Starting TRT injections this week.

[Oldcade]

Mostly hear to log how things go. I've already done my blood work, and I have low testosterone. My doctor wanted to put me on androgel, but decided injections would be safer. My wife is pregnant, and I wanted injections. A little about me to start. I'm 26. I've been lifting for 4 years. I deployed as infantry in 2009, and I got into the best shape of my life while I was there. I stayed in great shape for about a year afterwards as well. But then I seemed to drop off. I lost all motivation, energy, and started putting on weight. I started lifting again in November 2013. I eat great, and I'm active, but I want to nap daily. I can't lose the weight, or put on muscle like I used to. A friend of mine mentioned that I should get my testosterone levels checked. So, as stated above, I get my first injection on Tuesday. My doctor want's to start with monthly injections if possible, but weekly blood work. If my Testosterone goes back down, increase as needed. The big thing we are trying to avoid are crazy fluctuating levels. (emotional roller coaster.)

My levels are
Testosterone 300
Testosterone free 7.1

I'm open to any advice. I'm on this forum purely because you guys know your shit. Otherwise I'll continue my research through the threads.
My ideal treatment would be injections at home every 5-7 days.

 

[Megatron28]

You cannot do injections once a month if you are using testosterone cypionate. The longest you can go is once a week. Most of us inject it every 3.5 days to help us even out our hormone levels. Do some reading about how half lifes for medications work. Iinjecting once a month will put your on a HUGE hormonal roller coaster and cause serious health issues and your estradiol is going to spike really high.

Read the Basic TRT Overview Sticky in this forum. That will help you get grounded in what a good TRT protocol looks like.

 

[Oldcade]

Thanks Megatron. I just read through that, and noticed 3.5 days is the best way to go. I agree I can't do once a month. I'm still in the military and these are military docs i'm working with though. So she want's to go for once a month, and do bloodwork weekly. If bloodwork shows it's too low then we increase as we go. I assume i'll be getting weekly injections right away, and move from there. I'm going to talk to her about Estradiol labs as well, to monitor it.

 

[Megatron28]

Good luck. You are going to be feeling worse before you feel better. What is left of your testosterone is going to shut down. What you are putting in once a month probably won't get you to where you need to be. It probably won't even get you to where you are currently at today. Hopefully you can ride it out until she ups your dose and pinning frequency.

But make sure you discuss the concept of half life with her and how smart it is to inject something once a month that has a half life of about 5 days.

 

[IHI]

OMG, good luck but you would be better off declining ALL TRT replacement shots with that idiot and wait to get with a different doctor that actually knows WTF they are doing, you think you lost some mojo and felt bad before, brother, you aint seen nothing yet...you will be a wreck. Better to not do it at all than do it like a complete moron (doctor not you)

 

[Oldcade]

Alright. I'll talk to her about all this before we do the injection, and come up with a better plan first. It's my health not hers.

 

[Megatron28]

Give this thread a read. Might help understand how half life affects your TRT protocol better. The same concept applies to taking any medication.

http://www.steroidology.com/forum/a...hat-esters-why-they-important-article-3j.html

 

[Oldcade]

Alright so i checked out that Megatron, and that makes more sense now. Thanks. What do you guys do when you go on vacation etc..? Does the test need to be refrigerated, and what do you do if you are in a situation where you can't resupply for a time period. I'm going to be overseas contracting for awhile. Just courious. I mean I know worst case scenario I could pick some other product up.

 

[Megatron28]

Alright so i checked out that Megatron, and that makes more sense now. Thanks. What do you guys do when you go on vacation etc..? Does the test need to be refrigerated, and what do you do if you are in a situation where you can't resupply for a time period. I'm going to be overseas contracting for awhile. Just courious. I mean I know worst case scenario I could pick some other product up.

You shoudn't refrigerate it. That can make it crash. The testosterone powder is suspended in an oil and when it gets cold it can come out of the suspension and fall to the bottom of the vial. Not the end of the world if it happens, but better to avoid it. Just store it in a cool, dark, dry place at room temp.

If you have to travel for a longer period of time you take it with you. You have a prescription so you are ok. One of the downsides of TRT is that you are "chained" to it for the rest of your life. If you are just traveling for a few days and it would mess up your dosing schedule you can usually just wait until you get back and do your next injection. You won't notice it if you only miss one.

