level. Hopefully then she can set me up with a more proper current TRT plan and get all the meds thru the VA. For the VA my meds are free as well as any visit or any testing no matter what as I'm 100% service connected for disability. With my civilian insurance I have a crazy co-pay and no RX coverage, so hopefully with this new doctor at the VA she will give me a chance.

Sorry for all the extra information, figured I would just put it out there if someone actually wants to read it all.... if not then cool too.

 

[gruntwerk]

Prolactin has to be tested at least once. Mine bounces around 15 to 25 pg/ng. ED comes and goes. Fatigue comes and goes. B6 seems to help a little bit.

TSH is part of the thyroid picture. Free T4 and Free T3 have to be up into the 3/4 quintile of the lab range. Some people have normal TSH but low T4 and/or T3. The best treatment for Thyroid issues is Natural Dessicated Thyroid. It can be purchased on Amaz0n. Some people NDT doesnt work, but it usually means they have other things going on, ie cortisol and liver issues.

The important thing to remember is that doctors are fine for the most part handing out scrpts for test, but they dont have any experience with hCG and an AI like Arimidex, which is fine but asking them about hCG and Arimidex will make them nervous, so dont. The Test prescription is the most important thing. Dont do anything to jeopardize it. hCG and an AI is easy enough to find online.

Thanks for the information.

I will check out that supplement and see what it's about, I am thinking I should get reverse T3 labs too.

I'm not going to poke around much about he HCG and arimidex questions with the doc, planning on just leaving that part to myself unless the next doc is really progressive and into using that stuff. That stuff is cheap and easy to get like you said, the test script is really the biggest thing. I will continue to do my own labs for E2 and control my own AI.

 

[gruntwerk]

Also wanted to ask is there a best time for prolactin labs? For instance, natural test is early as soon as you get up. What's the best timing for prolactin?

Also is SHGB or DHT timing specific? I am going to set the test up to have done myself in just under 2 weeks.

 

[IMT staff]

No I would not worry about timing. TT is actually pretty stable when natural, and now that you are synthetic that all goes out the window.

The key is to make sure you test your trough.

 

[IMT staff]

Tell your doc I said what she is doing is dangerous, that for 2 weeks of every month your TT levels are going to drop below 350 ng/dl when this happens she opens you up to increased risk of aggressive prostate cancer and increased risk of CAD.

What she is doing is careless.