Acidrain’s TRT Log with Bloodwork, Seeking Advice to Dial in E2

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Bloods taken day of second injection before injection, morning fasted
Testosterone C. - 160mg weekly divided in two doses
Anestrozole - .75mg weekly .5mg at 1st injection and .25mg at 2nd injection
Height - 5’11”
Weight - 222lbs
Weight training 5 years
I’ve been on T replacement for one year now and love it but I’m having trouble getting to the recommended 22 for E2. My dr is incredibly slow to adjust but will do as I ask him to most of the time. I just lack the education to know where to go from here.
I was previously on .5mg anestrozole with E2 at 35, my E2 actually elevated with more anestrozole and so did cortisol.
Life factors… mega stressful life + lots of IPA beer. I recently quit drinking but can’t alleviate the stressors.
Can someone help me dial this in?

You have the wrong idea, chasing numbers on paper isn’t how this process works. After awhile you’ll learn at what ranges you feel good and what ranges you feel bad, but choosing a number is like placing a bet on a horse.

Your SHBG levels can greatly influence you free testosterone and free estrogen levels, high SHBG men have less free hormones than lower SHBG men, so a one number fits all doesn’t work in a world where everyone is biochemically unique.

Most men inject two or more time per week, once weekly works for some. Large infrequent injections can cause levels to swing as levels peak in 24-48 hours and decline thereafter, frequent injections creates smaller testosterone and estrogen spikes and you can maintain a higher total testosterone and lower estrogen on more frequent injections

Large infrequent injections (once weekly) can cause large spikes in testosterone and estrogen, my first protocol was 75mg weekly and I bloated up like a hippo from having high estrogen, not so injecting 18mg EOD (72mg weekly) and free testosterone is well above midrange. High estrogen will be different for everyone, for me high estrogen is above 30 even though the ranges go higher, than again I don’t do well at all with testosterone in the higher normal ranges.

Drinking alcohol will encourage your body to produce more estrogen, so by drinking alcohol you’re telling you body to produce more estrogen. This is why some men have anxiety from high estrogen from drinking too much alcohol and they don’t even know it.

Id say drop the AI.

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I feel sluggish, tired all of the time, depressed, lack of motivation, have anxiety and can’t lower my fat level. Otherwise I wouldn’t be targeting E2. I feel like if it were lower then maybe I’d feel way more energetic. When I first started TRT I felt mega energized and I want that back.

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That’s basically how I feel when estrogen is high, I didn’t have any of these estrogen issues on a daily protocol and no AI, but skin rashes and hives forced me back to an EOD protocol and estrogen is a little high again. Now an AI is needed.

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Stop doing this. Period. It ruined my first few years on TRT.

And I am still dealing with the repercussions of having low e2 for too long and working out too hard. Joint pain that has not gone away completely. Not worth it man.

I don’t even care what my e2 reading Is anymore, as long as I feel good, and don’t have limp dick or itchy nipples, that number could be 100 and I wouldn’t care.

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These COULD be related to the arimidex. Low and High e2 sides are almost exactly the same. Lots of sides that are “attributed” to higher e2, like bloat, are actually worse on lower e2.

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Anastrozole can cause anxiety and fatigue independent of estrogen levels. You need daily injections or at least EOD to lower estrogen and ditch the AI.

Anastrozole cause weakness in my knees, 1/10 aromasin is better tolerated.

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So just as a little reference. On the E2 test that you posted. I was at a 41, which stated “high” but I had NO symptoms.

  1. One of the tests, I believe that one, overstates E2.
  2. Your best bet is to drop the AI and handle E2 issues by adjusting your dose.

Are you super overweight?

Don’t be afraid of a little high E2. You wont grow tits overnight. Low e2 is way worse, and way harder to try and fix. (if you crash it)

If you start feeling like its high, lower your dose on your next shot.

AIs are poision.

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Definitely not super overweight. A little yes, I could stand losing 10lbs and am in process of doing so.
I’m not scared of high E2 either, I’ve ran a Test E cycle of 500mg/week with no AI and the only side I had was bloat.
I’m just trying to optimize how I feel and follow dr guidelines :grimacing: to do so.

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On one of my better days my T was at 1165 and E2 was at 75 and I was feeling great.

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Maybe I need to drop the AI and save it for a next cycle?

Agree with dropping it but in regard to your next cycle that would be handled over on the Pharma forum probably.

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Drop AI for sure.

Lots of posts on this forum go exactly like this “I was feeling great, then I started taking arimidex…”

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This has been debunked. It was pushed by a frequent poster on here that no longer posts.

That f me up to. Thinking I needed e2 22 and blamed all my symptoms on that. Mean while I just needed time for body to get use to Injections and stabilize.

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You know, come to think of it…
I started with no AI, felt great.
Dr gave me .5mg AI, felt good
Dr increased dose to .75, now I have these symptoms.
It’s making sense to me.

I’ve read before that it’s the T/E ratio that’s important rather than the actual numbers.
Is this fact?

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This is where the whole “22 is the correct range for e2” nonsense comes into play.

Even though you were feeling great, a preconceived notion regarding E2 made you start taking something to address it, when it wasn’t even an issue.

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