 

[IHI]

Alright so i checked out that Megatron, and that makes more sense now. Thanks. What do you guys do when you go on vacation etc..? Does the test need to be refrigerated, and what do you do if you are in a situation where you can't resupply for a time period. I'm going to be overseas contracting for awhile. Just courious. I mean I know worst case scenario I could pick some other product up.

All depends on dosage. Doc has me on 100mg/wk of test cyp, I got a big vial and it will easily last a few months+. I've "heard" the FDA is all of a sudden putting expiration dates on the stuff, what's changed in all these years I dunno, but if such is the case supposedly you only get vials that are good for the month/28days...then you may have a challenge. But if it's prescribed, it's prescribed....would be no different than if your a diabetic and needed insulin...you don't just stop taking insulin because "your on vacation"...testosterone is a rest of your life deal, not a hit it and quit it unless you really want to fuck your body up- badly. Your now making little of your own testosterone, once you take synthetic testosterone, your body will stop producing it's own T all together, so your body will rely solely on the synthetic stuff.

Do you think it's a coincidence body builders go in cycles and then have to take necessary steps to get their body to fire back up and start producing their own testosterone again through chemical restarts? What else are you "going to pick up" as a replacement?

Oldcade, I'm really not trying to sound condescending, but you obviously need to go back through and keep rereading Megatron's sticky until you TRULEY understand how this all works, I know you said you've read it, but after your post above, you obviously not getting it yet, TRT is not a once a month, it's not a stop taking while on vacation, it's not a replace with "some other product".....

 

[Oldcade]

All depends on dosage. Doc has me on 100mg/wk of test cyp, I got a big vial and it will easily last a few months+. I've "heard" the FDA is all of a sudden putting expiration dates on the stuff, what's changed in all these years I dunno, but if such is the case supposedly you only get vials that are good for the month/28days...then you may have a challenge. But if it's prescribed, it's prescribed....would be no different than if your a diabetic and needed insulin...you don't just stop taking insulin because "your on vacation"...testosterone is a rest of your life deal, not a hit it and quit it unless you really want to fuck your body up- badly. Your now making little of your own testosterone, once you take synthetic testosterone, your body will stop producing it's own T all together, so your body will rely solely on the synthetic stuff.

Do you think it's a coincidence body builders go in cycles and then have to take necessary steps to get their body to fire back up and start producing their own testosterone again through chemical restarts? What else are you "going to pick up" as a replacement?

Oldcade, I'm really not trying to sound condescending, but you obviously need to go back through and keep rereading Megatron's sticky until you TRULEY understand how this all works, I know you said you've read it, but after your post above, you obviously not getting it yet, TRT is not a once a month, it's not a stop taking while on vacation, it's not a replace with "some other product".....

I understand what his post is saying, but as I go through these threads you see other stuff that can be contradictory. That's why I ask questions. And the monthly thing is my doctors idea. Not mine. As my first post says I want to do atleast weekly right away. Now that i've read up more on this, I see that it is actually more of a health risk to let her risk starting me monthly, than just an energy/emotion ordeal. I'm not going to do that anymore. I can't go see another doc yet though, because i would rather have the VA pay for this shit as I transition. I understand that you don't stop taking it on vacation, but what if something happens to it..etc.. I'm going to be contracting out of the Ukraine over the next few years. I'm seeing that it can take 6 months to a year before I start noticing the benifits of TRT. I'm 26 and a healthy guy. I'm wondering would a "restart" be worth a shot before I get on TRT? I have no thyroid issues or sleep apnea etc. Everything has been checked within the last 30 days. The only products i've taken are Tren 13, Methyl 1D, and Pink Magic, and those were all 2010.

 

[WhiteDog]

You cannot do injections once a month if you are using testosterone cypionate. The longest you can go is once a week. Most of us inject it every 3.5 days to help us even out our hormone levels. Do some reading about how half lifes for medications work. Iinjecting once a month will put your on a HUGE hormonal roller coaster and cause serious health issues and your estradiol is going to spike really high.

Read the Basic TRT Overview Sticky in this forum. That will help you get grounded in what a good TRT protocol looks like.

Just as a matter of interest, is it actually cypionate we are talking about?
The Doctors in Australia are offering some other product.. I cant remember the name. I think it starts with N
Apparently it claims to have to be injected once every 6 weeks, however the doctors here have found that it needs to be injected monthly.
Personally i didn't like the idea, however my first Doc mentioned it to me and said they are having good success with it.
Have you heard of such a product in the good old USA?

