I’m curious about something with regard to the standard injection protocol. The purpose of HCG in this is for maintenance of the testes, and to support levels of DHEA & pregnenalone, which would get shut down once LH&FSH crater as a result of exogenous testosterone dosing.
Roughly how much testosterone is this 250iu E2D “worth?” If we are keeping the testes sensitized and producing other hormones surely they are still producing some testosterone. Is there a way to quantify this?
I was on T-Cyp 100mg per week taken subq in divided doses and my TT usually came in around the mid to upper 800’s. I was on 150 mg T-Cyp E2W IM along with HCG 250 iu EOD and arimidex 1mg weekly in divided doses. My TT was in the upper 1200’s on this protocol and FT was high at 34.4 (25.7 was the top of range), so the Cyp was just lowered to 100 mg E2W so we will see where it comes in next month. I think it’s gonna really depend on your age and the health of your htpa along with probably a million other variables. There is a study on this and 250 iu EOD brought testicular function back to just over baseline, I think 7% or something like that. It was on pubmed I believe. I don’t really have a definite answer to your question this is just my experience with it. Someone with more knowledge on the subject might be able to help more.
The bad thing about this is now my doc is wanting to try HCG mono and I’m not sure about that cause adding it has made E2 a lot harder to control along with the E2W injections so I may back off of it some and see how that goes.
We’ll before on just Cyp alone I went over a year before any E2 issues, but once HCG was added it was a few days after the first two injections I started having trouble. Some of this could also be attributed to the E2W T injections also. I had to get a new doc and haven’t been able to self inject yet. But I feel like even with this the HCG would still complicate E2, however it did make my balls stop hurting so it’s a trade off for me.
Sweet… Any idea whether you had primary or secondary hypogonadism before going on trt? And did you notice any difference at all from hcg? You checked total test numbers after 6 months on hcg? Or soon after starting?
The amount of T one creates from hCG depends on the testes. If one is primary, it will not be much. For young guys, their testes will respond better than old guys. In my case when 57YO, adding 250iu hCG EOD increased my TRT levels of T by 17%
I never got a commitment from my doc about a Primary or Secondary diagnosis. I don’t think he cares.
I have had two rounds of bloods since starting the HCG. My doc only tests TT and it came in right where it had been since starting trt a year ago. Right around 600.
Seems to be primary since I had no change with the HCG, I guess.
I did notice a better mood and normal sized nuts almost right away. I do believe that the master hormone and a few others are made in the testicles and without HCG you miss out on those as well. I’ll continue with the HCG even if no testosterone increase is happening.