This is long overdue for me. There will be tldr cliffs at bottom. I truly appreciate anybody who can chime in, and anybody who reads this. This has been the biggest mistake and regret of my life. :
MY BIG QUESTION is could a 22 year old still be facing the consequences of doing prohormones and also not using pct at 16 years old. My story
I ran prohormones at 16 years old. I was already quite strong, benching 225 and squatting 330, at 16 years old 170 pounds. After about 2 years lifting, I decided that at 16 years old I had exhausted my natural gains (I can’t believe I actually thought this). My first cycle was hdrol, and then I ran a cycle of super dmz 2.0, and then another half bottle of super dmz 2.0 before hair loss scared me off of it. I did tons of research and understood the risks and actually had Clomid and Arimidex on hand. I know for a fact I got shut down. I remember one day just feeling like death. Death is the best word to describe how I felt. Definite shutdown. I never took the pct though. I was young and so stupid that I was scared I would stunt my growth so decided to tough it out. I felt like literal shit for about a year and a half.
Symptoms: Erectile dysfunction ( I think this is more due to anxiety as I do not always experience this)
Sleep Issues (Have had terrible insomnia)
Fat in stomach and chest despite staying lean
Brain fog
Bones feel weak
This last year I focused on clean eating, sleeping 8 hours, doing cardio, and focusing on compound lifts and it has made a difference. My gains in the gym have been crazy and I feel much better and get morning wood every single morning now. I still wonder if I am completely healed though, or if I have gotten accustomed to having lower testosterone. The obvious answer is to get a blood test. I will get a blood test, I want to wait about 6 weeks until my cut is finished so that I do not have suppressed hormones from the cut. I have been exploring a clomid restart and feel that it may be the best solution for me. Please let me know what your opinions are on this. I firmly believe I have secondary hypogonadism and will get bloods soon, but I would love opinions or stories that may help. Also if Clomid would be a good solution if it turns out im secondary.
Summary:
Ran prohormones at 16 with no pct, had serious shutdown
Felt terrible and had low t sides for 6 years
Through natural remedies it has gone up, but still does not feel right
Could I still have low t and not be fully recovered?
Will get bloods done soon. Just want to know.
Thank you so much everyone. I truly appreciate your time for reading this.
I would also check estrogen after your bones feel weak comment. I don’t believe in clomid restarts which will take you back to where you were prior to steroids abuse in the short term, recovery often is somewhere in the suboptimal territory.
If you do fully heal it will take many years and no drug is going to speed up the healing process.
You would also need LH and FSH together with your testosterone labs.
It may not just be about hormones, your limbic system is probably damaged as well. Your body got used to and adapted to very high hormone levels and now must re-adapt to normal hormone levels. Often previous steroid users need a high testosterone level just outside of the normal range to feel normal.
I’ll let other more experience members can chime in because I primarily spend time in the TRT section of the forum and my AAS knowledge is limited.
It seems as though you ran two separate cycles? How long did you take the halodrol, and how long were you on the DMZ?
Get those bloods dude. I dont think you are going to see a drastic difference while in a hypocaloric state. Just get em done and get the healing started in whatever direction that may be.
First off,I appreciate your time and help. Secondly, regarding your estrogen comment, that is interesting. I just never thought there was a chance I had LOW estrogen. I always assumed if anything I had crazy HIGH estrogen from the cycle since I never took an AI or anything. It makes sense though that if I was shut down that I guess estrogen will crash too. It would explain the bones. They feel very very weak. It was actually the first thing that made me realize it messed me up. I was a football player and while warming up on the field it hit me that my bones just felt weak. I am much stronger and leaner now even 6 years after cycle so hopefully it isn’t too bad.
I ran a full h drol cycle for 6 weeks. I then took two months off, and ran sdmz 2.0 for about 6 weeks. Took some more time off then did about two weeks of sdmz 2.0.
You are right. I do need them done. I may honestly just wait two months. I have a feeling all of these tests and treatments will be very expensive. I graduate in two months and already have a contract signed for a nice paying job, I will be able to afford it then. Right now I barely have a thousand and need to be able to afford my move for my new job. I appreciate you though, thank you.
Are you in the US? Depending on the state you can find some discount tests. You can get TT and FT for under $100. But if you’re willing to wait to feel better then by all means.
Yea I see that discounted labs has them really cheap. Is TT and FT enough to get started? My worry is that it won’t provide enough info on how to tackle problem. I guess it makes sense to get the cheap one first and for all I know my testosterone is fine and its another issue.
While Total T is the more accurate test, Free T testing is problematic. If looking to spend as little as possible while getting bang for your buck I would test for Total T, SHBG, LH and estrogen if you can. The Total T and SHBG can approximate your Free T levels and also Free T percentage.
My endo doesn’t even bother with directly measured Free T, he always uses Total T and SHBG to judge my free hormone levels.
Sounds great. I am honestly super excited to get tested to find out wtf is wrong with me and get this fixed! Thank you
OK, you used PEDs for 14 weeks and not even consecutively, that is nothing. Your body did not get used to very high hormone levels. Your issue may be that you started very young, before your natural endocrine system was able to get established. Still, while possible, I doubt this has much to do with where you are six years later.
I know a few guys in their mid 20s and older that did shut themselves down, probably permanently, but while they started AAS at 18-19 y/o, they stayed on five, six, even seven years, without a break. Now, after stopping steroids, their natural testosterone levels are extremely low. They’re likely on TRT for the rest of their lives and fertility is a concern.
At this point there is just speculation. Many possibilities here. Bones feel weak? What does that mean? Bone pain? Joints? A lot of causes for this. You need a complete evaluation including a physical examination. As for labs, I wouldn’t do anything until I could do it right, start out with at least this:
Lipids
CMP
CBC
FSH
LH
prolactin
total testosterone
free testosterone
estradiol
IGF-1
DHEA-S
TSH
free T4
free T3
SHBG
VitD
You may need to find a TRT practitioner to get these ordered. Good luck.
I think you are correct that my issues are most likely due to how young I was. I appreciate that comprehensive list of tests I need. Once I get my first paycheck at my first real job I will get started on this and focus on doing it right.