Things You Wish Someone Would Have Told You When You fisrt Started TRT ?
- Thread starter Atlaz
- Start date
Jimstigator
New member
Start low and slow, with T only. Once dialed in, move to next drug, be it HCG or whatever. I think most guys can also stay off adex (anti estrogens) if they settle for slightly lower T levels.
-Jim
-Jim
halfwit
I like turtles.
I have a decision to make and maybe your pro tips can reassure me in letting me know that sticking a needle on my butt cheek for the rest of my life wont be as complicated/worth it.
Can you explain why this is a difficult decision for you? If you need TRT, it's a no brainer. It's like asking a diabetic if taking insulin is worth it - only if they want to live.
You can use a 1/2 " 29g 1cc insulin syringe to pin your T, especially if you are doing 2x a week dosing. No need to use the elephant dart most doctors will tell you to use.
It takes a few minutes to draw but you learn how to do other things with one hand while you hold the bottle/syringe in the other. Today I made breakfast, ate it, took my vitamins and adjusted the damper on my wood stove. Multitasking!
It takes a few minutes to draw but you learn how to do other things with one hand while you hold the bottle/syringe in the other. Today I made breakfast, ate it, took my vitamins and adjusted the damper on my wood stove. Multitasking!
What I wish I would have known right when I started TRT
That Pregnenolone wouldn't cause any issue with e2 leves, but DHEA might. Pregnenolone appears to be enough, and should be supplemented. I started to barely develop gyno because my e2 levels were getting so high, because of dhea. I dropped the DHEA and now e2 levels are very manageable with out a true AI.
You can use Calcium d-glucarate to moderate e2 levels. Dose is 2000-3000mg a day. Pair it with DIM at 200mg-300mg a day and you shouldn't need to use Arimidex. I'm managing with our Arimidex and my Test levels are at 1010-1020 at trough.
Don't get on it if you don't need it. I was low normal, and I still went on, because I didn't want to be low normal, I wanted to be optimal, and I was feeling the side effects of lower testosterone levels. If you're 600-700. Don't even bother. It is an added chore injecting Test, and HCG twice a week, but once you get into a rhythm it fits into your day like anything else. I am a disciplined person though. If you aren't, you need to re-evaluate before starting. You need to be disciplined.
It may take you a while, and a number of blood tests regularly to get your levels dialed. I would have been dialed in sooner, except for the DHEA was throwing my e2 off. I probably would have been dialed in 3 months if it wasn't for that. Now it's been more like 5-6 months. I'm waiting for my e2 results right now. If they are still good, then I'm pretty much dialed for my normal protocol. It has taken some people upwards of a year to get dialed from what I've read.
My other advice would be don't just look at your Test levels you need a CBC w/Differential, look at your Thyroid, growth hormone, all electrolytes, cholesterol. Look at everything that effects general health, and metabolism. While I'm not overweight my thyroid was hypo. Getting that fixed right now. Doc is upping my prescription currently for a compounded T4/T3 med. I am already started to notice results. I wasn't overweight, but getting to the level of lean that I want to be has been difficult, it seems to be getting easier and easier as my metabolism is getting optimized. I'm looking forward to being able to achieve goals that it always seemed like others could, and I couldn't.
That Pregnenolone wouldn't cause any issue with e2 leves, but DHEA might. Pregnenolone appears to be enough, and should be supplemented. I started to barely develop gyno because my e2 levels were getting so high, because of dhea. I dropped the DHEA and now e2 levels are very manageable with out a true AI.
You can use Calcium d-glucarate to moderate e2 levels. Dose is 2000-3000mg a day. Pair it with DIM at 200mg-300mg a day and you shouldn't need to use Arimidex. I'm managing with our Arimidex and my Test levels are at 1010-1020 at trough.
Don't get on it if you don't need it. I was low normal, and I still went on, because I didn't want to be low normal, I wanted to be optimal, and I was feeling the side effects of lower testosterone levels. If you're 600-700. Don't even bother. It is an added chore injecting Test, and HCG twice a week, but once you get into a rhythm it fits into your day like anything else. I am a disciplined person though. If you aren't, you need to re-evaluate before starting. You need to be disciplined.
It may take you a while, and a number of blood tests regularly to get your levels dialed. I would have been dialed in sooner, except for the DHEA was throwing my e2 off. I probably would have been dialed in 3 months if it wasn't for that. Now it's been more like 5-6 months. I'm waiting for my e2 results right now. If they are still good, then I'm pretty much dialed for my normal protocol. It has taken some people upwards of a year to get dialed from what I've read.
My other advice would be don't just look at your Test levels you need a CBC w/Differential, look at your Thyroid, growth hormone, all electrolytes, cholesterol. Look at everything that effects general health, and metabolism. While I'm not overweight my thyroid was hypo. Getting that fixed right now. Doc is upping my prescription currently for a compounded T4/T3 med. I am already started to notice results. I wasn't overweight, but getting to the level of lean that I want to be has been difficult, it seems to be getting easier and easier as my metabolism is getting optimized. I'm looking forward to being able to achieve goals that it always seemed like others could, and I couldn't.
