Questions from testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) Newbie

Lawman

New member
Questions from TRT Newbie

Hello Mates,

I was recently diagnosed with secondary hypogonadism in February (Total T = 185 in Feb; SHBG 18.8). I am 33 yrs old. I inject 100mg of Test E once a week. Fortunately, my doctor is also on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) and is into bodybuilding, so he has a good understanding of TRT. However, some of my questions are:

1. Do I need an estradiol test? After reading information on the web about this, I posed the question to my doc (whom I really like) and he said that estradiol test is not an accurate indicator of where your levels are because it changes throughout the day. I see many on this site discussing e2 levels, and to my knowledge, this test has never been done on me. I also asked my Doc about an Aromatase inhibitor (AI), and he said that if I started showing signs of gyno, then we could talk about that.

2. After being on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) for a couple weeks, I started feeling really depressed - Lethargic, no ambition, tired, sad, and hated my life. My doc surmised that it might be due to sleep apnea, which I have just been diagnosed with. However, I noticed on the Test E side effects that depression can occur. Does anyone have any experience with this? Could this be related to rising e2 levels?

3. Doc said that my SHBG is also low. However, I'm not sure what the consequences of Low SHBG are. Doc made it sound like its not really a bad thing at all. Does this mean that the testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) won't do much for me? So far, I 've been on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) for about 9 weeks now.

4. Other side effects that I've experienced were weight gain and bloating. I gained about 10 lbs in a week. Mostly water I'm sure, but I was 181 lbs before starting testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) and now I'm plateau'd at 191. However, I've also put on some muscle. Anything I can do about the bloating?

5. I've read where many of you split your weekly dose into two doses. For me, this would be 50mg every 3.5 days. Would this alleviate some of my side effects? What are the pros of doing this?

Thank you all for your input !
 
I can answer a few, but not all of your questions.
answer to question #1: yes, I would definitely get my estrogen levels checked. There are many different types of Estrogen tests, but the one you need to get is called "Estradiol Sensitive". It is always wise to know if you are too low, too high, or right where you need to be.

answer to question #5: I think you are fine injecting once a week. Anything higher than 100mg/week I would recommend splitting it up. I currently do 100mg every 5 days.
 
With the bloating it sure sounds like your E2 might be too high....on 100mg per week usually a guy might not need an Aromatase inhibitor (AI) but you might be one that is a high convertor of test to E.

Pinning more frequently would help keep E2 lower so I would pin every 3.5 days since you might have an E2 problem.

I'd test your E2 and your TT, you should have done that 6 weeks after you started TRT.

It's nice that your doc is on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), that should help but it sounds like you can improve him.

Are you using any HCG?

What is the lab range for your SHBG? 18.8 doesn't sound that low.
 
A range I saw in the USA for SHBG was 16.5-55.9 .....if it's the same on your lab then 18.8 should be fine.

I've heard that with guys that have low SHBG do better with more frequent injections and that some guys are injecting test eod....I can see where some would get tired of injecting that often though, you'll just have to find what works for you.

I wouldn't be surprised if your E2 is high and maybe your TT is too low.
 
you might have high E, but typically on 100mg a week it isnt an issue. But to gain 10lbs in week seems like more than just doing testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) to me. There are some natural ways to combat bloating such as drinking more water, or there is a salt water flush I think you can do.

Once week is fine. Some say twice a week but if your going to be on this forever in the long run one shot is going to be less time consuming, and mean less scar tissue.
 
Thanks for your responses so far everyone. The scale for my SHBG was 13.0 to 71.0. No, I am not prescribed HCG. My doc said that if I was having difficulty having anymore kids then we could go that route. Furthermore, I haven't noticed any significant shrinking in the boys either, so I am not sure if I need it. But I am still learning and could be wrong.

I was thinking that since I inject on Friday mornings, that it is usually Monday and Tuesday that I feel like garbage (depressed, lethargic, no motivation). Is it possible that after my 100mg injection, that my T spikes causing my E2 to also spike resulting in the negative side effects? Does anyone know the symptoms of high E2 levels aside from gyno?

If I did decide to inject every 3.5 days, how would I go about that timing wise? Since I inject on Friday mornings, should I wait until my next injection on Friday and do 50mgs and then do another 50mgs on Tuesday? Or should I just go ahead and do 50mg today and another 50mg on Friday?

Also, if I did inject twice a week, how does that effect T levels? I am assuming that things would be more level. For instance, my last blood work showed that my TT levels were 291 on the day I was scheduled to take my next injection. My Doc said this was good for the last day of my weekly cycle... seems low to me though b/c he also said initially that a guy my age should be running a minimum of 500ng/dl. Thanks again fellas.
 
Thanks for your responses so far everyone. The scale for my SHBG was 13.0 to 71.0. No, I am not prescribed HCG. My doc said that if I was having difficulty having anymore kids then we could go that route. Furthermore, I haven't noticed any significant shrinking in the boys either, so I am not sure if I need it. But I am still learning and could be wrong.

I was thinking that since I inject on Friday mornings, that it is usually Monday and Tuesday that I feel like garbage (depressed, lethargic, no motivation). Is it possible that after my 100mg injection, that my T spikes causing my E2 to also spike resulting in the negative side effects? Does anyone know the symptoms of high E2 levels aside from gyno?

If I did decide to inject every 3.5 days, how would I go about that timing wise? Since I inject on Friday mornings, should I wait until my next injection on Friday and do 50mgs and then do another 50mgs on Tuesday? Or should I just go ahead and do 50mg today and another 50mg on Friday?

Also, if I did inject twice a week, how does that effect T levels? I am assuming that things would be more level. For instance, my last blood work showed that my TT levels were 291 on the day I was scheduled to take my next injection. My Doc said this was good for the last day of my weekly cycle... seems low to me though b/c he also said initially that a guy my age should be running a minimum of 500ng/dl. Thanks again fellas.



In theory if you split it, your potentially keeping more of a straight line on your t levels. Some swear by it, and it can be legit. personally I dont do it and am fine. I started at 7 days initially and felt like crap on day 6, so now I do day 6 and am fine. As far as scheduling if you take this route I wouldnt be so worried about taking on friday dont matter what. Also I wouldnt worry about switching over to a new schedule so much, you want to do the best thing but if you over lap by a day or go a day late, its not going to hurt you. If you were to do twice week I would tuesday morning and friday morning, or monday morning and thursday morning.
 
Some guys just feel better with HCG but it's an individual thing.

It almost sounds that you could pin every 5 days if you wanted. About 70mg should work if you try that.

If you do every 3.5 days you could do like Tue. morn and Fri. eve and you could start today if you wanted and just be a little late on today's pin...it doesn't need to be precise.

High and low E2 often have the same symptoms but if your nips are swollen and itchy it would be best to hurry up and check your E2 level...it's best not to take an Aromatase inhibitor (AI) until blood work says the E2 is high because guys seem prone to crashing the E2 too low and then feeling horrible because we need some E2 to feel alright.

I'd want more than 291 TT at my trough, at least 500 if not 700 would be better imo.
 
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