Starting my TRT soon (moved thread from Intro area) please critique my plan
Just moved this thread from the Introduction area.
You guys are so supportive and really rock! Way more than my MD. This is no joke, I may sound like a super wuss here but there were times before I found this site these past 2 years where I thought I was all alone here to face this. I felt like I couldn't even tell my girlfriend or other family members. I knew something was wrong with me but just couldn't put my finger on it.
My MDs said it was depression RX'd me mood meds. I have a wonderful life but all my symptoms sounded like an Lilly Axiron topical gel commercial. Thank God Kaiser at lease did all the blood work for me. They have some pretty low standards however. My Total T kept pretty close but just north of Kaiser's < 200 before they do anything unfortunately these past 2 years.
Just ordered some gear. I can't wait to get the goods and see how I feel about 2 weeks into it. I'll start with 250(1 ml/1cc) each week and then do the blood work tests to see my numbers at the 4th week. Increase dosage as needed to get up to the 700-800 total range. Yes, I have ordered my other gear (pins, AI peptides ).
Big ups to Boff here and other whom pointed me in the right direction. Way better than any MD. I finally hit the wall going the legal route. I've come to the realization that Kaiser cannot help me any here and this is for life and if I stop pinning, I'm going to need a more semi-permanent solution (aka. pellets). This is my backup. I've looked into this and I'm looking at about 400-500$ every 5 months minimum if I go that route. Expensive but hey, at least it's legal.
I am going the Underground Lab route now b/c I just don't have the time to research and make an appointment with a local anti-aging/endo specialist. I think I know enough to continue myself. I also want to see what level of Total T makes me feel the best by myself.
Sound like a plan? Please critique. Let me know if I'm anywhere off base here.
-Josh
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NotNatural23my family doc prescribed me the trt i get. all i told him is i was down not motivated and i hadnt had sex or rubbed one out in 6 months and the first thing he said we have to get ur test levels checked and sure enough i was 69ng on the 300 to 1100 scale and free test was god low to. he ended up giving me 200 mg a week and i got him to bump it to 300 week. and all is good now and that was 3 years ago and if u have any questions u can pm me or if u got what u need out of this then thats good. but the price for test cyp without a prescription from rite aids or ballgreens is around 89 dollars for a 10ml 200mg botlte and it was only a dollar before my insurance stop covering it saying i needed to go into the docs cause it was an injection even though i was giving it to myself for over a year. i work for a docs office so if u ask the right questions u can be successful. i hope this helps u or anyone.
Thats great to hear that the TRT is working for you. Definitely give it time for the rest to fall into place. Seems like you are making great progress with improvements of your life all the way around. You have a great overall plan with regards to training and diet and that will help out a lot! Keep us posted on your results.
Bro I am not trt but I have kaiser. I don't know what plan you have but you should not be paying $500 for 4 months. A bottle of test from kaiser should run you around $30-90 which if you are on 100mg per week will last you 20 weeks.
Not sure where you came up with $400-500, unless you have the very lowest plan bare minimum. It might be worth upgrading to the top plan if you can will most likely save hundreds from prescriptions. Also copays go down on everything.
You can tell I'm a real amateur here or I'm really in outer space today. Sorry folks, a key detail here. I am going to start with the following TRT protocol:
250mg/week of Test E
.25 mg/every other day Anastrozole if I have high Estrodial levels.
I plan to do blood work tests after my first 4th week.
@justaguy Pellets sound great. I've been trying to find someone here local to perform this for me however it appears I have to really travel and see a specialist for this. The plan to use pellets and a periodic dbol blast might be in the works in the near future assuming I can get back into somewhat reasonable shape in the next 6 months. Thanks for the good idea. Hey, at lease we old guys don't have to really worry about PCT that much anymore on TRT. (Hey, when life gives you lemons...sometimes you just have to make lemonade
I'm currently on pellets TRT & periodically blast. I'm pleased with the pellets, seem more staple than any blast I've done & like you said...legal.
Sorry. i didn't give some important stats. This is my best T score ever in the past 2 years BTW after many improvements to my lifestyle.