Atlaz
New member
Great info thanks all....keep it coming.
@Halfwit Of course looking at it like that it makes sense but its still a life long commitment.
@mprtz Im 31 and back in December I tested T ( 8.4 - 8.8-30 mnol/L) and thyroid. This week I did a full blood work of everything and will be getting the results soon. Maybe with the new results I will have a confirmation of something and hopefully find a solution.
@Halfwit Of course looking at it like that it makes sense but its still a life long commitment.
@mprtz Im 31 and back in December I tested T ( 8.4 - 8.8-30 mnol/L) and thyroid. This week I did a full blood work of everything and will be getting the results soon. Maybe with the new results I will have a confirmation of something and hopefully find a solution.
Absolutely. I'm interested in hearing people's opinions who are in that same boat. What would be considered borderline low 500's, 400's?
halfwit
I like turtles.
What were your LH/FSH looking like? That's honestly the biggest factor at play here. If you're secondary, you may have options; however, if primary - you don't have many options.
LittleJohnny
6-Pack in Training
You see the ass in your avatar? Not only will you want to hit that every day, you'll have the ability to hit that every day. In a nutshell, that's my favorite benefit.
Been doing the TRT thing for a year and have, for the most part, gotten over my complete dislike of needles. Im still fine tuning things but being a detail type guy it does not bother me in the least.
I inject twice weekly, subq, into 2 different points on each thigh using a 30g 8mm pin and it is as close to painless as can actually be. The biggest draw back to using that particular pin is the time it takes to load it which might be 2 minutes or so.
I also am one of the lucky ones whos red blood count climbs so I need to donate blood every 8 weeks .... not a big deal. The Red Cross does a good job of circulation through our area and when the time comes I can find a spot within a mile or so of where I work and pop in on my lunch break.
The only thing I wish I had known ahead of time is exactly what blood tests should have been done to get a true "before trt" baseline. That is something that I can never go back and test .....
I inject twice weekly, subq, into 2 different points on each thigh using a 30g 8mm pin and it is as close to painless as can actually be. The biggest draw back to using that particular pin is the time it takes to load it which might be 2 minutes or so.
I also am one of the lucky ones whos red blood count climbs so I need to donate blood every 8 weeks .... not a big deal. The Red Cross does a good job of circulation through our area and when the time comes I can find a spot within a mile or so of where I work and pop in on my lunch break.
The only thing I wish I had known ahead of time is exactly what blood tests should have been done to get a true "before trt" baseline. That is something that I can never go back and test .....
IMT staff
Official Sponsor
Its absolute. There is no question. Ive been doing this a long time now and been on this board a lot longer than most people realize.
I have countless posts on my personal accounts, I have worked with 1,000s of guys on TRT for well over 5 years. I have worked with over 50 doctors.
I have spoke with and discussed TRT with people that have been on 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years and some old timers that have been on 20 years.
Ive seen the cycle play out time and time again. Unfortunately TRT, and learning it, is a cycle. Pretty much everyone goes through the same cycles.
I will say again HCG is absolute. The only time it is not needed is when someone has primary hypogonadism. I can tell you this also the percentage of men who are primary is so small, out of all the men I have ever talked to, seen their labs time and time again and maybe, just maybe a total of 5 of them were truly primary hypogonadal other than being ASIPH.
Androgen induced primary does not count, those guys need HCG too.
When someone tells me they don't take HCG cause they don't "feel" it I know right where they stand.
I don't care if you take HCG or not, you don't have to listen to me. But I know your wrong.
HCG is the greatest hormone for men since the invention of synthetic testosterone.
Every newbie to TRT makes the same mistakes over and over and over again. It doesn't matter what you tell them, they will experiment. But at the end of the day, they all end up at the same place.
I have countless posts on my personal accounts, I have worked with 1,000s of guys on TRT for well over 5 years. I have worked with over 50 doctors.
I have spoke with and discussed TRT with people that have been on 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years and some old timers that have been on 20 years.
Ive seen the cycle play out time and time again. Unfortunately TRT, and learning it, is a cycle. Pretty much everyone goes through the same cycles.
I will say again HCG is absolute. The only time it is not needed is when someone has primary hypogonadism. I can tell you this also the percentage of men who are primary is so small, out of all the men I have ever talked to, seen their labs time and time again and maybe, just maybe a total of 5 of them were truly primary hypogonadal other than being ASIPH.
Androgen induced primary does not count, those guys need HCG too.
When someone tells me they don't take HCG cause they don't "feel" it I know right where they stand.
I don't care if you take HCG or not, you don't have to listen to me. But I know your wrong.
HCG is the greatest hormone for men since the invention of synthetic testosterone.
Every newbie to TRT makes the same mistakes over and over and over again. It doesn't matter what you tell them, they will experiment. But at the end of the day, they all end up at the same place.
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IMT staff
Official Sponsor
Well they are wrong, and most likely newbs xD
Thousands.........
^^^^ not many that can compete with that.
