Swimmerman
New member
Hi everyone, first timer here, hoping for some advice:
In February of 2010, I went down the path of TRT. At the time, I had lowish testosterone (roughly 330 or so) and was battling years of low grade anxiety and depression and thought testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) may be part of a solution. Also at the time, I was 34, and was told by the life extension doctor I was seeing that taking hCG along with my testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) would keep my (already lowish) sperm count in tact (already low in this case translates to 10 million per mL).
For a time, this was true. My sperm counts did go down, but in April of last year (2011) I still had about 1 million per mL and my wife and I went through an unsuccessful IVF cycle.
In December of this past year, a routine semen analysis showed that I was completely azoospermatic. I believe the report said there were a few twitching on the slide (gross, lol).
So, my assumptions are this was because I was LH/FSH suppressed, more specifically FSH suppressed.
My protocol during the 1.5 years or so of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) was 100mg per week test enanthate, 0.25mg arimidex (sometimes less) for e2 control, and 400iu hCG for the duration.
When I found out I was azoospermatic, I ceased test injections and remained on hCG and adex for 6 weeks. At the 6 week mark, I stopped all meds.
3 weeks following cessation of all meds, I had blood work done that showed the following:
estradiol - 20 or so
total test - 210
LH - 3
FSH - 5
So my second assumption is that my pituitary has kicked back online and is sending its signals as it should, and that my testicles are the last part of the equation to "wake up", though the best I can hope for is to return to pre-TRT numbers, and not anything further.
Which is fine - my primary, and only goal here, is to resume sperm production enough to freeze a few million for future IVF cycles.
I realize a SERM may speed things along, but at this point my post cycle therapy (pct) (lack therof) is what I describe above.
It's been 3 months since exo test injections, and 1.5 month since hCG/adex.
Does anyone have any advice or thoughts as to when I could possibly expect sperm production again, based on the information I have provided?
I have bloodwork out the arse if anyone feels it's appropriate. It may be worth stating that the first stage of my testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) was hCG monotherapy, which doubled my test levels, meaning my testicles, at that time, could respond appropriately. I remained on hCG for the duration alongside the test.
Thanks guys, I am hopeful for some positive feelings here. Especially since being this low on test feels miserable, lol.
In February of 2010, I went down the path of TRT. At the time, I had lowish testosterone (roughly 330 or so) and was battling years of low grade anxiety and depression and thought testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) may be part of a solution. Also at the time, I was 34, and was told by the life extension doctor I was seeing that taking hCG along with my testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) would keep my (already lowish) sperm count in tact (already low in this case translates to 10 million per mL).
For a time, this was true. My sperm counts did go down, but in April of last year (2011) I still had about 1 million per mL and my wife and I went through an unsuccessful IVF cycle.
In December of this past year, a routine semen analysis showed that I was completely azoospermatic. I believe the report said there were a few twitching on the slide (gross, lol).
So, my assumptions are this was because I was LH/FSH suppressed, more specifically FSH suppressed.
My protocol during the 1.5 years or so of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) was 100mg per week test enanthate, 0.25mg arimidex (sometimes less) for e2 control, and 400iu hCG for the duration.
When I found out I was azoospermatic, I ceased test injections and remained on hCG and adex for 6 weeks. At the 6 week mark, I stopped all meds.
3 weeks following cessation of all meds, I had blood work done that showed the following:
estradiol - 20 or so
total test - 210
LH - 3
FSH - 5
So my second assumption is that my pituitary has kicked back online and is sending its signals as it should, and that my testicles are the last part of the equation to "wake up", though the best I can hope for is to return to pre-TRT numbers, and not anything further.
Which is fine - my primary, and only goal here, is to resume sperm production enough to freeze a few million for future IVF cycles.
I realize a SERM may speed things along, but at this point my post cycle therapy (pct) (lack therof) is what I describe above.
It's been 3 months since exo test injections, and 1.5 month since hCG/adex.
Does anyone have any advice or thoughts as to when I could possibly expect sperm production again, based on the information I have provided?
I have bloodwork out the arse if anyone feels it's appropriate. It may be worth stating that the first stage of my testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) was hCG monotherapy, which doubled my test levels, meaning my testicles, at that time, could respond appropriately. I remained on hCG for the duration alongside the test.
Thanks guys, I am hopeful for some positive feelings here. Especially since being this low on test feels miserable, lol.