Age: 39
TESTOSTERONE, ULTRASENSITIVE 289 250 - 1100 ng/dL
Testosterone free 50.2 35.0 - 155.0 pg/mL
Prolactin 12 2 - 18 ng/mL
FSH 2.1 1.4 - 18.1 mIU/mL
LH 1.9 1.0 - 12.0 mIU/mL
Albumin 4.8 3.7 - 5.7 g/dL
TSH 1.58 0.10 - 5.50 uIU/mL
Kaiser did not want to run Estradiol, SHBH, etc. or any of the other tests I wanted.
I have the results for many other of these recent tests. These tests were run 2 weeks ago. Believe me, I eat very clean. Paleo for the most part.
Steps/lifestyle so far to increase my T these past 2 years since I've been trying to naturally increase my T. These are apparently the items that most contribute to low T.
Not Overweight. (6ft, 205 lbs)
Do not have diabetes (As advised from my MD from my recent blood work)
Only Low-Moderate Alcohol Consumption
Moderate office work stress
Sleep – Some issues here but getting better
Depression – Do not believe I have depression. Just all the symptoms of low T.
Vitamin A Deficiency – Supplementing with 10,000IU daily for the last 3 months
Vitamin D – Supplementing with 8,000IU daily for the last 3 months and test results are on the medium range
Overtraining – Only able to work out on the weekends now for the last 3 months
Toxins/Environmental/Diet – No soy, apartment very clean, no mold, do not handle chemicals, etc.
Varicocele – I don’t think I have this.
Your testosterone is way, way too low. Shoot for the upper quartile of the normal range for total T. Also check SHBG. Free T is useless as it fluctuates wildly throughout the day and is unstable in serum. Most labs also have an incorrectly low range for free t. Health young men can be in the 350 range...
Steady state aerobics, overactive aromatase activity and xenoestrogens will tank your androgens..
I am 4 weeks into my TRT, Very early for our TRT kind of people, so I'll be brief with my experiences so far and a few questions. In summary, I REALLY like for I'm feeling now. Way better than some Kaiser MD Rx'ing me some mental moods. I really made the right choice here.
Goals:
1) Feel better and get more energy
2) Look better by working out (Getting a personal trainer here soon)
3) Compete in the Warrior Dash here coming this summer and do ok
Variables:
@250mg test e/week for the first two weeks
@375 test e/week for the next two weeks and one major variable, not drinking during the weekdays.
Injection history:
2/7 was my first pip
2/14 was my second pip
once a week after 1.5 times this b/c I thought I was not feeling anything.
After this 3rd jab, I started REALLY feeling like it was kicking in.
FYI- American-Kodiak gear
1 Noticed I get red in the face starting with one drink now.
I have changed my drinking (usually wine) from 7 days a week to 2 days a week. Only on the weekends (2-3) glasses of wine a night.
2 Noticed my sleep get better and stop waking up in the middle of the night so often
Difference due to not drinking so much?
3 Slightly more energy during the day
Difference due to not drinking so much?
I have not noticed anything very significant in my sex drive, erections, need to workout, workout recovery, or aggression.
1) Am I doing this right here?
2) What should I be feeling?
3) Do you think I should up the dose?
4) I ordered some Arimidex and plan to do .25mg EOD
5) Add anything else?
For how nerdy I guess I am above, I cannot say how much of a good decision it was to take this path. It was a big leap but I thank the many people going through this same thing as I am and I sincerely appreciate all whom have PM's me and wrote very good responses. I am not kidding, there were times right before this, I thought I as going to cry, that I was done as a man, could not do the same type of work due to may age, you name it, we've been there, and I cannot believe Kaiser was going to make me into some type of mental mood taking zombie.
One thing I've learned, no one will take the best care of your health other than yourself!
I am about to spend another 300$ on blood here soon. I'm going to do this once I perfect my technique of self administration via my subcutaneous/abs area 3x a week using the 250/cc at .5ml test E and .25 Arimedex EOD.
Thank you for all your help and STAY STRONG!!!
It's been a while since you wrote this last post.
I have a couple quick points:
1. High estradiol causes flushing. Alcohol also increases the conversion of testosterone to estradiol. Your estradiol may be elevated. Shoot for 20-30 pg/dL.
2. Only inject test enanthate into deep muscle. You will see the highest blood concentrations if you inject into your glutes. We generally don't want to mix testosterone with fat. It can increase the aromatase activity and convert free test to estradiol.