 

[Megatron28]

Just as a matter of interest, is it actually cypionate we are talking about?
The Doctors in Australia are offering some other product.. I cant remember the name. I think it starts with N
Apparently it claims to have to be injected once every 6 weeks, however the doctors here have found that it needs to be injected monthly.
Personally i didn't like the idea, however my first Doc mentioned it to me and said they are having good success with it.
Have you heard of such a product in the good old USA?

OP said he was getting treatment through the VA, which is the organization that provides medical care to American veterans.

I think you are thinking of testosterone undecanoate. I don't know if you can get it in the US yet. I think a certain brand (Aveed) was just approved around March by the FDA.

 

[Megatron28]

I understand what his post is saying, but as I go through these threads you see other stuff that can be contradictory. That's why I ask questions. And the monthly thing is my doctors idea. Not mine. As my first post says I want to do atleast weekly right away. Now that i've read up more on this, I see that it is actually more of a health risk to let her risk starting me monthly, than just an energy/emotion ordeal. I'm not going to do that anymore. I can't go see another doc yet though, because i would rather have the VA pay for this shit as I transition. I understand that you don't stop taking it on vacation, but what if something happens to it..etc.. I'm going to be contracting out of the Ukraine over the next few years. I'm seeing that it can take 6 months to a year before I start noticing the benifits of TRT. I'm 26 and a healthy guy. I'm wondering would a "restart" be worth a shot before I get on TRT? I have no thyroid issues or sleep apnea etc. Everything has been checked within the last 30 days. The only products i've taken are Tren 13, Methyl 1D, and Pink Magic, and those were all 2010.

Do you have primary or secondary hypogonadism? That will determine whether or not a restart is possible.

 

[Oldcade]

I believe it is secondary from what we talked about on the phone, but I haven't seen the rest of my labs yet. My appointment is tomorrow to discuss the rest of the details, and start injections if that's what I choose. White Dog i'm assuming it is Cypionate, but I will know for sure tomorrow, and update everyone from there.

 

[WhiteDog]

OP said he was getting treatment through the VA, which is the organization that provides medical care to American veterans.

I think you are thinking of testosterone undecanoate. I don't know if you can get it in the US yet. I think a certain brand (Aveed) was just approved around March by the FDA.

Thanks Megatron.

It appears that all these new products are being tried and tested, but good old cypionate wins hands down, every time.

 

[bigben66]

Once a month would certainly suggest they are lining him up for Test Undecanoate.... surely even the military doc's know enough not to put him on a monthly cypionate schedule...

I'm on Undecanoate (Nebido) here in the UK.... with great success so far (7 months in) - it would make sense for a military doc to use this form of Test for their servicemen... less injections, less spikes etc...

Good luck buddy - you're in good hands with Megatron

BigBen

 

[Oldcade]

Thanks big ben. I am on testosterone cypionate. I got my first injection thursday. 2 CC of Depo-Testosterone Cypionate. I talked to my doctor and we are going to run a blood test, to test thyroid, prostate, testosterone, and e2. I will also take another injection on Friday. After the shot I felt more of a mental clearness. No crazy energy boost or anything like that, but it felt like i stepped out of a swamp. It lasted about three days, and I'd say it's not really gone. I can notice a difference though.

 

[RR88]

I'm not adding anything because Mega seems to know his shit but Mega why the heck don't these endos know wtf they're doing? It seems I see this "once a month protocol" all too much. It's ridiculous. All the best on your journey Cade!

 

[CobraMustangSVT]

The military docs do put you on a monthly test c schedule. I'm being seen by the VA and they wanted to put me on a monthly schedule. I brought all sorts of pubmeds and papers and they would not change. The best they would do is every 3 weeks, and that's after blood work and complaints. Anything less than that and they'll put you on Androgel or the patch.

I chose Androgel. I didn't want to deal with the roller coaster effect. They also won't give an AI, HCG, test for estradiol etc. If you start getting sides (such as polycythemia (sp?) or gynocomastia, etc.), they'd rather drop your dosage than give you an AI.

Best advice when dealing with them is to get educated. These guys will stick you on an old school protocol and send you on your way. Know your stuff so that you don't get screwed up.

I get my Androgel from the VA but I get my HCG from overseas and I'm lucky that I don't need an AI.