Please help me dial in my TRT

DialinTRT

New member
Hello all,

I have read the stickies and been reading the boards for a few months now and learned a lot. I feel I am ready to ask my questions and post my story for dialing in my TRT now without hopefully sounding like a complete dumbass :). Sorry for the big post as I will keep all of my information and reports in chronological order in this post.

Age - 42
Weight - 173
Gender - Male

I started feeling like crap about 5 years ago. I was working out 6 days a week, eating as perfect of a diet as I could. Counted macros, lots of supplements and all natural foods whenever possible. No matter what I did, I couldn't lose that last bit of fat and never achieved exposed abs. I literally walked around like a zombie is the best way to put it. I was/am not used to this. I graduated top of my class in college and engineering school and was so accustom to being a sharp thinker and quick problem solver. I had all but lost this feeling completely. Complete brain fog, slow responsiveness and just a complete feeling of horrible loss of hope, loss of libido, failed sexual performance, depressive feelings and had completely stopped wanting to grow in my life. This probably sounds familiar to many of you. I let it go this way for 2 more years before deciding to take some action.

I researched up and found that perhaps I had adrenal fatigue. I showed all the symptoms, had dark black circles and bags. Slept all day and night and nothing gave me energy back. I then found a clinic that could do some blood tests for me to see all of my hormone levels and deficiencies as well as Thyroid. Here are the results from that test:

View attachment 567696

View attachment 567697

After getting these results, I tried all the diets, gimmicks and everything else this doctors office told me to do with absolutely zero success. Interestingly at the time, the first words out of their mouths were "we do not do any hormone therapy here". I had no idea what that would later mean. If you hear that in your journey, let me suggest you that you run for another doctor immediately who will at least "consider it".

I lived like this for 3 more years and never found a solution. This takes us to 5 months ago. I had gotten so bad, that I was sure that I was going to die one day on the way to work driving. I had been promoted to an executive and now more than ever needed my mind. So back to the search and I found a doctor who specialized in things such as hormone therapy and longevity theories. He had all 5 star ratings but his office did tell me that unfortunately it would basically be a total "out of pocket experience". It's amazing how most anything that might actually help you get better is not covered by insurance but being sick is? Crazy, I made the appointment anyway.

On my first visit I spoke to the nurse practitioner and she told me after hearing all of my symptoms etc. that "you will be going on Testosterone Therapy, it's why nothing else is working. However, we will do some testing and try a few things before going down that route". We then did some blood tests and finger prick tests and seen I had some adrenal fatigue and some other immediately obvious things. The doctor then came behind her and they put me on a bunch of supplements and diet restrictions etc. They said, we will get your blood tests back in 3-4 days, review them and then have you come back in 1 month for a follow up to see if what we're doing is even helping. They said my next appointment is with the primary doctor, not the nurse.

1 month goes by and I am not noticing anything at all. Still feel like a lump of dogshit who has no desire to do anything with my life but sleep and couldn't get an erection to Mrs. Universe if she gave me my own 1 on 1 private session. I walk into the doctors office and he calls me in, asks me how I am doing and then begins to update me on my blood test results. Here are the results from my initial blood test 1 month prior:

(Sorry I have to post links to them because they are to large for the forum max file size)

https://1drv.ms/b/s!ArllkeHyiAJkg-NZUMgCFlTwLUXwlw

He then told me he wanted to adjust my supplements based on these results to up things like Vitamin D and many other things to see if he could naturally get things going again. Before I left he took another blood test to see what my numbers are today (exactly 1 month on his new supplement process). I then left with more diet restrictions and supplements and schedule an appointment for 5-6 weeks out.

5-6 weeks go by and still no change in my health or how I feel. I really was starting to feel hopeless about the process. I arrive at my appointment and the Dr. sits me down and already has information for TRT and HCG etc. on the counter. He basically said that none of the natural things are working and unfortunately TRT is going to be the way to go now. We talked about what numbers he is willing to allow me to go to and he said "it's different for each person". Some are ok with 400-600, some need more like 1000-1100. We will just raise you up slowly until we hit a spot where you become agitated easily or some other various symptoms, and then back you down to the dose you were at prior to that feeling. Sounded logical but I didn't know shit at that point and was willing to do anything. I also opted not to do the Gel because of my son and wife and skipped on the pellets. I wanted to do injections although I was kind of scared.

