Hey, just had some recent bloods taken & need some advice if possible.
I’ve been on TRT for little over a year now, I’m a 25 year old otherwise reasonably healthy male, from the UK. I was put on treatment due to low level reference range Testosterone, along with the symptoms of severe tiredness, general wellbeing, erectile dysfunction, lack of libido, excessive sweating.
My current protocol (only added HCG 4 months ago) is;
62.5mg Sustanon injected E3.5D (Monday Morning, Thursday Evening), 500iu HCG injected twice weekly (Monday Morning, Thursday Morning), and a small dose of anastrozole, roughly 1/4 taken either once fortnightly or once weekly depending on how I feel.
I’ve previously tried differing protocols, I originally started on Clomid before injectables. When moving to Sustanon, at first I injected 250mg fortnightly (as recommended by the DR), I only did this for 2 weeks as saw it wasn’t ideal (I was much less clued up then) then did 125mg weekly before moving to where I’m at now. I’ve also done different doses of anastrozole - tried 1/2 twice weekly, 1/4 twice weekly & seem the best on 1/4 once fortnightly/weekly, I feel I can judge when I need it now to avoid crashing, as I have done previously. I added HCG in about 4 months ago, this was for fertility reasons & also because I was looking to start a PCT, more about this later.
Anyway, here’s my most recent bloods; these were taken Monday Morning before my injections.
(Hopefully 3 pages have attached), I was surprised on a few… this is the first time my estrogen has been in reference… I’m in the UK, so a sensitive essay isn’t available, but I’ve never been within reference, most surprised as this is with HCG being in addition to my protocol, and me being on a lower anastrozole dose too.
My concerns are with my haematocrit & RBC, and my lipid panel. I’ve had higher haematocrit than here since being on TRT, I do give blood every 3 months to try and lower this, but even after a blood donation it’s still just above the reference range. My last blood donation was 18th June, so end of September will be my next.
My cholesterol is high which along with haematocrit is concerning me, and someone else raised an issue with my TSH being quite high at 3.
Also, I’ve managed to find a blood test of my lipid panel before I started TRT - bloods taken last year - 31st October 2016.
Again, they are within reference but quite raised, or so I feel. My lifestyle is pretty healthy, I’m quite active and especially last year at the time of my previous bloods I was around 13.5 stone, doing 8 miles of intense cycling daily & my diet was very good, I was quite fit, I don’t drink excessively & don’t smoke… there’s also no history in my family related to cholesterol or heart disease.
This year, I’ve not been keeping the cycling up, and have creeped up to 14 stone, my diet’s still pretty good with sensible meals, no excessive junk food & I’m still active, mainly walking.
So I can’t pinpoint it, especially going by last year when I was at the fittest I’ve been.
I still suffer now with severe anxiety (worse than before) and slightly improved erectile dysfunction & lack of libido.
The best I’ve ever felt, was 2 weeks into Clomid, 2/3 weeks once I stopped Clomid & 2 weeks after starting injections, so I’m missing something somewhere & catching it either with my natural levels alongside before shutdown, or an imbalance somewhere… my worry now is whether the erectile issue could be down to my cardiovascular system, unsure if atherosclerosis possibly at this stage? LDL:HDL ratio seems pretty poor.
Also, keep noticing my white blood count raised, on my last 3 tests… I seem more susceptible to colds/illness since TRT - I’ve seen this before as a side effect, but only for a couple of months whilst the body adjusts?
Sorry if this message may seem a bit all over the place, I’ve tried to include my journey so far, dig out old bloods & decide whether TRT is causing me more harm than good possibly. Whether my Sustanon dose should be lowered, or whether to revert back to Clomid again at a lower dose than before to avoid taking anastrozole alongside, I still feel that I felt best on Clomid mentally, just not solving my erection/libido issue…
Would appreciate any help, and if I’ve missed anything.
Thankyou!