Water retention
I just started TRT about a month and a half ago. Doctor had me on 100mg a week (50mg 2x a week). I am running a bit more than that (about 2-250mg a week, broken up into daily doses to keep it at an even level and avoid highs and lows), and am taking 2 units of HGH a day. Unfortunately my last lab, my doctor didn’t test for everything - only test and free test, so I don’t know my current estrogen levels.
I do seem to be having some water retention, I personally can see it in my face. I did some research and saw that Anastrozole has helped people with that. I don’t want to just blindly get it and hope for the best, so I’m hoping for some advice on what I can do. I’m not having any gyno side effects or anything, the only three side effects I’ve noticed so far are water retention, skin a bit more oily then normal (was expecting that, as when I was younger, I was a bit prone to it) and very occasionally high blood pressure. I am on clonidine for something else, but luckily it’s also a blood pressure reducer, so that could be helping me.
Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks --
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Dandelion tea helps. Going for food allergy test also, turns out I’m allergic to a lot of foods I was consuming. I’d also give your body some time to adjust to the dosage, then pull some blood work to find out what’s happening. Eliminating gluten works wonders.
Is your goal to do a cycle or figure out TRT levels. At 250 you are putting yourself in the zone of getting high estrogen aromatization. You should either drop down your test closer to your doctors levels or do a full cycle at 4-500 mg and plan on using an ai. If you use an ai at your current dosage you will more than likely crash your estrogen and it will take awhile to get back up. Also you didnt say if you are on hcg with your trt, but that will also cause higher estrogen.
I’m going to need to be on Trt for life. I don’t want to go to crazy with everything, I’d just like to have a nice physique again and some more overall strength.
I’m not currently taking HCG, but I do have a HCG kit on standby if I do need to take it, or it’s recommended to take. I’m still learning, and I don’t want to just start putting everything in me before I know if I even need it. At first, I was all “let’s fucking blast away” and then came to my senses after realizing how bad of a mistake that is.
My goal is to do a starter cycle - maybe 200-250 mg a week, (unless a “starter” cycle is more along the lines of 4-500) possibly upping a bit after a month or so, go 12-16 weeks, then go down to “cruising” levels, since I have to be on it anyway. At this point, if I was during my cycle running 250-500, would I still need an AI if I’m not getting any gyno? Or would the only way to really know is through bloods? If AI is needed - what are the better AIs to use, keeping in mind I’ll be “cruising” post cycle.
Thanks for the help. I’ve been doing as much reading and research as possible. Some things I’m just having harder times finding, so I appreciate any and all feedback.
So far, the only real side effect I feel and see is the water retention. So I’m a bit curious what people do to reduce water retention. Mainly in my face.
Ok so my guess is that you are still very new with your TRT. To start off with, HCG is prescribed with TRT so that you don't lose your ability to come off of TRT and it keeps your balls functioning and able to produce testosterone and sperm. It will also slightly raise your estrogen levels and water retention.
Here is my personal recommendation based on my experience with TRT and cycles. I would resume just taking your TRT dose. Be honest with your doctor and try to work out something around 20mg/day and do follow up blood work after a few months to determine how your body is actually responding to TRT. Get dialed in with your TRT since this is a lifelong commitment and it is important to find your baseline and learn how your body responds.
Dosing daily as you have been doing will minimize high spikes and limit aromatization if you don't mind the daily pinning. Going up to 200/250 will give you bloating/estrogen sides and put you in weird spot that ais will crash your estrogen. The idea is to find the balance point that keeps you in idea test levels without the side effects or additional drugs.
Use your time while you are working out your TRT levels to make sure you have mastered your diet/cholesterol/liver levels, rotating effective exercise routines, and sleep. Realize that you will still see gains since you will have constantly elevated testosterone compared to natural ebbing levels.
Give yourself at least 6 months of TRT and see how your body responds. A good diet and fitness plan goes a long way with just TRT.