The doctor then ordered his nurse to give me my first shot in the office (.30ml Test Cyptionate 200mg/ml). This also served as my tutorial. The doctor then prescribed HCG .35ml 3 x weekly (M-W-F) and prescribed Test Cypionate 200mg/ml at .30ml per week, single injection. The Cypionate I received had Sesame Seed Oil. I did my injections on Thursday's since I was doing HCG on M-W-F. I chose my buttocks for my injections.

The next day after my shot in the doctors office I had the worst headache of my life. I thought my head would explode. I did some research and found out some people get these headaches with their first few shots because of the massive hormone change in your body. I let doctor know about this and he called me in for a speedy blood test. Here is the results for that one:

https://1drv.ms/b/s!ArllkeHyiAJkg-NYX4kS4uilRwisRQ

While awaiting the results I continued to log daily how I felt and any issues I was having. I could feel the incredible hulk coming alive inside of me even with this headache.
I had erections that lasted for hours and made me a beast for sex. This feeling wouldn't last though as it wore off after about 5-6 days. 3-4 days later the doctors office called me (it had now been 10 days since my first shot and god could I tell) and with the incredible headache I had, he absolutely gave it no concern and instead "increased" my dosage to .35ml. I went ahead and gave myself this shot and this time only got a very mild headache but had some great feelings from it. The brain fog, tiredness etc. seemed to be breaking up. My doctor told me to come see him in 6 weeks.

5 weeks later I went in for a blood draw so that I would have a fresh full panel test to discuss with them on my appointment in 1 week from then. Here are the results from that blood test and you can see my Test went way up. However, so did my E2.

https://1drv.ms/b/s!ArllkeHyiAJkg-NXPU7QsguOE16ILA

When I went in for my doctors appointment he sat me down and told me that my Testosterone went up and is high enough but he doesn't like my E2 scores. I told him that I haven't really felt any/much benefits from the therapy since the first 2 shots. It doesn't seem to be giving me the same effects and I still feel tired etc. I also got golfball/baseball size bumps that arose at every single one of my injection sites. It was painful/red/itchy and SUCKED.

He told me we are going to do a few things:

1. Drop your Testosterone (200mg/ml) to .30ml x 1 time per week instead of .35ml as well as changing to "Olive Oil" from "Sesame Seed Oil". Pharmacist told me "They don't recommend anyone taking Sesame Seed Oil. It's a highly allergic oil and they see this all the time. I had much better results from the Olive oil but it's expensive for less oil.
2. Drop the HCG Injections to .35ml x 2 times per week instead of 3 times per week.
3. Take anastrozole 1mg x 2 times per week. Take 1 pill on Tuesday with HCG and 1 on Friday with Testosterone Cypionate.
4. Take a new supplement called Estroblock Pro. Here is a link on Amazon of the product that has the nutritional label:

https://amazon.com/Estroblock-PRO-TRIPLE-STRENGTH-3-Carbinol/dp/B00O2SZZ56

He wanted to see me in 6 more weeks and so come back in 5 for a blood draw again so we can get a panel for the appointment. Here are those results:

https://1drv.ms/b/s!ArllkeHyiAJkg-NWRB-VKcytsEimqQ

Before I even got to the appointment they called me to say my blood was thick and I needed to donate and also that my tryglycerides and cholesterol had went up again and did I change my diet or am I eating a high Carb Diet?

They told me to stay on my current regiment and we will follow up in a few months which is my appointment on January 17th.

Now, with all of this information here and my studying the boards here I see a few problems.

1. It looks to me that the doctor got scared of my Estrogen and then crashed me? My numbers are so low the reports don't even measure and from what I read here, 1mg x 2 times per week plus a supplement for blocking estrogen is quite a lot per week. Do you agree with this? My current symptoms are extreme fatigue, anxiety and feeling sad/like crying like a wussy. My erections even fail during sex within 1-2 minutes even after 1-2 days after my shot.