In regards to the bloating, what you are currently experiencing is a side effect of high estrogen. Water retention also raises your blood pressure in addition to the bloated face/body. High blood pressure will cause kidney damage and has other health implications. If you do a cycle of 500mg/wk, you will need to take an AI to keep estrogen in check, so you can mitigate these sides (in addition to growing boobs). You don't want to ignore high blood pressure.
Also I would probably ditch or increase the GH, at that dose it is a replacement dose. 4-5IUS would put you in a surplus level.
I really appreciate you taking the time to write all that out. I have a follow up visit with my urologist on Wednesday, I’m going to talk to him about HCG as well. I’m either going to pin daily or every other day, because I noticed in the beginning it was 2x a week, and I could feel the highs and the lows. I’d take my dose, next day feel good for a day or two, then start crashing until my next dose. That’s why I don’t mind pinning every day, plus I had the HGH anyway. I was only doing a low dose to see how I responded, and to help with sleep. I’m in the process of finding a new gym thats local to me that has a pool, since I’d much rather do cardio swimming than on a bike, stair machine, treadmill, etc. So I didn’t want to be blasting hgh which costs a decent amount if I’m not in the gym yet. I do know it takes time to really see the results from, so I thought I’d get a head start, while also seeing how I respond.
As far as AIs, I know I have a bit until I’d need them following your advice, but which ones would you recommend? I have 100 1mg Anastrozole and 100 20mg Tamoxifen Citrate.
I’m not sure which one works better, or if used for different scenarios. Just curious what people do use, so I can keep my eye out for sales and what not before hand, so I have everything ready to go when I plan on it, because we all know mail isn’t always as quick as we’d like.
I’ll start lowering my dose back to the 100mg a week he started me at, and follow up with labs and find my sweet spot, so I can find my “cruising” level post cycle.
Again, I appreciate your time and help. I’m glad I came here and found you guys, because otherwise I was ready to just go all out right away, without realizing just how dumb that is.
The arimadex (Anastrozole) is an AI, Tamoxifen is a serm that inhibits estrogen side effects in breast tissue. I personally wont take Tamoxifen due to the potential side effects I have read about.
You have enough arimadex for a 12 week cycle, so I would hold off buying anything else.
Yeah if you dont have full access to a gym right now just focus on liss cardio to get hdl cholesterol as good as possible and work on heart health for now. I would focus on knowing your exact tdee and work on maintaining a good whole foods diet. Do some resistance training and body weight exercises to build up muscle. Work on getting your TDEE higher. Add 10k steps a day and work on getting body fat around 10% before your first cycle. That will get you primed for success on your first cycle. Knowing your body, how to eat, and which levers to pull will make it a lot easier for you to get results when you are ready to start.
I’ll also have another arimedex 100x1mg coming soon, part of a promo from orders I put, as well as another 100 tamoxifen. I’ll have to research tamoxifen, I’m curious about the side effects.
I plan on getting into a gym sooner rather than later, I just may have to sacrifice a pool. I don’t want to keep putting it off, though. I lost a lot of weight over the last few years and my strength plummeted to an embarrassingly low point.
I’m hoping once I get back in there, I’ll build some strength back up quick because I have spent in my early 20s a good few years in the gym, between lifting and training martial arts.
It gives me time to figure out a better diet. That’s my weak point, lol.
I honestly really appreciate your time. Thank you. If I need to, would you mind if I ever PM you if I have a question?
Any high intensity cardio like swimming isn't going to help you hit your goals right now. Honestly pay attention to the diet and avoid overtraining with cardio. Try to focus on 3 days a week lifting full body to start out.
Oh trust me I’m not looking for high intensity cardio -- I hate running as it is. I just know I’ll be more inclined to incorporate it into my work out regimen if it’s swimming over running.
I have a pretty good schedule lined up. I used to do biceps/shoulders one day, chest/tris another, legs/back another, mixed in with some calisthenics.
I know my way around the gym enough to create a plan. I just know cardio was one thing I lacked - I used to get that from training Muay Thai. I’m not doing that now, which has sent me on a hunt for a gym with a pool.
Dieting is where I’m terrible at. That’s one thing I need to create some sort of meal plan or something, even if I have to pay someone to help with it.