2. It seems they completely missed my testosterone levels are now back to the 400 range which we already know I am a zombie anywhere near these numbers. They never raised me back up even after a call to them about it.

3. My tryglycerides and cholesterol are up again.

What affect do you think not exercising is having on this? I have not been able to workout for months due to absolutely zero energy. Do I need to force myself to workout even though I feel so horrible? I have been afraid to take any pre-workout caffeine etc. since starting this process due to affecting my adrenals and fatigue levels. Do you think it's safe to take caffeine again?

I am thinking of going to my January 17th appointment and recommending:

1. Increase my Testosterone to .20ml every 3.5 days. This will increase my test levels and reduce my E2 some from lower doses, more frequently. Correct? How do you feel about doing even 3 injections per week such as .15ml every 2 days? I read that some people burn it faster and also some people make more estrogen if they don't try to keep their daily doses of TRT somewhere slightly close to a "normal human response" of only getting a little each day versus a huge shot of it at once.

2. Reduce my anastrozole to no more than 1mg per week. Maybe do 2 x .5mg pills per week and DROP the estrogen blocking supplement he added to it. Sound right?

3. Donate blood this week then get myself on a donate every 60-90 days blood test dependent.

4. Start taking my blood panel tests on the morning/afternoon of the day of my shot consistently.

5. Aim my E2 for 20-30. If it ends up at say 40sh don't panic as slightly higher is better than the crash I might be at right now. Correct?

Thanks so much to anyone actually capable of reading this entire post and able to help me get to my optimal numbers but most importantly, to feel great again because it's been so many years!
 
Man this is really long, you will get so many more replies if you shorten it up.

40mg twice per week and 1mg anastrozole per week is too much anastrozole, usually.

Be careful donating blood too much you will get an iron deficiency

Take your blood test the day of your shot BUT BEFORE you do your shot.

On a non-sensitive e2 test anything below 50 is fine.
 
Great post. Lots of detail and very clear on what you were feeling and the course of actions you took. Should be a huge help to others in the same situation.

My input is going to broadly match what you have come up with yourself.

I would personally go to 2x per week injections, E3.5d. Your cypionate has a half life of 8 days, and half of a half life injection schedule will give you nice flat levels.

Definitely do your blood testing morning of that next shot. I do injections Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings, so Tuesday is a perfect day for any blood testing.

Your doc seems very conservative and cautious, with the couple months of supplements only and the low dosage of test he's going with. He seemed methodical, up until you mentioned the estrogen then he simultaneously dropped the test, dropped the HCG and hit you with a fucking sledge hammer with 2mg adex per week. That was an over the top knee jerk. He should have kept your test and HCG constant and had you add in 1/2 mg twice per week on your new 3.5d injection schedule. And even that might end up being too much. I would chuck the OTC estrogen supp. Check if it has DIM in it, I've had that crash me before when taken with other real meds.

I don't know what to say about the triglycerides and cholesterol. Make sure you are well fasted for your next blood test, like 12 hours works well. I'd want to see a multi month pattern on that before even being concerned, and also do the next point first.

Exercise, you asked if this is important. In my opinion it is beyond important. No matter how shite you feel you need to go exercise and get the blood pumping at least 3x per week. Otherwise you will fall apart physically and mentally, and drugs along won't help. This only gets worse beyond 42 years old, so snap out of this. Do HIIT, combined with new higher test levels it will transform you.

Yes donate blood, but as said be careful about doing it too much. If your blood tests include ferritin then keep an eye on it, don't let it get too low.

Your thoughts about 0.2mg 2x/wk = 80mg/wk test cyp is still a really low dose. I'm presently doing 100 mg/wk Test E plus 1,000 HCG (2x500IU), which is a low dose for this type forum where most people are jacked up on test. The 100/w plus 1,000/wk puts my test at about 675 morning of the next shot (3.5d split). I'm still jacking around with adex to find what is best, at the moment 0.1mg/day is working well for erections, libido, gym performance, etc. After a few more weeks I'll go get tested to get another data point. Just FYI another data point, prior to this I was on 200 mg/wk Test E plus 1,000 HCG and same 0.1mg adex per day and my E2 was in the upper 30's, too high. At my age should be in the low 20's.
 
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